The Jewel Box has posted an update on Kickstarter with a series of photos illustrating the last few months of construction at 644 Congress Street. The center piece of the new space is the curved bar made of white oak. If all goes according to plan the bar will hopefully open by the end of the month.
A new Chinese restaurant called Shangri-la is under construction on upper Exchange Street. Shangri-la is taking over the space at 90 Exchange Street that for the last 8 months has been occupied by Thai 9.
Shangri-la is being launched by Yarmouth resident Qi Shen. Shen plans on serving a menu of Sichuan style Chinese food. A draft menu (page 42) was supplied as part of the restaurant’s liquor license application. Here’s an excerpt,
It’s been nearly a year since Ted Arcand, owner of Dogfish Bar & Grille, sold the Dogfish Cafe on Congress Street to 2 of his longtime employees. Now the new cafe owners are getting ready change the name.
No big changes are planned, but the Cafe’s new name will be Union Station Publyk – a reference to the Union Train Station that once stood across the street.
A new eatery called Skillet (facebook) is under development on Walker Street in the West End.
Owner Natalie ‘Figgy’ DiBenedetto is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Skillet will be her 3rd restaurant; the first two Mina and Another Fork in the Road were located in the Hudson Valley.
DiBenedetto plans to operate a take-out business along with a few outside tables serving,
…a nightly take home meal for 2 or 4 people as well as cast iron fried chicken, korean style chicken and all the fixins (slaw, potato, lots of seasonal vegetables etc..). Also trying to perfect a gluten free fried chicken. We’ll do some whacky ice cream sandwiches with homemade ice cream and homemade cookies and southern banana pudding (yes, with ‘nilla wafers)We’ll probably do a seasonal shrub soda and some other fun libations…
Her target customers are “working families, singles and couples in the area that want something comforting, nutritious, affordable and fun”. DiBenedetto will also use Skillet as the base of operations for a catering business that serves traditional comfort foods from her native state of Missouri: “BBQs, fried chicken picnics, fish fry, pig roasts etc”.
Skillet will be built off of the backside of the Yordprom Coffee building. She hopes to break ground for the building in the few couple months. You can see additional views of the building and a detailed floor plan in this submission to the Historic Preservation Board.
Skillet joins Tandem Bakery, Bramhall, Tawakal Halal and Salvage along with a few established businesses (Yordprom, Flores, and Bodega Latina, Hong Kong Market, etc) in expanding business develop past Longfellow through Bramhall Square and down to Saint John. This is a trend that’s likely to continue.
Fore River Brewing (twitter, facebook, instagram) has released some additional info about their plans. Founders John LeGassey, Michael Pridham and Thomas Hansen are currently identifying a location for their brewery and hope to open in 2015. They plan on brewing a wide range of beers that “reflect the owners’ varied taste and over ten years of brewing experience.”
Details on some of their prior brewing experiments can be found on Brew Toad.
Eater Maine has shared some additional details on the new ramen restaurant slated for 229 Congress Street. Suzukiya Ramen will be run by the father and son team of Katsuaki and Cory Suzuki. The family originally hails from the Hokkaido region of Japan.
A new restaurant called Dutch’s (facebook, instagram, twitter) is now under construction at 28 Preble Street in the space formerly occupied by Down Home Cookin’. Owner Ian Dutch plans to “using the best ingredients to Create Food You Crave“.
The menu will include sandwich items like the Dutch Crunch (red wine braised beef, mashed potatos, crispy onions) and the Crispy Chicken (chicken, red pepper jelly, bacon, cheddar, romaine). Dutch’s will be open for breakfast and lunch.
See the PFM Under Construction page for a complete list of Portland food businesses in development.
Makara’s Market (facebook)—formerly Mittapheap Market on Washington Ave—has launched a crowdfunding campaign. Owner Makara Meng is in the final stages of launching her new market on Brighton Ave. She plans on using the $6,500 raise in Kickstarter-clone Indiegogo for the initial cost of inventory, a to-go kitchen and initial marketing expenses.
For more information or to contribute to the campaign visit Indiegogo.
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