Category: General News

Two more streets in Portland have been turned into outdoor dining space for local restaurants.

• The stretch of Middle Street from India to Franklin has been turned into a one way street with areas in front of Eventide and The Honey Paw, and in front of East Ender, Duckfat and Ribolita blocked off for tables.
• Boothly Square businesses have gotten the approval to close off and use the streets and green space in the square for outdoor dining.

There’s a growing list of restaurants offering outdoor dining in addition to takeout and delivery.

The Press Herald reports that some businesses are taking the opportunity to change their business license in order to offer outdoor dining.

Novare Res, Sagamore Hill Lounge, Tomaso’s Canteen and Rising Tide Brewing, which were all previously licensed as Class A lounges, have been issued restaurant licenses, allowing them to reopen before other bars and brew pubs. Bars, pubs and tasting rooms will be allowed to open as soon as July 1 unless the reopening plan is changed.

An article in the Press Herald highlights some of the ways local businesses including those in the hospitality business are showing their support for the protests. Included in the article’s coverage are Ada’s, Rising Tide and The Honey Paw.

Sid Rumma, a partner at Ada’s pasta restaurant on Congress Street in Portland, couldn’t participate in the Black Lives Matter protests, but he could offer bowls of spaghetti to those protesting.

“I’m just trying to be helpful,” he said as he prepared free midday meals on Wednesday, the second day he and his team at Ada’s have offered to feed and nourish hungry protesters in advance of the afternoon’s public demonstrations.

I’ve been getting a number of requests the last couple of days for a list of black-owned restaurants and bars. Here are the ones I know of in the Portland area—please let me know if you know of any that are missing and I’ll add them to the list.

• 207 Bar & Restaurant – an African/Caribbean restaurant on Cumberland Ave
• Actual Foods – a food truck
• Asmara – an Eritrean restaurant on Oak Street
• Black Betty Bistro – a catering business
• Burundi Star Coffee – a coffee shop on Saint John Street
• Knitting Nook – a cafe and knitting shop in South Portland
• Little Easy Snoballs – a new food truck serving Louisiana-style shaved ice
• Magnus on Water – a cocktail bar in Biddeford
• Mainely Hot Dogs – a hot dog food truck
• Niyat Catering – a catering business operating out of Fork Food Lab specializing in Ethiopian food
• Red Sea – an East African restaurant on Washington Ave
• Rwanda Bean Coffee – a coffee shop with locations in South Portland and on Stevens Ave
• Soul Food Paradise – a takeout restaurant operating out of Fork Food Lab
• Yardie Ting – a Jamaican restaurant located in the Public Market House

For a list of black-owned businesses in a range of industries across the state of Maine see blackownedmaine.com.

Eventide is featured in a New York Times article about 12 Restaurants America Loves.

Like fan favorites Maison Premiere in Brooklyn and Petit Marlowe in San Francisco, Eventide pushes all the vintage-oyster-bar buttons, complete with marble counters, tin ceiling and a chalkboard with dozens of shellfish varieties. But it also has an overlay of Japanese flavors and New England tradition that produced its stellar chowders.

The Kennebec Journal reports restaurants are seeing quite a range of return customer levels since they re-opened earlier this week.

Some Augusta and Gardiner restaurant owners are happy with their level of patrons, while one Hallowell business is wondering where diners are.

And here’s another re-opening report, this one from the Ellsworth American.

The Portland Economic Development Committee is considering closings parts of Cotton, Dana, Exchange, Milk, Middle and Wharf Streets to vehicle traffic to provide restaurants and retail shops more space to conduct business.

See reports from the Portland Phoenix and Press Herald, as well as the committee documents (page 10) for more information.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram offers some Do’s and Don’t of Takeout and makes some suggestion for (takeout) dinner and a movie.