Category: Openings

El Rayo had a friends and family preview dinner Friday night at their beautiful new restaurant in Scarborough. They plan on opening to the public on Sunday.

The Maine Farmland Trust has launched a new quarterly publication.

Through Maine Farms, we aim to convey some of what’s happening here, both on the farm and off. Maine is a national leader in the “local foods” movement that is revitalizing farms and communities. Today, farming in Maine is growing and is poised for further growth. It’s a time of experimentation, change, and promise.

Two more new food business have opened:

• Vegetarian/vegan food cart Anapurna’s Thali (facebook) last Friday.
• Thurston’s Wicked Good Burgers (website) has opened in the old KFC location on Forest Ave (here are a couple photos on twitter: 1 and 2)

Slab Sicilian Streetfood (facebook, twitter, website, instagram) is now open. Headliner Stephen Lanzalotta along with partners Jason Loring, Matt Moran, Tobey Moulton and Emily Kingsbury have renovated a portion of the former Portland Public Market (where Scales was located) and have added a large outdoor seating area.

Here are a bevy opening announcements:

• According to a Facebook post from Two Fat Cats, Foodworks has opened their new space on India Street.
• Anapurna’s Thali has released some menu details for their opening this Friday at Rising Tide
• Timber is opening their new backyard seating area (shown right) tonight
• Hilltop Suprette has begun stocking their shelves and plans on opening in about “two weeks”

Two new opening are taking place today and tomorrow:

• A new food truck called CN Shawarma (facebook, twitter, website) is launching today at noon on the Eastern Promenade. Owners Clayton Norris and Jenna Friedman are serving a menu of shawarma, falafel, kofta, lentil salad and tabbouleh.
• King’s Head Pub (facebook) is planning a to hold a soft opening tonight with some “light food” and drinks. The restaurant will be having their official opening with a full menu available on Saturday.

Fishin’ Ships (facebook, twitter) launched today on Commercial Street near GMRI. If you miss them today stop by Portland Flea-for-All for the monthly Flea Bites food truck street festival and follow them on Twitter to keep informed about where they are located on a daily basis.

Lolita (facebook, website) is now open at 90 Congress Street. The restaurant is a partnership between Guy and Stella Hernandez, formerly of Bar Lola, and partner Neil Reiter. The restaurant serves a Mediterranean menu, and has an extensive wine list.

For more on the restaurant check-out  Blueberry Files, Urban Eye, Spoon & Shutter and Eater Maine for photos from the press event last week.

The Maine-ly Meatballs (website, facebook) food truck launched on Friday at the Westbrook Together Days festival.

Timber Steakhouse & Rotisserie (facebook, website) is now open for business at 106 Exchange Street.

The restaurant is run by Noah and Dan Talmatch who also own The North Point.

Update: for additional reporting see Chris Busby article on Timber and how it fits into the local restaurant scene.