Category: Under Construction

The Press Herald reports that the small “castle” in Deering Oaks may be bid out as restaurant space.

“Our goal is something that is really user-friendly (for) a wide demographic, and all-American (so) everyone can relate to it,” [Cheryl] Lewis said. “We originally thought about crepes, but in the end, it’s really got to be something everyone is familiar with.”

Though the space is small, Lewis is excited about the potential for both indoor and outdoor seating, including a beer garden that would have a couple tap beers and wine, as well as nonalcoholic beverages such as root beer and smoothies.

Jason Loring, co-owner of Slab and Nosh along with Mike Fraser from Bramhall and Nat Towl are launch The Point, a new clam shack on Thompson’s Point, according to a report from the Press Herald.

The restaurant, which will be called The Point, will serve all the fried foods traditionally found at clam shacks, including fried clams, fried oysters and fried scallops, as well as steamers and lobster dinners. Loring said he would serve Rhode Island calamari when it is in season, and three or four versions of lobster rolls, including a tempura-fried lobster roll served with a corn chowder.

Loring & Co plan to open this July with all outdoor seating and kitchen facilities in 2 shipping containers.

Cellardoor Winery has plans to open a tasting room on Thompson’s Point in 2016. See the PFM Under Construction page for a full list of local food businesses in development.

 

The Forecaster has posted a report on LemonCycle.

While most 15-year-olds get summer jobs at grocery stores or pizza places, Nat Jordan has decided to do something a little more entrepreneurial.

The Cape Elizabeth High School sophomore is starting his own business, LemonCycle, and plans to launch it this summer in Portland.

Jordan is putting a twist on the classic lemonade stand: he plans to use a tricycle with a cart built on the front to ride around and sell homemade lemonade.

The Press Herald reports that Tony’s Donuts has closed their South Portland location and is planning to expand their Portland store.

Fournier plans to expand the original family business at Congress and Bolton streets by renovating a former auto maintenance garage on the property into a coffee shop, he said.

“By the time I get done with renovations, you won’t recognize it,” Fournier said.

The owners of the Hunt + Alpine Club and Piccolo are in the early stages of collaborating on a new restaurant. Damian Sansonetti, Briana and Andrew Volk and Ilma Lopez plan to launch the new venue sometime in 2016 which they’ll operate in addition to continuing to run their current establishments. Details on concept and location are not yet public.

The City Council meets Monday and among the other things on the agenda are liquor licenses for:

• Portland Mash Tun, a small scale brew pub under construction at 29 Wharf Street. Owner Rick Binet is planning a 54-seat bar that serves house made beer as well as small selection of wines and spirits and a food menu of burgers and other pub food (page 63).  Binet is also a co-owner of The King’s Head Pub. He hopes to open Portland Mash Tun in May.
  
• M.C. Union the 70+ seat restaurant and bar operated by chefs by Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier under construction in The Press Hotel(web, facebook, instagram). The draft menu (page 86) includes a raw bar selection, appetizers like “Khmer chicken wings with cool cucumber noodle salad and caraway black pepper dipping sauce” and entrees  such as chicken under a brick and MC lobster mac and cheese. The hotel is expected to open this Spring.
• Crooners & Cocktails(facebook, twitter), a “moderately priced 39 seat supper club offering a wide array of classic American cuisine, wines and classic cocktails.” C&C is under construction at 90 Exchange in the space most recently occupied by Thai 9. Full draft menus for lunch and dinner are on pages 107-108.

Chris Busby reports that the new Full Belly Deli will be located in the Old Port at the corner of Fore and Market Streets.

Speaking of delis, Portlanders were stunned when Full Belly Deli abruptly closed its location on outer Brighton Avenue this winter. Now comes word that Full Belly’s mile-high pastrami sandwiches and other indulgences will reappear at the corner of Market and Fore streets, in a space most recently occupied by a failed link in the Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt chain, according to landlord Joe Soley, who has an avowed taste for tongue. Soley also said the deli may apply for a license to serve beer and wine.

A Cape Elizabeth high school sophmore named Nat Jordan has launched a $2,500 Kickstarter campaign to help fund lemonade food cart called LemonCycle(twitter, facebook).

LemonCycle will operate out of a modified cargo tricycle-based this summer on the streets of Portland.

LemonCycle blends two of my favorite summertime passions together; biking and lemonade. More importantly, it provides the people of Portland, Maine, with an eco-friendly, refreshing way to cool off during the sweltering months of June, July and August.

What we are is a lemonade cart on the frame of a cargo tricycle. Cargo tricyles are an up-and-coming form of delivery, food vending and everyday travel.

Full Belly Deli(facebook) owner David Rosen has announced that he’ll be re-opening the business this Spring. There’s no official word on the location but some folks have suggested it will be in the Old Port.

Today’s Press Herald provides a detailed back story on the Old Port Lobster Shack and its owner Russell Deutsch. The California-based business is constructing its 4th restaurant at 425 Fore Street. This will be the first OPLS in Maine.

It dawned on him that a lot of the graduates of New England schools worked in the San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley, and were probably lobster starved. So he wrote a business plan and got in touch with his old contacts from the exporting business. He opened his first lobster shack in Redwood City, in a strip mall next to a Super Cuts. It struggled at first; then three or four months in, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a review. “The next day we had 250 people in line at my door,” he said, “and it hasn’t settled down since.”