Category: Openings

A new food service has launched in the Old Port. Veebie (website, facebook, instagram) partners with local restaurants to handle online ordering and distribution of a set menu each day. Think of it like a modern day automat.

To use the service, customers order and pay for their meal on veebie.me (menus go live at 9am) and then pick up one of the premade dishes out of the “cubbies” assigned to them at the time of purchase. The kiosk is located in front of the Nickelodeon Theater.

The current version of Veebie is a prototype without locking compartments so an attendant is in place to help out. Future versions of Veebie will have digitally controlled locks and the option for both hot and cold meals.

The current list of restaurants working with Veebie are: Daily Greens, Union Kitchen, Sisters Gourmet Deli, B Good, and Foodworks.

Maine Wraps has opened their new location at 431 Congress Street. This marks a return to Portland for Mainely Wraps which had previously operated a sandwich shop in Boothby Square.

Higher Grounds (website, facebook, instagram) is now open. The new coffee shop and apothecary is located at 45 Wharf street.

Higher Grounds serves coffee from Speckled Ax.

The Scratch Toast Bar opened on Friday at 205 Broadway in South Portland. Here’s a look at their menu.

MaineToday.com has posted a first look at Scratch Baking’s new Toast Bar in South Portland.

The doors opened on Friday, Oct. 6 and I paid a visit the next morning to what was already a bustling location. Coffee by Design cofffee was on the ready, the space is bright and airy and yep, there were plenty of bagels to be had with various toppings along with English muffins and entire loaves you could take home. The buzz has been strong about this opening because fans of the Scratch finally have a place to plunk down and enjoy bagels.

Eater Boston has posted a report on the new Eventide in Boston.

On the menu at Eventide Fenway, aside from the lobster roll, there are oysters, of course — a mix of Maine and Massachusetts types, served by the half dozen and dozen alongside a choice of two accoutrements, from red wine mignonette to pickled red onion ice. There are crudos and tartares on the cold side, while hot dishes include a green curry lobster stew, fish sandwich, and clam chowder. On the side, nori-dusted potato chips and more.

Blue Lobster Wine Company (facebook, website, instagram) launched earlier this month. The”urban winery” import wine and packages it in kegs for service at restaurants as well as in cans for retail sales.

We are Blue Lobster Wine Company, a small urban winery in Portland, Maine. We’re dedicated to bringing exceptional small batch wines to you from wineries from all over in convenient go-anywhere cans and also on tap in restaurants starting summer 2017. We are excited to announce the first release of our Rose and Bayside Blend. Why cans and kegs? Convenient, sustainable, economical and little waste. Stay tuned for the the next two beautiful wines coming soon – Unoaked Chardonnay and Zinfandel.

Blue Lobster wine is available at Bayside Bowl and Taco Trio. Cans are for sale at the Bier Cellar, The Farm Stand and The Honey Exchange.

A new food truck called Nom Bai (instagram, facebook) launched over the weekend. They serve a menu of “Cambodian and Vietnamese street food”. Sovanna Neang is managing Nom Bai in collaboration with Matthew Glatz from Saltbox Cafe who owns the truck.

Nom Bai plans to be on Spring Street 11-3 today and tomorrow, and on the Eastern Prom on Sunday, 11-3.

MaineBiz has published an article about Bruno’s Pasta Company.

Napolitano, the general manager of Bruno’s Restaurant and Tavern, bought the extruder — a machine that makes rounded and hollow pasta — for a few hundred dollars. That purchase spurred the idea and now new state-of-the-art equipment imported from Italy is making ravioli by the batch in the Bruno Pasta Co.’s new commercial kitchen on Read Street in Portland.

Nonesuch River Brewing (website, facebook) opened their “craft brewery + seasonally inspired restaurant” in Scarborough on Thursday. They’re open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.