Buena Vista Now Open

A new Filipino market opened on Saturday in South Portland. Buena Vista (facebook) is located at 528 Main St next to Deb’s Sandwich Shop. According to their facebook page,

BVFFM offers a variety of delightful goodies that are product creations proudly made by Filipinos.
It is our humble way of bringing in the feeling of being at home in Pinas to possibly every home built by Filipinos living in America.

Two New Breweries: Newscapes and Idiomatic

Maine beer fans will have two more breweries to choose from.

Newscapes Brewing (website, facebook, instagram) recently launched in Portland. The brewery was launched by Jeff Curran and is located at 163 Washington Ave. You can learn more about their line-up of beers on their website. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 8 pm.

A new brewery called Idiomatic Brewing (website, instagram) is under development. The founders have a decade of combined industry experience in Maine and elsewhere. Their first three beers will be Ninety in the Shade (4.6%, lager), Missed the Boat (6.2%, American IPA), Sliced Bread (6.3%, dubbel-style ale). Launch timing and location details are still TBD.

Hi-Fidelity Beer Opens Friday

Hi-Fidelity Beer (websitefacebookinstagram) is launching their East Bayside brewery and tasting room this Friday. They’ll be opening at noon and are located in Unit 6 of the Urban Farm Fermentory building at 200 Anderson Street.

Owners PD Wappler and Dante Maderal are focusing on low ABV  beers. Their opening day line-up will include:

Moving forward Hi-Fidelity will be open Thursday through Sunday, noon to 1 am, and Mondays 2 pm to midnight.

Yordprom’s Tobi Takeout Now Open

Yordprom Coffee (instagram) owner Tom Yordprom has launched a new takeout restaurant in the West End called Tobi. Shown here is the Pad Pik Pao prepared with stir fried rice noodles, peppers, onions, tomatoes, chicken, and chili soy paste, eggs, and basil and a side of the crispy chive cakes.

Tobi is located on Walker Street in the former takeout kitchen that was home to Figgy’s. They’ll be open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 – 8 pm to start.

Here’s a look at the full opening night menu:

Prior to launching Yordprom Coffee in 2010, Tom Yordprom operated Siam Grille on Fore Street in Boothby Square.

Fish and Whistle Opens Saturday

Fish & Whistle (website, instagram) is slated to open this Saturday and Sunday. F&W is being launched by Kate Hamm and husband Jason Eckerson at 299 Maine Street in Biddeford. The restaurant is named for a song by John Prine.

Fish and Whistle is opening this weekend with a reduced menu (see below) but will eventually serve fish and chips as well as fish and chicken sandwiches, a calamari burger made with Maine squid, smoked tempeh sandwich, salad, chowder, hand cut fries, seasonal vegetable slaw and a chip butty sandwich. Additionally, the dessert menu will includes soft serve ice cream as well as Hamm’s deserts.

Hamm is the former pastry chef at Leeward and founder of Sweet Woodruff Provisions. Eckerson has worked for Big Tree Hospitality where he’s been the sous chef at Eventide and seafood buyer.

New Food Truck: All Grill

A new (or at least new to Portland) food truck called All Grill (instagram) is at Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth today. All Grill hails from Tampa, Florida and serves a menu of “[g]rilled food with a Venezuelan touch”.

Scratch Reopening Thursday

Staff at Scratch Baking Company (instagram) are busy putting the finishing touches on their newly renovated bakery. They are scheduled to reopen their landmark Willard Square location Thursday May 26th. Going forward their new hours will be Wednesday through Sunday, 7 am – 2 pm.

The new space features a roundtangle shaped space with a center island. Customers will enter through the left set of doors. First up on the trip around the bakery will be breads and bagels, followed by pastries along the long back counter, and then refrigerated and packaged goods on the final side. Coffee will be available—drip and espresso drinks—from the central island.

Little Tandem Reopening

 

The long awaited reopening of Tandem’s Anderson Street location is taking place Tuesday May 24th. Little Tandem will be open Tuesday through Saturday 8 am – 1 pm to start.

The newly renovated space features additional counter and table seating including a spot that the architect has labeled “Kathleen’s Cozy Corner”. As you can see from the photo, the coffee bar has moved from the left side of the building to the section of the building where the original roastery was located.

The Little Tandem building in East Bayside is where Kathleen and Will Pratt first opened their coffee roastery and coffee bar back in 2012. Tandem’s Congress Street coffee shop and bakery opened in 2014.

Browne Trading Lunch

Browne Trading has launched a takeout lunch menu which includes offerings such as: a smoked salmon BLT, BBQ hamachi collar and tuna tartar.

You can find the full menu on instagram. Lunch is available Tuesday through Friday, and outdoor seating will soon be available.

Roll Call Opens Today

After a soft opening on Thursday, Roll Call (website, instagram) is scheduled to open their new lunch counter today in the Public Market House.

The new Roll Call features an expanded menu which includes their wonderful roast beef sandwich as well a braised lamb quesadilla, a breakfast sandwich, a buffalo soy sandwich, and other offerings.

Roll Call will initially be open Wednesday through Friday, 10:30 – 2:30