Category: Openings

Here’s a look at two of the food trucks that have launched in Portland this year.

The Toku Truck (website, instagram, order online) was launched in early June by chef/owner Felicia Dumont. Dumont previously ran Harvest Bar in Bethel and since moving to Portland has worked at The Shop. When you go, be sure to try the delicious roasted veggie sandwich (shown here topped with blackened shrimp). The name of business is a reference to Dumont’s family heritage and means wave in the Passamaquoddy language. You can find the Toku Truck at 82 Parris Street in West Bayside. They’re open Tuesday through Saturday, 8 am – 3 pm.

Vendredi’s (website, instagram) is operated by Matt Lair with Michael Irish. Their burgers are gaining some ardent fans which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise once you learn that Lair worked for acclaimed Chicago burger restaurant Au Cheval prior to moving to Portland. Vendredi’s is open today 4 – 11 pm. They’ll be launching a new Sunday brunch service this weekend 11 am – 4 pm with coffee from the Side by Side (website, instagram) cart. Vendredi’s is located at Oxbow on Washington Ave.

A  new fish and chips shop called Lil Chippy (website, instagram) opened for business on Friday. They’re located at 52 Washington Ave in the space formerly occupied by Radici (and before that Terlingua). The restaurant will be open Wednesday through Sunday, noon – 8 pm.

Owners Ashley Wolf and William Durst have lightly renovated the space. In addition to bar and table seating there are three sidewalk picnic tables for outdoor seating.

Fish and chips is the signature dish on the menu (see below). Durst and Wolf are also serving a variety of buddy sandwiches, salads and crudos, sides, and a selection of wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

Wolf was previously the GM of Liquid Riot and when the couple lived in Vermont she was the GM at Hen of the Woods in Waterbury. Durst also worked at Hen of the Woods, and was the original chef at Bistro Leluco is South Portland when it opened in 2023.

 

Mainebiz reports that a new bubble tea shop called Bubble Bliss has opened at 23 Temple Street. It’s located in the space formerly occupied by Old Port Nutrition.

Bubble Bliss offers 23 varieties of bubble tea, including strawberry, brown sugar, taro and vanilla chai. The teas are made with real milk, not milk powders, which gives the drink a richer and creamier taste.

The cafe will also offer refreshers, flavored iced Red Bull drinks and hot tea. 

Thames Landing (website, instagram) is set to open in early July. The restaurant is located in the space formerly occupied by Helm at 60 Thames Street in the first floor of the WEX building.

The dinner menu (see below) includes appetizers like salt cod croquettes, mussels and deviled eggs, a variety of salads and dinner entrees that range from lobster rolls and smashed burgers to lobster dinners and NY strip steaks. The lunch menu slots in some sandwiches in place of larger entrees, and the brunch menu offers some dishes like eggs benedict and French toast.

Thames Landing is being launched by owners Mark and Renae Roy who also operate Navis Cafe. Kristen Smedberg is joining the Thames Landing team as the head chef. She’s was most recently the sous chef at Isa Bistro. David Lacy will be the Thames Landing bartender. Lacy was previously a veteran member of the bar staff at Fore Street.

The Roys have made some changes to the layout of the dining room to open up the entrance area and replace the banquette with table seating. The bar area and private dining room remain in place and the Roys will be launching an expanded outdoor seating area.

Thames Landing will initially open on July 3rd and will hold a grand opening on July 10th. It will be open Monday and Wednesday through Friday 11 am – 9 pm and Saturday/Sunday 10 am – 9 pm.

The Roys are hiring to fill a few last positions at Thames Landing. Visit thames-landing.com for more information and to apply.

Low Stakes Lodge (instagram) will be opening for business on Thursday. The new steakhouse is located at 106 Exchange Street in the space adjacent to Highroller.  The restaurant includes a 13-seat bar, booth seating and upper dining area with a capacity of about 70 overall.

Owners Andy Gerry, Baxter Key, and Peter Bissell—the owners of The Highroller Lobster Company—drew inspiration from traditional steakhouse design and blended it with Maine history and some twists from the owners’ memories of the Bugaboo Creek chain.

