Author: Matt Ingersoll

Matt Ingersoll writes about all things food and drink, covering new restaurants and following the most delicious foodie trends in the state. Reach him at mingersoll@hippopress.com.

Make way for Mahrajan

Annual three-day Middle Eastern food festival returns

One of the few local church food events that was not canceled or postponed in 2020, the Mahrajan Middle Eastern Food Festival went ahead as scheduled thanks in part to the introduction of advance online ordering, a first for the decades-long tradition.

Following the scaled back event last year, the three-day festival of authentic Lebanese foods will return to Manchester’s Our Lady of the Cedars Melkite Catholic Church from Friday, Aug. 20, through Sunday, Aug. 22. Several features that didn’t happen last year are scheduled to come back this time around, including the dancing opportunities, the petting zoo and the children’s games.

“We’re not quite back to where we were before, but it’s definitely bigger [than last year’s event],” Rev. Thomas Steinmetz said. “We found that online ordering for takeout was actually very popular, so that’s going to be available again.”

Mahrajan co-chair Marylou Ashooh Lazos said this year’s menu will be slightly limited compared to those from previous events. As with last year’s event, the beef skewers have been eliminated, but you’ll still be able to order marinated lamb or chicken kebabs, available as meals with rice pilaf, lubyeh (green beans cooked and served in a tomato sauce) and bread. There will also be a kibbee dinner (Lebanese meatloaf), and other a la carte items like warak arish (stuffed grape leaves) with lamb and rice, cooked in a lemon broth; lamb or chicken shawarma; fatayar (meat or spinach pie); and tabbouleh salad with cracked what, parsley, tomato, lemon and spices.

“The lines are not very long anymore because we have the online ordering,” said Lazos, whose daughter, Nikki Lazos, is the head of the festival’s planning this year. “We’ll still have a tent with tables under it, where you can go sit and relax.”

Dessert options will include a lighter version of baklava known as baklawa, as well as maamoul (date cookies), ghrybe (almond butter cookies) and coosa pita, a custard Lazos makes herself.

“It’s a light-skinned zucchini and we make a custard out of it … in between layers of the phyllo dough,” she said. “It’s very sweet and light.”

Beginning the first day of Mahrajan, on Friday, Aug. 20, attendees will have the option to either pre-order in advance for pickup or order their food at the festival the day of.

Mahrajan Middle Eastern Food Festival

When: Friday, Aug. 20, 5 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 21, noon to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 22, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Our Lady of the Cedars Melkite Catholic Church, 140 Mitchell St., Manchester
Cost: Free admission; food is priced per item
Visit: bestfestnh.com
Advance online ordering will be available beginning Aug. 20.

Featured photo: Scenes from previous years at the Mahrajan festival. Courtesy photo.

World flavors

We Are One Festival celebrates 20 years of multicultural food and performances

A celebration of the state’s Latin-American, African and Caribbean communities, the We Are One Festival features authentic food, live performances, crafters and more. The free event will celebrate its 20th year at Veterans Memorial Park in Manchester on Saturday, Aug. 21.

Scenes from previous years at the We Are One festival. Courtesy photo.

The festival as it is known today first came together in 2013, after two separate events that were held in the Granite State from 2001 to 2012 — a Latino Festival organized by Latino Unidos de New Hampshire, and an annual African-Caribbean celebration organized by Ujima Collective — each combined their resources. Last year’s event was reorganized as a community health fair, with limited attendance and a greater emphasis on education about the pandemic’s impacts.

“We’re excited about having it. … I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to have the festival as close to what we’re used to having,” said Sudi Lett, who is co-chairing the We Are One Festival’s planning committee with Shaunte Whitted. “At the same time, we know that Covid is still very much a factor, so we’re just trying to take that into account as well.”

One of the biggest draws to the festival each year is the food, and you’ll find a diverse array of options available throughout the day. Local vendors include both restaurants and community members, with usually every cuisine from Dominican, Colombian and Puerto Rican to Congolese, Sudanese and Liberian represented. Featured dishes will often run the gamut from beef or pork to vegetarian options, and other ethnic staples like chivo (goat), rice and beans or stewed chicken. Don Quijote Restaurant in Manchester, for example, is a longtime participant of the festival that will be returning as a vendor once again with Caribbean options, Lett said.

“We’re looking to add more people to participate, even leading right up to the festival,” he said.

While there won’t be a large performance stage at the park as in years past, Lett said there are a few local musicians due to return to the festival this year, including African drummers and R&B and soul artists. The We Are One festival often also features local vendors selling their wares, from handcrafted jewelry to artwork, clothing and more, as well as a back-to-school giveaway featuring backpacks stuffed with school supplies for kids.

