The Salt Exchange

Just a nice little list of updates (get ready for a handful of exclamation points):

 For your reading and web-browsing pleasure:

• Tatum was on Good Day Maine discussing being a bartender in Portland, and her part in Portland Monthly's Portland Bartender issue. And in case you needed another reason to pick up said issue, our very own Ben Row is also featured for his acting skills. We've got a talented bunch over here.
• We just read this from the folks at Eat Maine / Maine Magazine (on their Facebook Page): The Eat Maine Guide was printed and delivered to the offices of Maine Magazine. It's amazing and we would NOT nor could NOT have done it without you. Magazine subscribers: yours will be mailed. Fans: if you don't subscribe you can buy a copy before it gets shipped. Get yours for just $5.95 -- be the first kid on the block to have one.
• The ever-excellent Joe Appel writes about enjoying red wine in the summer.
• Meredith Goad tastes some of the best ice cream in Southern Maine.
• Publications are still taking a really close look at the President Obama's trip to Maine. Take a look at the Detroit Free Press' piece on the Bar Harbor trip.
• The Forecaster discusses preparing a barbecue feast.
• Don't forget that the Festival of Nations is coming up this weekend. The Press Herald previews it here.
• Many congratulations are due to Cheryl Dixon: "Congratulations to Cheryl Dixon for winning a national award of excellence for her work as the food service manager at Kittery’s Horace Mitchell Primary School! In addition to teaching good nutrition and promoting healthy eating habits, Dixon’s award-winning program includes a Farm to School initiative to provide schools with farm fresh foods, and a third component on composting and recycling." Keep up the great work!
• We are hosting a Cruzan Rum Tasting event on Wednesday evening. You can learn more about it here. Also, did you know that some folks just sort of sit around and edit movie scenes into dance remixes? Fortunately, someone has made one featuring Jack Sparrow asking, "Why is the rum gone?" Go ahead and throw away a couple of your hard-earned life minutes.

Set your coffee maker on auto-brew and watch Tatum and other bartenders featured in Portland Magazine's Portland bartender article talk about their collective experiences tomorrow morning on WGME's Daybreak.

For your reading and web-browsing pleasure:

• It looks like the movement towards making local food more easily accessible to low income people is picking up across the country.  
• The Portland Press Herald reports that Good Shepherd Food Bank opened its new distribution center in Portland on Monday morning. 
• Further, the folks at Good Shepherd remind us that for many kids during the summer, no school lunch means no lunch at all. 
• According to USA Today, The First Family enjoyed cones at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream Shop and ate at Stewman's Lobster Pound. The Washington Post reports they ate at Bar Harbor's Havana on Saturday.
• The First Family's visit to the state had folks looking at Maine as a foodie destination. Here, The Boston Globe examines prime, not-necessarily-obvious tourist destinations here in Maine. 
• The Raitt Homestead Farm Museum in Eliot is working on becoming a year-round exhibit.
• The blog Erin Cooks looks at some Maine Food Blogs.
• Finally, it looks like some lucky folks from Philly will be eating and drinking like some well-fed Mainers early next week.

A couple of weeks back, we ran a post about a Gulf of Maine Research Institute [GMRI] event called "Trawl to Table." The event was targeted at local restaurant chefs, and was intended to take a look at - and demystify - the concept of trawling as sustainable practice. Charlie attended the event, which had such an impact on him that The Salt Exchange is now offering more sustainable catch fish.

Well, the Portland Press Herald has since featured GMRI's efforts, and The Salt Exchange is mentioned:

That's the message from the Portland-based Gulf of Maine Institute as it begins an effort to create markets for under-used fish species. Seafood caught in the Gulf of Maine is among the most sustainably harvested seafood in the world, says Jan Levin, manager of the organization's sustainable seafood program.

[...]

Charles Bryon, owner of The Salt Exchange restaurant on Commercial Street, decided to offer hake, an under-used Gulf of Maine species, on his menu and donate $2 from each hake entree sold to the research institute.

Bryon said a seminar that the institute sponsored to reacquaint restaurant owners and chefs with Maine-caught fish led to several changes at the restaurant.

