Month: October 2024

Farewell to Local 188

| Posted in Closings

Local 188 has closed. The landmark restaurant had been in business for 25 years and contributed to the development of Portland as a nationally acclaimed culinary destination. They will be missed.

Chef/owner Jay Villani share some brief parting words,

Just wow. What a ride. None of this would have been possible without you.

You have given me a backdrop I can proudly hang my apron on. Words can not express how incredibly lucky I feel. The depth of meaning you all have given my life is immeasurable. What a truly special gift.

Thank you…

All of you.

When the restaurant launched in 1999, it brought a new vitality to Longfellow Square joining Cafe Uffa in an intersection that had not yet become the restaurant hub it is today. Warm personal service, an innovative menu of Spanish-inspired dishes, a great atmosphere and space made Local 188 a popular destination at the start of the new century. The name of the restaurant is a reference to its original street address 188 State Street—where Pai Men Miyake is now. It moved to much larger quarters on Congress Street in 2007.

In a fitting coda for a long running establishment, the kitchen at Local 188 had passed on to the next generation with Villani’s son Jackson (aka Sonny) as the chef de cuisine. If you’ve dined at 188 during the last few month you’ve likely had some delightful new dishes he’s brought to the menu.

Local 188 may have closed but the impact the legions of staff have made on the lives of their customers and on the city’s culinary scene and will be remembered for a long time to come.

Maine Food Influencers

| Posted in People

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram profiles 5 Maine food instagram influencer accounts: Biddo Foodies run by Holly Norburg and Daniela Amieva, Eating Portland Alive run by  Rob Schatz, Eating Through The Seacoast run by Jake Cryan, The Maine Foodies run by Erik and Alexis Dirkmaat, and Portland Eats ME run by Lydia Belden. All excellent accounts well worth following.

Maine has a large and growing food social media community. Whether it’s a specific geography, a type of food or a particular type of food lifestyle you want to learn more about there’s likely an account out their publishing about that already. If there isn’t then maybe you’re the right person to step into those shoes and share your passion with the world!

Maine Flavor Ice Cream Shop Opens Today

| Posted in Openings

A new West End ice cream shop will open for business today. Maine Flavor (website, instagram) will be launching their new scoop shop and retail store on Spring Street at 3 pm. They’re located at 175 Spring Street/144 State Street.

They’ll be serving eight ice cream flavors on opening day: Lemon Shortbread, Maine Wild Blueberry Crisp, Maine Butternut Chai, Milk Chocolate and Vanilla Bean (all dairy-based, organic and gluten-free) as well as three vegan and gluten-free options Coffee Crunch, Cranberry Chocolate Chunk and Maine Strawberry (shown above).  The Maine Flavor kitchen is a certifiable gluten-free facility and their house-made dark chocolate and ginger bread ice cream bowls are vegan in addition to being gluten-free. Pints of their ice cream to take home and ice cream sandwiches and cookies will also be available.

Owners Susan Purcell and Andrew Applegate leased the space next to Chocolats Passion in the former Mercy Hospital building back in July and where they have built out a new ice cream production facility in addition to the retail shop.

Maine Flavor has been in business since 2016. Their ice cream is available at a number of Portland area retail locations like Montes, the Portland Co-op, Union Wharf Market, Lighthouse Bikes and Barber Brothers market in South Portland, and Lois’s in Scarborough in addition to being for sale at their new shop.

Maine Flavor will initially be open Friday through Sunday, 3 – 6 pm.

Also under construction the former Mercy Hospital building is a new Two Fat Cats bakery/cafe.

Benny’s on Congress Street

| Posted in Under Construction

Ramona’s owner Josh Sobel has leased the former Broken Arrow space at 545 Congress Street where he plans to open a second restaurant called Benny’s (instagram). Renovations will be taking place during the winter and Sobel hopes to open Benny’s in early spring.

Benny’s will be open for lunch and dinner operating as a Philly-inspired sandwich shop with counter service by day, and transitioning into a sit down restaurant serving pasta and salads for dinner. Benny’s will also have a small cocktail menu. Sobel shared,

I’m excited to be in a neighborhood with so many other great small businesses and restaurants.
I’ve wanted to make cheesesteaks and cutlets since we opened Ramona’s, but the limitations of the space always made it impossible.

