Category: Openings

Room for Improvement (instagram) is scheduled to open Thursday. The concept for the bar is to be a modern take on a dive bar that balances being serious about cocktails without taking itself too seriously.

The beverage menu (see below) at Room for Improvement encompasses house takes on traditional cocktails, scorpions bowls, a trio of daiquiris, some “salad bar” savory drinks, mini shot-sized cocktails and a beverage called the Mind Eraser. There’s also a few packaged and draft beers and ciders and 3 “natty wines by the glass.” A small food menu includes red snapper hot dogs, soft pretzels and bags of ruffles potato chips.

Room for Improvement is being launched by Arvid Brown and Nick Coffin. Brown is a well-known Portland bartender who was the founding bar manager at Crispy Gai and before that at Baharat. Coffin is a native of Vermont and has been a partner and manager in bars in Colorado and California prior to moving to Maine.

The 36-seat bar and is located at 41 Wharf Street. It will be open Thursday through Monday, 5 pm to 1 am.

Bread & Friends (website, instagram) is now open. The bakery and cafe is located at 505 Fore Street in the building formerly occupied by Pizzarino. The entire space has been redesigned by Mey & Co. The side dining room has a large glass wall that looks directly into the bakery and kitchen.

The 24-seat counter service cafe is open Thursday through Monday, 8 am – 2:30 pm. The menu (see below) includes croissants, morning buns, cookies and other treats. There are also plated options for breakfast and lunch like the crispy potato, sunny side egg, chorizo and green chermoula dish shown below.  They serve wine and beer as well as a full coffee program featuring Bolt Coffee and teas from the Rare Tea Company.

Co-owners Maggie and Tanner Rubin and Jessica Rattey and Jeremy Broucek launched their bakery in 2021 initially selling at Farmers’ Markets and wholesaling their breads and baked goods. They moved to Portland from the Bay Area where they worked in bakeries and restaurants including Tartine, State Bird Provisions and The Progress.

Full Turn (website, instagram) just completed a kitchen expansion and reopened Friday night with their latest menu theme. This time around the concept is Italian Sunday Dinner. They’re located in East Bayside in the former Baharat location, and are open Thursday through Saturday  4 – 9 pm.

Thai Esaan (facebook, instagram) opened on Saturday at their new location on Portland Street in the former Back Bay Grill building. Their hours are 11am to 9 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. See photos below for a look at their menu and the Krah Pow Moo Grob (crispy pork, spicy Thai basil, green beans, onions, red pepper with rice) dish.

The bar Room for Improvement (instagram) will be open to the public on Thursday, April 13th. Owners Arvid Brown and Nick Coffin have completely renovated 41 Wharf Street into a 36-seat venue with bar along the left wall, circular booths along the right and additional seating out back. The hours of operation will initially be Thursday through Monday, 5 pm to 1 am.

The well-loved bar Maps (instagram) on Market Street has been closed since the start of the year. The space has undergone a extenive renovation in the last few months and is slated to open this Thursday at 5 pm. Their regular hours of operation will be Tuesday and Wednesday 4 pm to midnight, and Thursday through Saturday 4 pm  1 am.

Every week there’s word of some new business under development. To get caught up visit our Under Construction List.

Papi (website, facebook, instagram) is set to open this Wednesday. The highly anticipated bar and restaurant is located at 18 Exchange Street. Papi will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 4 – 11 pm.

Papi is being launched by Joshua Miranda (owner of Blyth & Burrows and Via Vecchia) along with beverage manager LyAnna Sanabria (instagram) and chef Ronnie Medlock.  The menu features food and drink inspired by the foodways of Puerto Rico. When you go be sure to try the Chuletta (fried pork chop serves with rice, pigeon peas, red onion and tomato) and the Papi Douro (guava, mulled port wine, armagnac, pink peppercorn, cane sugar).

Here’s a look at the food and cocktail menus from the friends and family preview service held Saturday night. The food menu is expected expand.

The Ugly Duckling (website, instagram) is scheduled to open this morning at 8 am. The new bakeshop and luncheonette is being launched by Ilma Lopez  and Damian Sansonetti the co-owners of Chaval (Lopez is shown above talking with Matt Bolinder from Speckled Ax and chef Rob Evans from Duckfat). The cafe space features a horseshoe coffee bar as well as additional table seating in the front windows along with a small retail section.

