Chef David Levi has leased 593 Congress Street for his new “100% local food, zero waste, fine dining restaurant” Vinland (website, Facebook).
593 is located just across the street from the Portland Art Museum and around the corner from the new Westin Hotel. The space has been completely renovated; it had been the long time home of The Kitchen.
Levi has worked at Noma in Denmark, at Faviken in Sweeden. He gave some insight into his approach to cooking when interviewed by the Boston Globe for their article on The New New England Cuisine,
“I want to use what grows in this bioregion,” says Levi. “If I can’t use lemon, I need to replace that acidic element. Obviously I could use vinegar, but the flavor is so strong, so maybe rhubarb, or green fruit, or whey.” To that end, in his Portland kitchen Levi prepares an example: soup made by pureeing farmers’ market turnips with his own homemade yogurt and garnishing the bowls with lightly fermented carrots and fresh herbs and flowers from his small garden plot.
Levi hopes to open Vinland this summer.