Category: Openings

Za (website, facebook, instagram), the new pizzeria located in the space formerly occupied by Slab on Preble Street, is holding their grand opening on Friday. They’ll be open 11:30 am – 10 pm.

Owners Jessica and Brandon Tenney and their team will be serving pizza by the slice and as whole pies as well as sandwiches, salads, sides, appetizers and desserts. The bar menu will offer wine, local draft beers, cocktails, and house-made non-alcoholic cocktails.

The Tenneys are the owners of Truckin Pizza which they launched in 2022. In addition to providing catering for weddings and other events, Truckin Pizza also operates a food truck at Wild Bevy where they serve dishes like poutine, Tuscan artichoke salad and mac and cheese.

Franciska (website, instagram) opened for business Thursday night. The 20-seat wine bar is located at 111 Middle Street, and will be open Thursday through Sunday, 4 pm – midnight.

The wine list (see below) put together by owner Alex Marchesini highlights small producers from Argentina. The bottle list also includes Old World wines as well as some from California and the Pacific Northwest. Shown above is the La Cayetana Cabernet Franc from the Valle de Uco in Argentina.

The menu (see below) features Argentinian Bodegón-style cuisine with dishes like beef empanadas, beet or kale salads. cavatelli pasta, and breaded and pan fried eggplant. Smaller snacks like the Za’atar flavored Marcona almonds or house-smoked Spanish olives make a nice accompaniment if you dropping in for a glass of wine. If you go for more of a meal, don’t overlook the pan-seared Mi’kmaq Trout (shown above) topped with a salsa verde and served with grilled fennel. The fish is sourced from the Mi’kmaq trout farm in Aroostook County that raises native Maine trout.

Reservation for Franciska are available on OpenTable.

LB Kitchen (website, instagram) owners Lee Farrington and Bryna Gootkind are opening their new business at Rock Row Health Campus this morning. The 600-square-foot market will be selling grab-and-go versions of their salads, soups, sandwiches, breakfast items, and house-made bottled beverages (see the full menu below). It will have an espresso bar serving  coffee, functional lattes, tea, hot bone broth and house-made baked goods. The market also sells a wide selection of snacks, beverages, pantry staples and retail items from other producers.

The market is located alongside New England Cancer Specialists, the Dempsey Center and other medical care providers which together are intended to deliver a more holistic approach to patients.

Chef Farrington shared, “We are experts at creative workarounds and functional substitutions. We want all our customers, and the Rock Row Health Campus patients especially, who may feel limited by specific dietary needs or restrictions to feel hopeful and expansive when they choose LB. MINI-MART meals, snacks or treats. We’ve done the thinking to make alternative food options that taste and feel good.”

This is the first location for LB’s new Mini-Mart concept. Farrington and Gootkind are planning to launch additional outposts in the Greater Portland area—watch for details to be released later this year. The original LB Kitchen opened in 2017 and moved to the corner of Smith and Congress Streets in 2023.

Hours  for the market are Monday through Friday, 7 am – 5 pm. Access to 11 Rock Row is from the Westbrook Arterial road rather than from Brighton Ave side of the property.

Taco Trio (website, facebook, instagram) has reopened. They’ve relocated the restaurant to their original building at 119 Ocean Street in South Portland. Owner Karen Rasmussen and her team held a soft opening on Saturday and will be open for business six days a week starting Monday.

The newly renovated space includes a 9-seat bar and table seating for ~25. The menu (see below) remains largely the same. Shown above is a plate of Enchiladas Rojas (chicken, tomato and arbol sauce topped with sour cream, red onions, radish, lettuce and avocado) with rice, pinto beans and chips.

Taco Trio will be open Monday through Wednesday, 4 – 9 pm, and Thursday through Saturday 11 am – 9 pm.

The restaurant opened in 2011 and moved to larger quarters at 60 Ocean Street in 2021. They had at one time operated a second location on Forest Ave. Rasmussen’s husband and co-founder of Taco Trio Manuel Peña passed away in October after a long battle with cancer.

Carlos Duarte has joined the Speckled Ax team where he’ll be the chef at their Thames Street location. Duarte has worked at Evo and Twelve as well as running his pop-up series Turamali. You can see Duarte demonstrating how to prepare fried chochoyotes in this instagram story we published in September 2020.

