Eater Maine has posted some additional details on LB Kitchen, the new restaurant Lee Farrington is opening at 249 Congress Street in the former Figa space.
3) Bowls are in. “Breakfast bowls, hearty quinoa bowls, salads, maybe also build-your-own,” really easy to eat in or take out. Farrington might even bring back her beloved wild boar for a lunch bowl.
Tiqa has announced plans to launch a retail bakery this month on December 14th. The shop will be open 7 days a week during the restaurants normal business hours. You can see a full product list on Tiqa’s website.
The Press Herald reports that Mast Landing(website, facebook, instagram) is under construction at 920 Main Street in Westbrook. Owners Ian Dorsey and Neil Fredrick hope to open in January.
The nautical theme is carried by the names of the company’s brews. Its flagship beer, the Tell Tale Pale Ale, is a reference to a ribbon of the same name that’s tied to a sail, indicating the direction of the wind.
It’s fitting, [co-owner Ian] Dorsey said, as the company will look to that beer’s reception as an indicator of whether it’s going in the right direction.
The company also has two India pale ales, a blonde ale, an amber ale, a milk stout and a peanut butter stout.
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Here’s a look inside the construction site for Rhum, the new tiki bar and restaurant under development just off the corner of Cross and Free Streets.
The center of the room is dominated by a large rectangular bar which in addition to being tiki cocktail central will also house Rhum’s raw bar. The east wall of the subterranean space is a long and low serpentine lounge area where larger groups can gather and share some of Rhum’s large scale cocktails.
Rhum is a collaboration between Jason Loring, owner of Nosh and Slab; Mike Fraser, owner of Bramhall Pub; Nat Towl, builder and designer. The kitchen and bar will be led by the talented team of Frank Warren Anderson and Rebecca Ambrosi.
They’ve made a lot of progress on construction since the project began and hope to open Rhum this winter. You can get a taste of the menu at the Rhum sneak peak being held December 1st at Bramhall.
Mike Smith has been hired to lead the kitchen at Scales. Smith is a Culinary Institute of America graduate. He has spent six years in Boston working for Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette. Rising through the ranks of their restaurant group to serve as chef de cuisine at Toro. Smith returned to live in Maine last year.
Sam Hayward shared with me that he’s looking forward to working with Smith and to seeing his interpretation of the vision for Scales. The 100+ seat waterfront seafood restaurant being developed by Dana Street and Sam Hayward. It’s currently under construction on the Maine Wharf off of Commercial Street, and is set to open in 2016.
The Press Herald reports that Vena’s is planning to serve a food menu of “updated versions of beef Wellington, Waldorf salad, butterscotch pudding and other classic dishes from the 1950s and 1960s to go along with its drink menu of Manhattans and gin and tonics.”
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.
Fore River Brewing(twitter, facebook, instagram) received license approval from the South Portland city council Monday evening.
Co-owner John LeGassey tells me they have a few last tasks to complete to make the brewery operational and hope to start brewing their first official batch two weeks from now. If all goes according to plan, they will open to the public sometime in December.
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.