A health fair hosted by the NH Black Women Health Project will also be a part of this year’s event. Lett said there will be onsite Covid-19 testing and vaccinations at the park.

We Are One Festival

When: Saturday, Aug. 21, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Veterans Memorial Park, 723 Elm St., Manchester
Cost: Free admission; food is priced per item
More info: Email festival co-chair Sudi Lett at sudi.lett@gmail.com or search “We Are One Festival 20 Year Celebration” on Facebook
Event is rain or shine. Masks or face-coverings are optional.

Featured photo: Scenes from previous years at the We Are One festival. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/08/19

News from the local food scene

• Greek deliciousness to go: Join Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) for Greekfest Express, a revised drive-thru version of its annual Greek food festival, on Saturday, Aug. 28, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Now through Aug. 22, orders are being accepted for a variety of fresh Greek foods prepared by church members and volunteers, like dinners featuring your choice of half-roasted chicken, pastichio (Greek lasagna) or homemade meatballs in tomato sauce, each of which comes with rice, Greek salad and bread. Other options include an open-faced ground beef and lamb gyro plate with tzatziki sauce and french fries; tossed Greek salads topped with either grilled chicken or gyro meat; and a la carte items, like spinach or feta cheese petas. Desserts are also available from traditional baklava to finikia (honey walnut cookies) and loukoumades (fried dough balls). This event is pickup only (stay in your car; no walk-ins). Visit foodfest.assumptionnh.org to place your order.

• Food truck frenzy: The Town of Windham’s Recreation Department is organizing a food truck festival, set for Sunday, Aug. 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Windham High School (64 London Bridge Road). The festival will feature more than a half dozen area food trucks specializing in their own unique options, like Buxton’s Pizza, a mobile brick oven pizza truck based in Derry; The Sandwich Monstahh, a Derry food trailer specializing in gourmet Italian sandwiches; the Walking Gourmet, featuring the scratch-made gourmet sandwiches and burgers from chef Adam Wactowski of Windham; and B’s Tacos, based in Londonderry. In addition to the trucks, the festival will have live music from All Day Fire from noon to 4 p.m. and a cornhole tournament that will start around 1 p.m. Admission to the festival is free but foods are priced per item. Visit windhamnh.gov.

• Local eats at Market Days: Intown Concord’s annual Market Days Festival is back, and several area eateries and other businesses along Main Street are expected to have their own booths set up, including Revelstoke Coffee, Col’s Kitchen, Live Juice, Puppy Love Hot Dogs and the Holiday Inn Concord Downtown. Other local vendors offering all kinds of food options are expected to attend, like Canterbury Kettle Corn, Holly’s Fried Dough, and Sillie Puffs with its gourmet cotton candy. Market Days will return for its 47th year from Thursday, Aug. 19, through Saturday, Aug. 21, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, featuring live entertainment, local vendors and shopping, a kids zone and more. Visit marketdaysfestival.com.

• WineNot on the move: WineNot Boutique will move to a new spot later this month, at 25 Main St. in Nashua, the specialty wine shop recently announced. The newly renovated location is less than a half mile up the road from WineNot’s current storefront at 221 Main St., and all of its weekly complimentary wine tastings and special events will be transitioning there. Wine classes have been paused until September as WineNot completes its move, according to its email newsletter. Established in the spring of 2010, WineNot Boutique has grown over the last decade into one of the largest independent wine retailers in the state. Visit winenotboutique.com.

• Barbecue benefit: Get your tickets now for the annual “celebrity” waiter cookout and auction, an event to benefit the Franklin Opera House that’s happening on Thursday, Aug. 26, at Mojalaki Country Club (321 Prospect St., Franklin). The event will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by a barbecue dinner that will feature your choice of a beef burger, boneless chicken or vegan burger. Each comes with an appetizer plate, potato salad, corn, coleslaw, Caesar salad, fresh rolls, and cheesecake and cookies for dessert. The cost is $25 per person and Hawaiian attire is encouraged. Visit franklinoperahouse.org.

Lynne Donnelly

Lynne Donnelly of Litchfield is the owner of Bittersweet Bake Shoppe (272 Derry Road, Litchfield, 978-649-2253, bittersweetbakeshoppe.com), a small-batch bakery offering a wide selection of sweet and savory items. A longtime Litchfield resident, Donnelly moved her operations to a new storefront last December after being in Tyngsboro, Mass., for about 16 years. You’ll find everything at Bittersweet Bake Shoppe from cookies, cake pops, pies and cakes to quiches, stuffed croissants and soups and stews in the fall and winter. The shop also carries various retail items, such as sauces, jams, mustards and chocolates, and accepts custom cake orders with a preferred advance notice of a week to 10 days.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A spatula, specifically a frosting spatula.

