New LB Kitchen Now Open

The new LB Kitchen (website, instagram) is now open. Owners Bryna Gootkind and chef Lee Farrington purchased the building on the corner of Congress and Smith Streets back in February and have completely renovated the corner unit to move and expand LB Kitchen into. The new LB will feature a 28-seat dining room, a retail market and a dedicated space for takeout pick-up.

LB Kitchen will be open everyday 8 am – 3 pm with their regular menu (food, drinks, children’s). Then from 3 to 6 pm they’ll be serving beer, wine, cider snacks and small plates during what they’ve dubbed Golden Hour (menu).

The original LB Kitchen storefront is being converted to serve as a brick and mortar location for Quanto Basta.

Badger Gluten-Free Bagels

A new gluten-free business is launching this week with their first product, Badger Bagels (website, instagram). Produced in North Yarmouth, the bagels are made with white and brown rice, sorghum and sweet rice flours along with honey, olive oil and other natural ingredients.

The bagels are debuting this week on the menu at Arabica Coffee starting Tuesday with cinnamon raisin, plain and everything bagels.

Owner Chris Franklin is participating in the Maine Center for Economic Development’s Top Gun program for entrepreneurial development to help grow Sligo Foods, his gluten-free commercial kitchen in North Yarmouth where the bagels are produced.

Salvatore’s Hoagies

A new delivery sandwich shop called Salvatore’s Hoagies (instagram) is launching with a pop-up service on Friday.

Salvatore’s is run by Kara Picone and chef Owen Price. The couple are tapping into their Sicilian and Philly/South Jersey (respectively) heritage to deliver their take on a classic hoagie sandwiches (see menu below). To dial in the experience Salvatore’s are baking their own bread for their menu.

Price has cooked in Sonoma, Vietnam, and in Philadelphia where he worked for chef Marc Vetri. Picone also has experience in the restaurant industry in front of house and general restaurant management.

Salvatore’s will initially be operating out of Fork Food Lab with the option to pick-up at Fork on Parris Street or with delivery in Portland and to the Greater Portland area—see details on this post for the Friday pop-up.

Ordering will be available by text, phone and social media to start with online ordering to come in the future.

The 2022 Year In Review

Here’s a look at the highlights, themes and key moments from the 2022 year in food:

Concept Shift – with the pre-pandemic closure of Five Fifty-Five and the 2022 shuttering of Back Bay Grill and Hugo’s, Portland’s fine dining ranks have thinned quite a bit. Twelve is the new standard bearer for white table cloth dining in Portland. In the meantime, daytime cafes and combination restaurant/markets are increasing in number. Smalls and Friends & Family are a prime examples, and coming online in 2023 are the Bread and Friends bakery/cafe, The Ugly Duckling in the West End, the Night Moves/Lambs collaboration, and the new LB Kitchen.

National Recognition – while none of the nominees came home with the gold in June, the 2022 James Beard Awards season saw Maine honored with 10 semifinalists (just shy of the record 11 set in 2020) and a record 5 finalist nominees—a confirmation of the strength of the Maine restaurant industry and hopefully an indication of what’s to come (watch for the 2023 semifinalists list in February). National recognition came in other forms as well this year: Bon Appetit included Regards on their list of the Best New Restaurants in America, the NY Times identified Leeward and Twelve as two of the “50 places in America we’re most excited about right now,” Food & Wine and CN Traveler shared their love of Biddeford, and Esquire magazine has named Twelve to their 2022 list of the Best New Restaurants in America.

Maine Food Map –Biddeford will continue to be a hot spot, and new restaurants are opening in South Portland and the Portland suburbs. However, there’s also been a growing drumbeat of new and interesting food and beverages businesses opening outside the Portland area, and in 2022 that seemed to have gone into a higher gear…here are just a few examples from the past year: Table Bar in Gardiner, Aboslem Cider in Winthrop,  Nomad in Brunswick, Solo Pane in Bath, the new Dennett’s Wharf in Castine, The Alna Store in Alna, Sidereal Brewing in Vassalboro, Wolfpeach in Camden, Sophia in Belfast, Perch in Waldoboro, Hey Sailor in Searsport, and The Rooting Pig in Bristol.

