Category: Openings

Flatiron Coffee Bar (website, instagram) is set to open this morning, Friday July 25th at 7:30 am. The 12-seat coffee bar and gallery space is located in the Hay Building in the space formerly occupied by Starbucks.

Owner Gary Perlmutter’s vision for Flatiron is as a counter-service European-style coffee bar. In addition to espresso-based drinks, Flatiron will serve drip coffee, cold brew, chai lattes, espresso tonics, lemonade (see menu below). Flatiron is sourcing coffee from Claw Coffee Roasters in Scarborough and Lay Day Roasters in Bayside. The croissants and cardamom buns served at Flatiron are coming from Belleville and other baked goods are from Little Spruce Baking Company. Additionally, Flatiron will be serving gelato from Gorgeous Gelato.

Perlmutter and his wife Rhonda Pearle own and operate the Pearl Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Hay Building where they exhibit their own work as well as work by other artists. The first artist to have their work featured at Flatiron is Jean Leibowitz Wiecha.

Flatiron Coffee is located at 594 Congress Street and will be open 7:30 am – 3 pm.

[menu photo??]

Here’s a first look at the Dry Dock (website, instagram) restaurant which will be opening for business this Saturday at 11 am. The newly renovated restaurant can seat 145 across the 2-story dining room, with space for another 155 people on the deck. Shown above are the second floor dining room (bottom right) and high top tables adjacent to the first floor bar (top left).

Chef Mike Carney and his team are serving a menu (see below) featuring seafood dishes like broiled haddock with potatoes and green beans (top right) as well as chowder, mussels, steamed clams, and lobster rolls. In addition to oysters, the raw bar offers lobster tails, crab, ceviche and tuna crudo along with a nightly seafood specials like a crab louie and a fluke and halibut salad with horseradish and trout roe (bottom left) shown above. The drinks menu include wines by the glass and a bottle list, local and national brand beer, cocktails, and nonalcoholic drink options.

A fixture on the Portland waterfront since it first launched in 1983, the restaurant had remained dormant since 2018. A new team comprised of Luke Holden, Ben Conniff, Bryan Holden—co-owners of Luke’s Lobster—leased the building last fall and with general manager Matt Ginn have renovated and expanded the restaurant to ready it to reopen to the public.

Dry Dock is located at 84 Commercial Street. It will be open 11 am – 10 pm daily and initially operate on a walk-in only basis.

The Garden Bar (website, facebook, instagram) has opened their new South Portland location at 173 Ocean Street. It’s located in the storefront formerly occupied by Cafe Louis in Knightville. The renovated cafe has table seating for 14 with an addition 6 counter seats. They’ll be open daily 11 am – 7:30 pm.

Owner Lanai Monahan and her team serve made to order salads and bowls. They have twelve signature combinations—the Santa Fe is shown above—or customers can select from dozens of ingredients to make a custom combo. They also sell cold pressed juices, chips and cookies.

The Garden Bar launched in Biddeford on May 6, 2023. Monahan plans to continue expanding her business, and is now searching for opportunities to locate a third Garden Bar in Southern New Hampshire.

Barkada (website, instagram), launched their food truck on Friday in Deering Oaks Park. They’re serving a menu of tofu, pork and beef bowls served over garlic rice or greens. Shown above is the Lechon rice bowl with cherry tomatoes, cucumber salad, pickled onions and a grilled pepper.

Chefs Nicole and Ben Bowers and business partners Margaret and Luka Dow are also working on opening a brick and mortar restaurant later this year.

A new bar called Wharf Street Yacht Club (instagram) recently opened in the Old Port. The nautical themed bar is located at 43 Wharf Street in the space formerly occupied by Hot Liquor Tank and before that by Drink Exchange.

Owner Zack Bodkin and his team are serving a menu of draft beer, cocktails, soup, salad, sandwiches and snacks. Wharf Street Yacht Club is open Wednesday through Sunday, 5 pm – 1 am.

Here’s some Portland food truck news:

Chef Chung Heng Liu has relaunched her food truck Liu Bian Tan (instagram). Liu serves a menu of Taiwanese food including Nite Market noodles, scallion rolls, and egg crepes. LBT (top two photos) can be found at Twin Swirls at 865 Brighton Ave. The food truck is open Wednesday through Saturday, 9 am – 1 pm and Sunday noon – 7 pm. Stop by on Sunday for an expanded menu that includes some brunch options like fried chicken.

A new Filipino food truck called Barkada (website, instagram) is set to launch in July. They plan to be operating at a variety of locations in Portland on Fridays and Saturday. As reported back in March, the owners of Barkada are also working to launch a Filipino restaurant on Pearl Street later this year. Watch for Barkada on July 4th when they’ll be located at Austin Street Brewery in East Bayside.

The bakery team from the Prentice Hospitality Group has launched Not a Bakery (website, instagram). You can find them (bottom two photos) near Twelve along with the Bard coffee truck Thursday through Saturday 8 am – 2 pm. Today’s menu included a variety of croissants, sausage rolls, rhubarb hand pies, morning buns, and lemon poppyseed cake. On Sundays they’re at Austin Street’s tasting room on Fox Street for brunch.

Luncheonette (website, instagram) is set to open on Thursday. The new cafe is located at 147 Cumberland Ave in the space formerly occupied by Union Bagel Company. They’ll be open Thursday through Monday, 8 am – 2 pm.

As you can see from the menu and photos, Luncheonette serves sandwiches, salads, baked goods and dishes like squid escabeche and braised beans. They have coffee and tea as well as kombucha, wine and beer. Shown above is a slice of their blueberry pie, a roast pork sandwich with a side of the cabbage “Caesar” salad, and the savory bun which is made with a broccoli rabe and hazelnut pesto. The cafe has seating for 14 inside and also a sunny 20-seat patio located behind the building.

Luncheonette is being launched by Angela Lee and Alex LeBlanc. They moved to Portland from New York earlier this year. For LeBlanc who grew up in South Portland it’s a return home. Lee’s culinary career started in NYC baking at Petee’s Pie Co from there she went on to work as a whole animal butcher at Meat Hook and as a fish butcher at Osakana. LeBlanc’s most recent position was as the sous chef at Sailor in Brooklyn, and previously was the chef de cuisine at Gus’s. When he last lived in Portland, LeBlanc had worked for Abby Harmon at Caiola’s and for Matt Ginn at Evo Kitchen + Bar.