Under Construction: Rover Woodfired Bagels & Pizza

| Posted in Under 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.

This Week’s Events: Channing Daughters, MCD Grand Opening, Bangkok Dinner, Farm to Fork Fondo

| Posted in Events

Wednesday – Hugo’s is holding dinner featuring wines from Channing Daughters, there will be a wine tasting at Old Port Wine Merchants, and the Monument Square Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Thursday – The Great Lost Bear is featuring beer from Foundation Brewing.

Saturday – Maine Craft Distilling is holding the Grand Opening of their new distillery on Washington Ave with a lobster bake and live music, and the Deering Oaks Farmers’ Market is taking place.

Sunday – Local 188 is holding a Bangkok themed prix fixe dinner, and the Farm to Fork Fondo event is returning to Wolfe’s Neck for another year.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, please provide details as a comment to this post.

Reviews: Noble BBQ, Little Giant, Roma Cafe

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Press Herald has reviewed Noble Barbecue,

I’ve waited and waited for the day when Portlanders would finally get to experience truly excellent pulled pork. Now I think I’ve finally found it. This is no slap in the face to other places around town that put out perfectly fine pulled pork. But the pork at Noble Barbecue, the new restaurant on outer Forest Avenue, is on a whole other level. It’s tender and incredibly juicy. It’s aggressively smoky. And there is plenty of bark.

the Portland Press Herald has published a bar review of Little Giant, and

Little Giant is looking to be the West End’s one-stop shop for good food, great drinks and carefully curated sundries. The newly opened restaurant component will be sure to add a little hipness to the Danforth Street lineup.

Peter Peter Portland Eater has reviewed the Roma Cafe.

I think Roma will stand with the big boys in the Italian food scene here in Portland. They are a little more on the traditional side than some, but their classic food is strong. Their atmosphere is warm, service friendly, and they offer a pretty comprehensive selection of traditional favorites. I’m confident they’ll be a very welcome addition to the food scene in this city.

The Maine Course

| Posted in Reviews

Wall Street Journal editor Polya Lesova has written about here eating trip to Maine for The Australian.

She mentions: The Holy Donut, Eventide, The Lobster Shack, Long Grain, Suzuki and The Lost Kitchen, Vena’s Fizz House, Young’s Lobster Pound, Beal’s Lobster Pier and MDI Ice Cream.

I wake up hungry. Fortunately, I am in a town that is able to satiate a big appetite. My husband Paul and I have flown to Portland, Maine, from New York late the previous night for a five-day road trip up the coast. We want to savour the state’s spring beauty, hike some seaside trails, dip our toes in the still-icy Atlantic. But mostly we plan to eat. 

Under Construction: Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que

| Posted in Under Construction

Chef Jonny St. Laurent has leased the former Bayside Variety at 166 Cumberland where he plans to open Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que (website, facebook, twitter). According to the cover letter supplied with their liquor license application,

The restaurant will be a reincarnation of the famous Uncle Billy’s Bar-B-Que that originally opened in 1989 in South Portland…The new location will feature many of the same smoked meats along with some new ideas that will be in line with the original concept.

Here’s a look at the draft menu (page 46):

The 32-seat restaurant will be augmented in the summer time by an “outdoor dining area in the back, outfitted with Maine-made picnic tables” behind the restaurant. St. Laurent hopes to open Uncle Billy’s in October for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

Here’s the floor plan:

Saint Laurent last operated a restaurant in Portland called Uncle Billy’s Resto-bar at 653 Congress Street in the space currently occupied by Kushiya Benkay. Uncle Billy’s closed in 2007. He also had run restaurants in South Portland, Portland and Yarmouth in the past.

Under Construction: Bite Into Maine

| Posted in Under Construction

Bite Into Maine (website, facebook, twitter, instagram) is making good progress on their new brick and mortar kitchen/cafe at 185 Route 1 in Scarborough.

The space will serve both and as a prep area to keep their two food trucks amply supplied throughout the summer months and a destination where Bite Into Maine fans can go all year round to get their lobster roll fix.

Owners Sarah and Karl Sutton hope to open in early fall.