Jeremy and Marina Kratzer have launched their new Italian restaurant Paolo’s (instagram). It’s located in the former Frontier/Nomad space in the Fort Andross Mill building in Brunswick.

The menu (see below) reflects a New Jersey take on Italian American cuisine and utilizes the wood-fired oven for their pizza and other dishes on the menu. Shown above are Jersey Shore pizza (pickled peppers, clams, pecorino, salmoriglio, oregano), Bucatini pasta (preserved lemon, anchovy, Calabrian chili, breaddcrumbs), charred brocolini, Caesar salad, and Chicken Pamessan. The dessert menu includes a chocolate mousse, tiramisu, the wonderful lemon pie shown above and an affagato martini made with espresso martini and housemade gelato.

The drink menu includes wines by the glass and bottle, beer, NA beverages and a cocktail menu designed by bartended Matt Im. Making a cameo appearance in the photos above are the Salvatore Marino orange wine and the Paltrinieri sparking Lambrusco.

The Kratzers also own and operate Dutchman’s, a wood-fired bagel company that’s co-located with the restaurant. Paolo’s is open Thursday thorugh Sunday 5 – 9 pm, with drinks and snacks available starting at 4 pm.

Cobblestone Coffee & Company (facebook, instagram) is set to open on Thursday. The ~40-seat bakery/cafe is being launched by Sai Guntaka, the owner of Taj and it will be located at 200 Gorham Road in the the building that was the first home of the Taj restaurant. Cobblestone will be open daily 6 am – 3 pm.

Baristas Zack Treadwell and Tyler Land will serve a full line-up of brewed coffee and espresso-based drinks as well as an Irani chai prepared in the style popular in Hyderabad where Guntaka’s family is from. It is flavored with cardamom, rose petals and a mix of spices. Cobblestone will be serving a special coffee produced by Tandem Coffee Roasters using single beans sourced from India.

Chef Adam Williams is leading the kitchen at Cobblestone. He and his team—which includes sous chef Remington McGuire and bakers Lucie Beau and Angela Young—will be serving a menu (see below) that includes baked goods, breakfast and brunch items and lunch options. Guntaka shared that their goal is to provide a range of offerings “you won’t find just anywhere else.” Baked goods like gulab jamun cardi and coconut croissants, tamarind kougin amann and a chai palmier certainly meet that goal. As do dishes like an avocado toast made with chaat masala and corriander-mint chutney, and a braised lamb bowl served of cracked rye with a vadav pav crumble.

Woodhull designed the cafe and it was constructed by Carlos Acosta with the neon sign behind the counter produced by David Johansen (aka Neon Dave). A notable and laudable element of Cobblestone Coffee is Guntaka’s plans to redirect all profits from the cafe to support his outreach program that provides free meals to people in need.

In addition to Taj, Guntaka is a cofounder Silver Street by Taj in the Old Port and Rasa in Bangor.

The Lost Kitchen (website, facebook, instagram) now offers a regular counter service lunch Tuesday through Saturday. Dubbed the Little Lost Kitchen it operates out of a seaparate cafe space at the restaurant’s renovated mill building in Freedom. Lunch is available on a walk-in basis—no reservations needed or available.

Chef/owner Erin French and her team are serving a menu of baked goods like coffee cake, scones, chocolate coconut rose macaroons with beer wine, ice tea, shrubs, cold brew, and soft drinks. The daily lunch menu includes snacks like snap peas dusted with citrus salt, oysters and olives along with dishes like the cornflake fried chicken, salad, carrot and corriander soup, French ham and butter sandwiches and strawberry shortcake shown in this set of images from today.

The lunch menu is available 11 am – 2:30 pm, with baked good, sandwiches, wine and beer available until 4 pm. Our best advice is to get there early—today’s lunch line started to form up at 10:30 am. There are a few tables indoors but most of the seating is on a patio overlooking the picturesque mill pond.

The Lost Kitchen is located at 22 Mill Street, Freedom, Maine (map) which Google Maps says is a 90+ minute drive from Portland. Parking is just across the bridge from the mill building.