As Speckled Ax shared on instagram, “Things won’t be quite so fancy at our humble coffee shop, but there will be tasty breakfast sandwiches for here or to take away from our new grab-n-go case, along with a few staples like overnight maple oats with tahini, banana, and sesame tuile. He’ll also be whipping up some rotating baked goods to supplement our pastry case.”

The new food program is expected to be in operation later this week. Shown above is a corn muffin with creme fraiche honey butter and fennel pollen that was available in the pastry case this past Saturday along with a milk bread morning bun with cheesecake filling and topped with cinnamon brown sugar.

Tomaso’s Pizza and Burger Bar (instagram) is scheduled to open on Tuesday at 4 pm. It is located at 51 Wharf Street in the space formerly occupied by The Rathskeller.

This new Tomaso’s is a sister restaurant to Tomaso’s Canteen on Hampshire Street. Sam Minervino of Samuel’s along with business partner Scott Olsen will be serving a menu that includes 10 inch pizzas, burgers like the Chili Cheese Smash (double smash burgers with sauteed onions, jalapenos, chili and beer cheese sauce), wings, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers and red snappers. The menu also includes fish and chips, fish tacos, an assortment of salads and apps and sides. Nearly everything on the menu is under $20.

The draft and canned beer list includes national and local brands. Tomaso’s will also have a small selection of wines by the glass, “combo” drinks like the Canjello (Budweiser and a jello shot) and some cocktails like an Old Port Mule (Ice Pick vodka, ginger beer and lime) and a Tomaso’s Collins.

Tomaso’s Pizza and Burger Bar will be open Tuesday through Sunday, 4 pm – 1 am.

Cargo Pizza Company (website, facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open Thursday. The food truck turned restaurant is located at 1053 Forest Ave in the space formerly occupied by Falafel Time.

Cargo will be serving a menu of “Neo-Neapolitan/New Haven-style” pizza, smash burgers, and apps like mozzarella sticks, fries, and wings for lunch and dinner. Their range of specialty pizzas includes a Bee Sting (red sauce, parmesan, jalapeno, peperoni and hot honey) and a Bianca (garlic oil, parmesan, spinach, ricotta) as well as Maggarita, BBQ Chicken and 11 other options. Pizzas come in 10 and 14 inch sizes. In the mornings Cargo will also have grab and go breakfast sandwiches and coffee to go.

The restaurant will initially be open Wednesday through Sunday with plans to expand operations to seven days a week. They’ll be open for breakfast  7 – 10: 30 am and then open 11 am – 9 pm for the full menu.

A new Sicilian-inspired restaurant called Pomelia (website, facebook, instagram) opened for business in Brunswick on Tuesday.

Owners Tony and Chelsea Bickford are serving a menu (see below) of appetizers and salads, house made pastas, sandwiches, focaccia-style pizza, and a variety of chicken and shrimp-based dishes. The beverage menu includes cocktails and spritzes, wines from Italy, draft beer and a set of nonalcoholic drinks like the St Agrestis Phony Negroni (above) and an espresso tonic made with spiced orange simple syrup.

Shown above are: the Lacinato Kale Salad, Charred Cauliflower (with fennel, almonds, capers, golden raisins, pickled onions, Calabrian chili aioli), Spicy Ragu de Salsiccia with orecchiette pasta, Marsala Porcini with Busiata pasta, and a Cannoli topped with pistachio and chocolate. Dessert cocktails, digestifs and coffee from Swift River in Raymond are offered with dessert.

Pomelia is located at 18 Station Ave, and will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am – 2 pm, 4 – 9 pm.

Rooted Heart (website, instagram), a cafe and apothecary, opened earlier this month in Buxton.

They serve breakfast and lunch (menu) Wednesday through Sunday. Shown above are the mushroom and kale quiche with kale salad, and a cranberry and orange muffin. Rooted Heart has teas and lattes made with their own farm-grown herbs as well as bone broth and delicious house herbal broth made with nettle, parsley, cilantro, calendula, turmeric, ginger, anise, oyster & shiitake mushrooms, and Maine seaweed. Their coffee is sourced from Carpe Diem in North Berwick. The food menu includes plant-based and gluten-free dishes as well as gluten-free baked goods.

Rooted Heart is open Wednesday through Friday, 7am – 2pm, and weekends 8am – 3pm. They’re located at 259 Naragansett Trail/Route 202.