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Chef Tim Labonte, whose pork belly waffles smoked the competition at the Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off in 2014, took back his crown Wednesday.

Labonte, who works at BlueFin, the newly rebranded restaurant in the Portland Harbor Hotel, won this year’s cook-off with his Lobstah Hash – lobster served with chervil-infused mascarpone and root vegetable-and-corn hash.

The cook-off, held at Sea Dog Brewing Co. every year, fed a sold-out crowd a selection of drool-worthy, sweet and savory breakfast dishes from a dozen local chefs, including blueberry buckle with orange nutmeg cream and house smoked bacon maple syrup from Black Tie, a Portland catering company, and marinated Ora King salmon on a mini Kennebec potato dill roll with truffled honey from Tiqa restaurant in Portland. The public tasted samples of each dish and then voted for a winner.

The event kicks off the 10th annual Maine Restaurant Week, which starts Thursday and runs through March 12. All of the proceeds from the cook-off will be donated to Preble Street’s Teen Services, a nonprofit that provides shelter, meals, clothing and crisis intervention for homeless and runaway youth.

Many people tell Meredith Goad that she has the best job in Maine, and most of the time she agrees. Maine has a crazy appetite for food stories, and it’s Meredith’s job to satisfy those cravings...

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