Urban Eye reports that the SaltBox Cafe (instagram, facebook) food truck has moved to Portland.
The tiny house with a big taste will be on the Eastern Prom Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. After that the Saltbox roams the streets of Portland Thursday through Sunday. “I’d like to start doing popups and invite Portland chefs to take over the kitchen for a day,” said Glatz.
Photo Credit: Jay Lombard
A new coffee shop opened this morning in the East End. Sip of Europe (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) is located at 229 Congress Street next to Ramen Suzukiya.
The 9-seat shop is serving drip coffee, espresso-based drinks, tea, hot cocoa, chai, iced drinks, shakes and crepes. The coffee is sourced from Italian roastery Lavazza.
During this first week in operation owner Yulia Aleksandrovna is using a pay what you want pricing model.
Peddleman’s (facebook, instagram) launched on Saturday night. Owners Tara Rancourt and Scott William Ryan are serving a menu of falafel sandwiches weekly Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights from 147 Cumberland Ave—the home of Union Bagel Co.
Update: Eatcentric Me has posted a report from opening night at Peddleman’s.
The Press Herald has published an article on the launch of Scales.
When he interviewed for the chef’s job, [Mike] Smith reminded [Sam] Hayward of himself when he was 32 years old and hungry. Hayward and Street had already sketched out a rough menu, but Hayward decided to step back and let Smith fill in the blanks – to give him the same opportunities he had asked for at the same age. One of Smith’s contributions is a light-as-air whipped beef butter appetizer, made with roasted, seasoned bone marrow and served with warm toast and radishes.
Sam Hayward and Dana Street’s new waterfront restaurant Scales (website, instagram) opened for business on Saturday night.
Chef Mike Smith and team are serving a large menu of primarily seafood-based dishes with appetizers such as Bang’s Island Mussels, fried whole belly clams, salt cod croquette with spicy tomato chutney, and torched arctic char with cultured cream, and larger dishes like grilled swordfish with yellow eyed beans and fish stew. When you go be sure to get an order of the excellent griddled brown bread.
Scales is located on Maine Wharf at 68 Commercial Street. It is open for dinner 7 days a week 5:30 – 10 (Sun – Thurs) and 5:30 – 10:30 (Fri – Sat). Watch for lunch hours to begin sometime this summer.
Hero (website, facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open today for First Friday. Hero will be serving “Sandwiches of Substance” and salads in Monument Square at 30 City Center. It is collaboration between Empire co-owner Todd Bernard and Mike Keon and Anthony Allen, founders of Otto Pizza.
Mast Landing (facebook, website, instagram) will opening their brewery tasting room today at 3pm. The brewery is located at 920 Main Street in Westbrook. They’ll be serving Seavey Island Ale, Tell Tale Pale Ale and Mainstay IPA.
West End juice bar Farm Truck Juice(facebook, website, twitter, instagram) has announced plans to open on Thursday. They’re located in the West End at 189 Brackett Street in the same building at Rosemont Market.
Restaurateur Walter Loeman, who founded Walter’s, Perfetto’s, Mazza, Cotton Street Cantina and several other restaurants, is part of the team launching the juice bar.
FTJ will serve a menu of “fresh pressed juices made from organic, locally sourced ingredients” such as the Float’n in Florida (grapefruit, orange, lyme lychee) and the Good Green Almighty (kale, chard, spinach, apples, celery, watercress).
Coffee from the Rwanda Bean Company is starting to show up on retail shelves in Portland. Founders Mike Mwenedata and Nick Mazuroski buy beans directly from farmers in the Rwandan province of Karora. The Portland-based coffee roaster has pledged to donate 50% of net profits to fund community development projects in Rwanda.
All three coffees from RBC are available at Aurora Provisions: Ikizere medium roast, Ishema Blend, and Ikerekezo blond roast. RBC is holding their official launch party on February 27th.
