Maine a la Carte reports that the owners of Zapoteca, Tom and Shannon Bard, are planning to open a Spanish restaurant in Portland next year.
Tom Bard confirmed today that he is working on a location and hoping to open in early summer, 2014. Depending on the space, he said the atmosphere could either be quite casual (he mentioned Boston’s super-hot Toro as a reference), or somewhat more upscale than Zapoteca, the Bards successful Mexican restaurant in Portland.
Yikes!! Well, this explains why Zapoteca continues to have PROBLEMS. I’ve been there three times for Saturday night dinner, each with it’s own ISSUES. Sounds like the chef/owners are not focusing on it enough, as they plan to expand to open another restaurant in town. MISTAKE! Our dinner reservations were once not honored, the food is inconsistently cooked (simply underdone stuffed jalepenos, dry pork shoulder), and friends just had their brunch there on 11/10 and sent food back to the kitchen TWICE because it was all cold. Zapoteca is slipping into mediocrity…