Category: Under Construction

Food Trucks: Fishin’ Ships

| Posted in Under Construction

Friends Sam Gorelick and Arvid Brown plan on launching Fishin’ Ships a new food truck in Portland this April, according to a report from Maine a la Carte.

In addition to serving a classic fried haddock with wedge-cut chips, lemon and homemade tartar sauce, “our menu will introduce you to things like chipotle, lime-battered cod, fried in an Allagash White beer batter and paired with maple coated sweet potato fries.”

“Or a bacon, scallion monkfish fried in Geary’s HSA batter and served with mashed potato fritters. We will be rotating these combos and many more like them, all using local beers and all in accordance to what is fresh and what flavors we feel like playing with.”

Under Construction: Hilltop Coffee Moving

| Posted in Under Construction

Hilltop Coffee (facebook) is moving from it’s present location next to Rosemont Market on Munjoy Hill to 100 Congress Street, the former home of Bar Lola. This will be the 2nd move for Hilltop. It was originally located at 99 Congress, the current home of Willa Wirth.

Hilltop is owned by Guy and Stella Hernandez. The pair recently shutdown Bar Lola and are working on a new restaurant project that will open next year.

In additional coffee news, the Coffee by Design building on Washington Ave is available for lease. CBD has moved their roasting operation from that building to East Bayside and will soon be opening a coffee shop in that neighborhood as well.

Under Construction: Chez Nous, Liquid M2, Thai 9

| Posted in Under Construction

Three new food businesses are under construction in Portland:

  • Chez Nous is under development at 52 Washington Ave, the current home of Chiang Mai site. Owner Colombe Kahindo is launching an African restaurant, and a draft menu is available on page 22 of the City Council materials for tonight’s meeting.
  • Liquid M2 (facebook) is under construction at 465 Fore Street in Two Portland Square. Owner Jacqueline McClure plans to serve “smoothies, cold pressed juices and a healthy food menu…bottled beer, wine and cocktails” with a vegetarian/vegan focus. A draft menu is available on pages 39-43 of the City Council materials.
  • Owner Khone Sansay plans to open Thai 9 (website, facebook) at 90 Exchange, the current home of Little Seoul. Sansay currently runs a restaurant with the same name near Cabela’s in Scarborough. A draft menu is available on pages 56-57.

For more info on all the Portland businesses under development see the PFM Under Construction List.

Conley and Mitchell at The Palace

| Posted in Under Construction, People

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Chad Conley, head chef at Gather, and business partner Greg Mitchell have leased the Palace Diner (website, facebook, twitter) on Franklin Street in Biddeford with plans to relaunch the business this Spring. The pair plan to maintain a traditional diner menu for breakfast and lunch. In the evening they’ll be launching a dinner service with more creative fare, and have submitted an application for liquor license. During warmer weather they’ll have outdoor seating.

Conley is a Portland native who in addition to Gather has cooked at Hugo’s and Jean-Georges in NYC. He worked for Eliot Coleman at Four Season Farm in Harborside and helped launch Miyake Farms in Freeport. He and Mitchell met when they were both working  Four Season Farm.

The Palace Diner was founded by Louis LaChance in 1927 and is being leased to Conley and Mitchell by the current owner, David Capotosto. It was built by the Pollard Company in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The new Palace Diner joins a growing community of food businesses in Biddeford. the former mill town is home to Rabelais which moved their in 2011, Elements coffee shop/bookstore, Royal Rose cocktail syrup (a Brooklyn transplant), Cobblestones (formerly located on Monument Square), newly launched Banded Horn Brewing and the production facilities for Vervacious. The low rent and steadily growing downtown community are making it an appealing place to launch a business. A number of other Portland chefs have recently considered opening in Biddeford. Conley and Mitchell’s may become an example for other chefs looking to launch their own restaurant.

These photos are from a friends and family breakfast Conly and Mitchell held yesterday to celebrate their new business.

Gather is now in the process of recruiting a new head chef.

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Under Construction: Bissell Brothers, Austin Street & Foundation Brewing

| Posted in Under Construction, Beer

Three Portland breweries under construction on Industrial Way are making good progress:

For some additional details on Austin Street and Bissell see the What Ales You column in today’s paper.

Interview with David Levi

| Posted in Under Construction

Eater Maine has published an interview with David Levi.

Vinland, the highly anticipated and long-in-the-works 100% local restaurant coming to the Arts District, is shooting to open on Dec. 6, according to chef/owner David Levi. Much progress has been done on the interior: an ultra-efficient heating/cooling unit has been installed, plumbing, electrical and fire suppression systems are mostly complete, and the kitchen is nearly operational.

Under Construction: Interview with David Levi

| Posted in Under Construction, People

SoupWhiteBackground4-300x284The Ink & Pine podcast has posted an interview with David Levi about his restaurant Vinland.

Listen in to hear how top chefs in Italy and Denmark influenced Levi’s decisions about Vinland, how to fill a Maine kitchen with exclusively Maine foods, why lard has a bad rap and much more. Here, David Levi will discuss everything from a future Portland culinary school to foraging for edible mushrooms in New York City’s Central Park to the gourmet preparation of reindeer lichen. What food staples could be locally grown in Maine, but aren’t?