Category: Openings

Barkada to Open Saturday

| Posted in Openings

Barkada (website, instagram) is opening for business on Saturday May 30th. The new Filipino fast casual restaurant is located at 425 Fore Street in the space formerly occupied by Paper Tiger. It will be open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am – 9 pm and until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Chefs Nicole and Ben Bowers and business partners Margaret and Luka Dow are serving a menu house designed bowls like the Spicy Baddie shown above as well as a Build Your Own option where customers select a base of grain or greens, a protein, toppings and sauce. Lumpia rolls and a noodle dish called pancit are available as sides.  In addition to soft drinks Barkada also serves an ube pina colada slush, and Singha, Tsingtao and Sapporo beer.

Nicole and Ben Bowers are the chefs for Barkada. Nicole Bowers is originally from the Philippines. She and Ben Bowers met while attending the Institute of Culinary Education in NY. They’ve worked in Michelin-starred restaurants including for Daniel Boulud. Prior to moving to Maine they worked as private chefs in Florida. The Dows also have a background in the hospitality industry including operating a cafe in Boston and in food distribution.

Barkada initially launched as a food truck late last June.

Cocktail Mary on Market Street

| Posted in Openings

Isaac MacDougal has announced he’s relaunching Cocktail Mary (instagram). It will now be located at 30 Market Street on the third floor of the building above Oun Lido’s. Cocktail Mary will initially be open Fridays and Saturdays at 9 pm. In June MacDougal expect to expand the hours of operation to Thursday through Saturday, 5 pm – 1 am.

In an interview with the Press Herald, MacDougal shared,

“One of the thing that’s important about having queer spaces is the broader community coming in and experiencing queer joy,” he said. “I don’t want to be a gatekeeper. I want everyone to feel comfortable coming in and being a part of what we’re building here.”

Cocktail Mary first launched at 229 Congress Street in 2019 and MacDougal closed that location in January 2025.

Chérie Opens Thursday

| Posted in Openings

Chefs Melody Medina and Quinn Williams are launching Chérie (instagram) on Thursday. Chérie is located at 249 Congress Street in the space formerly occupied by Quanto Basta.

The menu (see below)  includes dishes like steak frites (shown above), roast chicken, and halibut with tarbais beans as well as desserts like creme brulee and strawberry sorbet (shown above). Chérie also features a full bar program run by Lucie Anderson. The beverage menu includes wines by the glass and bottle, local beer and cider, appertifs and a cocktail program as well as non-alcoholic options. The Chérie Negroni as well as the asparagus and snap pea salad, and the leek vinaigrette are shown above.

Williams and Medina have made some light renovations to the 20-seat dining room but otherwise retain the same general layout—including the Fiero Forni oven. Cherie also has a 20-seat enclosed patio located behind the building.

The couple moved to Portland from Brooklyn in 2024. They met when both were working at Frenchette New York City. Medina is a 2011 graduate of the French Culinary Institute and helped launch the bread program at Frenchette and open the Frenchette Bakery in Tribeca. Williams’ career began in his hometown of Pittsburgh and once in NYC worked at Le Rock and Lords. Since last fall they have been holding a series of Cherie pop-up events at Lambs, Hunt & Alpine and the Big Tree event space.

Chérie will initially be open Thursday through Monday, 5 – 10 pm with plans to expand hours this summer to offer lunch and brunch on the weekend.

Bold Coast Spirits – Marine 01

| Posted in Openings, Distilling & Cocktails

Bold Coast Spirits (website, instagram) is launching the first batch of Marine 01 today. It is an “oyster shell vodka” that is being produced and bottled by Artisan Distillery in Oxford, Maine by co-founders Jay Lombard and Stuart Littlefield. Lombard shared,

Marine 01 is built around texture and coastal mineral character. When the spirit rests on the shells, the calcium and natural tannins in the shell slowly work into the vodka, building structure and a distinctly coastal minerality. The result is a vodka with a soft, rounded palate and a finish that holds up in a dirty martini, a Bloody Mary, or any savory build where balance matters.

The vodka is produced by resting the spirits on cracked Maine oyster shells sourced from Nor’Easter Oyster Company. It is the first product in Bold Coast’s Marine series, “a collection of small-batch spirits built around ingredients sourced from Maine’s coast.”

Four local bars and restaurants will be having special cocktails on their menu featuring Marine 01 including Douro, The Marquis, Magnus on Water in Biddeford, and Salty Spirits in Kittery, with bottles available at Bow Street Beverage, Oak Hill Beverage in Scarborough and other retailers.

Photo Credit: photograph courtesy of Bold Coast Spirits and taken by Evan Kalman with food styling by Sheila Jarnes.

Ladyfish Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Ladyfish (website, instagram) opened for business on Wednesday. The new restaurant has been launched in former Bar Futo space on Fore Street by the owners of Mr. Tuna. It’s a pop-up restaurant that will be in operation May through October. Reservations are available on OpenTable.

The kitchen is being headlined by chef Christine Lau. The menu (see below) includes dishes like steamed buns with uni butter (top right), crispy noodles alle vongole (top left), tuna carpaccio (center right), fragrant eggplant dip (bottom left) and key lime hand pies for dessert. The bar menu includes cocktails like the South End and North Country drinks shown above, wine, beer, vermouth and nonalcoholic beverages.

Lau was the executive chef at Kimika which was a Beard Awards semifinalists for Best New Restaurant in 2022. Her press accolades include an Eater NYC Best Dishes of 2020 nod, Condé Nast Traveler’s 2021 Hot List for Best New Restaurants, and Food & Wine magazine’s Best Bites of 2021.

Jordan and Marisa Rubin launched the Mr. Tuna food cart in 2017 and the Mr. Tuna restaurant on Middle Street in 2024. With partners Cyle Reynolds and Sasha Brouillard the Rubins launched Crispy Gai on Exchange Street in 2021. Last year Rubin was named to the 2025 class of Best New Chefs by Food & Wine magazine.

Ladyfish is located at 425 Fore Street and will be open daily, 5 – 10 pm.

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”.

Mourning Cloak Now Open

| Posted in Openings

Mourning Cloak (instagram) is holding their grand opening today. The counter service bakery is located at 122 Washington Ave and will be open daily 7 am – 4 pm selling a variety of baked goods and breakfast and lunch items.

The Mourning Cloak menu (today’s menu below) includes breakfast baked goods like cardamon buns, vegan cinnamon rolls (shown above) and blueberry muffins as well a variety of breakfast sandwiches and biscuits like a dulse biscuit with radishes and ramp butter (a Maine Seaweed Week special). Fans of Aurora Provisions will be happy to know that the former cafe’s raspberry scones are on the daily menu at being prepared by baker Bob Cameron. Lunch options will include focaccia pizzas, a daily special grain bowls (today’s omnivore bowl features kimchi, chicken thighs and parsnip) and a salad of the day. Mourning Cloak has brewed coffee and a full line-up of espresso-based drinks made with beans from Karma Coffee. The seasonal signature drink is a cherry blossom latte (shown above). Treats like cookies, brownies and a carrot parsnip cake (shown above) are also available.

Owner Will Justice is also renovating the main dining room at 122 Washington Ave where he plans to launch a restaurant called Sweetfern Geometer (instagram) this summer.

Justice began his career in hospitality running an underground catering operation in California as an offshoot of his work in the publishing industry. The side venture to provide food for book events eventually became center stage in his career. He went on to launch a farm-to-table restaurant and bookstore/coffee shop in Kansas, before moving to NYC where he was the chef and co-owner Tannat Wine & Cheese.