Maine a la Carte reports that baseball broadcaster Jerry Remy (aka “RemDawg”) is considering opening a Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill in Portland.
“We have looked into the Portland area,” he told the radio hosts. “It seems like a natural with the minor league ball club here. We’ll see if we can get some kind of a deal worked out.”
This week’s Portland Phoenix explores the planning and preparation that Maine farmers do in winter.
While this farm manager admits that winter hours are much less demanding…there’s still a lot going on this time of year. Seed orders were placed at the beginning of the year, and the 2012 financial books were balanced and closed. The hay baler and tractor need maintenance. Firewood needs to be chopped. Soon, Kroeck will start interviewing and hiring apprentices…And in a couple weeks, “we’ll start getting the greenhouse ready to start seeding for the summer,” he says.
Under Construction: The article also reports that the owners Broadturn Farm in Scarborough are planning on opening a “urban farm store” in Portland this spring.
The North Point has published a set of photos of their newly completed interior. They began interviewing potential new staff over the weekend and hope to open in mid-February.
Chef Chris Gould is making progress on the new Portland restaurant he has under development and is aiming for a July 1 opening day. Gould tells me he’s very close to signing a deal for a location in the Old Port. In the meantime he’s spending time lining up contractors, suppliers and key staff so the work of building and fitting out the restaurant can get off to a fast start once the space is secured.
Gould plans on serving a menu of international small plates that will in part draw on his interest in Spanish cuisine. 44 North will be creating a custom blend for the coffee service. The name for the restaurant is still under wraps. Might & Main, the folks who developed the branding for Eventide, have been hired to handle marketing for the restaurant.
Gould is currently working at Eventide with his friend and former colleague chef Andrew Taylor. He moved to Portland last year from Boston where he worked for Ken Orringer’s restaurants Uni and Coppa.
He was the winner of the 2012 Shucks Maine Lobster Chef World Series with a dish of “butter-poached lobster with ragout of sauteed knuckles, roasted fingerling potatoes, cinnamon-roasted carrots, roasted corn and sweet miso puree, and piquillo pepper”.
A new shop called Cia is under construction at 72 Ocean Street in South Portland. Cia will be selling Coffee, Ice cream and Art, hence the name. They plan on opening this spring.
Eater Maine and Maine a la Carte posted reports today about two Damian Sansonetti projects:
The Insurance Guy Beer Blog has put together an interesting list of all the breweries he knows of that are under development in Maine—20 in all.
In the Portland area, in addition to In’finiti, he also lists Austin Street Brewery, Bissel Brothers Brewery and Brasserie Ici.
Bob and Laura Butler, former owners of Rachel’s, plan on opening a new restaurant called Enio’s at 347 Cottage Rd in South Portland. The restaurant will serve Mediterranean cuisine. The Butlers are aiming to open in March.
Rachel’s was originally located on Exhange Street. In 2003 the Butler’s moved the restaurant to Woodford Street to the space currently occupied by JP’s Bistro.
Update: The Forecaster has published an article about the closing of the Buttered Biscuit and the plans for Enio’s.
The Chinese Laundry has announced that they’re targeting February 20 for an opening date. You can see a draft menu on their Facebook page.
Zapoteca owners Tom and Shannon Bard are opening a second restaurant in Durham, NH. The new restaurant will be called Mixteca Taqueria Y Cantina is slated to open in early March.
The Bards are also tell me that they’re searching for the right property in the Portland area to open a third restaurant with a different concept sometime this fall.