Category: Under Construction

Tiqa, the restaurant under construction in the new Marriott on Commercial Street, has applied for a liquor license. As we reported back in August, Tiqa will be serving Mediterranean cuisine. Owners Deen Haleem and Carol Mitchell have included a description of the menu (page 63) in the materials submitted for review.

In total Tiqa will be able to seat 276 people: 57 in the lounge/bar, 35 on the patio, a 15 at the chef’s bar, 58 in the dining room and 111 in the private dining room. Haleem and Mitchell hope to open Tiqa in early next year.

A new wine bar calling itself UnWINEd is under development at 569 Congress Street. They plan to serve “local and imported fine wines, artisan craft beers, appetizers and petite plates.”

Here’s the concept as described by owner Jared Lawrence Rice in his liquor license application cover letter,

As Portland’s first bar-less bar, unWINEd will spotlight a relaxed atmosphere, with calming acoustic music, leather couches and scattered tables and chairs. Our Goal is to provide Portland with a calm, relaxing environment where people can gather and unWINEd.

Here’s the draft menu:

 

Dedicated fans of chef Cara Stadler lined up on the sidewalk in the rain last night outside Bao Bao (facebook, twitter, instagram) for a table at the soft opening. Recipients of the email invitation were asked to “be prepared to show a copy of this email at the door” and to “please refrain from sharing this information with the press”.

A firm public opening date hasn’t been set yet.

The Bangor Daily News has published an article about the Portland Food Co-op and the new retail store they have under construction on Congress Street.

A demo kitchen is being built for cooking and wellness classes. A 24-foot bulk wall dispensing grains, nuts and dried fruit anchors one zone. A full-scale cafe will offer grab and go breakfasts, soups, coffee and sandwiches. Locally grown produce, harvested meat and fish get top billing.

“The fundamental mission is to build the local food movement by having as many relationships with farmers and food producers as possible,” said Curran Apse. “We are shooting for in the hundreds.”

According to the article, the Co-op is hoping to have a “soft opening before Thanksgiving”.

Eater Maine has published an update on Ramen Suzukiya which is currently under construction at 229 Congress Street.

Seating will be limited and communal. Cory describes a cafe or coffee shop feel, with a long bar-like table in front of the large front windows, as well as a table or two along the side wall. Katsuaki thinks this will encourage customers to sit together, meet one another, and make friends.

According to the article the owners hope to open in December.

A new food truck called Cannoli Joe’s (website, facebook) is soon to debut on the Portland streets, according to a report from Eater Maine.

 

Dobra Tea (website, facebook, twitter, instagram) is having their final inspections this week and they hope to open on Friday or Saturday.

The Urban Eye has posted a report on Dutch’s (facebook, instagram, twitter) a casual eatery under construction on Preble Street.

Combined, the [owners Ian and Lucy Dutch] have robust kitchen chops. They met at Market by Jean Georges in Boston’s uber swank W Hotel, where she was pastry chef, he was executive sou chef. Their resumes include stints at Bonfire By Todd English, MayField Bakery in Palo Alto and a smattering of high-end stops in San Francisco from Bar Tartine to Aziza to Benu. Lucy baked at Shannie Cakes in Sausalito.

The owners of Hugo’s and Eventide—Arlin Smith, and chefs Andrew Taylor and Michael Wiley—have released details on their new restaurant and kitchen expansion.

The Honey Paw is described as a “non-denominational noodle restaurant” that will be “drawing on techniques, shapes, and flavors from across the globe”. The Honey Paw, they explain, “won’t be a pasta joint or a noodle house per se, we don’t want to be beholden to tradition or cultural idiom”.

The new restaurant will be located at 78 Middle Street in the former Pepperclub/Good Egg space. Chef Thomas Pisha-Duffly, creator of the Family Feast event series and a former Hugo’s sous chef, will be joining the team to help launch the restaurant. They hope to open in early 2015.

The expansion into the remainder of the first floor of the Middle Street building will also supply Hugo’s/Eventide some much needed additional kitchen and storage space.

The summer of 2013 demonstrated, with lines out the door at Eventide Oyster Co. and a completely over-taxed walk-in cooler, that Hugo’s and Eventide’s current facilities could not keep pace with the demands of a busy summer. “We’d been looking for a satellite kitchen for months, and after last year’s off-peninsula project fell through, we heard about a space much closer to home,” explains Smith, “it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Rosemont has confirmed plans to open a new market in the West End. This new store, the 5th Rosemont Market, will be located in the apartment building currently under construction at the corner of Pine and Brackett Streets.

As at our existing stores, the newest market in the West End will offer Rosemont’s own handmade breads and pastry, prepared foods and house-butchered meats, as well as vegetables and fruits, full-service deli, local dairy and eggs, groceries, grains and more.

With this new store, Rosemont’s intentions are, as they have always been, to expand opportunities for area food producers, while providing a fundamental service to the people of the neighborhood. We look forward to strengthening existing partnerships, and developing new ones, with the vital businesses that have served the West End neighborhood for years.

The West End Rosemont is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2015.