Several changes to the Portland food scene were announced today:
- The Holy Donut has announced their return to the Old Port this summer when they open their new location at 177 Commercial Street in the longtime location of Bill’s Pizza. As we reported earlier today, Bill’s is closing their Portland location February 28th.
- Crispy Gai, the Thai fried chicken takeout business launched last November by Jordan Rubin and Cyle Reynolds, has announced they’ve leased the former Eaux space at 90 Exchange Street. Expect a slightly expanded menu and a cocktail line-up by bartender Arvid Brown.
- Sadly, Cheevitdee has announced that they will be permanently closing their business at the end of February. Cheevitdee fans should take note that the instagram post does hint that “The spirit of Cheevitdee lives on. Details in the near future.”
Whenever this pandemic ends, the retail and food scene in Portland is going to look a lot different than when it started. I’m hopeful that empty spaces will be repopulated quickly and new ventures will abound, but it’s painful to see so many local businesses closing up shop.
Cheevitdee…. wow. One of my favorites. I usually don’t get too excited either way about closings…. but this one hurts. RIP