Ben Slattery is joining the team at The Alna Store as their new chef de cuisine. Slattery has worked at a number of Maine restaurants and kitchens over the last twelve years including as the chef de cuisine at the short-lived Pigeons, and as a member of the opening team at Chaval. Slattery is also an experienced whole animal butcher and worked at L.P. Bisson and Sons in Topsham.
A statement by Slattery reads in part, “My wife and I moved out of the Portland area 5 years ago looking for something that suits our small, growing family. The opportunity to work with the team at The Alna Store feels like a good stroke of fate and a continuation of that trajectory. I’m excited to bring house-made sausages and charcuterie to Alna, and to engage our MidCoast community with family-friendly events; pig or lamb roasts, harvest dinners, holiday celebrations and barbecues. Continuing the work of prioritizing and highlighting partnerships with local farms is super important to me. I’m really excited about the working farmer relationships Jasper and Brian have established over the last year and a half.”
Slattery will be joining a team that includes baker and pastry chef Kristen LaMontagne, sous chefs Clara Kazarov and Tyler Dalton, bar manager Charley Zimmerman and owners Jasper Ludwig and Brian Haskins.
The Alna Store was a 2024 James Beard Awards semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category. The Maine Sunday Telegram awarded The Alna Store 4½ stars and named TAS the Best New Restaurant of 2023.
Photo Credit: Photograph by Nicole Wolf