Category: Openings

The Maine Oyster Company (website, facebook, instagram) opened yesterday afternoon serving Birch Island, Blackstone Point, Dingley Cove, Eider Cove and MDI oysters as well as lobster rolls and clam chowder. The oyster bar is located at 38 Portland Street in West Bayside.

Crunchy Poké (facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open on Wednesday. The shop is located at 426 Fore Street in the space that formerly housed East End Cupcake. CP will serve poké, sushi and ramen.

The Maine Oyster Company (website, facebook, instagram) has announced plans to open on October 12th. The new oyster bar is located at 38 Portland Street, just down the street from Isa and Back Bay Grill. The 30-seat eatery will be serving oysters, lobster and crab rolls, and clam chowder.

Maine Oyster Co. will be open 4 – 9 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

Two new businesses opened this week:

• Hero’s Subs (facebook, instagram, twitter) opened on Tuesday. This Portland extension of a Lewiston sandwich shop is located at the corner of Wharf and Union Streets.
• The Cheese Shop of Portland (instagram, facebook) opened on Friday. Owners Mary and Will Sissle met when working at Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco. Will Sissle is an ACS Certified Cheese Professional. In addition to cheese the shop sells sandwiches and a wide range of specialty food items. The shop is located at 93 Washington Ave.

With these two openings, the Under Construction List is now barely breaking past 20 businesses. It had consistently been at over 40 for the last few years but fewer new ventures got underway this year.

Sweetgrass will be releasing their Maine barley single malt whiskey, Sunk Haze, next week. The 7 year old whiskey will be available in their store on Fore Street starting on October 4th.

A new chocolate shop in the West End, Chocolats Passion (website, facebook, instagram), is scheduled to open today at 1 pm.

Owner Catherine Wiersema plans to sell her own artisanal chocolates, tea, hot chocolate, baked goods by Renee by the Bay as well as imported French candies and caramels.

Chocolats Passion is located adjacent to Rosemont Market at 189 Brackett Street.

The newest member of the Veranda Thai family of restaurants, Hana Thai, opened earlier this week at 740 Broadway in South Portland.

Hana Thai is owned by Than Pham, the younger brother of Hai Pham who opened the first Veranda Thai in Deering.

A new food cart called The Steam Machine (website, instagram) launched this past weekend.

The cart specializes in “handmade coconut milk steamed buns”.

Forage Market (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) opened their new Portland location at 123 Washington Ave yesterday and sold out before the day’s end. They are open for a second soft opening day on Sunday with a grand opening slated for Saturday.

Forage is perhaps best know for the bagels which Saveur tipped for the best in the country. In addition, Smith and his team lead by Portland store manager Laura Posiak also plans to serve breakfast sandwiches and hand-made pastries in the morning and European-style market sandwiches along with soups and salads for lunch

Good News Coffee & Package (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) opened Wednesday in the former West End Omi’s space at 28 Brackett Street. As the name suggests, the business will be a combo coffee shop with beer/wine retail.