Upcoming in 2023 – For a rundown of new food businesses under development see PFM Under Construction list. Here are some of the more exciting ones in the pipeline:

  • Bread and Friends – an elevated bakery/cafe located on Fore Street.
  • Lambs/Night Moves – Kerry Haines is bringing her bakery to South Portland and her partner Wade Ritchey is opening a bar in the adjoining space.
  • LB Kitchen – Lee Farrington and Bryna Gootkind are reopening LB Kitchen in an expanded space on the corner of Congress and Smith Streets.
  • Lenora – a taco bar focusing on Mexican-inspired street food from the creators of Lone Star in Boston.
  • Mr. Tuna – a new iteration of Mr. Tuna located on Middle Street is slated to open this summer.
  • Papi – a Puerto Rican-inspired bar and restaurant expected to open early in 2023.
  • Quanto Basta – a brick and mortar version of the popular Neapolitan pizza food truck which will be located in the original LB Kitchen space.
  • Room for Improvement – a modern dive bar being brought to life on Wharf Street by Arvid Brown and  Nick Coffin.
  • The Continental – European pub food meets cocktails and featuring slow pour nitro ales and stouts in the Oakdale neighborhood.
  • The Ugly Duckling – Chaval owners Ilma Lopez and Damian Sansonetti are launching this daytime cafe and bakeshop on Danforth Street in early 2023.
  • Vertical Harvest – a 70,000 square-foot hydroponic vertical greenhouse in Westbrook.

There are also several other exciting new projects that are currently under wraps but will go public soon. Check back later this year for details.

Top 10 Articles

The most popular articles published on Portland Food Map in the past year.

  1. Eastern Prom Food Trucks – early report by the Portland Phoenix that the city was considering new rules to manage food trucks on the Eastern Prom (March 30th)
  2. Somebody Feed Phil – debut of the Somebody Feed Phil episode from Maine (April 7th)
  3. Sacred Profane Brewing – first report on Sacred Profane Brewing being under construction in Biddeford (February 21st)
  4. AC Moving to SoPo – first report on A&C Grocery moving to South Portland (March 2nd)
  5. The Danforth – interim report on The Danforth (February 15th)
  6. The Continental – first report on The Continental (April 14th)
  7. Indy’s Sandwich – first report on Indy’s (February 6th)
  8. Paper Tiger – first report on Paper Tiger (January 6th)
  9. Fish & Whistle – first report on Fish & Whistle in Biddeford (February 1st)
  10. Tobi Open – report on the opening of Tobi (June 3rd)

Notable Events of 2022

Passings

For an additional perspective on the past year in food see the Maine Sunday Telegram Best of 2022 article.

This is the 13th year running that Portland Food Map has published a year in review article. Take a walk down memory lane by checking out these past editions that covered 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.

The Alna Store

alna 3_color.jpg The Alna Store (website, facebook, instagram) held the grand opening for their Midcoast Maine market and 36-seat restaurant this past Thursday with the official launch of their dinner service.

The opening night menu (see below) includes a not-to-be-missed dish of charred chioggia beets, a choice of lamb with yellow-eyed beans, a vegetable tangine or burger and fries for a main course and an amaro chocolate torte accented with sumac and pink peppercorns for dessert. There’s a small set of wines by the glass, beers, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks to go with dinner (see drinks menu below).

The market side of the business sells wines, beers and locally sourced produce and foods. Portland goods for sale include Tandem coffee, Dear Dairy ice cream, and wines from Devenish.

Owners Jasper Ludwig and Brian Haskins took over the store from the prior owners earlier this year and have completely renovated the space. Ludwig hails from Newcastle and the couple moved to the Midcoast in 2020 from their home in Tucson, Arizona where they founded and operate the Five Points Market and Restaurant. Devin Dearden (instagram) has joined Haskins and Ludwig as the chef for The Alna Store. He comes to The Alna Store from Evo and has also worked in Portland at Scales and Hearth in NYC.

The Alna Store is located at 2 Dock Rd in Alna, Maine (just north of Wiscasset). Dinner is served Thursday through Saturday 4 – 8 pm and brunch is available Thursday through Monday, 8 am – 2 pm. Follow their instagram account for updates on hours and the evolving menu.

 

Bar Futo Opens Friday



Bar Futo
(website, facebook, instagram) will open for business on Friday—reservations are available via Resy. The Japanese-inspired bar and grill is located at 425 Fore Street in the space formerly occupied by Five Guys. It is being launched by chef Jordan Rubin and Marisa Lewiecki, co-owners of Mr. Tuna and partners in Crispy Gai.

The food menu (see below) offers a mix of yakitori skewers prepared over a binchotan grill and other small plates like the fluke crudo, kohlrabi salad and a koshikari rice bowl topped with duck sugo and pickled squash. For dessert there’s kakigori—Japanese shaved ice (apple pie and bananas foster on the opening night menu) and chocolate cake.