What would you have for your last meal?

It would have to be something with ketchup.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

The Bedford Village Inn. I usually look at the chef’s specials. I always try to venture out from something that I couldn’t cook at home.

What celebrity would you like to see visiting your shop?

Steven Tyler. He probably doesn’t even eat sweets, but I’ve just always been a big fan of his.

What is your personal favorite thing that you offer?

If I had to narrow it down, I would have to say all of the celebration cakes, with the crazy artwork. Little kids’ birthday cakes are always fun. They are stacked like wedding cakes with all these different characters sticking out of them.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

My savory baked croissants are really popular right now. I would say those, and also whoopie pies.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Anything Italian. I like to do different forms of from-scratch pasta with sauces from tomatoes in my garden.

Apple cheddar squares
From the kitchen of Lynne Donnelly of Bittersweet Bake Shoppe in Litchfield

1½ cups flour
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup soft butter
6 ounces cheese
2½ cups sliced apples (about 3 medium apples)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup nuts, chopped

Mix together flour, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, baking soda and butter. Press half of the mixture into a 13×9-inch pan. Layer the cheese, sliced apples (tossed in the sugar) and nuts. Top with the other half of the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Featured photo: Lynne Donnelly

Capital City pies

Lucky Moose Casino & Tavern opens in Nashua

More than a decade after he brought Dos Amigos Burritos to downtown Concord, Joel Harris is introducing an all-new concept just a few blocks up the street: a full-service dine-in restaurant featuring brick-oven artisan pizzas, appetizers and other items made with local ingredients.

The New Hampshire Pizza Co., opening soon in the former Crazy Goat space on North Main Street, will also have selections of local craft beers and specialty cocktails, as well as a selection of salads and multiple flavors of its own ice cream made on site.

“I’ve really come to love Concord … and I felt like full-service family-friendly brick-oven pizza would be a great addition to the city’s dining scene,” said Harris, who opened the first Dos Amigos location in Portsmouth in 2003 before coming to the Capital City four years later. “The goal for the restaurant is to really make it a showpiece for the state of New Hampshire. Being in the capital, we want to serve New Hampshire beers and liquor. The decor is going to be New Hampshire-focused, [and] we want to use local ingredients as much as possible on our pizzas.”

Harris, along with his head chef, Rylan Hill, said the pair traveled to several iconic pizzerias and restaurants in the Brooklyn, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut, areas to try out some of the best pizzas they could find. Hill had also worked a stint at Luigi’s West End Pizza in Portsmouth, which Jay McSharry, Harris’s partner at Dos Amigos, is also part owner of.

Harris described the pizza’s style as “a hybrid between New York and Neapolitan,” with likely at least two sizes and both traditional and specialty pies available, from a classic cheese to an eggplant pizza, a sausage and smoked ricotta pizza and a Hawaiian pizza with grilled pineapple and prosciutto. Gluten-free crusts and vegan pizza options are in the works, too.

Among the featured appetizers will be Buffalo-style wings served three ways: traditional chicken wings, pork “wings” (pork shank) and a vegetarian option with cauliflower. There will also be charcuterie board options highlighting local meats and cheeses, and likely three or four varieties of both individual and family-sized salads.

For dessert, Harris said the plan is to begin offering homemade ice cream, from classics like vanilla and chocolate, to more inventive flavors, like basil or Parmesan ice cream.

The New Hampshire Pizza Co. will operate mostly as a sit-down restaurant with wait service, an open kitchen and a full bar. Harris said he also expects to utilize the eatery’s back door alleyway for pickup orders in order to eliminate the need for parking downtown.

“I’m really excited for this. This is definitely going to be a new venture for me, going from counter service to the sit-down full service,” Harris said. “I feel like we’re going to be able to provide Concord-area residents and visitors with a different experience … and we hope people will embrace us as we try to present the best of our state.”

New Hampshire Pizza Co.

An opening date is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Visit their website or follow them on social media for updates.

Where: 76 N. Main St., Concord
Hours: TBA
More info: Visit newhampshirepizzaco.com, or follow them on Facebook and Instagram @nhpizzaco

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Flavors of summer

Great New England BBQ & Food Truck Festival returns

Following a successful 2020 event despite social distancing regulations in place, the Great New England BBQ & Food Truck Festival is back, this year adding even more local food and beer vendors, games and activities. The third annual event is happening on Saturday, Aug. 14, at the Hampshire Dome in Milford, and will include food trucks, an afternoon of live local music, multiple craft and artisan vendors, a cornhole tournament and more.

