Sawyer’s Butcher & Delicatessen

| Posted in Under Construction

Chris Wilcox has leased the 4,606 sq ft former Thistle & Grouse space at 10 Cotton Street where he plans to open Sawyer’s Butcher & Delicatessen (website, instagram). Sawyer’s will be a whole animal butcher shop and counter service sandwich cafe. Wilcox shared,

I’m excited to bring a whole animal butcher shop to Portland. Butchering and charcuterie making have always been really enjoyable kitchen tasks for me and I’m looking forward to making it my sole focus. At Judy Gibson we developed a big pantry of items that made that food what it was. I can’t wait to start building up Sawyer’s pantry and continue where we left off at Judy’s, but with sandwiches.

Wilcox will be exclusively sourcing from Maine farms tapping into the relationships he’s built over the past decade of working as a chef in the state. In addition to daily retail sales, Wilcox hopes to wholesale meats to restaurants, and offer a butcher shop CSA for home cooks.

Wilcox will also be launching an in-house charcuterie program producing prepared meats like mortadella, pates, and terrines. Sides like coleslaw, sauerkraut, pickles will be available at the market as well pantry ingredients like rendered tallow. Additionally, a Sawyer’s line of dog food will enable Portlanders to feed their fury family members the same traceable locally sourced meats that they enjoy themselves.

The cafe menu will have half a dozen regular sandwiches like a traditional New Orleans muffaletta created with house made cold cuts, as well as a rotating list of specials driven by what’s available from the shop. Sawyers will have a beer and wine license for guests who want to enjoy a drink with their meal. There will be ~15 seats inside Sawyer’s, and during the warmer month tables in the enclosed patio along Cotton Street will be an option. Sawyer’s will also offer sandwich platters for business meals and family gatherings.

Renovations on the first floor of the building will soon be under way, and Wilcox hopes to be open by the start of July. The large second floor dining room will be available to rent for special events. When it launches Sawyer’s will be open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm, and Sundays, 10 am – 4 pm.

Wilcox formerly owned and operated Judy Gibson in South Portland, and previously had been the chef de cuisine at Eventide.

The Cheese Iron Closing

| Posted in Closings

Vince Maniaci and Jill Dutton have announced they’ll be closing their Scarborough market and cheese shop, The Cheese Iron. Their last day in business will be May 16th.

Their announcement reads in part,

After 20 years of opening, owning and running The Cheese Iron our lease is up at the end of May. After long consideration, we have decided it is time to close the store, and our last day will be Saturday, May 16th.

We want to thank our customers, many of whom have been coming here since the start. Owning a business is a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but what makes it all worth while is our customers, our beloved cheese makers and our vendors. We truly love our community and have loved connecting with you all, and talking about food all these years.

Most importantly we want to thank all of our employees who have worked with us the last 20 years. This store would not have run without their hard work, great customer service and their ability to spread happiness to all that walked into our store. We learned as much from them as they did from us.

Dutton and Maniaci launched The Cheese Iron in August 2006.

Maine Food & Dining News: Owls Head, Wiscasset, Lewiston, Westbrook, Saco, Northport, Belgrade, Madawaska

| 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 cafe called Nomad (instagram) has launched at the Knox County Airport in the space formerly occupied by The Apron. It’s run by artist and chef Evan Stevens and is open Saturday 9 am – 1 pm and on Sunday 8 am – 2 pm. Stevens shared on instagram, “We’ve opened for the year with weekend hours to serve our brunch, breakfast/lunch, and bakery menus and we’ve had such a great response! From handmade blueberry maple sausage to latke hash browns, Caesar schnitzel chicken, and a hoard of delicious baked goods (brown butter maple cinnamon rolls, dark chocolate torte, lemon cake, chocolate orange cookies, etc) we’ve served hundreds now and I’m so excited! I’ve been making as much from scratch as possible including hand pies and sourdough focaccia and we’ve really enjoyed meeting returning and new customers!”
  • The new owners of Treats are launching a ~40-seat wine bar this spring. They hope to open the bar in early May. It will be situated in the side room (above) of the Wiscasset bakery and shop. Joseph Swifka and Emily Hughes bought the popular Midcoast business earlier this year. They are planning a 10-seat bar along the northside wall and a mix of table and other seating options in the front window and elsewhere in the room. Hughes and Swifka plan to serve a rotating menu of low intervention wines. They’ll initially launch with light bar snacks but plan to expand the food options over time with a focus on Old World Italian cooking methods making use of locally sourced seasonal ingredients. The cafe itself has some new window counter seating with a selection of salads and sandwiches, baked goods and coffee.
  • Fifth Pillar Teahouse (instagram) is under development in downtown Lewiston. Owner Meg Giossi is in the final stages of renovating a 2,000 sq ft space at 191 Lisbon Street and hopes to open the 49-seat teahouse by the end of April. The Fifth Pillar menu will have an extensive menu of herbal and traditional teas as well as a selection of light snacks. Giossi’s goal is to create a place for people who want to get into tea that “feels accessible and natural”.  She also sees a community service mission for her business and plans to offer “Communi-tea” blends that raise money for local organizations. Giossi was first introduced to the world of tea when she worked at Dobra Tea back in 2014/15. She’s had a long interest in tea and herbal medicine and has taken classes at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and Herbal Academy. She has two decades of restaurant industry experience and most recently was the general manager at Kon Asian Bistro.
  • Lenny’s at Hawkes Plaza in Westbrook has reopened under new ownership. They held a soft opening last Sunday and their first full day back in business was this past Wednesday.
  • The Lincoln County News has published an article about Brill’s Bakery (instagram), which is under development at 27 Summer Street in Wiscasset.
  • WMTW reports that the Way Way Store in Saco is closing after nearly a century of being in business. For additional reporting on the closure see this article from the Saco Bay News.
  • The Midcoast Villager reports that sisters Elizabeth and Emilia Parker have taken over ownership of the Bayside Store in Northport. “…Emilia comes with experience, having worked at the store for over three years. They plan to continue with many of the same items and offerings with a number of delicious new additions. Already, word on the street is their cinnamon rolls and sourdough bread are to die for. We encourage the community to stop in and help these young entrepreneurs get off to a great start.”
  • The Morning Sentinel reports that the owner of the The Cork & Cow in Belgrade is expanding to open a wine bar on the second floor of her building at 47 Main Street.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that a new brewery called North Star Brewing (website, facebook) i under development in Madawaska. It will be located in the former border crossing station at 63 Bridge Street. The business is being launched by Eli Cayer and Jason Dionne. They hope to launch North Star by sometime in August. “All the beer will be made on site, and Cayer plans to expand into spirits, wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks. They also plan to build a kitchen and offer good quality pub food.”

