Mobile Food: Mini Bar, Kassa, Saltsmith

| Posted in Under Construction, Openings

Three new mobile food operations have launched or soon will:

  • A new coffee food truck called The Mini Bar (website, instagram) launched last weekend. So far they’ve been located at O’Donal’s Nursery in Gorham and manager Brady Guay is looking forward to operating along Back Cove and at Scarborough Downs this summer. Some recent menu specials have been a matcha latte with strawberry cold foam, and a maple sea salt latte. Mini Bar is making their drinks with beans from Tandem Coffee.
  • A new food truck called Kassa Cafe (instagram) is under development. Owner Iman Enan aims to bring “Middle Eastern inspired flavors and drinks into the menu”. She plans to partner with a Maine roaster to source beans for Kassa. She shared that “I really want the experience to feel warm, unique, and rooted in both quality coffee and cultural connection.” This is a first step for Enan who hopes to eventually open a brick and mortar version of Kassa.
  • A new mobile raw bar catering company called Saltsmith Oyster Company (instagram) will be launching in June. Owners Peter Jacobson and Simon Hulbert plan to provide catering to weddings and other private events in Southern Maine. The business partners hail from Mount Desert Island. Hulbert has worked at Running Tide, a Portland-based ocean carbon removal startup, helping to manage oyster harvesting operations. Jacobson has spent two summers at The Shop where he developed his shucking skill and developed a “love for serving oysters”.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Monday – The First Annual Portland Daq Off (a daiquiri competition among 12 Portland area bartenders) is taking place at Cuties.

Wednesday – Ladyfish is scheduled to open. Reservations are available on Open Table.

Thursday – Friends & Family is holding a tasting with winemakers from Slobodné Vinárstvo from Slovakia.

Saturday – The Luna Rooftop Bar at the Canopy Hotel is launching a new weekend brunch service (menu) which will be open Saturdays and Sundays, 11 – 2. The Maine Wine Wine Fest (tickets) is taking place in Freeport.

Sunday – Cafe Mugen is holding a ramen pop-up at at Izakaya Minato, and Root Wild is holding a Crawfish Boil.

June 15 – 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.

June 27 – Mast Landing is holding the 2026 Wavy Days Beer Fest at Thompson’s Point.

June 28 – The Good Food Foundation will be announcing the winners of their 2026 awards program. 7 Maine food producers are finalists.

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.

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

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.

Maine Food & Dining News: Freeport, Limerick, Pownal, Madawaska, South Portland, Wells, Biddeford

| 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:

  • Love Point Oysters is working to launch Love Point Provisions (instagram). The new oyster shop and market will sell tinned fish, wine, beer, and, of course, LP oysters. It will be located at 43 Old South Freeport Road in Freeport and is expected to launch on May 30th.
  • Auxillary Brewing Company in Limerick is holding their grand opening today. This weekend they’ll be open Friday through Sunday, noon – 8 pm, and moving forward they’ll also be open Thursdays, 2 – 8 pm. Both their Klipsch Kolsch and Hefeweizen will be on tap today with additional beers from Abomination, Argenta, Barreled Souls, Belleflower, Mast Landing and Schilling also available. The Beef Haus food cart will be at Auxillary on Saturday and Sunday, and the K-Pop Kimbap food truck will be at Auxillary Brewing for today’s grand opening. For more information see this post from the Brewers Guild.
  • XO Bakery & Mercantile (facebook, instagram) owner Hailey Sylvain has scheduled the grand opening of her Pownal bakery for May 30th when they’ll be open 9 am – 2 pm.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that Cou-yon’s Cajun Shack has relocated to Madawaska from Grand Isle.
  • The Bollard has published a review of the Q Street Diner in South Portland. “A great diner differs from a café or a swanky bistro not only by its menu, but also its vibe. Case in point: during our meal at Q Street, our friendly server called me “hon” and never let our coffee mugs go empty. I felt like I was 18 again. What more could anyone ask for?”
  • The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a review of the Sea Salt Fry Company in Wells. “Outstanding dishes include a splendid smash burger, mixed local mushrooms and a twist on the French bistro staple, frisee aux lardons, topped with a panko-coated soft-boiled egg. Look for his Asian-influenced tuna tartare cannoli this summer, when the rice paper shells will be stuffed with Maine bluefin tuna.”
  • Cara Stadler is a finalist in the America’s Culinary Cup cooking competition show on CBS, reports the Press Harald. The next episode will air on Wednesday and if Stadler wins she’ll receive a $1 million grand prize.
  • Mainebiz has published an article about Tootie’s Tempeh in Biddeford.

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.

Tally’s to Close Marginal Way Location

| Posted in Closings

The Press Herald reports that Tally’s Kitchen will be closing their location on Marginal Way and consolidating the business to the spot at Stevens Square.

Owner Julie Walsh said she opted not to sign a new five-year lease on the Bayside Tally’s. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to start cut my workload and focus on one business,” Walsh said, adding that she recently became a grandmother and wanted more free time for her family. “Stevens Square needs me, and I can’t wait to be there every day and build that location up.”

Reef’s Real Fruit Ice Cream

| Posted in Under Construction

Abby Alvin is working to launch Reef’s Real Fruit Ice Cream (facebook, instagram) food truck in Portland this summer. Reef’s specializes in a New Zealand-style ice cream which blends together an ice cream base with fruit to create a soft serve treat. It is made to order and customers can choose up to three fruits to blend into their ice cream. Reef’s will offer an assortment of fruit options including strawberry, banana, pineapple, mango, blackberry, raspberry and Maine blueberries.

Alvin is partnering with Rising Tide and will be locating the food truck in their patio this summer. She hope to launch in mid-June.

Alvin initially launched the business in Kīhei on Maui in late 2024. She’s originally from New England and has a family connection to Rockport where she’d summer with her grandparents. Alvin shared that she’s energized by the dynamic food scene in Portland looking forward to bring the New Zealand fruit ice cream concept to life here.

For more information on Reef’s and their food truck on Maui read this article in Hawaii Magazine.

Photo Credit: The Reef’s food truck in Hawaii. Courtesy of Reef’s Real Fruit Ice Cream.

Leisure Time Transition to Canned Cocktails

| Posted in Closings

Leisure Time Cocktail Company has announced plans to shut down their bar on Thompson’s Point. Sunday will be their last day in business as a retail bar. However, Leisure Time

Their statement reads in part,

Hey there y’all! The day has come: things are shaking up for us and we have an opportunity to exit from Thompsons Point to focus on our canned cocktails. Our catering and keg services will still be in full operation also, so if you’ve got something on the books with us fear not! This is always a hard choice in the industry to shutter our doors and it does not come lightly. After almost two years we’ve built a very special space for everyone, built on inclusivity and warmth and we thank all of you who have helped build that. We thank Thompson’s Point itself for housing us for all too short a time on this journey too. But our plan has always been for the bar to be our first stage and that canning would be our true focus, now faced with the opportunity to do just that and jettison the bar (which has been our raft to carry us to this end) we must put aside our sentiments and do so…

Leisure Time opened for business in July of 2024.