“We were extremely happy with the outcome last year. I think people were so relieved to be able to get out safely and comfortably,” festival organizer Jody Donohue said. “We’re using both the inside and outside of the [Hampshire] Dome this year, so we have more space than before.”

Food trucks will be set up around the perimeter of the dome’s parking lot, with a diverse array of offerings, including several local to New Hampshire and others coming from nearby New England states. Prime Time Grilled Cheese, for example, has been an attendee favorite since the festival’s inception with its specialty grilled cheeses and “dessert” sandwiches like grilled s’mores and Fluffernutters. They’ll be back this year, along with Jayrard’s Java Cafe, a mobile trailer specializing in premium Costa Rican coffees and organic teas; and Sweet Crunch Bakeshop & Catering Co., which features freshly baked cookies.

New to this year’s festival are The Lobster Roller, a food trailer based in Gloucester, Mass., selling lobster rolls and New England-style clam chowder; and the Totally Thai Food Truck, which hails from Peterborough and serves up pad Thai, spring rolls and chicken satay. Other specialty eats and drinks will include fresh kettle corn popped on site, freshly squeezed lemonade, gourmet baked potatoes, and a plethora of barbecue options from brisket to pulled pork.

A “libations tent” will be in the center of the lot, featuring craft beers from local purveyors, like Frogg Brewing of Marlborough, Martha’s Exchange of Nashua, and Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. of Merrimack. Homemade sangria from Dave Bourgault of The Hills Restaurant at Milford’s Hampshire Hills Athletic Club will also be poured.

Around 50 vendors will be selling their goods both indoors and outdoors for the duration of the festival, from specialty foods to crafts and artisan products.

Live music will be featured all day long, starting with Peter Pappas from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., followed by Brian Weeks from 1 to 4 p.m. and Robert Allwarden from 4 to 7 p.m. The crew from 106.3 Frank FM will also be there between noon and 2 p.m., doing a live broadcast and offering photo opportunities with their promotional van, Donohue said.

A kids zone that was eliminated from last year’s festival amid safety concerns is due to make a return this time around, featuring bounce houses, face-painting, henna tattoos and more. A cornhole tournament is planned too, likely taking place around 2 p.m. indoors on the dome’s turf field, with warmups at 1 p.m. According to Donohue, interested participants can sign up that day at $15 per player, for a chance to win a cash prize.

Third annual Great New England BBQ & Food Truck Festival

When: Saturday, Aug. 14, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: The Hampshire Dome, 34 Emerson Road, Milford
Cost: General admission tickets are $5 in advance and $10 at the gate (free for attendees ages 14 and under). Food and crafts are priced per item. Cornhole tournament tickets are $15 per player.
More info: gne.ticketleap.com/foodtruckfest to purchase advance tickets online
Free parking is available on site. Masks are optional. Socially distanced seating will be provided, but attendees are welcome to bring their own blankets. No pets are allowed.

Participating food vendors

• Barry’s Hot Sauce (barryshotsauce.com)

• Coco’s Coffee (cocoscoffeenh.com)

• Dandido Sauce (dandidosauce.com)

• Extreme Concessions, Inc. (find them on Facebook)

• The Greatest BBQ of New England (greatestbbqofnewengland.com)

• Get Baked Potato Co. (getbakedpotato.com)

• Jayrard’s Java Cafe (jayrards.com)

• La Chula Truck (find them on Facebook)

• Little Charlotte’s Kettle Corn (find them on Facebook @charlotteskettlecorn)

• The Lobster Roller (thelobsterroller.com)

• Local LunchBox Truck (find them on Facebook)

• Mak’n Ends Meat Food Truck (find them on Facebook @maknendsmeat)

• Mooseman’s Kettle Corn (moosemanskettlecorn.com)

• Prime Time Grilled Cheese (primetimegrilledcheese.com)

• The Stand “Shaken not Stirred” (find them on Facebook @thestandshakennotstirred)

• Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream (subzeroicecream.com)

• Sweet Crunch Bakeshop & Catering Co. (sweetcrunchbakeshop.com)

• Temple Street Diner Food Truck (find them on Facebook)

• Totally Thai Food Truck (find them on Facebook @totallythaifoodtruck)

• Twins 4 Life Creations (twins4lifecreations.com)

• Uncle Joey’s Cannoli (unclejoeyscannoli.com)

Featured photo: Courtesy of the The Lobster Roller food truck.

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