Aomori Market Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Aomori Kitchen and Market (instagram) is now open. The West Bayside market is the sister establishment to Aomori Restaurant launched by chef Masa Miyake and his family in December.

The 12-seat market and cafe is serving an line-up of baked goods and hot and cold dishes. First thing this morning the line-up included chocolate orange rolls (center right), cookies, Gallete Bretonne, egg danish with kale, cottage cheese and bacon (top left), sausage rolls, chocolate raspberry bread, okonomiyake rolls, sesame white chocolate scones, praline bars, hazelnut praline chocolate cake, several types of tarts, and a delicious Maitake mushroom onion quiche (top left). There wer vegan and gluten free options from the bakery. Grab and go savory items like egg salad sandwiches, curry chicken sandwiches and onigiri were available first thing, and as the day progresses sushi rolls, and hot food items like karage skewers and beef curry handpies were prepared by the kitchen. Aomori is offering pour overs featuring Ogawa Coffee, with ready made drip coffee made with beans from Portland-based Lay Day Coffee available as well.

The kitchen is overseen by baker Yumiko Kobayashi with pastries developed by Yuta Shimotsuma. Kobayashi was previously the Head Baker at Frenchette Bakery in New York City, and earlier in her career was a pastry cook at Maxim de Paris in Tokyo. Shimotsuma has worked in Japan, Australia, and Canada including at Tadashi Yanagi in Tokyo.

The new Aomori is a Japanese conbini-style market—an all-day combination convenience store and quick service eatery. In addition to the baked goods and prepared foods, Aomori stocks pantry items like soy sauces, Japanese sodas and drinks, noodles and rice as well as Japanese specialty items like Tsugaru Vidro glassware from the Aomori region, housewares, and children’s toys.

With today as an exception, Aomori will be open Thursday through Monday, 8 am – 5 pm with plans to eventually extend hours to 8 pm.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – Thursday – The Maine Agricultural Trade Show is taking place in Augusta.

Wednesday – The Aomori Market, a conbini-style cafe and store, will be opening in West Bayside at 8 am.

Thursday – Chef Andrew Taylor will be serving a public family meal at the Local 188 event space. Big Boy Bread will be holding a pop-up at Beal’s Ice Cream serving bagels and breakfast sandwiches to celebrate National Bagel Day.

Saturday – Chef Damian Sansonetti will be teaching a Coq Au Vin cooking class and Burgundian wine class at Chaval. Husky Boi will be holding a pop-up at Lambs in South Portland serving muffalatta sandwiches, hoppin’ john hummus, oyster shell ceasar, beans and rice, and sweet potato parfait.

January 20 – Turamali (instagram) will be holding a pop-up at Luncheonette.

January 22 – Another Round is hosting a latte art throwdown. The public can come cheer on their favorite baristas or participate in the competition as well.

January 23 – Two Fat Cats is holding a pie and port tasting For National Pie Day they’ll also have slices of thirteen different pies available that day.  2Gether is holding a BYOB tasting dinner and music event at Balast. The courses of the dinner are each inspired by the “emotional tones and textures” of the piano music being played during the evening by Ben Consgrove.

January 24 – Courtney Loreg from Woodford’s Food & Beverage will be the guest chef at a Flanagan Farm Supper Club dinner. Asher Boisvert is teaching a vermouth class at Chaval.

January 29 – Twelve is holding a 5-course Hidden Gems wine dinner. Evo is holding a multi-course wine dinner.

January 30 – Adrian Arvizu from Big Tree Hospitality will be the guest chef at a steakhouse themed Flanagan Farm Supper Club dinner.

February 7 – Chef Damian Sansonetti will be teaching a pasta & negroni class at Chaval.

February 8 – Ilma Lopez and Damian Sansonetti will be the guest chefs at a Flanagan Farm Supper Club dinner where they’ll celebrate the menu of their former restaurant Piccolo.

February 13 – Devin Finigan from Aragosta on Deer Isle will be the guest chef at a Flanagan Farm Supper Club dinner. Supper Club is hosting a pre-Valentine’s Day party in collaboration with Kiss Kiss. The Marquis Lounge (read more about them) is holding their grand opening.

March 1 – Chef Damian Sansonetti will be teaching a Whole Hog Butchery class at Chaval.

March 6 – The Maine Craft Brew Summit is taking place. Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner and President of Russian River Brewing Company, will be the keynote speaker.

Planning a wedding, holding a business event, or hosting visitors from away? Our printed guides are a great resource to help your guests explore the Maine restaurant scene.

