Elsmere BBQ & Wood Grill(website, facebook, twitter) opened yesterday. Located near Willard Square in South Portland, Elsmere aims to be a “neighborhood family restaurant and perfect place to meet friends”.
The restaurant is owned by longtime friends Jeremy Rush and Adam Powers. Powers has spent the last 15 years as the chef at Three Dollar Deweys. The pair will be serving Texas-style barbeque. Elsmere’s menu is available on their website.
Austin Street Brewery (facebook, twitter) has leased the former Bull Jager space at One Industrial Way, the area of town that’s already home to Allagash, Geary’s, New England Distilling, Bissell Brother’s and Foundation Brewing. One Industrial Way was also the original location for both Rising Tide and Maine Beer Company.
Austin Street is owned by Will Fisher and Jake Austin is the new operation’s brewer. The two ran an event back in May, the tap menu from the event included a pale ale, a black IPA, a double IPA, a wheat beer, and a blond ale, as well as a porter, a stout, and a barleywine.
A new bakery called Little Bigs (facebook) opened yesterday in South Portland. Little Bigs is located at 340 Main Street, and is run by James Murray Plunkett and Pamela Fitzpatrick.
The Golden Dish has shared some initial impressions of Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room.
The prices at Harding’s fourth “room” are reasonable, the ambiance enticingly cool and the kitchen is making a compelling statement already. While the restaurant may still be going through a modest spurt of growing pains, it should emerge like the other rooms in Smith’s dining empire: reliably excellent fare that’s served in a stylish setting to a discerning dining public.
Peter Peter Portland Eater has published a review of The Grill Room,
Regardless of your financial situation, you’ll definitely want to go to The Grill Room for the wood-grilled brie. The brie was out-of-this-world delicious and was only $9 by itself. It is very much worth that. Double your bill by having a signature drink and you’ll have an outstanding start to a great night without spending all your dough. If you’ve got more cash to spend and are looking for a special treat, they’ll serve you up a multiple course, tasty meal that will leave you happy and full.
and the Press Herald has published a bar review of Vignola/Cinque Terre.
The expression “you get what you pay for” rings true for Vignola Cinque Terre — but in a good way. Yes, it’s more upscale, and maybe the typical cheaper beer options or happy hour deals aren’t available, but the extra dollars will be spent on service, atmosphere and overall attention to ingredients and detail.
The Munjoy Hill News reports that Salvage BBQ should be open before the end of the month.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” said Garry Bowcott, of the lull before the opening of the Salvage Barbeque later this month. Salvage Barbeque, 919 Congress Street, is the third restaurant owned by the well-liked Jay Villani. And both Villani and Bowcott are confident it will be open by Labor Day and quite likely next week.
According to a report in Eater Maine, Tony’s Donuts long-awaited location in South Portland opened earlier this week.
El Rayo (website, facebook, twitter) has leased a 4,500 square foot building on Route 1 in Scarborough’s Oak Hill neighborhood where they plan to open a second El Rayo restaurant. Owner Tod Dana tells me they’re planning to stay close to the concept that’s been a success in Portland with “a few twists and surprises” thrown in for good measure.
El Rayo hasn’t yet set an opening date for the Scarborough location, but hope to be up and running sometime in the Spring of 2014. Once the Scarborough location is open they’ll be looking for other towns where their restaurant would be a fit.
This news comes on the heals of yesterday’s announcement that Pom’s Thai Taste will be opening a branch in Falmouth, and an increasing number of restaurant opening in South Portland including an Otto Pizza.
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article by Joe Yonan about his addiction to and attempts to deconstruct the formula for Little Lad’s herbal popcorn,
Then we slowed down and concentrated as we tasted, thinking instead of shoveling. Okay, dill is definitely among the herbs. And the nutty, kinda cheesy flavor had to be that staple of vegans everywhere: nutritional yeast. A closer look at the contents of the transparent bag and the telltale golden flakes inside confirmed it. But is that really all that goes into it?
and an article about Mainers Feeding Mainers, a program run by the Good Shepherd Food Bank that hires Maine farmers to raise produce for them at wholesale prices.
It’s an innovative initiative that aims to provide fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables to Mainers grappling with hunger. What makes the program stand out is rather than just seeking donations from farms, the program works with farmers to pay them a fair price for their crops.
Dispatch has published an article about MJ’s Wine Bar.
The space itself is nothing short of inviting. It would’ve been incredibly easy to f[***] up the feng shui when introducing so many different levels of seating. The large granite bar top, a communal table at the same height, lower tables, a casual leather couch set up and an outdoor patio miraculously don’t clash at all. The room is open and designed to take you on a journey to every place their products were birthed.
MJ’s is holding their Grand Opening Party this Friday.