Category: Under Construction

Evo(twitter, website, facebook) has applied for a  liquor license. They are on the agenda for the City Council’s meeting on Monday.

According to the material supplied with the application, the owners plan to serve a menu of “Eastern Mediterranean Cuisine”. A draft menu (pages 74-75) was supplied with the supporting paperwork. Here’s an excerpt.

The full floor plan (1st floor show below) seems to show a mezzanine area for additional seating. You can find some concept sketches for the space on Evo’s facebook page.

Update: The Golden Dish reports the chef Brandon Hicks will lead the kitchen staff,

Executive chef is Brandon Hicks, who also oversees the kitchen at the Chebeague Island Inn as well has having had a solid background at some of New York’s top-rated Michelin starred restaurants. Executive sous chef is Matt Ginn, formerly executive chef of Five Fifty-Five in Portland as well as L’Espalier in Boston.

A new restaurant called Evo(twitter, website, facebook) is under construction at 443 Fore Street which small space at the corner of Fore and Union that’s part of the Hyatt.

Evo will be a “Greek and Mediterranean and Tapas Bars” and hopes to be open this Spring. It is part of the Prentice Hospitality Group that runs Chebeague Island Inn and  other businesses.

Portland Magazine has published an interview with Natalie DiBenedetto about Figgy’s(facebook, website), the takeout restaurant she has under construction on Walker Street, and that journey that brought her to Portland.

By May she plans to be cooking at Figgy’s, her forthcoming take-out restaurant, now under construction in back of Yordprom’s building, which she owns. Figgy’s will offer skillet-fried chicken and classic sides like mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, plus seasonal healthy vegetable choices and a daily dinner salad. Her other signature item will be Korean fried chicken wings.

This month’s issue of the magazine also includes a review of The Merry Table.

The owners of Boda and Green Elephant are launching a third restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, according to a report in the Portsmouth Herald.

[General Manager Ben] Richards acknowledged “there’s a lot of restaurants in Portsmouth,” but said he believes what they will bring to the 2,800 square-foot-space on the first floor of Portwalk 3 is “something different.”

“It’s all vegetarian food and it’s a mixture of Chinese, Malaysian and Thai,” Richards said.

He also described the restaurant as “very high end” and upscale.”

Otto Pizza has opened several locations in Massachusetts, Zapoteca has opened a restaurant in New Hampshire and a number of Portland restaurant owners have explored opening new ventures in Biddeford. This initiative by Boda/Green Elephant is part of that emerging trend of exporting the Portland food culture to locales further south.

The new brunch cafe under development by chef David Mallari at 906 Brighton Ave is slated to be named The Sinful Kitchen(facebook).

Blue owner Terez Fraser has leased the space at 652 Congress with plans to expand her bar and live music venue. Fraser will be adding 50% more seating capacity as well as a stage and has applied for a revised liquor license that will enable Blue to add spirits to the their current menu of wine and beer.

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Cellardoor Winery’s plans to open a 5,000 square foot tasting room and retail store at Thompson’s Point.

The satellite location will be known as Cellardoor at the Point and will host wine tastings, dinners, cooking classes, food-and-wine pairings and other special events. It also will have retail space for selling the company’s “Cellardoor at Home” product line, which includes jams and jellies, oils, vinegars, desserts, syrups and other food products.

Cellardoor joins Oxbow and Sweetgrass as Mid-Coast food enterprises that have opened Portland locations to better connect with the Southern Maine locals and tourists to the area.

Update: for additional information see this report from the Urban Eye.

Maine a la Carte has posted information on two new restaurants under development:

• Chef Dave Mallari, former owner of Francesco’s Blue House Cafe, plans to open a new cafe at 906 Brighton Ave in the space formerly occupied by La Familia. Mallari will serve brunch Wednesday through Sunday with a focus on gluten-free and Paleo diet options. He hopes to open in March.
• Chef Mitchell Kaldrovitch is opening MK Kitchen(website, facebook) at 2 School Street in Gorham with his wife Lisa. Kaldrovitch has worked for the past 7 years as the executive chef at the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth. The new restaurant will serve “simple handmade food, all from scratch from desserts to pastas”. They hope to open in April.

Eater Maine has posted an interview with Suzie St. Pierre, who along with her husband are opening Isa (facebook) on Portland Street.

What makes you eager to open it in Portland, which is packed with places to eat?
We love Maine and we love Portland and we’re encouraged by the city’s passion for good food. Every city has competition and, of course, Portland doesn’t lack it. But the residents and visitors support this industry better than almost any other city in the nation, which makes us think there’s always room for another good restaurant with a different experience to offer.

The Forecaster has posted an update on the Otherside Delicatessen.

Quattrucci’s Variety at 164 Veranda St. was a neighborhood staple for more than three decades. The store closed without fanfare late last year, but the building won’t be empty very long.

Peter Sueltenfuss leased the building on Jan. 1 for the Otherside Delicatessen, which will open around Jan. 26, he said – as long as telephone and Internet connections are done.