Category: Under Construction

Portland magazine has published an interview with Carmen Gonzalez, chef of new restaurant opening this Spring in the Danforth Inn.

If you dine with González at her new restaurant, opening May 15 at The Danforth bed and breakfast, you can go international, too, devouring sizzling snacks as  part of a culinary “journey through most of Latin America and the Caribbean,” where lobster will be served as few up here have seen it before.

“One of my signature dishes is a lobster and avocado terrine with key lime mayo and aranitas (grated green plantain and garlic fritters), which I plan to have on the menu, along with lobster fritters.”

The Forecaster has published an article about Tony’s Donut’s plans to open a location in South Portland.

Now, after operating out of its 9 Bolton St. location for more than 45 years, Tony’s Donuts is planning to pen a second bakery at 1059 Broadway in South Portland. Fournier expects the new shop to open in fall 2012.

A pair of updates for the Under Construction list:

• The new coffee shop under development on Congress Street by the owner of Matt’s Wood-Roasted Coffee is slated to be named Speckled Ax Espresso. A regular contributor to PFM wrote to inform me that Speckled Ax is a reference to a story from Ben Franklin autobiography. Speckled Ax is scheduled to open sometime in April.
• The new owners of Hugo’s have leased the space formally occupied by Rabelais and plan on remaking it into a companion restaurant called Eventide Oyster Company. In addition to oysters the owners plan on serving a more casual menu of other items. Eventide will have a separate entrance but the two restaurants will be connected by sharing a common kitchen. It’s scheduled to open this Spring.

Sebastian’s, the restaurant under construction on the corner of Fore and Silver Streets, has submitted a liquor license application which includes draft lunch and dinner menus (pages 76-77).

Here are a couple new items under construction:

• A company called Sebastians LLC has rented the restaurant space located at 339 Fore Street that has in the past been the home of Apsara, Shima and Siam Grille. There’s no word yet on what type of restaurant Sebastians LLC plans on opening.
• Rising Tide Brewing has leased 5,500 square feet of space on Fox Street, They’ll be moving their brewing operation into Bayside from the Industrial Way.

A group of 5 “seasoned and passionate artisan bakers” are launching a new bagel bakery in Portland called the Union Bagel Company. Their stated goal is “to bring traditional bagels to Portland, and to create a successful enterprise that is both supportive of and dependent upon a strong regional economy.”

They’ve launched a website, set-up a Facebook page and are now raising $7500 in start-up funds on KickStarter. If you’ve wanted to see the Portland bagelverse continue to expand then you might want to visit their fundraising page, watch the video and consider helping them out with a donation.

A new restaurant named Spread is under construction at 100 Commercial Street. The location was formerly the home of Gaucho’s and before that of Oolong.

Spread’s owner is Jung Hur who has been the head chef at Fuji for several years. Spread’s menu “will consist of a blend of American and Asian cuisine.”  A draft menu (page 46) was submitted along with the restaurant’s liquor license application.

Today’s Press Herald includes an update on the Blue Lobster Urban Winery which is under construction on India Street.

Christopher Gamble and Karen Rasmussen plan to operate their microwinery and wine bar out of a 2,400-square-foot space at 61 India St. It would be Portland’s, and possibly Maine’s, first “urban winery,” where grapes are crushed and fermented.

“People (in urban areas) are realizing that they have a customer base at their front door,” Gamble said. “If you can make wine in the city, why not?”

Gamble said his business plan calls for grapes to be imported from California vineyards to his winery in Portland, where they will be de-stemmed, crushed and fermented before the wine is put into oak barrels to age.