Category: Openings

A new Portland delivery service called Cartender(website, facebook, 207-200-3125) launched yesterday. Cartender has partnered with Old Port Spirits to “deliver beer, wine, spirits, and mixers to your door”. Cartender operates 7 days a week: 4-8pm M-Th, 3-8 on Fri, and 12-8 on the weekends.

For more information read this article on Active Beer Geek,

Have you ever been sitting in your apartment in Portland and wanted a beer but didn’t want to go anywhere? Jim O’Brien and Scott Nevers has created a service that was perfectly designed for that occasion, Cartender. It’s a delivery service that brings beer, wine, spirits and mixers to your Portland residence. You place your order online and they drive it to you.

Tiqa (facebook, twitter) is scheduled to open today. The pan-Mediterranean restaurant is the creation of husband and wife team Deen Haleem and Carol Mitchell with chef Bryan Dame heading up the kitchen staff and Patrick Morang as the bar manager.

Tiqa is located at 321 Commercial Street in the ground floor of the new Marriott hotel.

Food writer Kate McCarty and Maine Beer Mavens founder Lora Burns have started a women’s whiskey club called the Portland Spirit Society,

We are a group of women in Portland, Maine who like whiskey and want to learn more about it. Please join us for tastings, tours, and social events.

Update: McCarty has posted some additional info on the PSS on her blog.

Maine Craft Distilling is having a soft opening for their new Freeport tasting room/mixology shop today.

Maine Craft Distilling-Freeport edition is now open for biz. We are calling it our “soft” opening and are sure there is much that we will need to improve upon but come on by and try us out!!! The gala grand opening will be in the new year.

The tasting room is located at 7 Mill Street.

Otto Pizza’s 2nd pizzeria in South Portland opened today. The new pizza shop is located at 125 John Roberts Rd which is right near the Maine Mall.

The John Roberts Road location is OTTO’s 9th location overall (10, if you count our Portland delivery facility), and is one of our roomiest, with 5 picnic tables, and an indoor bocce court. Diners can enjoy pizza by the slice or whole pie, along with a full array of beverages, including beer and wine. (Yes, we’re serving Autohelm, our brand new collaboration with Rising Tide Brewing Company!)

Photo Credit: Otto Pizza

The Portland Food Co-op (website, facebook, twitter) is opening today, 11 – 4. Starting Thursday they’ll be open 9 – 7 and hope to expand the hours of operation as the store’s customer base grows.

The co-op is located at 290 Congress Street at the foot of Munjoy Hill.

Dutch’s (facebook, instagram, twitter)is now open. Owners Lucy and Ian Dutch are serving breakfast and lunch from their cafe at 28 Preble Street. I’d recommend the brioche cinnamon bun.

Ebb & Flow (facebook, twitter, website, instagram, opentable) has been fine tuning their operation over the last few days with a series of private events and plans to open Thursday at 5 pm. The menu is a mix of Mediterranean inspired seafood and meat dishes. Appetizers will generally be in the $8-14 range and entrees $15-25. The “1000 Degree” items will be a bit more expensive.

Ebb & Flow is co-owned by Angello Ciocca, founder of Nova Seafood, and chef William D’Auvray. It is located at 100 Commercial Street in the completely renovated space formerly occupied by Spread.

To start out Ebb & Flow will be open for dinner Monday though Saturday. They to eventually start serving lunch and Sunday brunch as well.

Bao Bao Dumpling House is scheduled to open today at 5 pm. The restaurant was open to the public Saturday night after two days of invitation-only dinner services that saw dedicated fans of chef Cara Stadler lined up on the sidewalk waiting for a table.

MaineBiz, Maine Today and Eater Maine have also posted photos and details on Bao Bao. Check-out Eating Portland Alive some initial impressions on the food and the space.