Flatiron Coffee Opens Today

| Posted in Openings

Flatiron Coffee Bar (website, instagram) is set to open this morning, Friday July 25th at 7:30 am. The 12-seat coffee bar and gallery space is located in the Hay Building in the space formerly occupied by Starbucks.

Owner Gary Perlmutter’s vision for Flatiron is as a counter-service European-style coffee bar. In addition to espresso-based drinks, Flatiron will serve drip coffee, cold brew, chai lattes, espresso tonics, lemonade (see menu below). Flatiron is sourcing coffee from Claw Coffee Roasters in Scarborough and Lay Day Roasters in Bayside. The croissants and cardamom buns served at Flatiron are coming from Belleville and other baked goods are from Little Spruce Baking Company. Additionally, Flatiron will be serving gelato from Gorgeous Gelato.

Perlmutter and his wife Rhonda Pearle own and operate the Pearl Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Hay Building where they exhibit their own work as well as work by other artists. The first artist to have their work featured at Flatiron is Jean Leibowitz Wiecha.

Flatiron Coffee is located at 594 Congress Street and will be open 7:30 am – 3 pm.

[menu photo??]

A First Look at Dry Dock

| Posted in Openings

Here’s a first look at the Dry Dock (website, instagram) restaurant which will be opening for business this Saturday at 11 am. The newly renovated restaurant can seat 145 across the 2-story dining room, with space for another 155 people on the deck. Shown above are the second floor dining room (bottom right) and high top tables adjacent to the first floor bar (top left).

Chef Mike Carney and his team are serving a menu (see below) featuring seafood dishes like broiled haddock with potatoes and green beans (top right) as well as chowder, mussels, steamed clams, and lobster rolls. In addition to oysters, the raw bar offers lobster tails, crab, ceviche and tuna crudo along with a nightly seafood specials like a crab louie and a fluke and halibut salad with horseradish and trout roe (bottom left) shown above. The drinks menu include wines by the glass and a bottle list, local and national brand beer, cocktails, and nonalcoholic drink options.

A fixture on the Portland waterfront since it first launched in 1983, the restaurant had remained dormant since 2018. A new team comprised of Luke Holden, Ben Conniff, Bryan Holden—co-owners of Luke’s Lobster—leased the building last fall and with general manager Matt Ginn have renovated and expanded the restaurant to ready it to reopen to the public.

Dry Dock is located at 84 Commercial Street. It will be open 11 am – 10 pm daily and initially operate on a walk-in only basis.

Rise Pizza & Pub Closing

| Posted in Closings

The owners of Rise Pizza & Pub have announced the closing of their restaurant. This Friday will be their last day in business. Their statement reads in-part,

It is with a very heavy heart that we have to share the news we are closing Rise. Friday will be our last day of service. The perpetual kitchen-staffing crisis in the restaurant industry coupled with high operating costs and razor-thin profit margins have made it unsustainable for us to stay in business. We regret this decision tremendously as we had envisioned Rise being a staple in the community for years to come…Thank you for all the support over the past 2 years. Restaurants are always a risk and we don’t regret taking that leap at all. We’re just devastated that our passion wasn’t enough to keep it going. We’ve made some great friends and will miss seeing all of you every week.

Rise opened in August 2023. It’s located at 319 Main Street in Cumberland Center. They’ll be open this week 4 – 9 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, and noon – 9 pm on Friday.