The Portland and Midcoast pocket guides are now for sale in packs of 25 on our online store.

 

Revel Now Open in Falmouth

| Posted in Openings

Owners Emma Martin and Sami Smart launched Revel (website, facebook, instagram), a ~35-seat wine and cocktail bar, this past Wednesday. Revel is in the Wyeth building at 267 Route 1 Unit 103 in Falmouth.

The food menu (see below) includes bar snacks like warm olives, deviled eggs (shown above) and smoked trout with chips, small plates like garlic shrimp, brisket and Caesar salad (shown above) as well as chacuterie and cheese boards. There’s also an option for a Snack Tower sized for 6+ people. The bar menu includes classic cocktails, house specialty mixed drinks, spritzs like the Trentino (cappeletti, pink peppercorns, bubbly, soda) wines by the glass, mocktails, beer, cider and hard cider. There’s also an extensive bottle list.

The stylish space offers bar and table seating as well as recessed lounge area (center right). Revel’s hours are evolving. Over the next few days they’ll be open Sunday, Monday and Wednesday at 4 pm, and anticipate opening at 11 am on Thursday as they launch their midday grab and go menu.

Here’s a look at the food, cocktails and wine by the glass menus:

Also, here is the bottle list. The wines are available to enjoy at Revel or to purchase and take home.

 

Maine Food & Dining News: Brunswick, Wiscasset, Yarmouth, Westbrook, Hallowell, Falmouth, South Portland, Bucksport, Cape Elizabeth, Rockport, Bethel, Jonesboro

| Posted in Maine

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know:

  • A new bakery/cafe called Baked on Maine (facebook, instagram) opened for business in Brunswick (right photo) on Friday. It’s located at 41 Maine Street in the space formerly occupied by the Great Impasta. The menu includes breakfast options like pancakes, avocado toast, sausage biscuits and gravy, and a variety of breakfast sandwiches. For lunch they offer a wide range of sandwiches for lunch like beef on Weck, a caprese panini and a chicken parm. Baked on Maine also offers baked goods from Wildflours Bakery in Brunswick. They’ll initially be open Friday through Monday, 8 am – 2 pm.
  • Stacy and Ryan Linehan have sold their business Treats (website, facebook, instagram) in Wiscasset (center photo). The new owners are Joeseph Swifka and Emily Hughes. The couple have most recently worked at the Costal Maine Botanical Gardens where Swifka was the executive chef and Hughes worked in the garden shop. The Linehans themselves bought the business and have operated it for the last 20 years. The founders were Helen and Denny Davis. Hughes and Swifka will be the fifth set of owners of Treats.
  • Chef Christian Hayes has launched the Sparhawk Tavern (instagram) in Yarmouth in the space he formerly operated his restaurant The Garrison. The Garrison closed in July 2024. It’s currently open for takeout only Wednesday through Saturday, 4 – 8 pm with a menu of pub standards like nachos, burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and wings along with salads, beer, wine and cocktails. Hayes expects to open the dining room for indoor dining soon.
  • A new business called Town Line Diner (facebook) is under construction on Route 302 (left photo) in Westbrook. The diner will be occupying the former Pine Tree Bakery building. It’s being launched by Kori Reece who has been the chef at Lenny’s at Hawkes Plaza and Josh Gelston, the owner of Duck Pond Variety. The menu will have a selection of what Reece is calling greasy spoon classics like omelettes, corned beef hash and biscuits and gravy as well as “silver spoon specialties” like chocolate banana foster pancakes, haddock Benedict’s and “monster” sized sandwiches. The team hopes to launch the 45-seat diner February 1st. When it does will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 6 am – 1 pm.
  • Juiced in Hallowell has announced they’re closing “due to factors related to the sale of our building and its rising rents.” Their last day in business will be January 17th. Juiced opened for business in May 2014.
  • John Paul Gagnon sold his Falmouth restaurant JP’s Bistro (website, facebook, instagram) to Christa Kelly and Bernie’s Foreside owner Adam Shapiro late last year. Long time sous chef Richard Carey is now the executive chef at the restaurant.
  • The Barkery (web, facebook, instagram) is planning to hold their grand opening for their South Portland restaurant and dog park on February 5th. with a community preview day on January 31st.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that a food truck turned restaurant called Salsa Shack (website, facebook) has opened in Bucksport. It’s located at 84 Main Street in the space formerly occupied by My Buddy’s Place. Salsa Shack is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm.
  • Jason Williams, the chef/owner of The Well in Cape Elizabeth was interviewed for the Atlas Obscura podcast.
  • Sara Jenkins, the chef/owner of Nina June in Rockport, was interviewed for the Flipping the Table podcast.
  • Meryl Kelly from A Longer Table Homestead in Bethel was interviewed for the Maine Famous podcast.
  • As reported yesterday, La Laiterie (website, facebook, instagram) is under construction in Jonesboro. Chef Ross Florance and McKenna Koledo hope to soft launch the restaurant this spring and be fully operational in May. Read this article to learn more about their plans.