The menu (see below) will include prime Rib Eye (shown above), Filet Mignon, New York Strip, and Bavette as well as pork chops, a burger and some other entrees. A Bloomin’ Onion, Wedge Salad and French Onion Soup are among the appetizers. Classic and house cocktails (see below), draft beer and wines by the glass and bottle are available to drink.

Low Stakes Lodge will be open this Thursday through Sunday starting at 5 pm. They’ll be closed the week of the Fourth of July and then hold their grand opening on July 11th. When you go check out the animatronic moose head in the dining room named Moosifer and the mounted Big Mouth Billy Bass in the bathroom that sings Don’t Worry Be Happy and Take Me to the River.

 

Owners Chris Gamble and Jason Kroot are opening the new Blue Lobster Urban Winery (website, facebook,  instagram) tasting room today. The tasting room serves Blue Lobster wines and cider as well as beer, cocktails, mocktails and other non-alcoholic drinks. See below for their full menu.

Blue Lobster will initially be open Monday through Thursday 2 – 7 pm, Friday 2 – 8 pm, Saturday noon – 8 pm and Sunday noon – 6 pm.

BLUW was founded in 2017 and for the last 7 years has been located in the Rockingham Electric building just down the road at 219 Anderson Street. Both the production facility and the tasting room are now relocated to 200 Anderson Street.

Stonewall Kitchen (website, facebook, instagram) opened their new retail shop today. It’s located at 215 Commercial Street and will be open Monday through Saturday 10 am – 7 pm and Sundays 10 am – 6 pm.

The former Stonewall Kitchen shop had been located on Middle Street across from Bard Coffee. They moved out in early 2022 to make way for the construction about to commence in the building.

Bar Publica (website, facebook, instagram) opened for business on Saturday. The bar, kitchen and nightlife spot is in West Bayside located in between Wilson County Barbecue and Argenta Brewing on Hanover Street.

As you can see from the menu below, bar manager Dustin Williams and chef Jordi Harper are serving a pan-Latin American menu of food and cocktails. Shown above (bottom right) is a mezcal-based Grapefruit Negroni and the Salchipapa, a dish of roast potatoes topped with house-made chorizo, pork, queso fresco, blistered corn, garlic sauce and aji.

The bar and dining area can seat up to 65 people. There’s also rooftop and ground floor outdoor seating areas.

Bar Publica will be opening this week on Wednesday through Friday, 4 pm – 1 am, and they hope to expand the hours this weekend to be from noon to 1 am. Once they get underway, Bar Publica plans to be open seven days a week. Friday and Saturday night (10 pm onward) there will be a DJ and the dining room will transform into a dance floor (upper right photo). The kitchen closes at 10 pm each night.

Bar Publica was launched by Wilson County co-owner Spencer Brantley along with business partners David Kelley and Ciaran Sheenhan who are the founders of Ri Ra.

Another Round (website, instagram) is set to open on Friday,  8 am – 9 pm. The board game bar and cafe is located at 549 Congress Street in the storefront between Nosh and Regards.

Owner Harry Sultan has around 125 different board games available to play which Sultan hopes means he’ll have something for just about everyone with games for people playing in groups, in pairs and solo. Another Round has classics like Monopoly and Uno, games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride as well as perhaps less well known ones like Brass Birmingham, Wingspan and Azul.

The space has a mix of table and banquet seating in the front side of the shop and a bar area and lounge seating towards the back where the counter service cafe is located. The drinks menu includes brewed and espresso-based coffee drinks featuring Onyx Coffee, hot and iced tea featuring Little Red Cup, beer, and cocktails with a selection of non-alcoholic drinks.

After their opening day Another Round will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 8 am – 9 pm.

Pot + Pan Kitchen (website, facebook, instagram) will be opening their new retail store on June 15th, 10 am – 7 pm. They’re located in Woodfords Corner at 646 Forest Ave.

The Pot + Pan shop will sell their house made line of low dose culinary cannabis edibles as well as kitchenware and party goods. The bakery will feature baked goods like their mini bundt cakes as well as chocolate bars, bonbons, and gummies prepared by chef Tara Cannaday.

Pot + Pan was founded in 2015. Cannaday appeared on season 2 of the Food Network’s Summer Baking Championship, was profiled in Forbes and is the cannabis writer for Edible Maine.