Category: History

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from April 2010, 2015 and 2020:

• 2010 – Mr. Sandwich & Mrs. Muffin opened for business in Bramhall Square, Kamasouptra opened in the Public Market House, and Cranberry Island Kitchen opened on Danforth Street.
• Portland Food Map published a chronology/list of food businesses that at the time had been in business 20 years or more. The article has occasionally been updated since then.
• 2015 – The Honey Paw opened for business on Middle Street, and MK Kitchen opened in Gorham.
• The May issue (which came out in late April) of Bon Appétit features Tandem Bakery in their article Will Fly for Food which highlights 29 locations worldwide “to get lost and fed”.
• 2020 – There was a fire at Walker’s Maine in Cape Neddick.
• A new organization called Cooking for Community got underway. It worked with restaurants to buy local food from farms and fisheries to provide meals to those in need. Initially Cooking for Community worked with Chaval and Little Giant to prepare 450 meals for Catholic Charities of Maine, Wayside Food Programs, Amistad and Preble Street.
• Ramona’s launched on April 17th.
• ‪A growing number of restaurants started selling groceries.
• State regulations were revised to allow restaurants to sell takeout cocktails. 20+ establishments immediately set-up to go cocktail options.
• Governor Mills set June 1st as the date when restaurants could re-open.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from March 2010, 2015 and 2020:

• 2010 – Skinny Cart BBQ launched on Washington Ave. The Blueberry Files and Edible Obsessions published reviews of it.
• Tom Yordprom opened his West End coffee shop Yordprom Coffee Company on March 5th.
• Justin McEdward from Bard Coffee competed in the North East Regional Barista Competition.
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Time received a 4 star review from the Press Herald.
• Provisions of a 2009 state law that required wine store tastings to be run “in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children” were revoked.
• 2015 – A Cape Elizabeth high school sophomore named Nat Jordan raised $2,518 on Kickstarter to fund lemonade food cart called LemonCycle (facebook).
• A new iteration of East Ender opened on March 9th, Isa Bistro opened for business on March 19th, The Sinful Kitchen opened for business on March 29th, and Home Catering Company opened on March 31st.
• Several Maine chefs and restaurants were announced as 2015 Beard Awards nominees.
• An underground restaurant known as Caatboxxx was serving excellent food and cocktails from a secret location in East Bayside.
• 2020 – The month of March started off with great momentum for the restaurant industry. Four businesses in Portland, two in South Portland, two in Biddeford and one in Yarmouth were all pushing forward to opening date.
• Five Portland bartenders competed in the Northeast regional Speed Rack competition. Sarah Jackson won the competition and LyAnna Sanabria came in 2nd place.
• Steve and Michelle Corry announced their plans to close Five Fifty-Five in mid-April.
• The Food Network named Biddeford-based Night Moves Bread to their list of the Best Bread Bakeries in America.
• A & C Grocery opened a second location on Clark Street on March 12th.
• Leeward opened their restaurant on March 12th.
• The Covid Pandemic  became a hard reality on Friday March 13th. Restaurants jumped into action with a variety of procedures to address the situation based on what was known about the disease at the time. Within a few days restaurants began the difficult transition to being take-out only businesses.
• Portland Food Map launched The Big Take-out/Delivery List.
• Restaurants engaged in efforts to feed school children and to feed frontline workers, and Maine distilleries began producing hand sanitizer.
• On March 18th the Governor issued an emergency order mandating that all restaurants and bars statewide close to dine-in customers.
• Solo Cucina Market opened for business on March 25th.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from February 2010, 2015 and 2020:

• 2010 – Boda opened for business on February 4th, and Katahdin reopened at their then new space on Forest Ave.
• Portland Food Map published a list of restaurant groups that had more than one location or where the owners ran more than one restaurant.
• A group of food bloggers and journalists began eating their way through (and reviewing) all fourteen Thai restaurants that were then operating in Portland. First up was Sala Thai on Washington Ave. Portland Food Heads, Appetite Portland, the Portland Daily Sun, Edible Obsessions, The Blueberry Files and Where is Jenner’s Mind all participated in this first round.
• Silly’s and Bayou Kitchen tied for first place at the Cajun Cookin’ Challenge.
• The list of the 2010 Beard Awards semifinalists were released with six from Maine.
• The Winter Farmers’ Market debuted. It was located at 85 Free Street in the space now occupied by Leeward.
