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Matcha Mood

Matcha Mood opened on September 17, 2023.

654 Congress Street, Portland, ME, USA

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Portland Food Map launched in 2007 as a directory of the local food community. Other features have been added over the years including food event listings, the Under Construction page, guides to Maine apples and cider producers, the restaurant real estate listings, Year in Review reports, and the My Kitchen Their Table chef interview series.

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Barber Brothers Meat & Provisions (@barberbrosmain

Barber Brothers Meat & Provisions (@barberbrosmaine) opened today. The new market is located at 101 Ocean Street in the Knightville neighborhood of South Portland. Customers were lining up on the sidewalk today in anticipation of the opening at noon.
Barber Brothers has an in-house butcher shop, a produce section, refrigerated and frozen products, wine and beer and stocks a wide range of national and local brands of packaged goods. Additional stock is still arriving to fill out the remaining shelf capacity.
The new market is being launched by Max and Jack Barber the co-owners of Mainely Burgers and the grandsons of Gus Barber who founded Barber Foods.
101 Ocean Street was the longtime home of Smaha’s Legion Square Market which was originally founded in 1939 by John Smaha. The Smaha family had sold the market to Alan Cardinal in 2012 and it closed in January 2023.
The market will initially be open Wednesday through Saturday , 11 am – 7 pm. #knightvillesouthportland

Peng’s Pizza Pies (@pengspizzapies) opened for b

Peng’s Pizza Pies (@pengspizzapies) opened for business in Biddeford Wednesday. It is located at 128 Main Street in the storefront adjacent to Sweetcream Dairy. There was a strong interest in the new pizzeria and they sold out within 90 minutes of opening their doors.
Peng’s is serving crispy thin-crust pies made with naturally leavened dough which stylistically owner Chris Daniels describes as New York meets New Haven. The opening day menu (2nd image) included six signature pizzas along with a Caesar salad and Basque cheesecake.
Primarily a takeout business, Peng’s also has 8 seats for indoor dining. You can order online.
Daniels has been a professional baker since 2008—in Maine he’s worked at Tandem Bakery, at Belleville and at Rover Bagel. The restaurant is named for Daniels’ father Bill whose nickname was Peng.
Peng’s will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 4 – 9 pm. #mainefood #biddefordfoodmap #pengspizzapies

A pair of new restaurants opened this past week in

A pair of new restaurants opened this past week in the Midcoast.
Yonder (@down__yonder) opened Wednesday in Wiscasset. The sandwich shop (1st and 2nd images) is located just across Middle Street from Treats. The menu includes a selection of sandwiches as well as daily soup and salad specials. The sandwiches are available in three sizes (small/large/big) and served on focaccia bread. Yonder is owned by Kelsey and Jonathan Turcotte. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am – 4 pm.

Alsace (@alsacemaine) opened Wednesday night in Union (3rd and 4th images). As the name suggests the menu features dishes the Alsace region of France like choucoute garnie and tarte flambé. They also serve some traditional German dishes like jaeger schnitzel and ones who’s origins are closer to home like the seafood chowder and grilled lobster. The wine list is weighted to Old World wines with most originating from France.
Chef Fabrice Roux and sommelier Jennifer Roux are new to Maine but not to the industry. They previously operated three restaurants in the Monterey region of California.
Alsace is open for dinner Wednesday/Thursday, 4:30 – 8 pm, Friday 4:30 – 9 pm and Saturday/Sunday 10 am – 2 pm. #mainefood #midcoastmaine

A new cafe and retail shop called Matcha Mood (@ma

A new cafe and retail shop called Matcha Mood (@matchamoodmaine) opened today. The 640 sq ft 3-seat shop is located at 654 Congress Street in the same building as Blue, The Jewel Box and Sagamore Hill.
Matcha Mood is being launched by sisters Sarochinee, Veya, and Phuntira Tiparos. Their menu (2nd photo) includes a variety of matcha-based drinks made using ceremonial grade matcha—shown here is the matcha latte. Their line of house-made matcha-based baked goods are expected to be available at some point this week.
Matcha Mood will be open 9 am – 4 pm, seven days a week. #portlandmaine #matchacafe #matchamood

Oak & Ember (@oakandembermaine), the new farm-to-t

Oak & Ember (@oakandembermaine), the new farm-to-table gastropub in Buxton, is scheduled to open on Friday. Owner Shannon Keefe and her team have lightly renovated the former Buxton Common building. It includes an outdoor deck that seats 38, and a variety of rooms and seating areas (5th and 6th images) inside the building that overall seats 60.
Chef Kirby Sholl is the executive chef at Oak & Ember. Sholl was formerly the chef de cuisine at Chaval. The menu (see last image) includes a mix of small bites, apps, pasta and mains. Shown here are the Grilled Shrimp (2nd image) and the Grilled Iberian Pork(3rd image).
The beverage program includes wines (mostly old world) by the glass, draft and packaged beer/cider/seltzer and a short list of house-designed cocktails. In addition to the restaurant there’s also a on-site wine shop that will sell all the wines of the by-the-glass and bottle list offered at Oak & Ember.
Oak & Ember will initially be open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner. Reservations are available online on Resy.com. #mainefood #buxtonmaine

Aucocisco, the new 18-story building (1st & 3rd im

Aucocisco, the new 18-story building (1st & 3rd images) under construction at the corner of Temple and Federal Streets, will open in 2024. The 263 apartments building also features a first floor commercial space that developers from Redfern Properties have slated for a local market to serve the community and building occupants. The 2,300 square foot space (4th, 5th and 6th images) has exits on to Temple Street as well as to the public plaza (2nd image) adjacent to the building.
“We’ve set aside a ground floor commercial space in Aucocisco to fill the unmet need for a market in Downtown/Old Port. The Old Port is Maine’s most walkable neighborhood but lacks a market to serve downtown workers, hotel guests, and the increasing number of downtown residents with groceries, specialty foods, and grab and go foods. We’re confident that a quality market could be highly successful in the space and Redfern is actively looking for the right operator to partner with.”
Here are a few food-related highlights from the history of that block. Before the great fire of 1866 the corner of Federal and Temple was home to the Elm Hotel and Tavern–a leading inn prior to the Civil War. In 1887 a new brick building was erected and for 60+ years was home to Kendall & Whitney (8th image) which sold seeds and agricultural supplies. Throughout much of the 20th Century the neighborhood was served by a local market at 363/365 Congress in the block opposite Lincoln Park. Initially Stolkner Fruit at 365 Congress, the market moved next door operating the names Lincoln Park Market, Quality Market and then Stolkner & Co (9th image). During the later half of the last century the Monument Square area transitioned into the present day format that mixes historical buildings like the 1st Parish Church (1825), office buildings. [Historical images are courtesy of the Portland Room collection at the Portland Public Library.]
In the present day, the 2,300 sq ft market space in Aucocisco is available for $40/sq ft. An additional 527 sq ft commercial space is available facing Federal Street. Contact Nate Stevens at @thebouloscompany with inquiries; see link in bio for further details on the commercial spaces.

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