Category: History

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from October 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Shima opened for business on October 2nd in 2009 in the space in Boothby Square that’s now the home of Mami.
• Binga’s Stadium held their grand opening on October 8th.
• Dawn Hagin launched her food blog (remember those!) called Appetite Portland. These days you can follow her world travels through her instagram account WayfarerDawn.
• Veranda Noodle Bar opened for business on October 12th.
• Word was out that the owners of Bangkok Thai were going to convert the Longfellow Square restaurant into a “a new Asian fusion eatery similar in some respects to their other Congress Street restaurant, the Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro” called Boda.
• Lindsey Sterling wrote about learning how to prepare Bulgarian Bean Soup & Spanikopita from Svetla Popova for her blog Inside Immigrant Kitchens.
• Stephen Lanzalotta launched The Baker’s Gallery on Market Street. It served as a gallery for his art and a retail space for his Italian pastries and cookies.
• Rachel’s L’Osteria closed their Woodford Street restaurant.
• Chef James Tranchemontagne and members of his family began planning to launch a multi-roaster coffee shop and cafe in Westbrook called The French Press Eatery.
• Bramhall held their grand opening on October 9, 2014.
• A new restaurant that we now know as Isa Bistro was under development on Portland Street.
• The Muthah Truckah food truck launched on October 6th.
• We all learned that the owners of Eventide and Hugo’s were working on a new restaurant called The Honey Paw that promised to be a “non-denominational noodle restaurant.”
• Bao Bao opened on October 21st.
• Briana Warner shut down her business Maine Pie Line, and went on to a roll at the Island Institute. These days she’s the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms.
• A lot of changes were taking place in the landscape of Italian restaurants in 2019.
• Flying Fox Juice Bar closed on Washington Ave, and news broke that the space was going to become the home of a new restaurant being launched by Josh Sobel and Chad Conley. The name and concept were TBD at the time but we now know it was slated to become Ramona’s.
• Candy’s, a coffee shop, bar, cafe and queer community hub, opened for business on Portland Street.
• The 6th Annual Heirloom Apple Tasting took place. It brought under one roof 213 apples varieties gathered from 21 orchards in 4 states. The event featured New England ciders from Bent Bough, Rocky Ground, Cornish and Citizen and heirloom apple-based dishes by Ilma Lopez at Chaval, Josh Berry at Union and Krista Kern Desjarlais at The Purple House. The apple tasting took place at The Oyster Shop on Washington Ave and the following week was reprised at the Blaine House in Augusta.
• Pliny and Melanie Reynolds leased the former Silly’s buildings on Washington Ave with plans to move their restaurant Terlingua to that location.
• The ownrs of the food truck Falafel Mafia leased 1 Monument Way where they began the development of their restaurant Nura.
• A emerging topic of discussion was that lack of staff was becoming a challenge for hospitality businesses.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from September 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Geo’s Patisserie on Forest Ave closed in 2009, as did Barava on Congress St.
• Julia Moskin penned an article for the New York Times about the Portland food scene, “In the last decade, Portland has undergone a controlled fermentation for culinary ideas combining young chefs in a hard climate with few rules, no European tradition to answer to, and relatively low economic pressure and has become one of the best places to eat in the Northeast.”
• A company called Ocean Approved received a lease to farm kelp in Casco Bay.
• As a result of the NYT article Rabelais started getting calls for reservations from people who had mistaken the bookstore for a restaurant.
• Gourmet magazine included Fore Street in a national list of 125 restaurants “you can trust to provide exceptional food and a memorable experience every single time”.
• Peace Food Market opened for business.
• The popular Congress Street bar The White Heart closed in 2014. The space eventually would become the home of Nosh.
• Arcadia opened for business at their original location on Preble Street, Dean’s Sweets on Fore Street and Golden Lotus opened, Sur Lie opened on Free Street, and so did Huong’s Vietnamese Restaurant on Saint John Street. The email newsletter Eat Drink Lucky launched in 2014.
• The owners of Piccolo celebrated the first anniversary of the restaurant with a 20-course feast.
• The Pepperclub closed in September 2014 and Sangillo’s filed an appeal of in the denial of their liquor license renewal.
• Nathaniel Meiklejohn opened his Arts District cocktail bar The Jewel Box.
• Sticky Sweet opened their plant-based ice cream shop on Cumberland Ave in 2019.
• Word broke that Maria’s Ristorante was planning move into the Espo’s space at 1335 Congress Street.
• Mast Landing expanded into a 20,000 square foot space in Westbrook.
