Category: Under Construction

Orenda and Peter Hale have announced that they plan to open the new wine shop on Tuesday January 13. Located at 63 Washington Ave, Maine & Loire (website, instagram, facebook) will focus on organic and biodynamic natural wines.

[T]he store will offer a laid-back, unhurried feel for shoppers. “I always loved going to record stores and talking to the folks working there” says Peter. “You could chat, every time you went in — about what you were into — and get turned on to new stuff that, somehow, complemented what you had been listening to already… it was an ongoing conversation.” This kind of energy is what Maine & Loire (Wine Shop) hopes to encourage. Adds Orenda: “the store is as much about learning new things as it is about selling or buying wine… for our regulars and us to learn about each other, and for everyone to get into cool, undiscovered wines.” These wines come from recognizable areas like Burgundy, Napa and Tuscany and many other places less well-known, but equally compelling. Places like the Ardeche, the Jura, and Swabia will be well-represented.

The shop is named for the Maine-et-Loire region of France. It will be open Tuesday -Saturday 12 -8, and on Sunday 12 – 6.

Photo courtesy of Maine & Loire.

The name of the new restaurant that chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier will be opening is M.C. Union.

Gaier and Clark’s restaurant will be located in the first floor of the Press Hotel(web, facebook, instagram) which is currently under construction in the former Press Herald building at 390 Congress Street.

Chef Gregory Gillman is planning to re-open the former Cafe at Pats space on Stevens Ave as the The Treehouse with a menu much along the same lines as he served at the Cafe.

Josh Soley is redeveloping the old Movies at Exchange space as Trouble, an “old fashioned theater-bar with classical movie showings in the afternoon and a similar atmosphere that will continue after the movie is over.” Soley plans to “target an older, professional audience” and will be serving “old-fashioned beverages including movie-themed Casablanca Cocktails, Godfather Whiskeys, and James Bond Martinis.”

Steven and Johanna Corman, owners of Vena’s Fizz House, have applied for a liquor license. They will continue serving solely temperance cocktails during the day, but from 7-11 pm plan to start serving alcoholic cocktails as well. You can read more about Vena’s and their plans to get a liquor license in today’s Press Herald article by Randy Billings.

Urban Eye has posted a detailed update on Tiqa which is expected to open in January. The kitchen will be headed up by chef Bryan Dame and Patrick Morang will be the bar manager.

An in-house bakery will pump out rustic bread from Corsica and Lebanese flat breads. Crave a slice of semolina? Tiqa’s “bread program” will rise to the occasion.

Run independently from the hotel, Tiqa owners Deen Haleem and Carol Mitchell strive to put hospitality first. “This will be a warm, relaxing environment,” said James Lindvall, marketing director, who added “no one is doing this style of food in Maine.” Clearly there is Big City energy (and $$) running through this newcomer.

For additional details see this earlier post on Tiqa.

The Golden Dish reports that Steve and Michelle Corry have leased 46 Market Street where they plan on opening a

casual restaurant serving French-inspired café  salads, sandwiches, soups and wine throughout the day with breakfast, lunch and dinnertime service.  The focus, however, will be on pastry, headed by a highly regarded local pastry chef, whose name was not, as yet, revealed. Count on Parisian-style espresso and coffee, killer croissants at breakfast and classic eclairs and Napoleons, French onion soup and salad Nicoise as part of a casual menu of light fare.

Lark Hotels has announced that chef Sam Talbot will be joining Lark to launch Pig + Poet, the restaurant at Whitehall, their new property in Camden which is slated to reopen this May.

Talbot was the Founding Executive Chef at Surf Lodge in Montauk and the Imperial No. Nine in NYC. He’s the author of The Sweet Life: Diabetes without Boundaries and was a semi-finalist and “Fan Favorite” on season 2 of Top Chef.

Here are some additional details on the restaurant from the Lark press release:

Focusing on Maine’s farmland, fisheries and game, the restaurant will feature a raw bar, signature roast pork dishes, Sam’s fresh take on lobster rolls, chowder and blueberry-sweet corn cobbler just to name few items. A charcuterie bar will offer sausages and cheese selections. The “poet” in the name is a nod to the chef’s role in the creative process, as well as a subtle wink to Edna St. Vincent Millay, a Pulitzer-prize winning poet who was discovered at Whitehall Inn in 1912.

“I’ve always loved the great outdoors and having a real connection to the food that comes out of my kitchen,” Chef Talbot said. “It’s become a bit of a cliche to say that my food is farm-to-fork, but that’s truly what it will be. Being in Camden is an inspiring opportunity for me to work with new local vendors, flavors and experiences. I have always been drawn to the water and waterfront towns and I’m excited to join the amazing food movement going on in the MidCoast, Portland and throughout Maine.”

Lark Hotels runs a several well regarded boutique inns including the Pomegranate Inn in Portland.

The Golden Dish has a report on the as-yet-unnamed new seafood restaurant being developed on the Portland waterfront by Dana Street and Sam Hayward.

It hasn’t been named yet, but Street described it to me as a classic New England seafood house reminiscent of the way fish houses were in the early part of the 20^th century as brasserie-style dining rooms. While he didn’t go into much detail about the menu, he offered this: It will resemble the simplicity of Fore Street’s straightforward approach, using the finest and freshest local ingredients. The focus will be on seafood but will also include steaks, chicken, lamb and pork done in the inimitable style of Hayward and his team of chefs. The food will be at once old-fashioned yet contemporary…

Mark Ohlson, Nathan Drinkwater and Stephen Briggs are launching Lincolns, a “cash only lounge for locals to escape the madness of the old port and see quality entertainment” at 36 Market Street. Lincolns will be in the basement level space that had been the home to Market Street Eats and many years back was the location a cocktail lounge called Maza. According to their letter of intent,

Lincolns will be a bar that functions on the premise of simplicity. We sell a short list of common, premium beers and alcohols all at $5. We will also offer chili and potato & pasta salad also at the $5 price point.

Ohlson is the owner of MJ’s Wine Bar, Drinkwater is a bartender at Gritty’s and Briggs works at Bull Feeney’s. They hope to open Lincolns in January.

Here’s a copy of the draft menu (page 95 of the City Council packet) as well as a floor plan.

As reported back in November, Small Axe co-owners Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy are in the process of buying the East Ender. The deal is expected to close in January and after completing some renovations they plan to re-open in February or March next year.

Deuben and Leavy have now applied for a liquor license giving us all our first look at the lunch and dinner menus (page 120 of the City Council packet). Here are excerpts from the menus:

The Forecaster reports that Rivalries is working on opening a new 11,400 square foot sports bar in Falmouth.

The proposed restaurant would be a two-story, 11,400-square-foot building with its entrance on Hat Trick Drive. It would seat 192 patrons on the two floors, with 16 bar seats and function spaces upstairs. Seasonal outdoor seating would allow for 32 more patrons.

The lot of almost half an acre is bordered by Clearwater Drive to the east, Farm Gate Road to the south, and the proposed Hat Trick Drive to the north. It is currently undeveloped.