More Food Trucks

| Posted in Openings

It’s a banner year for new food trucks. In addition to the two Ugly Duckling trucks (1, 2), Terlingua Sidecar at Oxbow, and Reef’s Real Fruit Ice Cream at Rising Tide, there are three other food trucks to tell you about:

Sammy’s Scoops (instagram) on Ocean Street has launched a new food truck on Washington Avenue. They’re located in the parking lot next to Sissle & Daughters. Hours will be Monday through Thursday, noon –8 pm and Friday through Sunday, noon –9 pm.

Matcha Mood on Congress Street has launched a food truck called Matcha Mood on the Go (instagram). You can find them today on the Western Prom near Maine Med.

Hank & Arties (instagram) is soon to launch a second food truck. When it does you will be able to find them alongside the Bard Coffee and Not a Bakery food truck near Twelve and Eastern Prom walking trail.

For daily accurate tracking of all food trucks in Portland download the Food Truckalico app.

Wine Wise Expands to Florida

| Posted in Under Construction

The Portland-based wine experience and travel company Wine Wise (website, facebook, instagram) has announced an expansion to Fort Lauderdale. In Florida, Wine Wise will be offering wine cruises in the intercoastal waterway aboard the Sea Rocket December through April. They will be holding a few pop-up cruises this summer/fall to introduce themselves to the local market.

Owner Erica Archer shared,

Over the past sixteen years, we’ve had the privilege of welcoming thousands of guests aboard our Wine Sails in Portland, Maine. We’re incredibly excited to expand Wine Wise to Fort Lauderdale, where we’ll host our highly curated Fine Wine Cruises along the city’s stunning Intracoastal Waterway from December through April.

We’ve always believed that great wine is even better when paired with a phenomenal experience in an unforgettable setting. As we explored winter destinations, Fort Lauderdale immediately rose to the top of our list. The city has an energy that’s contagious, a world-class hospitality scene, and one of the most spectacular waterfronts in the country.

Archer founded Wine Wise in 2010. Over the last 16 years, their offerings have expanded to include wine walks to Portland restaurants, the popular summer wine sails, guided trips to wine regions in France, Italy and the US, and the operation a wine club.

Dana Street Wins Beard Award

| Posted in Reviews

Congratulations to Dana Street on being named a 2026 James Beard Awards winner in the Outstanding Restaurateur category. Street was a nominee in the category along with restaurant owners from  from California, North Carolina, Louisiana and Texas.

Street launched Street & Company in 1989 and has gone on to open several businesses Portland including Fore Street in collaboration with Sam Hayward in 1996 and Scales in 2016. It would be hard to overstate the impact Dana Street has had on the city’s restaurant industry and it’s great to see his work acknowledged in such a significant way by the Beard Foundation.

There were two nominees from Maine this year which were selected from seven chef and restaurant semifinalist in the 2026 James Beard Foundation Awards season. There have been 12 prior award winners from Maine. For more information on Maine’s Beard Awards history, see this complete list of award winners, nominees and semifinalists.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Monday – The James Beard Foundation will be announcing the 2026 award winners. Thomas Takashi Cooke from Izakaya Minato and Dana Street from Fore Street, Scales, Standard Baking, and Street & Company are this year’s nominees from Maine. Check back this evening for a report on how the Maine nominees fared at the awards ceremony in Chicago.

Wednesday – Twelve is holding a 5-course dinner featuring wines from Staglin Family Vineyards.

June 21-27 – The 4th Annual Wurst Week Ever is taking place.

June 22-28 – Green Crab Week is taking place.

June 23 – High Roller is holding a Bourbon Tasting Dinner.

June 24 – The Portland Wild Food Meetup is taking place at Anoche.

June 25-27 – The Greek Festival is taking place.

June 27 – Mast Landing is holding the 2026 Wavy Days Beer Fest at Thompson’s Point. Orange Bike Brewing is hosting a cookbook swap as a benefit for The Locker Project.

July 24-26 – The Kneading Conference is taking place in Skowhegan.

August 22 – The Maine State Cake Decorating Championship is taking place in South Paris.

August 28-30 – Maine Apple Camp is taking place in Hope. The biennial event covers a wide range of topics including “innovative orcharding methods, identifying and preserving heritage varieties, foraging wild fruit, cider making and lots more.”

August 29 – Dinner x Friends is holding their next event.

September 19 – PoutineFest is taking place.

September 25-27 – The 50th Annual Common Ground Fair is taking place in Unity.

Octoberr 8 – The Maine Food Producers Showcase & Golden Fork Awards is taking place in Portland.

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 2026 Portland and Midcoast pocket guides are now for sale in packs of 25 on our online store.

Lee Frank to Launch Mazon in York

| Posted in Under Construction, Maine

The Portsmouth Herald reports that chef Lee Frank has leased the former Arrows building in Cape Neddick where he plans to open a new fine dining restaurant called Mazon.

Frank, a two-time James Beard Northeast finalist, had just learned he needed to close his restaurant Otis in Exeter this year when he found out 41 Ogunquit Road in York was available for lease. He was the executive chef there when it was Arrows, whose owners won their own James Beard award in 2010.

Frank also operates a casual restaurant called Lee Frank’s with locations in South Berwick and Exeter, New Hampshire.

New Owner at Bar of Chocolate

| Posted in Under Construction

Sarah Martin has announced that she’s sold the Bar of Chocolate Cafe on Wharf Street to James Mack.

After 21 years we are selling the Bar of Chocolate.

To a former employee most of you know. James Mack! We are very excited for him and his new venture! He will have to close for a bit to make the transition but planning to open back up as quickly as possible!

Thank you to all the great staff and guests over the years!!

We wish James the best of luck and hope the BOC is as good to him as it was to us.

Mère by Georgia Macon

| Posted in Under Construction, Maine

Georgia Macon has purchased a building in Cumberland where she plans to launch Mère (website, instagram). The bakery/cafe will be located at 204 Gray Road across the street from Skillins Greenhouses.

Mère is billed as a “a technique-driven comfort bakery”. It will offer naturally leavened breads, pastries, cakes, savory baked goods and a full brewed and espresso-based coffee program. The lunch menu will include classic sandwiches and salads. The draft menu includes items like pain au chocolate, cardamom morning buns, sweet pea danish, plum and fig leaf hand pies, fruit tarts, quiche lorraine, croque madame, baby gem and buttermilk salad and a ploughman’s sandwich.

A special item on the menu will be a Gooey Butter Cake—a regional favorite from her hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. It is a yeasted yellow cake topped with butter custard and powdered sugar.

Macon shared, “Mère is timeless and trendless. Our goal is to make the best possible version of foods people already know and love—community-driven, chef-executed. We do not bow to topical trends, and we do not fear butter.”

Renovations to the 2,000 sq ft building are underway and Macon hopes to launch Mère sometime by early fall. When the build out is complete there will be seating for ~30 people as well as a small market that sells prepared foods, take-and-bake meals, beer, wine, pantry items and locally produced homegoods. It will be open daily 7 am – 7 pm.

Macon was formerly the executive pastry chef for the Prentice Hospitality Group. She attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Macon worked at Tartine in San Francisco and was part of the team that launched Tartine Manufactory. In 2023 she was recognized as a Rising Star Pastry Chef by Star Chefs.