The article also touches on the efforts of other restaurateurs present at the Trawl to Table event, including Michelle Corry, owner of 555:

[The restaurant] started selling ocean-themed drinks a couple of months ago and donating $1 from each drink sale to the institute, for projects related to sustainable fishing.

This is a great article about a great effort, and we hope that you will read the rest of it here.

That's right! That's our very own bartender, the lovely Tatum Thistle, and she is on the cover of Portland Magazine.

From the article:

They are our hosts, sympathetic ears, tour guides, and confidants. We go to them to celebrate our successes, drown our sorrows, relax from the stress of the workaday world, and warm up from the cold. They are Portland’s bartenders, a savvy and diverse group of talented ladies and gents who have kept step with the city’s rising culinary star. Here’s a toast to those who represent our heart and soul–and never let us go thirsty.

Tatum's profile:

Sling spot: The Salt Exchange on Wed/Saturday

Signature drink: Raspberry lemonade martini

Roots: Born and raised in Windham. “I’m
a townie.”

Virgin beginnings: Waitress and occasional bartender at Foreside Tavern

Day job: Part-time hair stylist

Sticking point: Freedom to be herself. “I like interacting with people, putting on a show, being animated and witty.”

Titanic tip: “Does a marriage proposal count? I’ve had a few.”

‘Tender crush: Michelle at The Snug

If Portland were a drink: Champagne. “It’s classy, bubbly, and characteristic of our fun city.”

Check out the bartender profiles of many other great Portland bartenders here.

For your reading and web-browsing pleasure:

For your reading and web-browsing pleasure:

• The Boston Globe ran a story on the lobster industry, which focuses on how lobstermen are working to stay afloat. They discuss the Crate to Plate program, a model that operates like a CSA.
• Becky's Diner and the Porthole won't be the only Maine establishments to appear on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (as we touched on last month.) Kittery's Bob's Clam Hut will also appear on the show, reports Foster's Daily Democrat.
• Maine potato advocates have launched a campaign to get the food on a good foods list for a federal nutrition program.
• Saving Seeds posted a statement from the People's Movement Assembly on Food Sovereignty from the US Social Forum 2010.
• Maine Food & Lifestyle takes a look at cooking mussels.
• An important fact to consider: A Feeding America study finds that Maine ranks 8th in the nation with regard to children at risk of hunger.
• And finally: It's a little bit down the road (October), but it's never too early to start thinking about Harvest on the Harbor.

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to have the chance to talk with The United States of Arugula author David Kamp. Kamp is also a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and GQ, and he maintains a pretty great blog in which he discusses the coffee fixation of Steig Larsson characters and mourns the loss of Law and Order. He was incredibly generous with his time - I expected him to be able to spare only 15 minutes and we ended up chatting for 45 - and, in an incident that occurred not long after our chat, a coffee spill on my laptop led to the loss of the audio and we are left without any proof that said generous, thoughtful interview ever took place.

Major bummer.

We reached out to Kamp because Charlie is head-over-heels in love with Arugula, a book that documents the rise of food culture and appreciation in the United States. The book has been praised for many reasons, particularly its smartness, and especially its optimism, which - for those who remember the pre-rise-of-Pollan mid-Aughts - was particularly rare with regard to food back in 2006. Optimistic is an appropriate way to describe Kamp's general attitude and he brought much of that optimism to our conversation. He remains fascinated by food, and the movement that has built around it.

We talked Top Chef, which had not yet reached the air when Kamp was researching for and writing the book. He explained that he had talked with Chef and show creator/host Tom Colicchio while researching, and that Colicchio wasn't even sure the show was going to work out (seven seasons later…) We discussed the role of the small, artisan farmer as the new punk rock hero, and we chatted about food snobbery, a subject that Kamp has playfully meditated on in his snob series.

We also touched on Kamp's upcoming book about the 70s, a decade he explained gets an undue bad rap (see: optimism). The subject is one that he became more intimate with by way of the research he did for Arugula, and if Arugula is any indication, it should be well worth the read. Do check it out should you get the chance. I was very lucky to have the chance to chat with Kamp, and I thank him for his willingness to do so. Should he ever find himself in Portland, I hope the next time we talk farms, punk rock, and Tom Colicchio, it will be over a bottle of wine and a great meal prepared by Chef Jacob and his team here at The Salt Exchange.

- Alex Steed