Category: Openings

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.

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.

MJ’s (website, facebook), the new wine bar in One City Center, plans to open on Wednesday pending final inspections taking place today.

Mark Ohlson, the owner of MJ’s, a Certified Sommelier who has over the years worked a number of Portland restaurants including Perfetto’s, Bull Feeney’s, Walters, Hugo’s, Uffa and Frog and Turtle.

Ohlson plans to serve “30 wines by the glass and half glass from around the world focusing on traditional varieties from prominent regions”. The food menu will consist of a “selection of cheese, nuts, olives and chocolate and appropriate accompaniments”.

Update: MJ’s is on track to open on Wednesday. Mayor Brennan will be on hand for a ribbon cutting at 4pm and the bar will open to the public at 6pm. Take a look at this panoramic photo of the interior.