Maine Food & Dining News: Hartford, York, Searsport, Belfast, Edgecomb, Belgrade Lakes, Waterville, Kennebunkport, South Portland

| Posted in Maine

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know:

  • Bonaventura Vineyards (website, facebook, instagram) in Hartford launched their tasting room (photo above) this past Saturday. Owners Chad Casey and Jen Bonaventura have produced a first vintage of wines with Seyval Blanc, DeChaunac, Marquette, and Leon Millot grapes grown on the farm.  The tasting room will next be open on August 16th, Maine Open Winery Day.
  • Eating Through the Seacoast has published a field report from Swell House (website, instagram), a new coffee shop that opened in York earlier this month.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that the owners of Hey Sailor have put the Searsport business up for sale, and that a new cafe called Spring Street Eatery is under construction in the former Crumb Provisions buillding at 2 Spring Street in Belfast. The cafe is being launched by chef Sharon Kull and is expected to serve “European-influenced cuisine, including traditional dishes from England and Ireland”.
  • The Lincoln County News reports that a new food truck called Yeti Boys (instagram) is now operating in Lincoln County. They’ve announced they’ll be regularly stationed at the Glidden Point Oyster Farm.
  • The Kennebec Journal reports that the 1958 Cafe (website) opened for business this summer in Belgrade Lakes at Day’s Store.
  • The Waterville Sentinel reports that Jendi Crepe & Smoothie (facebook, instagram) is under construction at 40 Main Street in Waterville and expected to open in August.
  • A new restaurant called Port Fish & Chophouse (website) recently opened at the renovated Breakwater Inn in Kennebunkport. They’re located at 127 Ocean Avenue and open 3 – 9 pm daily.
  • The Streetwich (instagram), a breakfast and lunch spot serving sandwiches, boba tea, light snacks and some sweet treats is under construction in South Portland.

For a statewide guide to eating and drinking see the Maine Food Map—a growing list of coffee shops, bars, restaurants, bakeries, cafes, plus other food and dining businesses in all of Maine’s 16 counties.

 

Upcoming Food and Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Wednesday-Friday – The Kneading Conference is taking place in Skowhegan.

Thursday – It’s the grand opening of the Maine Oyster Company backyard raw bar on Portland Street.

Friday – The Flatiron Coffee Bar (instagram) will open for business. Read this article for more information about Flatiron.

Saturday – The Maine Artisan Bread Fair is taking place in Skowhegan. Vessel & Vine is holding an Alice in Wonder Land themed event in Durham. “Think whimsical tea cakes, cocktails, high tea fare, flamingo croquet and more!” Foodgalicious will be holding a lunch pop-up at Norimoto.

Sunday – It’s Maine Open Farm Day. The annual Armenian Picnic is taking place is Searsport.

July 30 – Portland Cooking Club is holding a potluck dinner at Blue Lobster Urban Winery in East Bayside.

July 31 – The new Portuguese restaurant, Douro, opening later this year is holding a tasting of their menu at Evo.

August 15 – a Pie Luck (a pie potluck event) is taking place at Biddeford’s Fringe Fest. You can sign-up to participate in the Pie Luck on this form.

September 14 – The Maine Cheese Festival is taking place in Pittsfield. The Tender Table Night Market is taking place.

September 19-21 – The Common Ground Country Fair is taking place in Unity.

October 12 – Maine Open Creamery Day is taking place.

November 1-9 – 207 Beer Week is taking place.

November 10-16 – Brunswick Wine Week is taking place.

Planning a wedding, holding a business event, or hosting visitors from away? Our printed guides are a great resource to help your guests explore the Maine restaurant scene.

The Portland and Midcoast pocket guides are now for sale in packs of 25 on our online store.

Dry Dock to Open Next Week

| Posted in Under Construction

The new Dry Dock (website, instagram) restaurant is scheduled to open for business next Saturday, July 26th.

A fixture on the Portland waterfront since it first launched in 1983, the restaurant had remained dormant since 2018. A new team comprised of Luke Holden, Ben Conniff, Bryan Holden—co-owners of Luke’s Lobster—leased the building last fall and with general manager Matt Ginn have renovated and expanded the restaurant to ready it to reopen to the public.

An addition was added to the building to house a new kitchen and the outdoor decks were expanded and can now seat 155. The move of the kitchen from the main building has opened up the two-story dining room which can now seat 145 people with bars on both floors.

