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The Roma Café you remember is gone forever. You should know that from the outset. The original, an Italian-American restaurant that once occupied the lower floors of the Rines mansion in Portland’s West End, had a remarkable run. When its white tablecloths were taken to the laundry for the last time in 2008, the restaurant had been open (and mostly...

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Maine is the birthplace of the Italian sandwich. They were first made by John Amato at his shop down on India Street. For the past 45 years, they have been made by Dominic Reali who has also expanded the chain to 42 stores. Mr. Reali is a real Italian himself, having immigrated to the United States in 1955.  Speaking no English, he went to work and...

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The owner of Portland Pottery Café at 122 Washington Ave. has applied for a liquor license so the popular breakfast and lunch spot can transform into a casual Italian restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining at night. The café is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Under the new arrangement, hours wi...

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Eating at Lazzari, a new pizza restaurant in Portland’s Arts District, I learned a few surprising things. First, you can safely put your hand on the glinting copper dome of their Le Panyol pizza oven, built in Skowhegan from imported blocks of French white clay. Even though the deck routinely reaches 750 degrees F, and the surrounding cavity snorts...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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