• 2015 – The Food Network published an eating guide to the Portland area which highlighted Bite into Maine, Blue Rooster, Duckfat, Emilitsa, Eventide, Five Fifty-Five, Lolita, Pai Men Miyake, Small Axe, and The Well in Cape Elizabeth.
• Pete Sueltenfuss opened the Other side Delicatessen on February 5th at 164 Veranda Street.
• Conde Nast Traveller published a Restaurant Guide to Portland which includes: Caiola’s, Empire, Eventide, Holy Donut, Miyake, OhNo Cafe, Petite Jacqueline, Piccolo, Slab, and Zapotecca.
• Sangillo’s closed permanently after 62 years in business after the State of Maine did not renew of their liquor license. The building is now home to Tomaso’s Canteen.
• The Beard Foundation released the 2015 list of awards semifinalists which included seven from Maine.
• 2020 – The Brew Bus has announced a merger with Dave’s Travel and Events from Sydney, Australia.
• The 9-seat Ishi Ishi Ramen opened for business on Friday 7th.
• The Mexican/Salvadoran restaurant called Dos Naciones opened February 15th. It was located at 649 Congress Street in the space that had been occupied by Local Sprouts.
• Chef Bowman Brown announced plans to relocate Elda to Building 19A in the Pepperell Mill Campus in Biddeford. The news also included first mention of what would become the Jackrabbit cafe.
• Azure in Freeport closed after almost 18 years in business.
• The Beard Foundation released their 2020 list of awards semifinalists. That year their were 11 overall including seven in the Best Chef Northeast category.
• Bob’s Clam Hut announced plans to close their Portland location.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from January 2010, 2015 and 2020:

• 2010 – Dual Site, a “psychogeographic dinner theater” took place at Whitney Art Works.
•  Anthony Bourdain was in town filming a Maine episode for No Reservations. He visited J’s Oyster Bar and Street & Co before heading up the coast to Primo and Conte’s and then inland for a meal at Spring Creek Bar-B-Q in Monson.
• Sonny’s opened for business on January 8th.
• The January/February issue of Imbibe magazine include Portland along with Reno, Austin, Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul as key cities in America’s emerging beer scene. Additionally, The Atlantic magazine published an article calling Portland a Craft Beer Heaven.
• Pie in the Sky, a new pizzeria opened on the second floor of the Public Market House by Big Sky Breads, opened for business.
• Several Portland restaurants raised funds for relief efforts in Haiti. The country had been hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake on January 12th.
• 2015 – Peter and Orenda Hale opened a new wine shop on Washington Ave called Maine & Loire.
• Draft magazine included Novare Res in their list of America’s 100 Best Beer Bars.
• Food writer Kate McCarty and Maine Beer Mavens founder Lora Burns started a women’s whiskey club called the Portland Spirit Society.
• Vinland chef/owner David Levi prepared a dinner at the James Beard House in NYC.
• New England Distilling began barrel-aging their first batch of bourbon. The spirit would be bottled in 2017 under the name Tidewalker.
• Eric and Julie Michaud made the decision to rename their business In’finiti to the Liquid Riot Bottling Company.
• Word broke that Steve and Michelle Corry were working on a bakery/cafe called Portland Patisserie at 46 Market Street.
• Full Belly Deli closed after 28 years in business.
• Tiqa opened for business on January 21st.
• MECA launched a Culinary Arts program with classes on topics like food blogging and whole pig butchering.
• Treehouse opened on January 23rd in the space formally occupied by the Cafe at Pat’s.
• 2020 – Noodle Love (now Mainely Noods) opened for business on January 3rd.
• Mission Chinese chef Danny Bowien was at Solo Italiano where he and Solo Italiano’s chef Paolo Laboa prepared an “Italian-Asian fusion menu never-before-seen inside Solo’s walls”.
• Ned Swain, the owner of Devenish Wines, addressed a hearing at the International Trade Commission to speak against the proposal to apply 100% tariffs to European wines imported into the United States.
• 207 Bar & Restaurant opened on January 10th at 337 Cumberland Ave in the building formerly occupied by Maria’s.
• Magnus on Water opened for business in Biddeford on Saturday January 18th.
• Six Maine food producers won Good Food Awards in the categories of beer, coffee, confections, grains, honey and pickles.
• The 5th Annual Chef Summit took place with sessions on publishing cookbooks, open fire cooking and whole animal butchering.
• The Knotted Apron opened January 30th.
