Food establishments are the focus in this Portland Phoenix article, Off-peninsula is Portland’s New Peninsula.
It’s Thursday night, the bar is packed, the dining room full, and customers are sipping local craft beers as regulars and people stopping in for the first time mix to enjoy a night out in Portland.
Packed bars and restaurants have long been the norm on Portland’s peninsula. But this is Woodfords Corner.
A new restaurant called Broken Arrow (instagram) is under construction at 545 Congress Street in the storefront formerly occupied by the West End Deli. They will open serving dinner “5-7 times a week” and plan to eventually add a lunch service as well. Broken Arrow will seat 47 overall featuring banquet seating along the right wall and a 17-seat bar on the opposite side of the space. There are also plans for outdoor seating.
The draft menu (page 100) includes small and large plate such as brown bread with butter, oyster sliders, mussels and pot roast, as well as oysters, seafood towers, sandwiches and meat/cheese plates.
Broken Arrow is being launched by Holly and Lyle Aker. Lyle Aker had owned the Charlatan and the Three Aces in Chicago prior to moving to Maine.
The restaurant has been under development since 2017.
The Blueberry Files has published a round-up of the restaurants under development in South Portland: Big Babe’s Tavern (which reportedly opened last night), Judy Gibson, Solo Cucina, and Matt Moran’s project on Cottage Road.
The Waterville Sentinel has published an article about Verna’s All Day (website, instagram), the “casual, classic American chop house” that the owners of the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club have under construction in Waterville.
Verna’s All Day, a casual, classic American chop house, will offer steak and other entrees, as well as locally sourced food and classic cocktails in the restaurant part of the business. A range of prepared foods, convenience items, wine, local beer and other items will be featured in the small market and cafe-deli, where patrons will be encouraged to eat, socialize and study.
The Portland Phoenix has published an article about Big Babe’s Tavern, a music and food venue under construction in the Knightville neighborhood of South Portland.
But the vision goes beyond just a performance space. It’s a tavern in the traditional sense of the word, like the Irish and English pubs many touring musicians covet for the meals they offer and the sleeping arrangements upstairs. Big Babe’s has five themed rooms you can stay in on the second floor, with odes to Stax and Sun Records, Bonnie and Clyde’s Barrow Gang, even Stephen King.
Andrew and Briana Volk, owners of the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club, have leased space at 150 Main St in Waterville where they plan to open Verna’s All Day (website, instagram), a “casual, classic American chop house”.
The Volks are planing to bring ” locally-sourced food from farmers, classic cocktails and friendly service” to a town that’s undergoing a significant change as Colby College brings investment and attention to developing the downtown of the city where it’s been located for 207 years.
The restaurant is named for Briana’s grandmother. Verna’s is scheduled to open in late 2020.
Andrew Volk is a Colby alum from the class of 2005.
As reported back in October, Chad Conley and Josh Sobel have leased the former Flying Fox Juice Bar at 98 Washington Ave.
Conley and Sobel are working with Carrie Dessertine from Mey & Co. on the redesign of the space which they plan to reopen in early spring as a Philly-inspired breakfast and lunch hoagie shop called Ramona’s (instagram). The menu is still under wraps but Conley and Sobel shared one item it will include: a roast pork/broccoli rabe/sharp provolone sandwich.
Chad Conley is well known as the co-owner of Palace Diner and founder of Rose Foods. Josh Sobel hails from Philadelphia. He is a member of the Rose Foods staff, and has worked in NYC at Mile End, Diner, Marlow & Sons, and Court Street Grocers; he was also a co-owner of Southside Coffee. Grub Street put Southside at the top of their list of NYC’s best breakfast sandwiches back in 2016.
Flying Fox closed October 19, 2019.
Jake and Raquel Stevens, owners of Leeward (website, instagram) the Italian restaurant under construction on Free Street, have launched a Kickstarter campaign. The Stevens are looking to raise $12k to “help us purchase some of our opening inventory, and to address a few unexpected construction costs”.
The Stevens are hoping to open Leeward sometime in February.
As reported back in December, a Mexican/Salvadoran restaurant called Dos Naciones is under construction at 649 Congress Street in the former Local Sprouts space.
Dos Naciones owner Virginia Abarca has now applied for a liquor license and supplied a draft copy of their menu (page 41).
A new tavern serving lunch and dinner is under development at 51 Wharf Street by Tom Minervino, his sister Meg Minervino and their business partner Mike Barton.
The tentative name for the tavern is the Wharf Street Rathskeller. It will seat 44 including a 20-seat horseshoe bar.
The Minervinos and Barton also own and operate Legends Rest in Westbrook.