For a statewide guide to eating and drinking see the Maine Food Map—a growing list of 100+ coffee shops, bars, restaurants, bakeries, cafes, plus other food and dining businesses in all of Maine’s 16 counties.

An Adventurist Portland Dining Guide

| Posted in Reviews

The Adventurist has published a dining guide to Portland.

There are cities that appear on my work calendar and inspire all the excitement of a dental appointment. Portland, Maine, is not one of them. Even in February, when the harbor air seems designed to punish me for wearing an ankle-length dress, I’m happy to go back, because this city keeps adding some new restaurant, new chef, or new dish worth folding into the list.

The article features: Aomori, Central Provisions, Cong Tu Bot, Crispy Gai, Fore Street, Izakaya Minato, Magissa, Miyake, Mr. Tuna, Papi, Regards, Scales and Twelve.

The Adventurist has also written articles highlighting Winona’s in Camden, Aragosta on Deer Isle, and The Lost Kitchen in Freedom.

Uni Lunch at ISF

| Posted in Profiles

Food & Wine has published an article about the seafood lunch experience to be had at ISF Trading on Hobson’s Wharf.

ISF Trading doesn’t seem like a place you could have lunch. The seafood processor on Hobson’s Wharf at 390 Commercial St. has minimal signage and limited web presence…Nevertheless, ISF opens its break room daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to anyone who wants to eat uni and other seafood at the source. Check the menu via a QR code on the company’s website, flag down an employee to order, and load up on boxes of raw uni, spicy squid, and other sought-after seafood. Then, take your tray to the second floor to dine. You can also help yourself to free coffee and tea from massive urns.

Kathy Gunst Food & Memoir Workshop

| Posted in Events

Acclaimed writer Kathy Gunst is teaching a workshop this summer at Hewnoaks in Lovell, Maine. Finding Voice: A Food & Memoir Writing Workshop will take place July 26th through August 1st.

This workshop is built for anyone interested in food writing, whether you’re crafting essays, collecting family recipes, developing a newsletter, or working on a memoir. Each day begins with a focused morning session offering prompts, discussion, and shared work time. Afternoons are open for writing, swimming, hiking, or simply resting. Hewnoaks provides the calm, supportive environment needed for new ideas to take shape.

Each morning session centers on a different aspect of food and memoir writing. Prompts are designed to spark ideas, help you refine your voice, and support meaningful progress in your work. Afternoons are left open for writing, reflection, and enjoying the landscape.

Gunst is the author of 16 cookbooks and is a three-time James Beard Award winner. You can learn more about her work on kathygunst.co.

Y%F Coffee Opens Next Week

| Posted in Openings

Y%F Coffee (instagram) is set to open on Friday, March 20th. It’s located in the long vacant ground floor space at the corner of Congress and High Streets. It will initially be open daily, 8 am – 4 pm.

The spacious cafe features counter seating along the windows overlooking Congress Square, a number of tables in the center of the dining room, a pair of group seating areas with comfy large format chairs, and a green tiled service counter at the back of the space.

Y%F is brewing house-roasted coffee from Ethiopia and Mexico and a decaf coffee from Colombia. Owner Yousif Albadri and his team are serving the standard line-up of drip and espresso-based drinks plus specialty beverages like Spanish lattes (sweetened with condensed milk), pistachio lattes and two variations of Turkish coffee. The menu also includes Belgian hot chocolate, a variety of nonalcoholic mojitos, matcha, green and black teas, and Karak tea.

The food options at Y%F include breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast, bagels with cream cheese, and sweet treats like chocolate croissants and pistachio croissants, three flavors of tres leches cake, Dubai cheese cake and Dubai strawberry cups, and a Basque cheesecake.