Category: Openings

A new pop-up venture called Cong Tu Bot (Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter) quietly got under way earlier this Spring. The creation of Vien Dobui and Jessica Sheahan, Cong Tu Bot’s specialty has been a type of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup known as Mi Ga.

So far Cong Tu Bot has held a pair of “friends and family” trial runs in April and early June that have mostly remained below the radar, providing the culinary team the chance to scale up their process in preparation for opening to the public.

I’ve been lucky enough to go to both and recommend you take the opportunity when the next pop-up takes place. The broth is well balanced and full bodied and is paired with some really excellent hand-crafted noodles making for a very satisfying meal.

Watch the Cong Tu Bot Tumblr site for more info on upcoming events.

Flora Bliss, Broadturn’s farm stand in Aurora Provisions, opened for business on Monday. On its first day the stand had some early summer farm produce, flowers, seedlings for the garden and house plants.

The Munjoy Hill News has published a report on yesterday’s opening of Union Bagel.

It was almost closing time this afternoon at the brand new Union Bagel Co. and the bagel baskets were all but empty – only about 6 baked-on-site bagels remained unsold.  In other words, THIRTY-FIVE dozen bagles were sold on the opening day of the company.

Union Bagel is planning to open their new retail shop at 147 Cumberland Ave this Friday at 6 am sharp. Union Bagel is located in the former home of Katie Made.

In addition to their bagels they’re serving coffee from Crema. Co-owner Paul Farrell tells me that Crema was the first shop in town to buy his bagels when he launch the company last year.

Mainely Burgers (facebook, twitter) is launching their Portland food truck today. They’re the featured food truck at Rising Tide this afternoon (noon – 5 pm) and starting at 6 pm  plan on operating out of a parking lot near City Hall on Congress Street.

Artemisia Cafe on Pleasant Street has started serving dinner, Wednesday through Saturday. The evening service is run by husband and wife team Guy and Heather. You can see photos of the menu below (click to enlarge).

The restaurant wasn’t very busy when I was there, but based on my meal (Muhummara appetizer, Pappardelle with Braised Chicken for a main course followed by Lemon Vanilla Layer Cake) I can’t imagine that will be the case for very long.

Update: According to a PFM reader comment, Heather and Guy are Maine natives who spent time working at restaurants in and around San Francisco including Chez Panisse.

Wicked Good Street Kitchen (website, facebook, twitter) and El Corazon (website, facebook, twitter) will be launching tonight at the May edition of Flea Bites.

Outlier’s Eatery (Facebook, Twitter, website) is now open. The restaurant and bar is located at 231 York Street at the street corner where Popeye’s Icebox used to be. Tivi Design—the folks who designed and built the bar at Grace—has created a very unique look for the new restaurant.

Chef Jonathan Dexter (formerly of Street & Co. and Hugo’s) is serving a menu (see below) of “sustainable farm to table” meals. The grilled rabbit entree (see below) was excellent.

 

The Porthole (website, Facebook) reopened today. Their plan is to slowly ramp up hours, serving breakfast today and tomorrow, lunch service starts Thursday and dinner will likely begin on Friday.

For additional reporting see this article from the Press Herald.

Update: i stopped by Wednesday morning and had breakfast at the bar. Their revised plan for the week is to start lunch on Friday. A start for dinner service is still TBD.

The new Rosemont location of the Crooked Mile Cafe (website, facebook) opened this weekend at 428 Brighton Ave in the space formerly occupied by Udder Cafe.