The Press Herald reports that Brea Lu will be relocating from Forest Ave.
If the location he wants works out, the new Brea Lu will no longer be in Portland but will be “very close,” DeLuca said, hinting that it would be just outside the city limits. The possible new site used to be a restaurant, but it needs a lot of cosmetic work, DeLuca said. It has the potential for outdoor seating and parking “which was a big problem for us (on Forest Avenue) and a big complaint from our customers.”
Urban Eye has posted an update on Rossobianco, the wine bar/restaurant David Levi has under construction in Bramhall Square.
A sample menu shared with Urban Eye includes starters such as fried risotto balls with porcini ($5), asparagus, egg, reggiano antipasto ($8) and saffron risotto with marrow ($16). More substantial meals like beef liver and caramelized onions on polenta ($22) and buckwheat pasta, chicken bone broth and chanterelles ($16) will pair with natural wines from Northern Italy.
The Press Herald has published a report on Foundation Brewing’s expansion.
The Portland brewery, located at One Industrial Way in a cluster of craft breweries, is taking over three spaces formerly occupied by Bissell Brothers Brewing. The project will bring Foundation’s total square footage to 7,500 and is paving the way for further expansion in 2017, according to a release from the company.
Gorgeous Gelato will be operating an outpost in Fort Williams Park this summer.
On the agenda for tonight’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting is a request regarding 184 State Street, former home of The Frame Shop. Building owner Geoffrey Rice and “prospective lessee” Mike Keon are seeking variances regarding the required number of on street parking spots and closing hours “for a proposed restaurant”.
Keon and business partner Anthony Allen own Otto Pizza and Ocho Burrito. The opening of a new restaurant at 184 State Street, would provide Keon and Allen 3 spots in Longfellow Square: the former Petite Jacqueline space now being converted into an Ocho Burrito, the original Ocho space just around thee corner on Congress, and 184 State St.
Portland Magazine has published an article about Fork Food Lab.
“This is going to be the face of Fork Food Lab,” Spillane says. Fork Food Lab is a self-described “collaborative commercial food kitchen serving new and existing businesses.” Spillane and Holstein are now standing in the square, cinder-block former garage attached to the left side of the 1910 brick building. A few days before renovations begin, the future face of Fork Food Lab doesn’t look like much. But this garage will become a tasting room and shop welcoming retail customers.
Eighteen Twenty (website, facebook) has leased space at 219 Anderson St in East Bayside. Co-owners Pete Dubuc and Amanda O’Brien hope to open their rhubarb winery and tasting room sometimes this fall.
Read Joe Appel’s recent article in the Press Herald for more information on the Eighteen Twenty.
It’s the eighteen twenty wine’s “mystery,” as Dubuc puts it, that is so compelling. The flavors are at once intense and other, hinting at sweetness but not presenting it outright, offering substantial mass on the palate without weighing you down, combining a vegetal leafiness with the bright drive and vividness of a well-made cocktail. It’s tasty, savory, refreshing, with balanced sweetness, but the best thing about it is that it doesn’t taste like grape wine yet you can’t pin it down. It invites repeated inquiry.
Sisters Gourmet Deli (website, facebook, instagram) has passed their final inspections and announced plans to open on May 1st.
The Bangor Daily News has published a report on the growing number of juice bars serving the Portland market.
Smoothies and juice bars are to 2016 what espresso bars were to 2003. Not entirely new, but taking off and here to stay. While Greater Portland is a far cry from San Diego, where liquid kale in a cup is dispensed from every streetcorner, new concepts abound this spring. They promise health, vibrancy and vitality by the ounce.
Farm Truck Juice opened earlier this year, Fly Fox and Blake Orchard are under development, and a new firm called the Maine Juice Co recently leased production space in Biddeford.