Piccolo (website, twitter) opened tonight at 111 Middle Street, the former home of Bresca. Piccolo is the creation of chef/owners Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez.
I went for dinner with some friends tonight and had a fine evening. If you stop by for dinner try out the melanzane or sarde appetizers, and the porcellino and pasta fatta entrees. You can see the current menu online on Piccolo’s website.
Empire Chinese Kitchen (website, facebook) has now opened at 575 Congress Street. The venue has been completely recast by owners Theresa Chan and Todd Bernard as a Chinese dim sum restaurant—harkening back to the building’s early 20th century past as a Chinese restaurant. Despite the rain, the restaurant was packed when The Blueberry Files and I stopped by for dinner.
According to the Press Herald,
The menu, a press release sent out today says, will feature “truly authentic Chinese cuisine and Dim Sum. The menu of traditional and modern ‘Chinese soul food’ will feature local meats, seafoods, and seasonal produce. The kitchen will be headed by a Dim Sum Master Chef with 40 years’ experience creating specialty dumplings in world class kitchens around the world.”
For more details see today’s article about Empire from the Bangor Daily News.
Historical tidbit: Maine’s first Chinese restaurant was opened on Custom House Wharf by Ar Tee Lam in 1880.
The Portland Hunt and Alpine Club (website, facebook, twitter) held a soft opening on Tuesday and their public grand opening starts today at 4pm. Portland newest venue diverse menu of well-crafted cocktails (be sure to try the Chartreuse Swizzle) and as a set of Scandinavian-inspired small plates all presented in a thoughtfully designed modern space on Market Street.
Hunt & Alpine is run by Andrew and Briana Volk, who ran the popular Hush Hush series of events earlier this year.
For additional photos and commentary see the latest post on Map & Menu.
Images: a Left Hand cocktail, the view from inside the Lodge Room towards the bar, table and counter seating, charcuterie and cheese plates.
Omi’s, a new West End coffee shop, opens this morning at 7am.
Omi’s is located on Brackett Street right across from Outliers Eatery. Co-owners Naomi Hall and Katie Bruzgo are sourcing their coffee from Maine roaster Seacoast Coffee.
You can get a sense of shop’s interior by looking at photos on their Facebook page.
Elsmere BBQ & Wood Grill(website, facebook, twitter) opened yesterday. Located near Willard Square in South Portland, Elsmere aims to be a “neighborhood family restaurant and perfect place to meet friends”.
The restaurant is owned by longtime friends Jeremy Rush and Adam Powers. Powers has spent the last 15 years as the chef at Three Dollar Deweys. The pair will be serving Texas-style barbeque. Elsmere’s menu is available on their website.
A new bakery called Little Bigs (facebook) opened yesterday in South Portland. Little Bigs is located at 340 Main Street, and is run by James Murray Plunkett and Pamela Fitzpatrick.
According to a report in Eater Maine, Tony’s Donuts long-awaited location in South Portland opened earlier this week.
Portland Cap N Stem Company is a new company that’s raising mushrooms for culinary and medicinal use. It’s run by an “Italian Architect and a Norwegian Artist”. Their plan is to sell their products to local restaurants and at farmers markets. They will be one of the vendors at the new Maker’s Market (August 21, 5-9 pm) being run by the Urban Farm Fermentory.
Harding Lee Smith’s new restaurant, Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room, is set to open today. It’s located on Custom House Wharf making it one of the few restaurants in the city actually on the water. For more than a century the space was the home of Boone’s Restaurant, which was founded in 1898 by Alexander Boone.
This is Smith’s fourth restaurant. He also owns The Front Room, The Grill Room and The Corner Room.
A menu is available on the Boone’s website.
Black Cat Coffee opened for business today. They’re located on Stevens Ave in the store front previously occupied by Good Eats Boutique.
Owners Jenny Siler and her husband Keith James Dunlap selected Matt’s Wood Roasted as their coffee roaster. Baked goods are coming from Union Bagel, Standard Baking, Bam Bam and The Holy Donut.