D & G (instagram) is scheduled to open this coming Wednesday, April 7th, in Biddeford. D & G is an Italian deli, gelato shop and specialty goods store featuring imported foods from Italy. You can take a look at their sandwich menu on instagram.
D & G is being launched by Bryan Casale and Jackie Hardin, the owners of the Southern/Italian restaurant, Yeto’s.
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The highly anticipated opening of Jackrabbit Cafe (instagram) is slated to take place late next month—tentatively on April 21st May 5th. The bakery and cafe from Elda (instagram) chef/owner Bowman Brown will “focus on Scandinavian-inspired breads and pastries as well as seasonal vegetable dishes, sandwiches, and heartier small plates”.
Jackrabbit is located in the first floor of 14 Main Street in Biddeford. The second floor of the newly renovated building will be the future home of Elda when it re-opens.
Brown moved to Maine from Salt Lake City where he was the co-owner and chef of Forage. He was a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2011. Additionally, Brown was six time Beard semifinalists in the Best Chef: Southwest from 2011 to 2016. Elda was named one of the Best New Restaurants in America by Bill Addison at Eater in 2018, and was the feature of a New York Times article in that same year.
Here’s a look at the draft menu for opening day at Jackrabbit:
8 am and on…
10:30 and on…
Belleflower Brewing (website, facebook, instagram) is officially opening today. Belleflower has taken over the former Brewery Extrava space on Cove Street in East Bayside. The opening day menu includes:
The Maine Farm Table Cookbook is scheduled to be released in early June. Authored by Ragged Coast co-owner Kate Shaffer with photography by Derek Bissonnette, the book “collects the stories of farmers, fisherman, foragers, and cooks who raise and celebrate Maine’s homegrown culinary bounty”.
The Maine Farm Table Cookbook delivers more than 100 recipes, assembled in chapters that take readers from the pasture and sea to the forest, creamery, and everywhere in between. Discover Autumn Harvest Roast Pork, Haddock and Corn Chowder, Carrot Zucchini Fritters, Blackberry and Almond Torte, and more. With profiles to spotlight Maine’s favorite farms and restaurants, and gorgeous professional photography, this is the perfect way for readers to bring New England’s charm to their own kitchen.
A new food truck tracking app called Food Truckalico (instagram) has launched just in time for warmer weather and the start of food truck season. Visit the Apple app store to download Truckalico.
The Food Truckalico app for iPhone provides the most accurate day and location info for the largest number of food trucks in Portland by curating instagram posts from each truck and organizing them for quick and easy reference. You can jump directly to the original posts for details and can share all the trucks at a location with friends to plan a meet up.
Vy Banh Mi launched earlier this week, and another 14 mobile food operations are expected to follow suit later this year. Truckalico will be a handy resource to have when you’re hoping to check out one (or more) of Portland’s growing number of food truck and carts this year.
Truckalico is a free service for food trucks and their customers. It is the creation of Portland-based app designer Justin Velgos and iOS developer Emily Cheroske. You can find more info on Velgos’ other iPhone apps (Hop Hound, The Uprising, etc) on www.justinvelgos.com.
Truckalico joins a field already served by three other food truck tracking services all of which launched in Portland last year: Food Truck Movement, Truckster and Food Trux (which had combined forces with Maine Food Truck Tracker).
Portland’s newest food truck, Vy Banh Mi (facebook, instagram) launched Thursday, and is located today at the Western Prom (10 am – 6 pm). They plan to be at Back Cove on Saturday and Sunday.
Owners Minh Nguyen and Vy Phan are originally from Vietnam and moved to Maine 10 years ago. Vy Banh Mi will be a way they can share their passion for food and perhaps be a first step in opening their own restaurant.
Victoria Nam has officially launched her new business Siblings Bakery (instagram) which will specialize in naturally leavened breads and pastries. In developing the menu for Siblings, Nam “draws inspiration from her Russian-Korean heritage and her travels in California, DC, Japan, France, and Italy.”
Pre-ordering is now live for a Saturday pick-up. This week Nam is offering rye chocolate chip cookies, brown butter granola, and Strawberry & Cream Donuts which are described as “fluffy and tangy sourdough donuts, filled with brown butter cream cheese, lemon curd glaze, and strawberry milk crumbs.”
Nam was featured in a television report earlier this year. You can see pictures of her creations and stay in the loop on future Siblings news on Nam’s instagram account.
Online ordering for S+P (website, instagram) is now live. The new plant-based foods takeout business operating out of the Fork Food Lab by co-owners Shelby Faux and Payson Cunningham.
Their first pick-up day is March 5th and the menu includes pantry staples, desserts, weekly specials and frozen dishes.
Faux and Cunningham moved to Portland from the Midcoast where they ran a pop-up event series serving multi-course vegan dinners. In addition to vegan takeout meals they hope to continue creating pop-up events here in the Portland area.
After an especially busy soft opening over the weekend, Thoroughfare (instagram) is launching at their new location on Main Street in Yarmouth this Wednesday. Check the 2nd and 3rd images in this post on instagram for a look at the menu. The new Thoroughfare will be open for breakfast starting at 7 am, and served the rest of their menu 11 am – 7 pm.
Thoroughfare is a takeout service launched by chef Christian Hayes from The Garrison and Dandelion Catering. Hayes leased the former Andy’s Handy storefront in downtown Yarmouth back in November. The move of Thoroughfare to the space is the first step in his use of the location. Later this year Hayes plans to open Dandy’s Handy’s (instagram), a “corner store market in the main building, providing provisions, grocery, and more.”
Helm (website, instagram, facebook) is opening on Thursday. The new restaurant is located on Thames Street on the ground floor of the WEX Building across from the Ocean Gateway Terminal. They will be open this week Thursday through Sunday, 4:30 – 8:30, and plans to add Wednesday hours starting next week.
Helm is initially open for takeout with a weekly 3-course prix fixe menu (see photo below) as well as an extended wine and beer list. This week’s dinner menu includes a Chicory Salad with horseradish dressing and fried onions, Glazed Short Ribs with swiss chard, braised beans and yeast rolls, and a slice of Parsnip Cake with cream cheese frosting and walnuts. Helm also has a Valentine’s Day version of their menu with the option to add oysters and caviar to your order. You can place you order online and can schedule an order for pick-up later in the week.
Billy Hager is Helm’s chef de cuisine. He moved to Maine from California where he was the chef and a partner at Homestead in Oakland. Sous chef Dana Woodward also moved to Portland from the Bay Area where she was the chef de cuisine at Dobb’s Ferry.
Lizzie Legere is the owner of Helm and James Rose is the general manager. Legere has been part of the team at both Drifters Wife and More & Co. Rose previously worked at Neptune Oyster in Boston.
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