• Woodford Food & Beverage’s Courtney Loreg was the first chef featured in our My Kitchen, Their Table interview series.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from December 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• 2009 – Saigon opened for business on Forest Ave on December 7th.
• JP’s Bistro opened for business on December 8th. They’ve since moved to Falmouth and their storefront on Woodford Street is now home to Knotted Apron.
• Market House Coffee and Peanut Butter and Jelly Time both launched on the 2nd floor of the Public Market House. PB & J Time served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as well as breakfast cereal.
• Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appetit included Tu Casa’s enchilada salvadoreña with tongue on his list of best restaurant budget dishes of 2009.
• Coastal Maine Popcorn opened on Exchange Street in December, as did Po’ Boys and Pickles.
• The then new Walter’s opened on Union Street on December 29th. Walter’s was originally located on Exchange Street in the space that’s now home to Off Track Pizza.
• The author of the Type A Diversions announced plans to retire from writing her blog.
• 2014 –Word broke that Two Fat Cats was buying Maine Pie Line. The then owner of Maine Pie Line, Briana Warner, is now the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms.
• Bon Appétit included the Tuna Sandwich at Palace Diner in their list of the Best Meals of 2014.
• Maine Craft Distilling launched a tasting room/mixology shop in Freeport.
• Business Insider included Bard Coffee in their list of the 50 Coolest New Businesses In America.
• 2019 – The Maine Sunday Telegram examined whether the Portland restaurant industry is a bubble about to burst.
• Maria’s reopened at their new location on outer Congress Street in December 2019.
• Josh Miranda shared details on Via Vecchia which was then under construction on Dana Street.
• John and Tanya Lowell began the process of buying Andy’s Old Port Pub.
• Bon Appetit included Izakaya Minato on their list of the 24 Restaurants We Couldn’t Stop Talking About in 2019.
• Word was out that Randy and Ally Forrester were planning to locate Radici at 52 Washington Ave.
• Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz, and Don Lindgren shared the news that they were working on the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook. They’ve since gone on to publish a 2nd volume of the local foods cookbook.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s some notable news from November 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• James and Andre Tranchemontagne launched their new multi-roaster coffee shop, The French Press Eatery, in Westbrook and construction got under way for Yordprom Coffee in the West End.
• The 3rd Annual Portland Beer Week took place in  November 1-7, 2014.
• James Schwartz became the new Maine Sunday Telegram restaurant critic and for his first article reviewed the dinner service at Artemisia Cafe.
• Dutch’s opened for business on November 11, 2014.
• Frank Anderson and Rebecca Ambrosi launched a dinner series called The Hunter’s Bend.
• Northspore launched as a mushroom CSA.
• Oxbow Brewing opened their tasting room on Washington Ave. Word also broke in November of 2014 that a new wine shop called Maine & Loire was slated to open just a few doors down. The opening of Oxbow, Maine & Loire and also Terlingua in 2014 and 2015 were early milestones in the development of the inner Washington Ave we enjoy today.
• Angello Ciocca and chef William D’Auvray launched Ebb & Flow at 100 Commercial Street in the space that’s been the home of Solo Italiano since 2016.
• Maine Shrimp season was cancelled for a second year.
• The Salt Exchange closed.
• The organizers of the excellent Pocket Brunch series in collaboration with the Maine Brewers Guild and Down East held a game dinner called Pocket Feast.
• The Portland Food Co-op opened on November 19, 2014.
• Bartender Paul Russell took steps to establish a Portland chapter of the US Bartenders Guild.
• In November 2019, Food & Wine magazine recognized Little Woodfords as one of the Best Coffee Shops in America.
• Cocktail Mary, Uncharted Tea, Anoche and Nura all opened for business in November 2019.
• Chef Ryan Hickman took over the former JP’s Bistro space with plans to open a new restaurant called The Knotted Apron.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from October 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Shima opened for business on October 2nd in 2009 in the space in Boothby Square that’s now the home of Mami.
• Binga’s Stadium held their grand opening on October 8th.
• Dawn Hagin launched her food blog (remember those!) called Appetite Portland. These days you can follow her world travels through her instagram account WayfarerDawn.
• Veranda Noodle Bar opened for business on October 12th.
• Word was out that the owners of Bangkok Thai were going to convert the Longfellow Square restaurant into a “a new Asian fusion eatery similar in some respects to their other Congress Street restaurant, the Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro” called Boda.