The Ugly Duckling will be open this  week Tuesday and Wednesday 8 am – noon. Next week it will be open Tuesday through Thursday and the hours will be 8 am to 1 pm. Over the next few weeks menu and hours/days of operation will expand; closing time will eventually be 6 pm. The Ugly Duckling is located at 246 Danforth Street in the West End.

Shown above are the pastrami and rye breakfast sandwich (pastrami, fried egg, provolone, horseradish-espresso red-eye aioli) on a house made rye caraway English muffin, a canalé and scenes from the friends and family test run that took place Monday. The Ugly Duckling is serving Speckled Ax coffee and espresso drinks and has a full liquor license—watch for the spirit-espresso pairings—and be sure to try the fennel/orange/tea mocktail if you’re looking for a no ABV beverage.

Here’s a look at the opening day menu:

Lenora (website, facebook, instagram) a new 115-seat Mexican-inspired taco bar is scheduled to open Monday morning. The restaurant is located in 2 Portland Square in the location that was formerly the home of Walter’s. The space has been completely renovated and features a central bar, tile floors and high ceilings which makes for a large open light-filled dining room.

Lenora will be initially open for breakfast and plan to expand hours and menu to include lunch and dinner within a few weeks.

The dine-in or take-out counter service breakfast menu (see below) includes breakfast tacos and sandwiches, pastries, a fruit parfait, fresh juices, cocktails and a full espresso bar. Once Lenora opens for lunch and dinner they’ll be serving a menu of table service Mexican-inspired street food. You can see Lenora’s draft lunch/dinner menu and drinks menu on their website.

Owners Rian and Jen Wyllie, Brian Beattie, Aaron Sanders and Max Toste formerly worked together operating Lone Star Taco Bar and Deep Ellum in Boston. The Wyllie’s have been part of the Portland restaurant community since they moved to Maine in 2017.

Lenora will be 7 – 11 am, seven days a week starting Monday.

 

Kennebunk-based Auntie’s House (website, facebook, instagram) has opened a Portland location in the new building at 40 Free Street.

They sell a range of baked goods and chocolates including their house specialty: the Whoopie Ball which is a mini whoopie pie dipped in chocolate. They come in a wide variety of flavors from the classic to ones like banana, blueberry and almond.

Auntie’s House is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm.

The new LB Kitchen (website, instagram) is now open. Owners Bryna Gootkind and chef Lee Farrington purchased the building on the corner of Congress and Smith Streets back in February and have completely renovated the corner unit to move and expand LB Kitchen into. The new LB will feature a 28-seat dining room, a retail market and a dedicated space for takeout pick-up.

LB Kitchen will be open everyday 8 am – 3 pm with their regular menu (food, drinks, children’s). Then from 3 to 6 pm they’ll be serving beer, wine, cider snacks and small plates during what they’ve dubbed Golden Hour (menu).

The original LB Kitchen storefront is being converted to serve as a brick and mortar location for Quanto Basta.

A new gluten-free business is launching this week with their first product, Badger Bagels (website, instagram). Produced in North Yarmouth, the bagels are made with white and brown rice, sorghum and sweet rice flours along with honey, olive oil and other natural ingredients.

The bagels are debuting this week on the menu at Arabica Coffee starting Tuesday with cinnamon raisin, plain and everything bagels.

Owner Chris Franklin is participating in the Maine Center for Economic Development’s Top Gun program for entrepreneurial development to help grow Sligo Foods, his gluten-free commercial kitchen in North Yarmouth where the bagels are produced.

A new delivery sandwich shop called Salvatore’s Hoagies (instagram) is launching with a pop-up service on Friday.

Salvatore’s is run by Kara Picone and chef Owen Price. The couple are tapping into their Sicilian and Philly/South Jersey (respectively) heritage to deliver their take on a classic hoagie sandwiches (see menu below). To dial in the experience Salvatore’s are baking their own bread for their menu.

Price has cooked in Sonoma, Vietnam, and in Philadelphia where he worked for chef Marc Vetri. Picone also has experience in the restaurant industry in front of house and general restaurant management.

Salvatore’s will initially be operating out of Fork Food Lab with the option to pick-up at Fork on Parris Street or with delivery in Portland and to the Greater Portland area—see details on this post for the Friday pop-up.

Ordering will be available by text, phone and social media to start with online ordering to come in the future.