Category: Openings

The new Mr. Tuna (website, facebook, instagram) at 83 Middle Street opened on Saturday. It’s open Friday/Saturday, 11 am – 9 pm and Sunday through Tuesday and Thursday, 11 am – 8 pm.

Owners Jordan Rubin and Marisa Lewiecki leased space in the new building at the corner of Middle and Franklin Streets in late 2022 and have built out a full services restaurant with an expanded menu. The space features a 15-seat sushi counter and banquet table seating in the front windows. Outdoor seating will be available shortly for takeout customers.

The new restaurant serve an updated Mr. Tuna menu (see below) with the addition of a full bar program of cocktails, sake, beer, wine. Shown above are scallop sashimi, blackbird’s delight maki roll, and avocado salad. This restaurant brings to life the vision for Mr. Tuna that Rubin has had since he launched the business as a food cart in 2017.

The Mr. Tuna sushi counter opened in the Public Market House in 2018. Rubin, Lewiecki, Sasha Brouillard, and Cyle Reynolds launched Crispy Gai in the summer of 2021. Rubin and Lewiecki launched Bar Futo on Fore Street in 2023.

Off Track Pizza (instagram) opened for business on Friday. It’s located at 15 Exchange Street in the former Lupita’s/B Good location. Longtime Portland residents will remember it as the original location of Walter’s.

Off Track is initially serving pizza by the slice, salads, bottled cocktails and soft drinks. Shown above are slices of sausage and pepper pizza and the pepperoni pizza along with a low ABV Santa Anita cocktail made with Aperol and Tang. They’ll be expanding to full menu (see below) and offering full pizzas as they ramp up kitchen production capacity. The counter service restaurant has some window bar seating (see above) on the first floor and dining  rooms on the second floor with a great view of Exchange Street. Overall Off Track seats 46 people.

Off Track has been launched by Mark Hibbard and Mitchell Ryan along with business partner Josh Miranda. Ryan and Hibbard are the executive chef and the beverage director at Via Vecchia.

Hours this weekend are noon – 8 pm (or sellout). Next week the hours will be Wednesday through Sunday 11 am – 10 pm (2 am on Friday and Saturdays).

 

A new restaurant called Luna Bangladeshi Cuisine (facebook, instagram) held their grand opening on Wednesday. Luna is located on the second floor of the Public Market House.

Owners Syeda Washima and Abid Azad are serving a menu that includes lamb rogan josh, chicken tikka masala, gyro sandwiches, burgers, salads, sides and desserts like baklava. You can see some photos of their dishes on the Luna instagram account.

Azad and Washima took over the space previously occupied by the similarly named restaurant Luna Falafel and Shwarma. Luna will be open Monday through Saturday, 11 am – 7 pm.

The new Cambodian-Chinese restaurant Oun Lido’s (website, instagram, online ordering) is opening for business on Thursday, May 9th. The restaurant is being launched by Vien Dobui and chef Bounahcree Kim from Cong Tu Bot. Oun Lido’s is located at 30 Market Street in the space that was formerly home to Pat’s Pizza.

Kim and Dobui are initially launching the restaurant for take-out (Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am – 8 pm) while they continue to renovate the 2nd floor dining room. Seating, table service and a bar program will launch this fall.

The draft menu (see below) generally reflects the opening day offerings. There are a number of vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan dishes on the menu. A boba-based drinks menu will also be available. Over the coming weeks watch for the menu to expand to include more savory dishes as well as desserts.

Bon Appétit included Oun Lido’s in their short list of the Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2024.

The opening of Oun Lidos, the second restaurant from the team behind popular Portland Vietnamese mainstay Cong Tu Bot, is a good enough reason to book a trip to Maine this spring. Oun Lidos will be a multi-level restaurant in Old Port, with an all-day takeout counter offering Chinatown-style baked goods, rice plates, and boba to-go.

Cong Tu Bot was founded in 2017. Dobui was a James Beard Awards nominee in the Best Chef: Northeast category in 2020 and 2022. The New York Times included it in their 2021 list of the 50 restaurants they were “most excited about right now”.

The Garden, a new 58-seat restaurant at Bissell Brothers on Thompson’s Point, is set to launch this Saturday, May 11th. This second restaurant at the brewery is located in the adjacent room that has previously been the Rosemont Market wine bar.

Chef David Rinaldi will be serving a pan-Adriatic menu (see below) which will include dishes like charred caraflex cabbage with taleggio, bavette steak (shown above) and zeppole for dessert. The bar program includes natural wines and cocktails in addition to Bissell Brothers beer.