• Lindsey Sterling wrote about learning how to prepare Bulgarian Bean Soup & Spanikopita from Svetla Popova for her blog Inside Immigrant Kitchens.
• Stephen Lanzalotta launched The Baker’s Gallery on Market Street. It served as a gallery for his art and a retail space for his Italian pastries and cookies.
• Rachel’s L’Osteria closed their Woodford Street restaurant.
• Chef James Tranchemontagne and members of his family began planning to launch a multi-roaster coffee shop and cafe in Westbrook called The French Press Eatery.
• Bramhall held their grand opening on October 9, 2014.
• A new restaurant that we now know as Isa Bistro was under development on Portland Street.
• The Muthah Truckah food truck launched on October 6th.
• We all learned that the owners of Eventide and Hugo’s were working on a new restaurant called The Honey Paw that promised to be a “non-denominational noodle restaurant.”
• Bao Bao opened on October 21st.
• Briana Warner shut down her business Maine Pie Line, and went on to a roll at the Island Institute. These days she’s the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms.
• A lot of changes were taking place in the landscape of Italian restaurants in 2019.
• Flying Fox Juice Bar closed on Washington Ave, and news broke that the space was going to become the home of a new restaurant being launched by Josh Sobel and Chad Conley. The name and concept were TBD at the time but we now know it was slated to become Ramona’s.
• Candy’s, a coffee shop, bar, cafe and queer community hub, opened for business on Portland Street.
• The 6th Annual Heirloom Apple Tasting took place. It brought under one roof 213 apples varieties gathered from 21 orchards in 4 states. The event featured New England ciders from Bent Bough, Rocky Ground, Cornish and Citizen and heirloom apple-based dishes by Ilma Lopez at Chaval, Josh Berry at Union and Krista Kern Desjarlais at The Purple House. The apple tasting took place at The Oyster Shop on Washington Ave and the following week was reprised at the Blaine House in Augusta.
• Pliny and Melanie Reynolds leased the former Silly’s buildings on Washington Ave with plans to move their restaurant Terlingua to that location.
• The ownrs of the food truck Falafel Mafia leased 1 Monument Way where they began the development of their restaurant Nura.
• A emerging topic of discussion was that lack of staff was becoming a challenge for hospitality businesses.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from September 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Geo’s Patisserie on Forest Ave closed in 2009, as did Barava on Congress St.
• Julia Moskin penned an article for the New York Times about the Portland food scene, “In the last decade, Portland has undergone a controlled fermentation for culinary ideas combining young chefs in a hard climate with few rules, no European tradition to answer to, and relatively low economic pressure and has become one of the best places to eat in the Northeast.”
• A company called Ocean Approved received a lease to farm kelp in Casco Bay.
• As a result of the NYT article Rabelais started getting calls for reservations from people who had mistaken the bookstore for a restaurant.
• Gourmet magazine included Fore Street in a national list of 125 restaurants “you can trust to provide exceptional food and a memorable experience every single time”.
• Peace Food Market opened for business.
• The popular Congress Street bar The White Heart closed in 2014. The space eventually would become the home of Nosh.
• Arcadia opened for business at their original location on Preble Street, Dean’s Sweets on Fore Street and Golden Lotus opened, Sur Lie opened on Free Street, and so did Huong’s Vietnamese Restaurant on Saint John Street. The email newsletter Eat Drink Lucky launched in 2014.
• The owners of Piccolo celebrated the first anniversary of the restaurant with a 20-course feast.
• The Pepperclub closed in September 2014 and Sangillo’s filed an appeal of in the denial of their liquor license renewal.
• Nathaniel Meiklejohn opened his Arts District cocktail bar The Jewel Box.
• Sticky Sweet opened their plant-based ice cream shop on Cumberland Ave in 2019.
• Word broke that Maria’s Ristorante was planning move into the Espo’s space at 1335 Congress Street.
• Mast Landing expanded into a 20,000 square foot space in Westbrook.
• Word broke that Randy and Ally Forrester were moving to Portland to open what would become Radici.
• JP’s Bistro owner John Paul Gagnon made the decision to move his restaurant from Woodford Street in Portland to Falmouth.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from August 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• In 2009 Bon Appétit named Portland the Foodiest Small Town in America.
• The Press Herald reported on restaurant’s use of a new social media platform called Twitter.
• Mainebiz took a look at the claim that Portland has “highest or second highest number of restaurants per capita behind San Francisco.”