The bar program features an extended sake list (see below) curated by Advanced Sake Professional Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale as well house-designed cocktails (see below), wine, beer, and non-alcoholic drinks and brewed loose-leaf tea options. Sommelier Courtney O’Neil will be Bar Futo’s GM and in charge of the wine program. Ian Driscoll is the head chef and Bryce Summers is the bar manager.

The restaurant seats approximately 60 people with a combination of booths, tables, bar, and kitchen counter seating. In season the patio on Fore Street will provide room for another 40 seats.

Rubin launched Mr. Tuna as a food cart in 2017. The Mr. Tuna sushi counter opened in the Public Market House in 2018. Rubin, Lewiccki Sasha Brouillard, and chef Cyle Reynolds launched Crispy Gai in the summer of 2021.

Trudy Bird’s Ølbar in North Yarmouth

A new restaurant called Trudy Bird’s (website, facebook, instagram) opened Friday night in North Yarmouth.

Trudy Bird’s is a Scandinavian-inspired restaurant and bar. They’ve launched with their full bar program and initially with a limited food menu (see below) of apps and bar snacks. The full food menu is expected to be available in the next week or two. Take a look at the Trudy Bird’s instagram account for some food photos.

The kitchen is led by chef Michael McDonnell who was the sous chef at Natalie’s in Camden, and the executive chef at the Blair Hill Inn in Greenville and at Tempo Dulu in Portland.

The beer list includes options from Allagash, Oxbow, Norway, Sacred Profane and other breweries. There’s cider from Absolem, Eden and Fable Farm, and a by the glass and bottle wine list. Trudy Bird’s sets itself apart with its selection of on-market and house-made aquavits (see list below)

Brothers Alan and Jonathan Hines are the owners of Trudy Bird’s. As they’ve shared on their website, the initial impulse to launch the business began with a trip to Europe. The restaurant is named for their maternal grandmother.

Back in 2017 we made a trek to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We finished our trip in Copenhagen and while there, we made a stop at the Torvehallerne KBH food market where we stumbled upon Hallernes Smorrebrod. The food stand was packed so we knew it was a “must try”. The open-faced sandwiches were not only visually appealing but were down-right delicious. Everywhere a Smorrebrod was spotted, it was almost always accompanied by either a beer or Aquavit or BOTH! It was during this trip that a lightbulb went off and Trudy Bird’s started to come to life.

Trudy Bird’s will be open Wednesday through Saturday, 4 – 9 pm. Hours will eventually expand to include a Sunday brunch service.

 

Full Turn Opens Friday

 

Full Turn (website, instagram) is opening today.  The new restaurant is located in the former Baharat space in East Bayside. The launch of Full Turn is being led by Chloe Kessell and Melissa Pappas in collaboration with the owners of Baharat. Josh Lemay will be running the bar program. Kessell, Pappas and Lemay were the former GM, kitchen manager and bartender at Baharat.

Full Turn will be serving seasonal menus that change-up frequently with restaurant concepts that shift with each ‘turn’ of the menu. For this initial version of Full Turn the concept is of a neighborhood pub. When you go be sure to check out the spicy version of the fried chicken sandwich.

Full Turn will initially be open 4 – 9 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

Miyake Reopening Next Thursday


After an extensive renovation, Miyake (website, facebook, instagram) is set to reopen Thursday, December 1st. The new Miyake will seat 28 with a 10-seat beverage bar up front (shown above), an 8-seat sushi counter and table banquet seating.

Chef/owner Masa Miyake has prepared a menu that includes a variety of nigiri, sashimi and house-created rolls as well as sashimi and nigiri omakase options. The rice dish section of the menu includes a made to order kamameshi with king salmon and ikura fish roe. There are also a number of shareable plates which Miyake has adapted from traditional Japanese dishes such as a lobster chawanmushi. You can see a few photos of the dishes on the Miyake instagram account. The beverage program will includes sake, wine, house-designed cocktails, and a pair of draft beers.

Miyake will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 – 9 pm. The front bar will be held for walk-in customers and the remaining seats will be available for reservations. During their first week Miyake will be for walk-ins only—the Tock reservation calendar starts on December 6th and will go live on November 29th. Miyake is located at 468 Fore Street.

Chef Masa Miyake opened his first Portland restaurant Food Factory Miyake at 129 Spring Street in 2007. Pai Men Miyake followed suit in the fall of 2010, and Miyake on Fore Street opened its doors on July 13, 2011. Masa Miyake was a James Beard Awards Best Chef: Northeast nominee in 2015, and a semifinalist nominee in 2014.