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.
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
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Here are a couple photos from last night’s dinner at the new Pizzarino on Fore Street.
Paciarino has announced plans to open their new restaurant, Pizzarino (website, facebook, instagram), Monday at 4:30.
Pizzarino has been under construction in the former Zapoteca space at 505 Fore Street. You can see a copy of the menu on their website.
A new knife sharpening service called Strata (website, instagram) launched earlier this year. Owner Evan Atwell sharpens knives using a traditional Japanese whetstone process.
Atwell is looking to expand Strata in the coming months to include retail sales of specialty Japanese and French cutlery and eventually include knives from New England producers as well.
Atwell moved to Portland from California where he worked for the Bi-Rite Market group. He currently works as a butcher at Rosemont Market.
The Independent Ice Company (website, facebook, instagram) opened Saturday night serving a list of house cocktails, whiskey flights and with an extensive bottle list of whiskeys, bourbons, scotches, and ryes.
Independent Ice is located at 52 Wharf Street and will be open Sunday at 4pm. They’ll be closed Monday and will reopen Tuesday when they hope to have their kitchen up and full food menu available
The new Bob’s Clam Hut (website, facebook, instagram) located at 111 Cumberland Ave in Portland is scheduled to open today at noon with an expanded menu.
“I’ve always kept my eyes open for potential expansion opportunities but was waiting for a location to really grab me and this one did. We had decided a while ago that any new Bob’s would need to be in a standalone building and this spot in Portland stood prominently and quaintly (as all clam shacks should), on the corner of five streets,” says Owner Michael Landgarten. “We are excited to continue revitalizing the East Bayside neighborhood and our team is definitely eager to grow, as proven by the explosion of energy and desire to go work in this new Bob’s outpost in Portland.”