• Word broke that Randy and Ally Forrester were moving to Portland to open what would become Radici.
• JP’s Bistro owner John Paul Gagnon made the decision to move his restaurant from Woodford Street in Portland to Falmouth.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from August 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• In 2009 Bon Appétit named Portland the Foodiest Small Town in America.
• The Press Herald reported on restaurant’s use of a new social media platform called Twitter.
• Mainebiz took a look at the claim that Portland has “highest or second highest number of restaurants per capita behind San Francisco.”
• A new Maine law required wine tastings to “be conducted in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children.”
• In 2014 word broke that chefs Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier, founders of the former Arrows in Ogunquit, were going to headline a restaurant in the new Press Hotel.
• The Portland Phoenix published a set of reviews of Vena’s Fizz House written by young students taking a food writing workshop put on by The Telling Room.
• Deen Haleem and Carol Mitchell leased the 7,000 sq ft space in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel with plans to open a restaurant called Tiqa.
• Bon Appétit selected Central Provisions and Palace Diner for their 2014 list of the Best New Restaurants in America. Central Provisions would go on to be recognized as #6 on the Top Ten list and Hunt & Alpine was named one of the five Best New Cocktail Bars in America.
• A new local market called Farm Stand opened at 161 Ocean Street in South Portland. It was a collaboration between Farmers Gate butcher shop in Wales and Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth. The space would later become Solo Cucina Market which closed in 2023.
• Ten Ten Pie opened for business. It was located in the building on Cumberland Ave that’s now home to Banh Appetit. Atsuko Fujimoto was the chef at Ten Ten Pie.
• O’Maine Studios began construction of a media kitchen at their location on Danforth Street.
• Dobra Tea announced plans to move to Exchange Street from their original location on Middle Street.
• Renovation of the former Down Home Cookin’ space got underway to open the restaurant we know as Dutch’s.
• Zagat included Blue Rooster, Central Provisions, Duckfat, Eventide, Fore Street, Hunt & Alpine, Lolita, Piccolo, Slab, Timber, and Vinland in their list of the Ten Hotest Restaurants in Portland.
• Lindsay Sterling learned how to make Russian Beef Tongue from Yulia Converse and Alla Zagoruyko for the latest article on her website Immigrant Kitchens.
• Uncle Andy’s Diner in South Portland was featured in an episode of Restaurant Impossible. The diner closed in 2020.
• Tandem Bakery opened on Congress Street.
•  Father and son team of Katsuaki and Cory Suzuki began construction of Ramen Suzukiya, and Natalie DiBenedetto began development of her West End takeout restaurant that would eventually be known as Figgy’s.
• The inaugural Maine Seaweed Festival took place.
• In 2019, Po’ Boys and Pickles opened a second location on Federal Street in the Old Port, the Cider House opened on Brackett Street, a new food cart called Chula Elotes launched, and the Brighton Ave location of Crooked Mile Cafe opened,
• The Food Coma podcast featured an interview with Andrew Knowlton.
• Word broke that Helm was under development in the WEX building on Thames Street, as did news that Uncharted Tea was going to be located near Longfellow Square.
• Erica Asimov wrote an article for the New York Times about the Maine blueberry wine producer Bluet.
• Conde Nast Traveler published a set of travel guides to Portland.
• The owners of Lolita announced plans to close the Munjoy Hill restaurant in early September, and Colleen Kelley shared plans to close the Silly’s restaurant on September 1st, and Brian Boru closed at the end of August.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back each month at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from July 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Grace and The Corner Room both launched on July 2nd 2009.
• O’Naturals closed. They were located on Exchange Street in the space now occupied by Black Cow.
• Owners Cheryl and Jeff Buerhaus began the process of moving Walter’s to Union Street.
• Sara Lemieux and Kellen Tucker opened an ice cream shop from the then Bonobo takeout window.
• Portland & Rochester closed in 2014. They were located in the space now occupied by Coals.
• Work got underway to open the Oxbow Brewing location on Washington Ave.
• El Rayo opened their new restaurant in Scarborough.
• Maps Cafe opened for business on July 17, 2014.
• Andrew Zimmern shared his 10 of his favorite dishes in Portland with the readers of Food & Wine.
• For the 60th anniversary issue in 2014, Down East magazine intensively searched the state for the best lobster rolls. Their conclusion was the the roll from Greet’s Eats on Vinalhaven had the state’s best.
• The first issue of Zest magazine was published.
• Construction of Sur Lie got under way on Free Street.
• Gross Confection Bar launched their breakfast bakery in 2019.