Billed as a seafood tavern, the menu (see their website for the full menu) will include classic Maine coast dishes like broiled haddock, chowder, a lobster dinner, crab and lobster rolls and steamed clams. Raw bar options will include oysters, lobster tails, crab, ceviche and tuna crudo.

The kitchen is being led by chef Mike Carney who joins the Dry Dock team from Evo where he and Ginn previously worked together. Ginn was longtime executive chef of the Prentice Hospitality Group before taking the opportunity to lead the relaunch of the Dry Dock as its general manager.

Dry Dock is located at 84 Commercial Street. It will be open 11 am – 10 pm daily and initially operate on a walk-in only basis.

Gill’s Bar at 133 Spring Street

| Posted in Under Construction

Michael and Siobhán Sindoni, the owners of Wayside Tavern, along with chef Rian Wyllie have leased the former Bao Bao space at 133 Spring Street where they plan to open Gill’s Bar (instagram).

Their vision for Gill’s is as a neighborhood bar serving classic cocktails, a mix of local and European beers, and wine with a food menu of “updated bar classics” like patty melts, stuffed clams and chopped Italian subs.

Renovations of the 2,002 sq ft are underway. The overall layout of the room will stay the same with a bar along the right-hand side of the room. Gill’s is expected to seat ~45 wit a mix of booth and high top tables filling in the remainder of the dining room. The team is working with Molly Miller from Meter Haus on the design of Gill’s. Miller was also the designer of Wayside Tavern.

Lynn Stout, who had previously worked at Wayside, will be the front of house manager at Gill’s.

Rian Wyllie has been a chef and restaurateur in Maine and Massachusetts. Most recently he was  the chef and a cofounder of Lenora.

The team hopes to open Gill’s in late August or mid September, and when they do the hours will be Thursday through Monday opening at 4 pm. The bar is named after Gill’s Handy Store which operated at 133 Spring Street in the mid 20th century.

The Streetwich in Knightville

| Posted in Under Construction

Chayuda Yeamsiriwut has leased the former BenReuben’s space at 145 Ocean Street in Knightville where she plans to launch The Streetwich (instagram), a breakfast and lunch spot serving sandwiches, boba tea, light snacks and some sweet treats.

The Streetwich started as a small dream rooted in my love for casual street food and cozy cafés. I wanted to create a space that feels warm, a bit playful, and welcoming — the kind of place where you might pop in for a quick bite, but end up coming back just because it feels good to be there.

The menu is still under development but is expected to include options like a spicy krapow basil chicken sandwich, bánh mì, as well as some classic breakfast options. Yeamsiriwut shared that the menu will draw from Thai flavors and street food energy that are reimagined in “a more playful, approachable way”.

While primarily serving food to-go, The Streetwich will have a couple table to enjoy food and drink on-site. Yeamsiriwut hopes to launch The Streetwich later this summer.

Follow The Streetwich instagram account to stay up to date on their progress towards an opening day.

Bub’s Home Kitchen

| Posted in Under Construction

A new business called Bub’s Home Kitchen (website, instagram) has leased space on the second floor of the Public Market House. Owner James Shaffer plans to be open for lunch serving Sicilian-style pizza by the slice, soups, and salads. He will also be selling take-and-bake meals like baked rigatoni, mushroom Stroganoff, shepherd’s pie, and pot roast as well as soups, broths, fruit spreads and marinara sauce for customers to enjoy at home.

Shaffer wants his customers to feel like they’re getting a home cooked meal which seems appropriate with many of the dishes being based on family recipes like his father’s recipe for pot roast or his wife’s family recipe for the Stroganoff. Before moving to Portland in 2019, he and his father operated a cafe in Baltimore.

Shaffer hopes to launch Bub’s at the Public Market House in August. It will initially be open Wednesday through Friday, 11 am – 4 pm (serving lunch until 2) with plans to expand days and hours to meet demand. In addition, Bub’s will continue to participate in the South Portland’s Farmers’ Market on Sundays, and Fork Food Lab’s market on Thursdays to reach customers who might not live or work in downtown Portland.