The Garden will initially be open Thursday 5 – 8 pm, Friday 5 – 10 pm, Saturday 5 – 10 pm and Sunday 5 – 8 pm.

Jing Yan owners Britt Langford and Leo Zhang, are set to open their new establishment Low Key (instagram) on Thursday, May 9th. The neighborhood bar is located at 89 Congress Street in the space formerly occupied by Blue Spoon.

As you can see from the photos above, Zhang and Langford have completed renovations which have added a bar along the street side of the dining room and updated the aesthetics including wall murals painted by Langford. Low Key will also have an ice cream takeout window facing Merrill Street.

The ~25-seat Low Key will serve (see menu below) classic and signature cocktails, wine, beer with a food menu of bar snacks and sandwiches as well as soft serve ice cream. Shown above is the Pick-Me-Up cocktail which is made with mezcal, strega, green pepper, hot sauce, mint and soda.

They’ll be opening Thursday, May 9th, 4 – 11 pm, and during their first week they’ll be open through Sunday, 4 – 11 pm with the ice cream window open Saturday/Sunday, noon – 3:30. The following week their regular hours of operation will be Wednesday through Sunday, 4 – 11 pm with the ice cream window open Saturday/Sunday, noon – 3:30.

Zhang and Langford launched Jing Yan in November 2020. Blue Spoon closed in April 2023.

The Model T Coffee Company (facebook, instagram) opened for business today. They’re located at 620 Congress Street in the former Coffee by Design space opposite the State Theater. They’ll be open daily 6 am – 3 pm.

Matthew and Stephanie Morgan and their family will be serving Coffee by Design coffee, donuts from Tony’s Donuts as well as baked goods from some other local producers. The Morgans also operate the Bru-Thru Coffee Shack (facebook, instagram), a drive through coffee shop in Cumberland.

Magissa (instagram), the new Greek restaurant under construction in East Bayside, is making good progress towards an opening day. Owners Nancy Klosteridis and Emily Otero have completed a renovation of the former Baharat/Full Turn space at the corner of Anderson and Fox Streets and hope to open by the end of May.

Magissa will initially be open 11 am – 10 pm, Thursday through Monday serving a menu (see below) of contemporary renditions of traditional Greek dishes with mezze, small plates, entrees and flexible gyro and salad options. Across the board the menu taps into the Klosteridis’ family recipes and taste memories as a guide. The bar program will include Greek-inspired cocktails, draft wines by the glass/carafe,  a bottle list and draft beer.

The layout of Magissa is similar to Baharat with a central bar, dining room to the right. The bar itself has been moved further back freeing up room in the front of the restaurant, and a banquet seating area (see above) has been built into the back of the dining area. The kitchen has been expanded and reorganized for a more efficient workflow.

Follow the Magissa instagram account to stay up to date on the restaurant and their opening plans.

Smoked BBQ & Neighborhood Pub (website, facebook, instagram) is now open. They’re located in the former Maelily Ryleigh’s building at 951 Forest Ave. Smoked will be open 11am – 11pm daily.

The menu includes wings, burgers, sandwiches/wraps, apps and more. Shown here are the Smoked Dirty Wings coated in their Jamaican Jerk Dry Rub, a glass of Allagash White and a plate of beef sliders and fries in the background.

The redesigned space has a long bar along the left side of the dining room, with table seating up front, booths along the right wall and high top table towards the back of the room.

Ocotillo (website, instagram), the new brunch restaurant being launched by the owners of Terlingua, is scheduled to open this Thursday. Ocotillo is located at 211 Danforth Street in the space formerly occupied by The Danforth. The space has undergone a renovation, changing the color palette, adding skylights and a variety of other touches that have made it a brighter lighter room in keeping its new mission as a brunch restaurant.

As you can see from the menu (see below), like Terlingua, Ocotillo is taking its culinary cues from the flavors of Mexico and Texas. An agave-focused beverage program with coffee and agua frescas align with a menu that includes a selection of breakfast tacos, sandwiches, churros, chilaquiles and more. See the bottom image below for the dietary restrictions version of their menu.

The restaurant will initially be open Thursday through Sunday, 8 am – 3 pm. They expect to launch their outdoor patio later this spring.

Ocotillo is joining Ugly Duckling, Ruski’s, Zu Baker, Smalls and Oh No Cafe which collectively are establishing this part of the West End as Portland’s Brunch District.