• Three of Strong opened their distillery tasting room and bar.
• Dean’s Sweets opened their location in East Bayside.
• Press Herald published restaurant critic Andrew Ross’ list of the 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland in 2019.
• The food truck Maine Maple Creemee launched.
• The Garrison opened for business.
• Word broke that a new restaurant called Leeward was under development on Free Street.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from June 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Governor Baldacci signed into law LD 904 which empowered breweries to sell half gallon containers of beer (aka growlers).
• Shannon Tallman launched a food blog called Edible Obsessions. Tallman shared at the time that she may gush about foie gras but is more likely write about “fried bologna sandwiches (slathered with butter, like how Mom made them)”.
• Construction got underway for Figa, a restaurant being launched by chef Lee Farrington. These days Farrington and her partner Bryna Gootkind operate LB Kitchen.
• The West End Neighborhood Association produced a 60 foot lobster roll in an attempt to set a new world’s record. In 2017 Shediac held the record with a 180 foot lobster roll. A note from 2024: this seems like a record the people of Portland should work  together to reclaim. As Atlas Obscura pointed out the biggest challenge is in baking a single continuous roll, but with the amazing baking talent in the Portland area certainly that’s an obstacle that can be overcome.
• The Out on a Limb rare apple CSA was announced in 2009. Shares were $120 and promised to participants  “30-40 varieties of rare, interesting and highly flavored apples over the course of the season accompanied by a newsletter with descriptions, history, tidbits and lore about each variety, as well as recipes and ideas for how to best use them.” The apple CSA continues to this day—here’s how to sign-up.
• In 2009, The Salt Exchange opened for business on June 8th, Kon Asian Bistro on June 9th, and Otto Pizza opened on June 17th.
• In 2014 Lolita opened on June 1st, the Fishin’ Ships food truck was launched by Arvid Brown and Sam Gorelick, The King’s Head opened. Also in June 2014 Clayton Norris and Jenna Friedman launched the CN Shwarma food truck which a few years later scaled up to become Baharat. Slab opened for business on June 18th, and the Hilltop Superette on June 30th.
• Uncle Andy’s Diner was featured in an episode of television show Restaurant Impossible.
• Chef Yana Gilbuena brought her 50-state SALO Filipino pop-up dinner series to Portland.
• Speckled Ax held a Panamanian/Gesha coffee tasting.
• Family Feast served an Indonesian prix fixe dinner at The Well in 2014. Family Feast organizers Thomas & Mariah Pisha-Duffly have since gone on to launch several award winning restaurants in Oregon including Gado Gado, Oma’s Hideaway and The Houston Blacklight.
• Will Garfield and Masa Miyake ended their 8-year business partnership in 2014. While Miyake and Pai Men weren’t impacted, the change did result in the closure of Miyake Diner.
• A new food cart called A&C Food Factory launched on June 4th 2019. The West End LB Kitchen, the Forest Ave Blake Orchard and the Tacos La Poblanita food truck launched. Coals Pizza also opened in June as did the Island Lobster Co. Yardie Ting opened in the Public Market House on June 15th, Banh Appetit opened on June 23rd, and Lorne Wine in Biddeford on the 30th. Huong’s also launched an ice cream shop in June 2019.
• Construction got underway for Erika Colby’s restaurant cider bar Anoche.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from May 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Rob Evans won the 2009 James Beard Award in the Best Chef: Northeast category
• El Rayo opened for business on May 22, 2009 and Type A Diversions was first out with a review of the York Street restaurant.
• The Great Lost Bear was growing a vegetable garden on the roof of their building.
• El Rayo Cantina closed in May 2014, as did Gingko Blue.
• Antonio Alviar and Krista Cole leased space on Free Street where they began work to launch Sur Lie.
• Coastal Root Bitters first went on sale at Vena’s on May 7, 2014.
• Blue Rooster launched a hot dog guest chef series—in all, 13 Portland chefs took part.
• Work began to convert the former DiPietro’s on Cumberland Ave to what would become Ten Ten Pie.
• Down Home Cookin’ on Preble Street closed in 2014.
• Portland Food Map collaborated with the Maine Brew Bus to lead a coffee house tour. The tour group made stops at CBD in East Bayside, Bard, Speckled Ax and Tandem Coffee.
• The Blue Spoon Cafe opened in the former Aurora Provisions space on May 2, 2019.
• Scott Tyree passed his final examination in 2019 to become the 257th Master Sommelier.
