The Press Herald has a report on partner Mike Wiley‘s departure from Big Tree Hospitality.
Wiley, who will leave Big Tree at the end of the year, said he has not yet planned his next move, although he does not expect to run a restaurant. Andrew Taylor and Arlin Smith, the remaining Big Tree founding partners, will continue to operate the company, and Taylor said that while Wiley will be greatly missed, customers will not notice any major changes.
Dirty Dove (instagram) is scheduled to launch this Thursday when they’ll be open noon to 11 pm. The bar is located at 229 Congress in the space formerly occupied by Sip of Europe.
Dirty Dove is being launched by Joe Fournier from A&C Grocery with Owl & Whale owner and bartender Michael Gatlin.
The cocktail menu includes options such as the Electric Warrior (mezcal, select, vanilla, lemon, hot pepper bitters) and Intangible Climax (green chartreuse, fernet branca, lime, apple basil honey, genepy des chambois). There’s also a wine list, beer and cider and an extended list of mocktails. The food menu has some carryovers from A&C like the Real Italian with new items like duck soup and a latke waffle with caviar and quark cheese.
Dirty Dove is scheduled to operate Thursday through Monday.
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Tuesday – Quanto Basta is kicking-off a pop-up series at Belleville.
Wednesday – Great Wave Sushi and Amigo’s are teaming up on a Japanese Mexican Fusion dinner.
Thursday – Congress Square Park plans to kick-off their S’mores Night, which will take place weekly 4-6 pm.
Friday – Belleville will be holding a pop-up 9 am – noon; preorders will go live on December 13th at noon.
Saturday – Fred Eliot from Scales and Michael Stokes from Fore Street will be the guest chefs at the East Ender.
New Year’s Eve – Here’s a growing list of options for your New Year’s Eve celebrations. We’ll be adding more as restaurants and bars announce their plans.
January 14 – The Good Food Foundation will be announcing the winners of the 2022 awards program; 10 Maine food producers are finalists this year, and Black Tie is kicking-off a spring cooking class series.
Retiring food reporter Meredith Goad has shared her final thoughts on the Portland food scene and her career writing about it in an article in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
I started working the food beat at the Portland Press Herald sometime between 2004 and 2005, just after Sam Hayward won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast, a first for Maine. I didn’t know it at the time, but the food scene in Portland was like a rocket smoking on the launch pad, ready to take off. For me? Lucky timing.
A small but growing number of eateries and bars in the Portland area that have put in place vaccination requirements for indoor dining and drinking.
You can see the full list here.
We’ll be adding to this list as restaurants, bars and other eateries announce policies—send us a message if you see some place missing from the list.
Sarah Martin, the owner of the Bar of Chocolate Cafe on Wharf Street, is renovating the space formerly occupied by The 5 Spot at 935 Congress Street where she plans to open Bread & Olive (facebook) sometime this winter.
Bread & Olive will be a neighborhood martini and wine bar. In addition to the drinks Martin plans to serve a menu of snacks and small and medium sized specials plus espressso and a few dessert options. Bread & Olive will seat approximately 40 customers with a 9-seat bar and a collection of 4-top tables as well.
Follow their account on instagram to check out some of the dishes and follow along with the renovations.
Bryan Casale and Jackie Hardin, the owners of Yeto’s and its sister establishment D&G, have announced plans to close both their Biddeford businesses at the end of this month.
We have loved our time at Yeto’s and D&G and don’t regret it. We are extremely proud to have started with nothing and built two successful businesses. We’ve had the pleasure of working with a great staff, many of whom we consider dear friends. We absolutely love Biddeford and this community. But it’s time to recognize the toll that everything has had on us mentally and physically.
Scratch Baking is planning extensive renovations to their bakery and shop in Willard Square. As you can see from the floor plan below, the final layout will create a better flow through the store with a central island and additional counter space around the exterior of the retail space.
Many things can change over the course of a buildings life and over the last almost 18 years the bakery by necessity has expanded into just about every nook and cranny. As many folks know the flow inside has never been ideal (in fact it’s always been a big mess) crowded, counter intuitive and frankly kind of a pain to navigate, especially on the busiest days. There have been small changes over the years but this winter with @barrett_made at the helm we are so excited to share we are embarking on the most ambitious project to date.
Christmas Eve will be their last day open for a 3 to 5 week time period during which time baking will cease and renovations will take place on the back part of the bakery on Willard Square. All Scratch Baking locations will be closed during that time.
When Scratch reopens (tentatively in early February), they will be temporarily selling out of the former Toast Bar location on Broadway for another 6-8 weeks while renovations in Willard Square continue. They hope to reopen and unveil the new Willard Square shop in the spring.
They may someday reopen the Toast Bar but there aren’t any immediate plans to do so.
Zu Bakery (website, instagram) owner Barak Olins has leased space at 81 Clark Street where he plans to open a bakery and retail shop. Olins envisions it as a takeout “traditional neighborhood boulangerie” with baking taking place onsite. He hopes to open the new bakery in the spring.
Zu Bakery will be serving pastries and coffee at the start of the day and with baguettes and other breads going on sale as they get baked during the day. Olins plans to make most of his bakery products with Maine grown grains he mills in-house. In addition to morning pastries and breads Zu Bakery will also sell biscotti, granola, seasonal pastries and a small selection of bottled wine. He plans to evolve the offerings of the shop as he learns the needs of the neighborhood.
Olins launched Zu Baker in 2000. Previously he was a co-founder/chef of the highly regarded Cafe Uffa, which was located in Longfellow Square and opened in 1995. Olins used funds from the sale of Uffa to build the bread oven when launching Zu Baker.
Monday – Bissell Brothers is holding a (sold out) 5-course beer dinner, Pasilla is doing another pop-up at the Public Market House, and the Washington Baths are holding the December edition of their Bread Soup Cake series.
Wednesday – Helm is serving a 4-course/5-wine Burgundy dinner, and Duckfat and Maine & Loire are collaborating on a 6-course natural wine dinner.
Saturday – Dirty Dove is scheduled to open.
December 16 – Congress Square Park plans to kick-off their S’mores Night, which will take place weekly 4-6 pm.
December 18 – Belleville will be holding a pop-up 9 am – noon; preorders will go live on December 13th at noon.
December 19 – Fred Eliot from Scales and Michael Stokes from Fore Street will be the guest chefs at the East Ender.
New Year’s Eve – Here’s a small but growing list of options for your New Year’s Eve celebrations. We’ll be adding more as restaurants and bars announce their plans.
January 14 – The Good Food Foundation will be announcing the winners of the 2022 awards program; 10 Maine food producers are finalists this year.