Close

I attended the Sept. 18 City Council meeting that was attempting to eradicate Columbus Day as a city holiday, a proposal sponsored by Councilor Pious Ali. It is true that Native Americans endured many atrocities in the past, and these actions should be rectified, but not at the expense of celebrating our Italian ancestors, who also faced discrimina...

1306

The state’s largest city will now mark the second Monday in October as Indigenous People’s Day — joining a growing list of cities and towns to recognize native cultures on Columbus Day. The City Council voted unanimously Monday to use the date of the federal holiday as a day to honor the native peoples, including those who lived in North America lo...

1375

Karen Morrill peeked around the corner, through the open pocket doors, into the main dining room of the Roma Café. “Oh, this is so exciting,” said Morrill, a 58-year-old Scarborough resident who works for the city of South Portland. Morrill hadn’t set foot in the Congress Street restaurant, which reopened three weeks ago, since 1989, when the room...

1018

It is one of the sweetest traditions in Portland, the annual cookie bake for the St. Peter's Italian Bazaar. Wednesday, more than 60 volunteers helped make, bake and decorate these homemade Italian cookies for this weekend's 92nd annual bazaar.  The bazaar, which starts Friday and ends Sunday, is the largest fundraiser of the year for St. Peter's c...

1245

It was two or three years since I had been to Enio`s on Cottage St. in South Portland. The small Italian restaurant with a rustic feel offers food created with their own flair and and a relatively extensive beer and wine list. After a long week of work, a restaurant close to home sounded perfect and we made a last minute reservation. When we arrive...

983

Henry Kissinger found himself in the doghouse after talking to her, famously describing his interview as “the most disastrous conversation I ever had with any member of the press.” Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni walked out of the room when she ripped off her chador. Golda Meir, the legendary Israeli prime minister, was s...

2129

David Levi doesn’t care how you pronounce the name of his new Portland trattoria, as long as you’re talking about it. For the record, he chose the name to honor his grandmother, a flamboyant character who, along with her husband, fled Milan to escape Mussolini’s fascist regime in 1938. Her name was Fanny (rhymes with “La KNEE”). “She was a brillian...

862

David Levi has reopened Rossobianco, his restaurant at 3 Deering Ave., under the name Trattoria Fanny. The restaurant is serving a simpler, more affordable menu than Rossobianco, and is named after Levi’s grandmother, Fanny Levi, who was born in Milan in 1908. Dinner dishes are all under $20, and include seafood stew in tomato broth and a veal cutl...

1358

In restaurant-rich Portland, what’s immediately noticeable about Maria’s Restaurant is what isn’t there. The now-familiar buzz that newish city bistros radiate. The staccato of cocktail shakers, or eclectic soundtracks piped from hidden speakers. Foodies don’t flock to the Cumberland Avenue eatery to Instagram artfully plated delicacies. It would a...

912

Saturday, February 11 at 3 pm. Hannaford Hall at USM, Portland (Abromson Center, 88 Bedford St) Maine Public is the media sponsor of Portland Ovations Classical Series including Handel & Haydn Society performing Glories of the Italian Baroque. Concertmaster/violinist Aisslinn Nosky leads an ensemble of 15 Handel & Haydn Society musicians in this gl...

776