• The former Little Bigs co-owner, Pamela Fitzpatrick Plunkett, joined the staff at Monte’s Fine Foods to manage their bakery operations.
• Rob Tod won a 2019 James Beard award in the Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Producer category.
• Grippy Tannins opened on May 8, 2019, and Quiero Cafe opened on the following Monday.
• Walter’s Cafe closed on May 31, 2019., and on the same day Greg Mitchell opened his new restaurant Flood’s.
• Construction got underway for Candy’s at 34 Portland Street in the building now slated to become the new location of Elda.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from April 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• A program called the Maine Food and Drink Ambassadors got going with a class on beer, wine, mead and spirits.
• Bard opened their Middle Street coffee shop on April 6, 2009.
• Grassroots Organic opened for business. The cafe featured raw and low temp cooked dishes that promised to be healthier than food prepared with traditional cooking methods. Cornucopasetic reported they enjoyed “the almond, cacao, banana and nut milk smoothy; a miso sea veggie “soup” with shitaakes; an excellent sea veggie salad with ginger-miso dressing”
• Construction got under way at The Salt Exchange. The restaurant was located in the present day home of the Old Port Noodle House.
• Construction also was progressing for El Rayo at their original location in a former gas station at the intersection of York and High Streets.
• Cara Stadler was named by Food & Wine to their 2014 Best New Chefs list.
• The City Council denied Sangillo’s application to renew their liquor license. The former Sangillo’s building is now home to Tomaso’s Canteen.
• Kate McCarty’s book Portland Food: The Culinary Capital of Maine was published, as was the book Eating in Maine: At Home, On the Town, and On the Road by Malcolm and Jillian Bedell.
• Chefs Masa Miyake and Rob Evans collaborated on a 6-course dinner, a “celebration of Maine-raised pure breed heritage pork”.
• Cheevitdee began serving breakfast.
• Lone Pine Brewing opened a new larger brewery in Gorham.
• The Maine Sunday Telegram published an article about the Minervino family which operates several Portland area restaurants across two generations of family members.
• The Other Side Diner opened for business in April 2019.
• Atsuko Fujimoto launched Norimoto Bakery working out of the Two Fat Cats location in South Portland.

The Portland Food Map archive  provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from March 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• Silly’s won the 2009 WMPG Cajun Cookin’ Challenge with a vegan dish.
• Word was out about El Rayo and the construction of their first restaurant which was located at the corner of High and York Streets. Cheryl Lewis and Norine Kotts headlined the launch of El Rayo.
• Chef Jeff Landry opened his new restaurant The Farmer’s Table. It was located in the Commercial Street building now home to Elevation Burger. Type A Diversions opined, “For those seeking simply prepared, well-executed comfort food, The Farmer’s Table fits the bill; it is a great new addition to Portland’s food scene.”
• Micucci’s started work on a line of bottled pasta sauced developed by their then chef/baker Stephen Lanzalotta.
• Construction of The Corner Room got underway.
• Freaky Bean closed their remaining two coffee shops.
• The Maine 2009 Beard Awards nominees for 2009 were Fore Street for Outstanding Restaurant, and Rob Evans, and Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier for the Best Chef: Northeast category.
• The Washington Post published an article about Munjoy Hill in 2009 that highlighted: North Star, Hilltop Coffee Shop, Rosemont, The Front Room, Duckfat, Colucci’s and Homegrown Herb & Tea.
• Joe Ricchio launched his food blog Portland Food Coma in March 2009. One of the very first posts was a list of “Ten Things to Eat in Portland…[when you] have no time or patience for being disappointed”. The list includes dishes at Thanh Thanh 2, Haggarty’s, Tu Casa, Bresca, La Bodega Latina, Huong’s, Hugo’s, Hot Suppa and One Fifty Ate. Joe has since gone on to run a wide variety of media initiatives and is currently operating the Food Coma Private Dinners series.
• Construction began at 442 Fore Street on Pearl, a bar and lounge. The building is now occupied by Venus and Mars, one of Portland’s many cannabis shops.
• The Hella Good Taco food cart purchased Steve & Renee’s Diner in 2014 where for a time they served a hybrid Hella Good/Diner menu.
• Coffee By Design opened their new coffee shop and roastery in East Bayside on March 4, 2014.
• The Portland police made a recommendation to the City Council not to renew Sangillo’s liquor license, which then led to a campaign to save Sangillo’s.
• Maine Craft Distilling released the first batch of their single malt whiskey, 50 Stone.
• In 2014, the coffee industry insider publication Sprudge published an article about the coffee service at Hugo’s and the restaurant’s partnership with Tandem Coffee Roasters. “Hugo’s has transformed the finale of an already transformative dining experience.”
