gBritt PR has sent out a release announcing the launch of Maine Craft Distilling. Maine Craft Distilling’s current product line includes Alchemy Gin , Ration Rum , and Black Cap Vodka. As soon as they clear final approval they will also have 50 Stone Whiskey, a blueberry moonshine, QueeQueg Spiced Rum and Chesuncook Botanical Gin.
Their tasting room and production facility is located at 101 Fox Street in East Bayside.
See this PFM news item from December for more info.
Hugo’s has announced that they’re reopening for dinner as of this evening. From the release,
In renovating, our aim was to strip the space down to its roots, exposing the building’s early 19th century original tin ceiling and brick and mortar walls. We’ve entirely changed the floor plan with an open kitchen, plush booth seating, and a sprawling, wooden bar that offers diners a close up view of the inner workings of the Hugo’s kitchen.
While our kitchen remains committed to the creativity and attention to detail that has garnered Hugo’s it’s national acclaim, we are making some exciting changes: an intensified focus on local meats, seafood and foraged goods, a revamped menu format, single origin coffee’s from local roasters Tandem, and look out for large format shared meal specials.
Bourbon Portland Beer Politics has posted a set of photos taken by Zach Bowen of the newly renovated space.
Update: for details on the new menu and more pictures see this report on Maine a la Carte.
Wannawaf (website, facebook, twitter) opened for business today (photo) and will be staying open until 2am this evening. They’re located at 15 Monument Square in the space formerly occupied by Cobblestones.
Owner Anya Arsenault (aka Waffle Girl) opened the original Wannawaf in Boothbay in 2003. The menu for the Portland store includes a selection of savory and sweet waffle-based options such as The Kitchen Sink (“egg, home fries, your choice of meat all baked inside a warm waffle”) and the Grand Tradition (“hot waffle, vanilla ice cream, real Maine maple syrup, whipped cream & cinnamon”).
Maine a la Carte has published an article about Regina Spices, the second act by the creator of the Portland Spice Co.
Jessica Regina Moore is back selling her original spice blends under the name Regina Spices (reginaspices.com). She does not have a storefront, but her products are available at K. Horton’s Specialty Foods in the Public Market House in Monument Square and at Maine’s Pantry on Commercial Street.
Regina Spice is also part of an article in today’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
The new LeRoux Kitchen retail store in Scarborough is scheduled to open today. The new store is located at 448 Payne Road.
Krista Kern Desjarlais’s new venture in New Gloucester, Bresca and the Honey Bee, opened for business on Saturday with a limited menu of ice cream and drinks. When I stopped by on Sunday she had available a beer-flavored ice cream made with honey porter in honor of Father’s Day.
Krista will be getting the kitchen fully operational over the next few days and will have a full menu ready for Wednesday and the coming weekend.
Small Axe Truck (website, facebook, twitter, instagram) opened this morning in the parking lot beside Tandem Coffee and Bunker Brewing (aka the Bunker/Tandem Campus). Small Axe is the creation of Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy. It will be very interesting to see how they translate fine dining skills honed at Alinea, Hugo’s, Miyake, Back Bay Grill to a more informal and mobile platform.
After finishing up breakfast, Small Axe will drive around the corner to Rising Tide be the brewery’s featured food truck starting at noon.
A new pop-up venture called Cong Tu Bot (Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter) quietly got under way earlier this Spring. The creation of Vien Dobui and Jessica Sheahan, Cong Tu Bot’s specialty has been a type of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup known as Mi Ga.
So far Cong Tu Bot has held a pair of “friends and family” trial runs in April and early June that have mostly remained below the radar, providing the culinary team the chance to scale up their process in preparation for opening to the public.
I’ve been lucky enough to go to both and recommend you take the opportunity when the next pop-up takes place. The broth is well balanced and full bodied and is paired with some really excellent hand-crafted noodles making for a very satisfying meal.
Watch the Cong Tu Bot Tumblr site for more info on upcoming events.