Benny’s feels like the natural evolution of our business. We hope to be a place that can service the neighborhood throughout the day. We want to start dinner service a bit earlier so that young families can join us. As a parent of young kids, it’s important to me that we are able to provide a great dining experience for kids as well as adults.

Carrie Dessertine from Mey & Co. has been hired to design the restaurant. Dessertine has designed a number of restaurants in Maine including Ramona’s, Bread & Friends, Elda in Biddeford, and the new Mr. Tuna.

Sobel and Chad Conley launched Ramona’s as a takeout service in April 2020 and opened with indoor seating in March 2022. Conley sold his interest in the company to Sobel in 2023.

Dry Dock 2.0 Under Development

| Posted in Under Construction

Luke Holden, Ben Conniff, Bryan Holden—co-owners of Luke’s Lobster— have leased 84 Commercial Street where they plan to relaunch the Dry Dock (instagram) as a seafood tavern with a full bar program. The team expects to renovate and restore the building this winter and open the new Dry Dock in time for the summer of 2025.

Jeff Holden, managing partner at Luke’s Lobster commented, “Our family has loved the Dry Dock location for decades. I was a regular when I had my business here on Commercial Street back in the 1980s and 90s. We feel truly grateful to work with Steve [Goodrich] on the opportunity to bring the legacy of Dry Dock restaurant back to life here – preserving it for the people of Portland and its visitors is as much sentimental to us as it is good business.”

The Dry Dock was a fixture on the Portland waterfront since it launched in 1983. It’s been closed since 2018 and while there have been some plans in the past to redesign and relaunch it, they have not come to fruition.

The Luke’s on Portland Pier will continue to operate where it is and the Dry Dock will open with a separate menu and concept.

Leisure Time Canning Line

| Posted in Under Construction

Leisure Time Cocktail Company (website, instagram) has launched a $45k crowdfunding campaign on NuMarket to raise funds for a cocktail canning line. Contributors will get $1.20 in credits at Leisure Time for every $1 they contribute to the campaign.

We did it! Our tasting room and cocktail laboratory is officially open, and it’s been an honor to serve great cocktails and good times to the Portland, Maine community. Now, we’re ready to expand our production facility so we can share our love for delicious cocktails far and wide — but we need your help…Your support will help us purchase a canning line, Brite tanks for carbonating our cocktails, and provide the runway we need to secure licensing for the new facility. Want to taste what’s going in the cans? Head down to the Lounge at Thompson’s Point, where we’ve already got these delicious beverages on tap!

Leisure Time owners Kai Parrott-Wolfe and Matt Noyes opened their 50-seat cocktail bar on Thompson’s Point in July. The menu features a range of draft and freezer cocktails as well as a selection of wine and beer, pierogis, salads, hot dogs and sausages.

 

Slab Closing Saturday

| Posted in Closings

Slab Sicilian Street Food is closing. The restaurant’s last day in business will be this Saturday October 12th. A statement from the owners reads in part,

For over a decade, we’ve had the privilege to bring Stephen Lanzalotta’s masterpiece to the masses, and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive! We’re so grateful for the national recognition we’ve received and for our fans far and wide – we cannot thank you enough for your support and kind words through the years. ⁣
⁣
We also want to give huge props to our dedicated staff who have enthusiastically embraced the art & science behind creating the most luscious pizza in all the land.⁣

Slab was launched in June 2014 by Stephen Lanzalotta, Jason Loring, Matt Moran, Tobey Moulton and Emily Kingsbury. Lanzalotta had previously been the baker at Micucci’s where Portlanders were introduced to his version of a slab-based pizza. Lanzalotta passed away in 2022. While best known for their rectangular slices of pizza, the menu has also included salads, sandwiches, a great beer selection, desserts and thin-crust pizzas.

While the restaurant is closing the frozen pizza part of the business will continue on. You’ll be able to find the Slab rising crust pizzas at dozens of locations in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire—a full list is available on slabportland.com.