• Details emerged about the development of Slab, and of The Jewel Box.
• Tandem announced plans to open a second location at 742 Congress Street.
• Justin Velgos, Mark Woollard and Billy Flaherty launched unofficial Uprising iPhone app for people who have taken on the challenge of drinking their way through The Uprising beer list at Novare Res.
• Red Sea open on Washington Ave in the space that was formerly occupied by Safari.
• The Maine College of Art is offered a set of Culinary Arts classes as part of their continuing education program in the summer of 2014.
• Word was out in 2019 that a wine bar and wine shop called Lorne was under construction in Biddeford. Lorne will be permanently closing this summer.
• Ten Ten Pié went out of business. They were located on Cumberland Ave in the space that’s now home to Banh Appetit. Ten Ten’s baker, Atsuko Fujimoto, has since gone on to open her own business Norimoto Bakery.
• Bird & Co. opened on March 12, 2019 in Woodfords Corner.
• Natalie DiBenedetto, chef/owner of Figgy’s, become the latest Chopped Champion from Maine.
• Rob Tod from Allagash Brewing Co. was a 2019 Beard Awards nominee in the Outstanding Wine Beer or Spirits Professional category.

See the entries published in February and January for more memories from Portland’s recent food history.

The Portland Food Map archive of posts provides a chronicle of the past 16+ years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the hot topics were from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.

Here’s are highlights from February 2009, 2014 and 2019:

• In 2009 One Longfellow Square and Rabelais Books announced the launch of a food film series. The idea was that each month they partnered with a local chef who’d select a food film that was meaningful to them and prepare a meal to complement the screening at One Longfellow.
• Backyard chickens were a hot topic and in early 2009 the City Council passed an ordinance to make them legal to raise in Portland.
• Rob Schatz launched his food blog Eating Portland Alive in 2014. A decade and 3,651 posts later and Schatz is still going strong as an Johnny-on-the-spot instagram account about the Portland food scene.
• Ten years ago the Beard Foundation released the names of 7 chefs and restaurants semifinalist for the 2014 awards program: Fore Street and Primo for Outstanding Restaurant, Rob Tod at Allagash for Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional, Cara Stadler at Tao Yuan for Rising Star, and three chefs in the Best Chef:Northeast category: Brian Hill from Francine Bistro, Ravin Nakjaroen at Long Grain, and Masa Miyake from Miyake.
• Cronuts (invented and trademarked by Dominique Ansel) were all the rage in 2014. South Portland bakery Little Bigs was selling out their weekly production in 30 minutes with customers driving from as far away as Brunswick to get their hands on the trendy baked good.
• Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly served a pop-up Indonesian dinner at Nosh. The Pisha-Dufflys went on to help Big Tree Hospitality (then known as AMA) launch The Honey Paw in 2015 and then moved to Portland, Oregon where they have won acclaim for their restaurants Gado Gado, Oma’s Hideaway and The Houston Blacklight.
• What was likely Portland’s first tortilla factory, Tortilleria Pachanga, launched on Industrial Way in 2014.
• Word broke that Guy and Stella Hernandez, owners of Bar Lola, were working to launch of a new restaurant called Lolita.
• The Press Herald hired Peggy Grodinsky to be the newspaper’s food editor. Grodinsky continues to lead the Food & Dining team at the Maine Trust for Local News to this day.
• Chris and Paige Gould launched their new restaurant Central Provisions. It would go on to get a Best New Restaurant Beard Award nomination the following year.
• An antique Maine law was unearthed that prohibited Maine establishments from listing the ABV of the alcoholic beverages on their menus. The legislature quickly passed an update to eliminate the outdated provision.
• Five years ago the Beard Foundation released the names of 9 chefs and restaurants semifinalist for the 2019 awards program in the Best Chef: Northeast, Outstanding Restaurant, Outstanding Baker, Outstanding Wine Beer or Spirits Professional and Outstanding Service categories.
• In 2019, brothers Sam and Rob Minervino bought Pizza Villa from the sons of the founder Michael Regios. Pizza Villa was founded in 1965.
• Word broke about the development of a new cocktail bar and restaurant in Biddeford called Magnus on Water, and also the first report emerged about Perennial Cider Bar in Belfast.
• Evan Atwell opened his most excellent knife shop Strata in one of the Black Box incubator spaces on Washington Ave.

Check back next month for a look back at the hot news from the March of 2009, 2014 and 2019.