Bridesmaids no longer: Arrows wins Beard award

Finally, in their sixth nomination, Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier, chef/owners of Arrows, in Ogunquit, win the big kahoona: The James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef in the Northeast award. Congrats, guys!

Maine bits and pieces: news and chatter

Here’s a quick round-up of interesting news bits that have come across my desk:

• Chebeague Island Inn reopening under new ownership

A favorite destination for travelers and day-trippers since the 1880s, the inn, restored in 2003-04, will re-open May 14 under the new ownership of the Prentice family of Yarmouth, Maine. With the May re-launch, the Prentices will be adding a more stylish, up-to-date ambiance.

One notable change is the inn’s restaurant, now under the direction of Executive Chef Justin Rowe, a veteran of 555 and Fore Street. The contemporary American menu, rooted in Maine and New England, will focus on locally/regionally sourced foods and beverages.

Here’s wishing the new owners success. I’m hoping to visit soon to see what’s happening.

• Unveiling of the Calves

You’ve heard of the Running of the Bulls, well Aldemere Farm, a 136-acres saltwater farm in Rockport, offers a far gentler experience. This Saturday, May 8, is its ninth annual Calf Unveiling Day. From 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. , you can  tour the Farm and visit with the newly born Belted Galloway calves (nicknamed the Oreo cookie cows for their distinctive white belt). Aldermere staff and volunteers will be on site speaking with visitors and providing information about the Farm and the herd.

Several other local farms will also be on site offering information regarding the goods they produce. These include:

• Sunnyside Farm with goats

• lueberry Farm and Blue Sky Farm with alpacas

• Ells Farm and Terra Optima will be selling meat

• Savage Oakes and Coastal Mountains Land Trust will have information about their operations

• Tanglewood 4-H Camp will present about their many agricultural offerings.

Other activities include the Rusty Hinges band performing (around 11 a.m.) and the Aldermere Achievers 4-H Club working throughout the day with their animals.

• Best Chef in the Northeast

Tonight, the James Beard Foundation will name the winner of the coveted Best Chef in the Northeast award. Chef/owners Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, of Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, have been nominated seven times. Here’s hoping that these perennial bridesmaids finally win; they certainly deserve it.

• No. 10 Water Street opens tonight

No. 10 Water Street, the new restaurant at Brunswick’s Capt. Daniel Stone Inn, opens tonight, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Brunswick is getting to be an increasingly interesting food town, with a nice choice of inexpensive to moderate restaurants.

• Zip-line adventure park opening in Wiscasset

Monkey C Monkey Do, a Zipline family adventure park, is under construction on Route 1 in Wiscasset.

Arrows’ chefs named 2010 James Beard finalist

Many are called, few are chosen sums up the 2010 James Beard award nominees from Maine. Although a number of Maine chefs and restaurants made the semi-final cut, only the talented duo of Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, from Arrows, in Ogunquit, made the final cut for Best Chef in the Northeast. Winners will be announced Monday, May 3.

Foodie news: Beard semifinalist nominees released; Maine chefs in the running

Maine chefs are no strangers to the James Beard Foundation’s annual awards, and the 2010 semifinalists include both familiar faces and new entries to the competition. Notably, Sam Hayward, a former Best Chef in the Northeast winner, is nominated for Outstanding Chef and his restaurant, Fore Street, is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant. Contenders for the Best Chef in the Northeast honor include Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, of Arrows (a talented duo who have been previously nominated). Nominees will be named on March 22; winners announced on May 3.Here’s the full Maine line-up:

Outstanding Chef:

• Sam Hayward, Fore Street, Portland

• Outstanding Restaurant:

• Fore Street, Portland

Best Chef Northeast:

• Penelle Chase, Phoebe Chase, Megan Chase, and Ted Lafage, Chase’s Daily, Belfast

• Krista Kern Desjarlais, Bresca, Portland

• Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, Arrows Restaurant, Ogunquit

• Brian Hill, Francine Bistro, Camden

Portland’s Fore Street 1 of 5 contenders for Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant award

Well here’s another feather in Fore Street’s toque. Today the Portland restaurant was named a finalist in the extremely competitive Outstanding Restaurant category of the James Beard Foundation awards . No Northeast limitation on this doozie: Fore Street is one of five national finalists for the honor. Chef/owner Sam Hayward has already won Best Chef in the Northeast honors.

If judged by company one keeps, Fore Street is foremost in foodie minds. Hayward and partner-owners Victor Leon and Dana Street have some formidable competition for the coveted award: Babbo (Chef/Owner: Mario Batali, Owner: Joe Bastianich, New York, NY); Boulevard (Chef/Owner: Nancy Oakes, Owner: Pat Kuleto, San Francisco, CA); Highlands Bar & Grill (Chef/Owner: Frank Stitt, Birmingham, AL); and Jean Georges (Chef/Owner: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Owner: Phil Suarez, New York, NY). Like I said, formidable.

Three other Maine chefs are in the Beard limelight. Among the five chefs vying for Best Chef in the Northeast are Rob Evans, of Hugos, in Portland, and the Clark Frasier/ Mark Gaier duo, of Arrows, in Ogunquit. All have been in this position previously. They’re up agans, Michale Leviton, of Lumierre in West Newton, Mass.; Tony Maws, of Cragie on Main, in Cambridge, Mass.; and Marc Orfaly, of Pigalle, in Boston.

Winners will be announced at the annual awards gala on May 4.

If Beard did poutine

The annual James Beard Award nominees for Best Chef in the Northeast include three familiar Maine faces: Rob Evans of Hugo’s, in Portland, and Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier of Arrows, in Ogunquit. All are repeat nominees.

Frankly, I think if the judges visited Evans’ other restaurant, Duckfat, and washed down a bowl of poutine with a “$5 dollar” shake, he’d win Best Chef in the Country. But these awards aren’t about order-at-the-counter places; they’re about the places few of us can afford to dine outside of an ultra-special occasion.

Evans is trying to change that at Hugo’s, though. When it reopens, he promises it to be more local friendly, with a la carte as well as set menu choices. Yay! And of course, Gaier and Frasier also operate MC (MarkClark, get it?) in Perkins Cove. That, too, is a tad pricey, but the view alone is worth it, and you can order from the bar menu in the dining room.

But about that poutine. I know, I know, what the heck is it? It is probably the least healthful thing you can eat–my arteries start to close down simply when I say the word, poutine (pron. poo-teen).

Classic poutine is simply French fries, smoothered with gravy and topped with cheese curd. Duckfat, of course, uses its fabulous fries, which are double-fried in duckfat and seasoned, then topped with homemade duck gravy and Silvery Moon Creamery cheese curd. Yes! Add a chocolate shake and I swear I can feel my heart constrict as my thighs expand.

Only poutine that may rival it–if only the fries were crispier and tastier–would be that at Stoneham Ski Area’s Feu Follet Restaurant in Quebec (about 20 minutes north of Quebec City), where the fries are topped not with gravy, but demi-glace; not cheese curd, but chevre; and, the piece de resistance: foie gras. Like I was able to go out and ski after devouring that.