The Porttown Public House & Coffee Bar (facebook, instagram) opened on Friday. The coffee shop and pub is located at 123 Commercial Street next to Olive Cafe. Porttown serves baked goods, breakfast sandwiches and coffee in the morning, and transitions to a bar with pizza and paninis for the rest of the day.
Month: October 2023
Review of Little Pig & Maine Oysters
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a four star review of Little Pig.
Outside, on the tree-covered patio, there are café tables to park yourself while you devour superlative Lao sausage and fiery jao sauce, fried hake banh mi sandwiches slathered with choo chee curry, and basil-flecked Thai-style street corn. Once winter hits, you’ll want to consider this stellar newcomer as takeout-only. It shouldn’t matter. Cooking this confident, spicing with such self-assured swagger, is a rarity. Don’t let the lack of a chair put you off.
The paper also includes an article about the Maine oyster industry.
We’re into the “R months,” the stretch from September to April when oysters are at their culinary peak. In Maine, half-shell fans and lovers of local seafood have more cause for excitement each year as oyster farms continue to proliferate along the state’s coast.
When Pigs Fly Breads
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York-based bakery When Pigs Fly (website, facebook, instagram) opened their Portland retail shop this week. They’re open 10 am – 6 pm daily.
The shop is located at 65 Hanover Street in West Bayside. It carries the full range of the breads they produce at their central bakery as well as other baked goods like cookies, muffins, and scones, and oils, jams, butter, and other pantry items that pair well with their breads.
The bakery was founded by Ron Siegel in 1993. When Pigs Fly has retail shops in Kittery as well as Somerville, Jamaica Plain, Lexington and Brookline in Massachusetts.
Maine Food & Dining News
Here are some updates from around the state:
- Ancho Honey owner Malcolm Bedell has announced he’s leased a space in Thomaston where he plans to open Honey’s. The menu at Honey’s (website, instagram) will feature the fried chicken sandwiches that Ancho Honey has become a destination for. It will be located at 153 New County Road in the space formerly occupied by China Fortune. Bedell has listed Honey’s on MainVest where people can support the launch of the restaurant. Ancho Honey is located in Tenants Harbor. Bedell formerly operated the ‘Wich, Please food truck in Rockland.
- Mainebiz has published a report on Main Street Provisions which recently opened in Waterville.
- A new market called Poland Provisions (website, facebook, instagram) opened in late September. Owners Charles and Sheila Foley and their staff operate a cafe and general store Tuesday through Saturday. The business is located at 120 Maine Street.
- Chef Jimmy Leftis began a chef residency program at Table Bar in Gardiner back in May. His Friday and Saturday night dinners have been so well received that the summer experiment will now be a permanent element at Table Bar. Starting in November you’ll find Leftis at the now 31-seat Table Bar Wednesday through Saturday nights.
- A new wine bar called Good Wine Bar is under construction in Saco.
- The Prentice Hospitality Group is taking over operation of The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth.
Lorne Wine Closing in 2024
Lorne Wine in Biddeford has announced they’ve chosen not to renew their lease and so will be closing their wine shop and bar in the summer of 2024.
Come hang with us over the next few months! We are throwing some killer parties and events and we are stoked to tell y’all about what we got planned next. Lorne will celebrate its 5th anniversary in June 2024 the last and hopefully the best.
Good Wine Bar in Saco
A new business called Good Wine Bar (instagram) is under construction at 172 Main Street in Saco in the space that was formerly the home of Unwind Cocktail Lounge.
Owners Sunny Chung and Kim Lully are hoping to launch the wine bar in November. In addition to wine, Good Wine Bar will also serve classic cocktails, local beers, and a menu of cheese, charcuterie, small plates, and desserts. Lully and Chung anticipate having biodynamic and organic wines on the list which will lean towards Old World wines.
Chung and Lully formerly ran the Korean restaurant Yobo, and were partners with Sarah Gabrielson and chef Tony Pastor in the launch of Main Street Steak & Oyster in Brunswick.
The owners of Unwind Lounge announced back in July that they had sold the business to new owners.
Radici Closing in November
Washington Avenue pizzeria Radici has announced they’ll be closing in November. Their last day in business will be November 18th.
Over the next month we’re going to take a look back at some of our favorite pizzas like this Parsnip, Castelfranco and Lemon number because they’re delicious, and we’re feeling sentimental as we’ve decided to close Radici.
Owners Randy and Ally Forrester launched Radici on July 2, 2020. They had moved to Portland from Allentown, New Jersey where they had operated Osteria Radici which was a Jame Beard Awards semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant and Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region.
CBD Employees Seek to Unionize
The Press Herald reports that the employees at Coffee by Design are seeking to form a union.
Baristas at Coffee By Design’s three coffeehouses in Portland announced Tuesday that they will try to form a union.
The baristas say that 89% of the retail workforce in Portland signed cards authorizing Local 327 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America to seek voluntary recognition of a union.
Bayou Kitchen
Thistle & Grouse to Open in November
Thistle & Grouse (instagram), the new restaurant that’s under construction on Cotton Street, is scheduled to open by the end of November. T&G has applied for their liquor license which provides a look at their draft menu and additional information.
Thistle & Grouse will be a gastropub with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The bar program is slated to feature “a craft selection of gins and scotches, as well as a full selection of liquor, local beers, hand-crafted cocktails and wines.”
The space will have a large central bar and open kitchen with interior design inspired by the owner’s recent travel to Scotland. The two story dining room will have a combined capacity of 108 seats.
The 7-page menu (click on images below to see full size images) includes oysters and other raw bar options, cheese, charcuterie and sea-cuterie boards, small plates, mains and dessert. The Cornmeal Waffle (with crispy shiitakes, smoked corn butter, fermented pear, bonito) from the small plate menu sounds especially interesting as does the Heritage Pork Meatloaf (lemon grass, ginger and soy, tempura delicata squash, coconut sticky rice, nam chim chaeo glaze) from the main course section.
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The restaurant is being launched by Kimberly Kraus and chef Bobby Will. Will has worked at restaurants run by well known chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Ken Oringer, and Jamie Bissonette. He was the executive chef at Saltaire Oyster Bar in Port Chester when the New York Times gave it a rating of Excellent in 2015. Also on the team are Julia Mcinnis who will be the general manager and bar manager Corey Schallek. All four worked together at Kraus’ and Will’s former restaurant Salt and Steel in Bar Harbor.