Category: Under Construction

The Portland Food Co-op (website, facebook, twitter) held a press conference today and announced the location of a “storefront location for a full-service grocery store”. The new store will be located at 290 Congress Street. They hope to open this Fall in September.

According to a press release from the co-op,

The Portland Food Co-op will be a grocery store, owned by members and open to the public, that will offer a wide selection of high quality and fairly priced local, organic, and natural foods and household products. PFC is dedicated to supporting local farmers and producers, serving the community and building the local economy.

Update: See these articles from the Press Herald and Bangor Daily News for more info.

After a very successful first year running their food truck, owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy looking to take the next step in the evolution of Small Axe (website, facebook, twitter) and open a restaurant. A brick and mortar business will provide them with the opportunity to serve a larger and more diverse menu year-round, as well as provide a base of operations for Small Axe Truck.

Deuben and Leavy are currently looking for the right space and neighborhood to locate.They’re also looking for investors to help fund the new venture. To learn more or to contact them about investing or a potential location, you can reach them at info@smallaxetruck.com.

Small Axe launched June 15, 2013. A Small Axe restaurant opening in 2014 would demonstrate the role food trucks can play as business incubators for more traditional brick and mortar food businesses.

Deuben has worked at Alinea, Hugo’s and Miyake, and Leavy’s resume includes time in the kitchen at Back Bay Grill, Hugo’s and Miyake. Deuben was the guest chef for the October 2012 Pocket Brunch at Broadturn Farm.

Meredith Goad has written a feature article for today’s Press Herald about how the scarcity and high cost of restaurant spaces in Portland is impacting young chefs who are seeking to open a restaurant.

The city’s food reputation was built on the backs of young, independent chefs opening their own places where they could serve local, seasonal foods and let creativity and originality reign. But as space shrinks and rents rise, some chefs are worried that soon the only people able to open a restaurant in the Old Port and its outskirts will be big names with much deeper pockets than a 28-year-old just out of culinary school.

Brian Duff from the Portland Phoenix shares the restaurant openings he’s most looking forward to in the coming year. Vinland, Slab, the new restaurants from Tao and Bar Lola and new food trucks are among them.

The Fishin’ Ships food truck has successfully met their $12,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal with 20 days left to spare. Owners Sam Gorelick and Arvid Brown plan to launch Fishin’ Ships (facebook, twitter) this April.

A second food truck, Anapurna’s Thali is also running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their 2014 food truck project.

The Bangor Daily News has published an article about Vinland, which is slated to open this Friday.

When David Levi set out to open his first restaurant, Vinland in Congress Square, he had the region’s native people — members of the Penobscot Indian Nation — in mind. What would the Penobscot eat? Mussels flavored with apple cider vinegar? Smoked duck? Poached cod in herbal broth?

Such delicacies grace the menu at his 39-seat bistro, slated to open Friday, Dec. 27. Levi, a New York City culinary artist with a master’s degree in poetry, is a different breed of restaurateur.

According to Vinland’s facebook page, you can make reservations for Friday’s soft opening by emailing info@vinland.me.

Maine a la Carte has published an update on the El Rayo’s plans to open a new restaurant in Scarborough.

Inside, the restaurant will have an open kitchen with 8 “theater” seats, a 10-stool bar and a mix of booths and other tables seating 84.

[El Rayo manager Norine] Kotts said the new El Rayo Tacqueria y Cantina is expected to open next summer.

For more information on Portland area restaurants under development see the PFM Under Construction List.

90 Congress Street is slated to become the home of the new restaurant that Guy and Stella Hernandez currently have under development. Their business partner in this new business is part owner of 90 Congress.

Guy and Stella closed down Bar Lola in mid-November and since then have been working on their new venture. An earlier announcement made public their plans to move Hilltop Coffee to 100 Congress Street, so essentially the coffee shop and the restaurant are trading spaces while both stay on Munjoy Hill.

The Fishin’ Ships (facebook, twitter) food truck has launched a Kickstarter campaign. Owners Sam Gorelick and Arvid Brown are raising $12,000 to help pay for a food truck. They’ve already made good progress and have received more than $5,000 of pledges towards their goal.

So how did we decide on our goal? Some newer trucks, with lower mileage, are priced as high as $20,000, whereas some heavily used trucks we’ve looked at are as low as $5,000.  We hope to find a happy medium between the two and that is why we are asking for $12,000.  This will allow us the purchasing freedom to buy a nicer vehicle, without having to pinch pennies further down the road.  If we find a truck for less than our goal, the remaining Kickstarter money will be directed towards retrofitting costs such as kitchen equipment, electrical, plumbing, labor and licensing.