Category: Under Construction

Mainely Wraps has leased the former Moveable Feast/Vieux Port Creole space at 431 Congress Street. This will be a return to Portland for Mainely Wraps which operated a shop on Fore Street from 2013 until November 2016.

Elsmere BBQ is reported to be in the processing of purchasing Siano’s in Deering Center where they will open a Portland location. From Nextdoor via  the Love Deering Center page on Facebook:

Elsmere is closing on the former Siano’s bldg in early October with construction and renovating to be done and a projected opening time frame in January. Went to their location in SoPo for dinner last night and got the inside scoop. Am now very excited for this addition to our neighborhood!

Pastry chef Brant Dadaleares has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the launch of his dessert-only restaurant Gross Confection Bar (instagram) The $35,000 raised by the campaign will be used to pay for the build-out of the restaurant and for refrigeration equipment.

Gross Confection Bar will be a dessert-focused restaurant and bar to be located in the heart of the Old Port district in Portland, Maine. Gross will provide a unique and consistent restaurant experience featuring an ever changing selection of high-quality artfully-plated desserts, cocktails, dessert wines, digestifs, and exceptional service. Gross will also provide a consistent selection of enrobed ganaches, fruit pates, bon-bon, entremets, late night savory snacks and desserts to go. Gross will create a new niche for a “just for dessert” destination experience in Portland.

I’ve been seeking out and happily consuming Dadaleares’ desserts for many years at Fore Street, Eventide/Honey/Paw, Central Provisions/Tipo and at his dessert pop-ups. Portland Food Map is a contributor to the Gross Confection Bar Kickstarter campaign.

Bob’s Clam Hut (website) in Kittery is opening a second location at 109 Cumberland Ave in Portland.

According to their press release:

Bob’s Clam Hut is actively involved in securing space for a second restaurant location at 109 Cumberland Avenue in Portland, ME. The Portland property will be an extension of the award-winning Kittery-based seafood restaurant that opened its iconic roadside stand over 60 years ago. Sticking to its roots, Bob’s Portland location will continue its emphasis on classic New England seafood, but with a few tweaks to offerings that better align with the Portland dining community and leverage distinct features of the new space.

Bob’s has been in business since 1956.

109 Cumberland was formerly the home of 3 Buoys Seafood Shanty & Grille, which closed earlier this year.

Restaurateur Jason Loring has announced that he and business partner Michael Fraser are “taking over  Gepetto’s and the side bar at Sugarloaf and will be opening 2 new restaurants.”

Alex Wight, manager of the much loved Flanagan’s Table series in Buxton, has purchased the General Store on Great Diamond Island where she plans to open a restaurant called Crown Jewel.

Crown Jewel will be open seasonally starting Memorial Day 2018 through Columbus Day. Rocky Hunter has joined the team as the chef for the restaurant. Hunter was formerly the Vegetarian Chef de Cusine at David’s Opus Ten.

Wight plans to share more detailed information later this month but has hinted that there will “undoubtedly be elements of Flanagan’s Table incorporated into Crown Jewel” so we can hope the guest chef series will be starting back up on the island.

 

A new restaurant called Elda (instagram) is under construction in the space formerly occupied by Custom Deluxe in Biddeford. Chef/owner Bowman Brown has also leased the adjacent storefront and is in the process of renovating and connecting the two spaces. Overall Elda will seat 32 including an 8-seat bar in the addition, and four seats at chef’s counter looking into the open kitchen.

Brown has moved to Maine from Salt Lake City where he was the co-owner and chef of Forage (instagram). He and co-founding chef Viet Pham were recognized as part of the 2011 class of Best New Chefs by Food & Wine. Additionally, Brown has been a Beard semifinalists in the Best Chef: Southwest category for six years running from 2011 to 2016.

At Elda Brown plans to serve a menu “driven by seafood and vegetables with a focus on seasonality and New England ingredients”.  Diners will be able to choose from a 10-12 dishes or go with a set nightly 4-course menu. The bar program will include “a small selection of rotating seasonal cocktails based around house infusions, tinctures, bitters, and shrubs as well as a vibrant food-focused wine, beer, and cider” options.

The name Elda is a reference to the Icelandic word meaning ‘to cook’ as well as the name of Brown’s great grandmother. Chef Brown plans to open Elda by the end of October.

The Forecaster has published an article about the new Uncle Billy’s under construction at 166 Cumberland Ave.

Uncle Billy’s returns to a burgeoning food platescape with barbecue firmly entrenched in the city and South Portland. This time, he will serve more of a Texas style, headlined by beef brisket.

“I have also become fascinated with pork belly,” St. Laurent said. “I’m going to put pork belly on everything, baby.”

You can follow the progress of Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que on their website, and on facebook and twitter.

Here’s a look inside Belleville (instagram, website, facebook) the new bakery under construction at the intersection of Congress and North Streets on Munjoy Hill. Co-owner/baker Chris Deutsch hopes to open this fall in October serving French baked goods in the morning, and sandwiches and roman-style pizza at lunch time. Belleville is sourcing coffee from Tandem Coffee Roasters.

Deutsch learned to bake in Paris and prior to moving to Portland he operated a French bakery food cart in DC called Hot Hot Bakery.

The old newspapers below were found in the wall space during construction.

As reported last week, Rover Bagel (instagram, facebook) is moving their business from Salem, Massachusetts to Biddeford, Maine. Here’s some additional information shared by the Rover team about their plans:

• The new bagel bakery will be located at 111 Elm Street
• They are making good progress on building out the space and hope to be open in September
• They’ve outgrown their current digs and are moving to Biddeford for a number of reasons including co-owner Alec Rutter’s Maine roots. The growing community of food businesses in Biddeford have made that city an appealing place to locate.
• In addition to bagels, they’ll be selling bagel sandwiches and, on Friday and Saturday nights, wood-fired pizza.