Category: Under Construction

Future site of The Purple House in North Yarmouth.

Urban Eye has posted an update on The Purple House, Krista Kern Desjarlais’ new wood-fired bakery and cafe under construction in North Yarmouth.

Desjarlais, who also runs the seasonal Bresca And The Honey Bee At Outlet Beach in New Gloucester, has a destination in the works. Montreal bagels, a denser, chewiery version of New York City bagels, boiled in honey water and baked under wood heat, will be in heavy rotation. Miche and levain breads made with Maine Grains will be another daily offering. Expect a few pastries, but nothing “fragile and fancy.”

Her famed brown butter almond cake and pannacotta (Bresca holdovers) will be house signatures. Homemade ice cream, which she is known for, will also be in the mix.

For additional details read this Press Herald article from August.

Orenda and Peter Hale have submitted a liquor license application for their natural wine bar, the Drifter’s Wife(instagram, website). The bar will be co-located with the Hale’s wine shop Maine & Loire. The  draft menu (page 35) includes items such as shaved fennel with meyer lemon and aged gouda, and mushroom toast with eggs and herbs.

The natural wine bar will have seating for about 20 including a small 8-seat bar. The Hale’s are aiming to craft a space that be both a “convivial hangout with the energy we feel when we drink at our favorite places” and a place where people can have direct experience with the natural wines they specialize in.

A new bar called the Munjoy Hill Tavern is under construction at 189 Congress Street in the former Mama’s Crow Bar space. The draft menu (pages 72-73) includes items such as stuffed mushroom caps, chicken tenders, flatbread pizza and a boneless chicken breast sandwich.

According to the liquor license application, owner Stanley Dobson hopes to open the tavern in November.

The Bangor Daily News has published an update on Farm Truck Juice.

Focused on farm-direct purchases, founder Walter Loeman says the stand will source from 30 Maine farms in season. Organic apples, blueberries, kale and carrots grown from Palermo to Dresden to Camden will be blended with more exotic fruit such as kiwi and roots like ginger. The oranges in his sunny bunny concoction will hail from down south. “We will have six or seven proprietary drinks,” said Loeman, who is no stranger to the Portland food scene.

Restaurateur Walter Loeman who founded Walter’s, Perfetto’s, Mazza, Cotton Street Cantina and several other restaurants is part of the cooperative team launching Farm Truck Juice(facebook, website, twitter, instagram).

Erik Desjarlais has leased 4 School Street in Freeport where he’ll be opening the Intervale Mercantile Co. later this year. This will be the first brick and mortar retail shop for the business since he launched in 2011.

The 900 square foot space will house the Weft & Warp/Intervale workshop and a retail shop for Erik’s knife rolls, aprons, leather products and his line of men’s grooming products. The shop will also feature knives from bladesmiths around the country, vintage chefs knives and tools as well as other products that fit with the overall concept.

For more information on Weft & Warp/Intervale check out their website and instagram page.

El Rayo will be reopening at 26 Free Street in the space currently occupied by Papier Gourmet, according to a report from the Press Herald.

“It’s a beautiful space,” [co-owner Tod] Dana said. “We will be applying to the city to build a deck off the back of it. That was something I was really excited about, to continue to have a an outdoor experience as part of the business. This space has a bright, sunny southern exposure off the back.”

Need to get caught-up on all the new places in development? Check out the our Under Construction list for the latest details.

Update: For more information on El Rayo’s move to Free Street see this report from the Bangor Daily News.

A number of food and drink busineses have already announced plans to locate at Thompson’s Point. Cellardoor is opening a 5,000 sq ft tasting room, Stroudwater Spirits is building a distillery, Jason Loring has plan to launch a seafood shack called The Point, and artist Sam Van Aken plans to install a grove of his grafted Trees of 40 Fruits.

Sharp-eyed watchers have noticed that the overall site plan on the Planning Board website also reserve space for 10,000 sq ft brewery and a 125 room hotel and restaurant.

A new wine bar called Vinbar is now under development at 3 Deering Ave in the space vacated by Tawakal Store in Bramhall Square.

co-owners Colleen Callahan, David Levi and Robert Swain intend to serve a line-up of natural wines accompanied by “food items that are thoughtfully made, and do so at an accessible price point.” They plan to serve breakfast and lunch and anticipate their customers will come from the surrounding neighborhood as well as Maine Med and staff from other nearby businesses.

The draft menu (page 63) supplied with Vinbar’s liquor license application includes items like buckwheat galettes, smoked fish pate as well as grilled cheese sandwiches, burgers and fish chowder. They plan to be open 7 days a week.

David Levi is the chef/owner of Vinland.

Vinbar is the second natural wine bar project that’s been announced. Last month, Maine & Loire made public there plans to launch Drifter’s Wife on Wahington Ave.

Lee Farrington is planning to renovate 249 Congress Street, the home of her former restaurant Figa, where she and her wife plan to open a new restaurant called LB Kitchen(instagram). They hope to open LB Kitchen sometime early next year.

The restaurant is billed as “a modern cafe”, but specific details on concept, menu, etc are at present still tbd. It’s great to hear that Farrington will be running another restaurant and that the former Figa location is going back into productive use.