MaineBusiness.com

Gagné, Chef/Owner of Robinhood Free Meetinghouse restaurant and Gagné Foods,
to receive award during MeRA’s April 29th Annual Awards Banquet

Augusta, ME – Chef Michael Gagné, owner of Georgetown, Maine’s five-star Robinhood Free Meetinghouse, has been named “2008 Chef of the Year” by the Maine Restaurant Association (MeRA). The award will be presented to Gagné at MeRA’s Annual Awards Banquet, to take place April 29th at Portland’s Holiday Inn By the Bay.

“Our Board of Directors at MeRA is pleased to present Chef Gagné with this prestigious award,” said Dick Grotton, President and CEO of the Augusta-based association. “Receiving the ‘Chef of the Year’ award is viewed in our industry as a hallmark of demonstrated ingenuity in the kitchen. When you combine Michael’s track record of over 40 years spent honing the craft, the great success of his culinary ventures in Maine, and his genuine commitment to the betterment of our state’s food industry, Chef Gagné is a natural choice to receive this year’s award.”

Grotton went on to cite the active mentorship role the veteran chef has quietly assumed over the years with Maine youth, his consistent contributions to the state’s culinary scene, and the many jobs he has added to the Maine economy as key factors in this year’s award decision.

“We set the bar high at MeRA in terms of our standards of excellence, and Chef Gagné has more than passed the test,” Grotton added. “Both through the Robinhood Free Meetinghouse and through his rapidly expanding Gagné Foods biscuit enterprise, Chef Gagné’s talent and hard work help keep Maine’s food scene front and center on the national map.”

Gagné began his career in the mid-1970s with line cook jobs in Maine, before moving on to work in several prominent inns and restaurants throughout the state. Next, he cooked aboard a yacht owned by California’s four-star La Costa Country Club, before being recruited for the Executive Chef position at the Red Fox Tavern in Middleburg, Virginia – the oldest original inn in the country. Seven years later, Gagné was lured back to Maine, when he was offered the Chef/Manager position at Georgetown, Maine’s The Osprey Restaurant. By the close of his tenure, the Maine native had increased the restaurant’s sales by 750 percent – a good indicator of things to come when he launched his own restaurant, the Robinhood Free Meetinghouse (www.robinhood-meetinghouse.com).

The Meetinghouse, situated in a restored post-and-beam church built in 1855, opened in March 1994 to enthusiastic feedback from guests and food press alike. Since its opening, the landmark “Must-Dine” restaurant, referred to as “a culinary oasis” by The New York Times, has consistently served dining rooms filled with satisfied guests from across the country.

Named an Editors’ Pick by Yankee magazine, the restaurant, – which effectively combines fusion, classic and innovative signature dishes – almost exclusively relies on seasonal, local ingredients for its house-made, hand-crafted fare.

The proof of Gagné’s winning cuisine is in the proverbial pudding: the Meetinghouse has earned a noteworthy number of accolades from food press since its launch 14 years ago. “Deliciously divine,” raved the Boston Globe, while Down East magazine enthused, “at this Georgetown church-turned-restaurant, people come to worship the flavors.” Additional praise has come from Travel + Leisure, The Portland Press Herald (“as good as it gets”), and The Portland Phoenix (“a Maine destination restaurant worth a winter visit”).

Gagné and the Meetinghouse have been featured on numerous television and radio outlets over the years, including Food Network, New England Cable News and PBS. The chef’s Meetinghouse portfolio also includes his successful James Beard Foundation dinner in 2001, widely viewed as a notable culinary achievement.

Not content to rest on his laurels, in 2003 Gagné launched Gagné Foods, Inc. (www.gagnefoods.com). The Bath, Maine-based specialty food company’s “Robinhood Free Meetinghouse 72-layer Cream Cheese Biscuits” won the coveted gold award for Outstanding Baked Good at the 2006 NASFT “Fancy Food Show” in New York, beating out thousands of competitors from across the country. Gagné’s biscuits continue to serve as another great example of Maine food ingenuity, having earned glowing reviews from the likes of The Boston Globe, Redbook magazine, Down East magazine, PARENTING.com, New England Cable News, Celebrity Café and TASTE of the Seacoast.

The socially conscious restaurateur has for years donated his time and resources mentoring untrained, and often at-risk, youth, all with no fanfare or recognition. Young employees have gone on to a variety of food industry careers, including restaurant management, food sales, and chef positions at several top-tier New England restaurants.

“Helping young folks in the formative stages of their culinary careers really is one of the most rewarding parts of this business,” according to Gagné. “If I’m able to help them, even a bit, move on to fulfilling careers in the culinary field, then I’m making the best use of my own experiences in the kitchen.”

For further information about MeRA’s April 29th Annual Awards Banquet, or the association’s April 30th Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo 2008, visit www.mainerestaurant.com.

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