• A new Maine law required wine tastings to “be conducted in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children.”
• In 2014 word broke that chefs Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, founders of the former Arrows in Ogunquit, were going to headline a restaurant in the new Press Hotel.
• The Portland Phoenix published a set of reviews of Vena’s Fizz House written by young students taking a food writing workshop put on by The Telling Room.
• Deen Haleem and Carol Mitchell leased the 7,000 sq ft space in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel with plans to open a restaurant called Tiqa.
• Bon Appétit selected Central Provisions and Palace Diner for their 2014 list of the Best New Restaurants in America. Central Provisions would go on to be recognized as #6 on the Top Ten list and Hunt & Alpine was named one of the five Best New Cocktail Bars in America.
• A new local market called Farm Stand opened at 161 Ocean Street in South Portland. It was a collaboration between Farmers Gate butcher shop in Wales and Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth. The space would later become Solo Cucina Market which closed in 2023.
• Ten Ten Pie opened for business. It was located in the building on Cumberland Ave that’s now home to Banh Appetit. Atsuko Fujimoto was the chef at Ten Ten Pie.
• O’Maine Studios began construction of a media kitchen at their location on Danforth Street.
• Dobra Tea announced plans to move to Exchange Street from their original location on Middle Street.
• Renovation of the former Down Home Cookin’ space got underway to open the restaurant we know as Dutch’s.
• Zagat included Blue Rooster, Central Provisions, Duckfat, Eventide, Fore Street, Hunt & Alpine, Lolita, Piccolo, Slab, Timber, and Vinland in their list of the Ten Hotest Restaurants in Portland.
• Lindsay Sterling learned how to make Russian Beef Tongue from Yulia Converse and Alla Zagoruyko for the latest article on her website Immigrant Kitchens.
• Uncle Andy’s Diner in South Portland was featured in an episode of Restaurant Impossible. The diner closed in 2020.
• Tandem Bakery opened on Congress Street.
•  Father and son team of Katsuaki and Cory Suzuki began construction of Ramen Suzukiya, and Natalie DiBenedetto began development of her West End takeout restaurant that would eventually be known as Figgy’s.
• The inaugural Maine Seaweed Festival took place.
• In 2019, Po’ Boys and Pickles opened a second location on Federal Street in the Old Port, the Cider House opened on Brackett Street, a new food cart called Chula Elotes launched, and the Brighton Ave location of Crooked Mile Cafe opened,
• The Food Coma podcast featured an interview with Andrew Knowlton.
• Word broke that Helm was under development in the WEX building on Thames Street, as did news that Uncharted Tea was going to be located near Longfellow Square.
• Erica Asimov wrote an article for the New York Times about the Maine blueberry wine producer Bluet.
• Conde Nast Traveler published a set of travel guides to Portland.
• The owners of Lolita announced plans to close the Munjoy Hill restaurant in early September, and Colleen Kelley shared plans to close the Silly’s restaurant on September 1st, and Brian Boru closed at the end of August.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from July 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Grace and The Corner Room both launched on July 2nd 2009.
• O’Naturals closed. They were located on Exchange Street in the space now occupied by Black Cow.
• Owners Cheryl and Jeff Buerhaus began the process of moving Walter’s to Union Street.
• Sara Lemieux and Kellen Tucker opened an ice cream shop from the then Bonobo takeout window.
• Portland & Rochester closed in 2014. They were located in the space now occupied by Coals.
• Work got underway to open the Oxbow Brewing location on Washington Ave.
• El Rayo opened their new restaurant in Scarborough.
• Maps Cafe opened for business on July 17, 2014.
• Andrew Zimmern shared his 10 of his favorite dishes in Portland with the readers of Food & Wine.
• For the 60th anniversary issue in 2014, Down East magazine intensively searched the state for the best lobster rolls. Their conclusion was the the roll from Greet’s Eats on Vinalhaven had the state’s best.
• The first issue of Zest magazine was published.
• Construction of Sur Lie got under way on Free Street.
• Gross Confection Bar launched their breakfast bakery in 2019.
• Three of Strong opened their distillery tasting room and bar.
• Dean’s Sweets opened their location in East Bayside.
• Press Herald published restaurant critic Andrew Ross’ list of the 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland in 2019.
• The food truck Maine Maple Creemee launched.
• The Garrison opened for business.
• Word broke that a new restaurant called Leeward was under development on Free Street.