For a statewide guide to eating and drinking see the Maine Food Map—a growing list of coffee shops, bars, restaurants, bakeries, cafes, plus other food and dining businesses in all of Maine’s 16 counties.

La Laiterie in Jonesboro

| Posted in Maine

Ross Florance and McKenna Koledo have purchased a building in Jonesboro where they plan to open La Laiterie (website, facebook, instagram) an all-day bakery/cafe. The couple shared that they’re excited to launch the restaurant and serve “accessible and approachable French food to Washington County.”

The restaurant’s menu will be draw its inspiration from the culinary traditions of Brittany. La Laiterie will offer a wide range of options from convenient grab-and-go items to dishes like moules-frites, oysters on the half shell, and classic French sandwiches like jambon-beurre for a sit-down meal. French baked goods and pastries, buckwheat crepes, and quiches will be available for breakfast. Additionally, La Laiterie will host Florance’s tasting dinner series Flora.

La Laiterie will be located on the first floor of the 2,500 sq ft building at 749 Route One in Jonesboro. Koledo and Florance are renovating the space which will have a bar in addition to table seating. They shared that the vision for the renovations is to create a room that feels ” warm, cozy and classy” with accents of Brittany culture.

Koledo and Florance hope to soft launch the restaurant this spring and be fully operational in May. La Laiterie will be a year round business and initially be open Thursday through Sunday, 8 am – 4 pm.

Florance’s resume includes several years spent working for chef Thomas Keller at Bouchon Bistro in California and Per Se in NYC, and for chef Eric Ripert at La Bernardin. He operated a previous iteration of La Laterie in Machias in 2023 and 2024. Koledo has a background in marketing and business management. She most recently at SpotCo with a roster of clients from Broadway.

Photo: From a Flora pop-up dinner held in Calais this past August.

Playmakers Pizza and Pub

| Posted in Under Construction

Tom Minervino, Michael Barton and Matthew Reid have leased space at 512 Warren Avenue where they plan to open Playmakers Pizza and Pub. The space was formerly occupied by Turf’s Sports Pub. Playmakers is expected to seat around 100 and will have a room for events.

The draft menu includes pizza by the slice and full pies as well as wings, burgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, nachos, snacks like mozzarella sticks and fried pickles, and desserts. They anticipate being open week days 4 – 10 pm, and weekends 11 am – 10 pm.

Barton and Minervino are owners of Legends Rest Taproom and Paper City BBQ in Westbrook.

Quanto Basta Closing

| Posted in Closings

Chef/owner Betsy Spinillo has announced she’s closing down her restaurant Quanto Basta. You can see her full statement on this instagram post. It reads in-part,

5 years ago, I had an idea for a food truck. It was fulfilling and exciting, and I wanted more. 3 years ago, I had an even crazier idea and got to work on opening up this little pizzeria. It has been successful beyond my expectations, wildly exhausting, and endlessly inspiring. But something inside of me changed this past year. The things that 1 loved most about being a sole-owner/ operator, the drive that once sustained me and gave me the energy every day to show up and be the right kind of boss, friend, server. listener, maker, greeter, educator – it was waning.

It was becoming harder and harder to live up to the expectations / had set for myself in this space, and harder to push away the nagging voice in my head that was telling me that somethings got to give…Throughout my time here in Portland, both personally and professionally, I’ve learned how incredibly important it is to honor that voice. It has guided me towards making some of the most profound decisions that have led to an even truer, richer life than I could have ever imagined for myself…

Spinillo also wrote that, “On February 1st, 249 Congress St. will have a new tenant, but I will let them share that news with you all when they are ready. What I can say is that I feel incredibly honored that they were interested in taking over my space, with that beautiful oven being put to use in ways you have yet to see…”

Spinillo launched the Quanto Basta food truck in 2021. The Quanto Basta restaurant launched in July 2023. The Maine Sunday Telegram gave Quanto Basta 4 star rating.