Category: Under Construction

Wicked Good Truck (Facebook, Twitter) will be running a pair of food trucks in Portland and on Peaks Island this Spring. Owner Nate Underwood hopes to launch the Portland truck sometime in early May, and the Peaks Island truck later in the month. There will be a fixed location for the Peaks truck near the ferry; Wicked Good in Portland is expected to be more of a mobile operation.

Adam Alfter, who many of you will remember as the chef/owner of Deux Cochon, is heading up the culinary staff. The final menu is still under development but they’re aiming for broad appeal, anything from scrapple to lighter/healthier options.

Underwood is hoping that Wicked Good Truck can do its part to expand the choices for moderately priced fare on Peaks. He’s also looking to this new business to give his three kids the opportunity to learn what’s involved in launching and running a business.

Mainely Burgers (Facebook, Twitter) plans to launch their Portland-based food truck, Mainely Burgers 2.0, next month on Monday May 20. Owners Ben Berman and Jack Barber have two spots already picked out and are continuing to explore other options. They’ll be experimenting with serving breakfast at 108 Saint John Street, outside the building where their production kitchen is located, and have leased a spot in the parking lot of the former Press Herald press building on Pearl Street for service later in the day. The menu of traditional beach truck food will be expanding in Portland because being in the city gives them room to be “a little more adventurous” with new specials making it on to the menu throughout the summer.

The pair founded Mainely Burgers last summer and had a very successful inaugural year operating on the Scarborough State Beach (the beach truck will re-open on Memorial Day weekend). They’re both Cape Elizabeth HS grads and are now attending college in the Boston area. They see running Maine Burgers and managing the 15-=erson staff as a great learning opportunity, and hope their success can serve as an example to others their age who want to launch their own start-ups.

Ben and Jack also tell me they expect to also use the MB 2.0 truck to provide catering for public and corporate events.

Maine Burgers was a nominee in Phoenix Best of Portland readership poll and was one of the Final Four the winner best burgers in the recent Eater Maine burger series.

The Portland City Council meets Monday and as part of the agenda will be reviewing the liquor license applications from several new restaurants:

• Empire – in its new guise as a Chinese restaurant, the downstairs of Empire will serve “a menu of traditional Chinese Dim Sum and other authentic dishes” according to letter from the new owner Theresa Chan. The draft menu (page 122) includes items like duck and pan fried duck egg salad, shrimp rice crepes, and foraged conch noodles. Chan plans on using the upstairs as a live music venue and as a space for private events. Chan is hoping to open in May.
  Fun history facts: from 1916 to 1953 a Chinese restaurant called Empire operated in the same building. Portland’s very first Chinese restaurant opened in 1880.
• Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room – this will be Harding Lee Smith’s fourth restaurant. The draft menu (page 154) includes traditional seafood dishes, a “Snow Island Extreme Lobster Bake”, as well as a selection of oysters “from here and away”.  Smith is hoping to open in June.
  Fun history fact: Boone’s Restaurant operated in this space on Custom House Wharf for more than a century from 1898 to early in the 21st  Century.
• Sypp – Thomas Henderson is opening an “upscale wine/martini bar” at 345 Fore Street in the space most recently occupied by Sebastian’s. The menu is still being worked on but a brief draft menu (page 182) lists “assorted cheese and cracker plates”, olive plate, tuna tartar, antipasto plate. Henderson hopes to open in May.
  Fun history fact: Sypp will be loocated in Boothby Square which was named for Colonel Frederick E. Boothby.

For details on all the food businesses under development in Portland see the Under Construction List.

Krista Kern Desjarlais, chef/owner of Bresca, is working on a new venture which she plans on calling Bresca and the Honey Bee. This week she closed on the purchase of Outlet Beach on Sabbathday Lake in the town of New Gloucester. The property includes docks, boat rentals, a beach and a snack shack (in operation since 1929) which she’ll be converting into her new eatery.

Bresca and the Honey Bee will be open 7 days a week from Memorial Day straight through to Labor Day. The menu “will be picnic inspired with a focus on pastry and ice cream with hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, salads and snacks.”

I’ve always been a big fan of Bresca and look forward to visiting Krista’s new venture. A trip (or two or three) to New Gloucester this summer are going to be on my calendar.

Portland Hunt & Alpine Club (website, Facebook, Twitter) has leased 75 Market Street, the former location of Simply Home, as the spot for their new craft cocktail bar. The owners have been search high and low for just the right location even before they initially shared plans for the new bar back in November. You’ll be able to get wander amongst the bars at The Grill Room, Sonny’s and the Hunt & Alpine Club without leaving sight of Post Office Park.

The plans for the space include room for about 50 people in the main bar area with room for additional 10-12 in the private Lodge Members room. Owners Briana and Andrew Volk anticipate opening sometime in mid-Summer. If you just can’t wait that long, consider buying a ticket to the Not So Hush Hush cocktail event they’re holding this Thursday in conjunction with Eventide.

 

According to a report from Maine a la Carte, Dishcrawl Tours (website, Twitter) is setting up a service in Portland and plans on starting tours in early May.

“At the first three restaurants, they get a trio of smaller-sized foods,” says Mary Soule, the Portland Dishcrawl “ambassador” who will be leading the tours. “And while they’re eating, hopefully the chef or at least the owner will come out and talk to people about the food and about the restaurant, the background and history of it. So instead of just sampling the food that the restaurant has to offer, it’s about really building a community with the locals and the chefs in their own towns.”

Portland’s food tour options have expanded quite a bit in the last year. In addition to Dishcrawl, you now can also choose from: Maine Foodie Tours, Wine Wise, The Maine Brew Bus, Maine Beer Tours and Maine Cocktail Tours.

Maine a la Carte interviewed Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy about the new food truck venture they have in development.

The menu will also include a series of daily breakfast and lunch rice bowl offerings. The rice bowls could have a Japanese flair, or have a southern twist – they’ll reflect a lot of different international and regional cuisines.

“The bowls would be a nice option for us to come up with a daily special or utilize the offcuts we can get from local farms and be able to do something a little bit different in a bowl format,” Deuben said.

According to the West End News, Johnny Robinson is planning to open Longfellow’s Attic, sharing the space currently occupied by The Frame Shop in Longfellow Square.

Robinson is best known as the original owner of Hugo’s which he sold Hugo’s to Rob Evans in 2000. He also ran Finch’s/Johnny’s Bistro in Falmouth.

According to a report in the Press Herald real estate section, Coffee by Design has bought a 44,000 square foot building in East Bayside where they plan on housing their roasting operation and “will feature a coffee bar training center, a public cupping and tasting bar, and a showroom for residential and commercial coffee equipment sales.” According to the article they’ll also be offering public tours of the facility.

The article is not, as far as I can tell, available online.