Elizabeth

Margolis-Pineo

Is a writer and graphic artist living in Portland, Maine. Her essays, restaurant reviews, book reviews, and travel pieces have been published both on the web and in print.

Ms. Margolis-Pineo has a regular restaurant column with the Maine Women's Journal, and is currently the Editor of the Maine Jewish Community VOICE newspaper, the most widely read Jewish newspaper in Maine. Her short fiction piece, "Half Light," has appeared in Words and Images, a juried collection of short fiction, poetry, and art. Her essay, "Bird's Eye View of Rome" was published on the International Living website magazine, a finalist in their "Best Of..." series.

She is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Assocation (NATJA), the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA). She serves on the boards of the BLUNT Youth Radio Project, Portland Stage Company, and the Maine Jewish Film Festival. She is married and the mother of three daughters.

For more information on Ms. Margolis-Pineo's work in graphic design, please visit www.margolispineo.com.

Published Travel:

Menschlich Montreal
 
So what’s so Jewish about Montréal?  Quebec’s largest city, Montréal was officially settled in 1642 as a product of French Christian evangelical determination. This has not, however, prevented it from becoming one of the most lively and densely populated Jewish cities in the world, one of the largest in North America. This makes it an ideal destination for the Jewish traveler -— or any traveler -— in search of an unusually rich cultural experience.
(click here for full article)

Hotel Campo de Fiori:
Bird's Eye View of Rome
 
Hotel Campo de Fiori has been a famous two-star budget hotel since the seventies.  A narrow six-floor walk-up, it features NO lift, NO TV, and telephones that function only occasionally.  At the front desk one can find a fax machine, a corkscrew, or lively conversation in the middle of a sleepless, jet-lagged night. 
(click here for full article)

 

Published Essays

Father Phil Berrigan's life was an inspiration

Heir to an Execution

Gloomy Sunday  
 
  
Restaurant

Reviews:

Reinvented Restaurants - the Creative Power of Portland's Woman Restaurateurs

Several of Portland's most inspired and creative restaurants are women owned and run; often, there is a women chef. Three of these restaurants stand out in particular, not only as wonderful spots to eat, but as re-imaginings, creative offshoots, or radical changes from earlier successes. (click here for full review)

Sea Grass Bistro

Sea Grass Bistro serves up sophisticated food without pretense. Or, as Chef-Owner Stephanie Brown says, "Just come eat!" The ever-changing menu at Sea Grass features the freshest local ingredients served with creativity and flair. Asian, French, and Tuscan influences are as at home with each other as "Nonnie's Manicotti" in its bath of tomato cream. (click here for full review)

Star Fish Grill & Winebar

Local ingredients and honest flavors - especially seafood - shine at Star Fish Grill.

Chef Alyson Cummings' love of food began as a child. “I've always been rather food-obsessed,” she says. “I grew up in New York State, a real melting pot of ethnic cuisines and influences - Eastern European, Hispanic, Italian - lots of love in the food.” (click here for full review)

J. Ellen’s Cafe and Wine Bar

Expect the Unexpected
 
 
J. Ellen’s Cafe and Wine Bar is located in the Meadowbrook Plaza on Route One in York.  Yes, in a mini-mall.  As chef/proprietor Joyce Belcher says, “Get over it!”
 
And we did.  The atmosphere is cozy and comfortable.  Candles cast a warm glow. Service is friendly and attentive, and Joyce Belcher is as gracious a hostess as she is an inspired chef.  She recommended J. Ellen’s signature Blood Orange Grey Goose Cosmopolitan, which was delicious and an inspired foretaste of the evening’s offerings. (click here for full review)

Hugo’s

Passionate Cooking
 
If you’re like me and have spent the last two years rushing past Hugo’s on your way down Franklin Street to the ferry terminal or heading for the Old Port, I have two words of advice:
 
Slow down.
 
The elegant black awnings hooding Hugo’s front windows are mysterious, almost winking: they’ve got a secret. Once inside, smooth, soft jazz and almost imperceptible white restaurant noise muffles outside noise.  Rush-hour Franklin and Middle Streets magically recede.
(Click here for full review)

Down East Artistry

 
Perched on a rocky crag overlooking the small town of Machias, Maine, the Artist's Cafe is surrounded by flowers in boxes, pots, and climbing porch railings. Passing through the profusion of pink, yellow, and blue clusters, the riot of color hints at delicious things to come. (Click here for full review)

Pegasus Bay Wines, New Zealand

“Our wine-making philosophy is to grow grapes of the highest quality, which fully expresses the features of the vineyard, and to handle these grapes with the utmost respect.”
 
Ideally located in southern New Zealand, the Waipara Valley is perfect for winemaking — along the same latitude as the south of France. To the east, the valley is separated from Pegasus Bay by a lofty range of hills which protect it from the cooling winds of the pacific. To the west lie the Southern Alps, which give the region its hot “nor'west” winds. The natural climate ensures a prolonged ripening period for the delicate grapes, which promotes intense flavor and optimal ripeness. (Click here for full review)

Published

Fiction:

Half Light

 
 

 

Sunday, December 29, 2002

 

MAINE OBSERVER:

By Elizabeth Margolis-Pineo

 

Father Phil Berrigan's life was an inspiration

 

When I learned that Father Phil Berrigan died, I read obits from several sources to make sure that he died at home and not in some jail cell and that he was surrounded by family and friends. He was.

 

I noticed, however, that none of the pieces mentioned his eyes.

 

During the summer of 1997, Phil was arrested and jailed with seven other Ploughshares priests here in Portland. In a meticulously planned and executed protest, they emptied baby bottles of their own blood on the deck of a destroyer docked for repairs in Portland Harbor. They also managed to do some damage with a hammer.

 

Each Sunday, a group of us would visit Phil in the Cumberland County Jail. We'd pass through metal detectors and be "wanded" and we soon learned to leave our watches, pocket change and jewelry at home. We began to refer to ourselves as "Berriganistas," and a pleasant jailhouse camaraderie developed.

 

We were allowed to spend 50 minutes with Father Berrigan and the other Ploughshares priests in a small room, along with the other inmates and their visitors. We managed to take turns with Phil, although all of us were drawn to the barrel-chested, craggy-faced, white-haired man with bright blue eyes in the orange prison-issue jumpsuit and slippers. Perhaps the blue of his eyes was enhanced by the sea of orange jumpsuits. Or maybe his eyes were just that luminous.

 

Week after week, he patiently took our questions, answering us honestly and thoughtfully; always generous, respectful, and responsive. Occasionally, I would prepare a provocative question or two, unable to resist pecking at his impenetrable serenity. One of my irritating techniques was to refer to myself as a "nonpracticing, nonbelieving" Jew as often as possible, which for any person of faith is like fingernails on a blackboard.

 

With remarkable grace, he fixed me in his deep blue gaze and said, "Libby." Then paused. "Life would be so much easier for you if you were a believer." Briefly, the room dropped away, and the orange jumpsuited people in it. Suddenly, it was just the two of us in that room, the two of us on the planet. His eyes that astonishing blue, the color of the sky reflected in the sea, the color of certainty, and of faith.

 

Those words come back to me now as I mourn his passing. I am sorry that I never got a chance to tell him how right he was. I'm sorry that I never got to thank him.

 

And I'm sorry that I'll never have another chance to gaze into those magnificent blue eyes and tell him that, although I remain a nonpracticing, nonbelieving Jew, how much I have come to believe in the extraordinary and redemptive power of love.

 

And tell him how much I will miss him in these perilous times.

 

Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.         

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elizabeth Margolis-Pineo is a resident of Portland.