Category: Under Construction

Chef Damian Sansonetti has leased 111 Middle Street, the former location of Bresca, and plans to open a new restaurant called Piccolo. Sansonetti will be serving a menu inspired by cuisine of Calabria and Abruzzi, tapping into the rustic tastes of of the regions where his family hail from. He plans to make some changes to the interior design of the dining room but otherwise leave the overall layout the same, and hopes to open the restaurant in September.

Sansonetti moved to Portland from NYC where he had been the Executive Chef of Bar Boulud. He’s a co-owner of Blue Rooster Food Co. on Dana Street. In addition to Piccolo, he still has plans to open a restaurant in Portland called Sonnet at some point in the future.

A new company called Coastal Root is working to launch a line of locally produced bitters later this summer. Owner Nolan Stewart developed an interest in bitters during his tenure as a bartender at Five Fifty-Five. The first of his bitters has a base of gentian, burdock and dandelion root with sassafras and sarsaparilla playing a leading role. Stewart has a second bitters in the planning stages that will feature hibiscus, jasmine and ginger.

The Coastal Root Facebook page explains, “We are a company dedicated to creating cocktail bitters, and innovative cocktail ingredients in Portland Maine. It is our goal to use local ingredients to give our bitters a Maine identity.”

Portland’s cocktail culture is making some good strides forward. Maine Craft Distilling recently joined New England Distilling to provide locally produced spirits, craft cocktail bar the Portland Hunt & Alpine Club is under construction on Market Street, a mixology shop called Vena’s Fizz House opened last week, and now Coastal Root will be providing a source for locally produced bitters.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes feature article about 20,000 square foot new facility Coffee by Design has under construction in East Bayside. An earlier report indicated that this new location was solely to serve as a roastery, offices, training facility and equipment store but the new plans incorporate a coffee shop where “connoisseurs will be able to order limited-edition roasts at the coffee bar and choose the brewing technique, including pour-over, French press and espresso.”

While Diamond Street will be a place where people can “geek out” on coffee, Lindemann said it will also cater to artists, blue collar workers, students and others looking for a cup of coffee and place to kick back in a “warm, earthy” environment.

“There is a trend in our industry that is elitist,” Lindemann said. “We want amazing coffee to be available to everybody. …

“Our humble beginnings are still there.”

CBD will be joining, Urban Farm Farmentory, Tandem Coffee, Bunker Brewing, Maine Craft Distilling, and Rising Tide Brewing as well as Pure Pops, Bomb Diggity Bakery, and Eat Local Fish in the East Bayside neighborhood.

Maine a la Carte has published an article about Elsmere BBQ & Wood Grill (facebook, website), a new restaurant under construction in South Portland.

 Powers calls barbecue “the only true American cuisine.” He spent at least 15 years “studying” barbecue, stopping at every little diner and BBQ joint he could find on road trips, searching for the perfect smoke, the perfect sauce.  He constructed two smokers himself  out of 1950s refrigerators.

At Elsmere, in addition to the Texas smoker, Powers and Rush will use an Argentine grill from California. The grill, which hasn’t arrived yet, has a big wheel that raises and lowers the cooking grates. It takes an hour and a half for the wood to burn down to embers, then the coals are raked forward in a continuous feed.

The Current has written about the recent growth in the number of South Portland restaurants.

Since mid-March, eight new restaurants have opened in South Portland, and licenses have been issued for another six, all slated to open by mid-August. According to City Manager Jim Gailey, South Portland has seen boomlets like that before, but it’s always been in the area of the Maine Mall and inevitably followed by rapid turnover.

“What’s really odd, and really kind of nice, is that a lot of this is going on right here, downtown, with small, owner-operated places,” said Gailey.

The article mentions a new venture called the Elsmere BBQ and seems to indicate that the South Portland Tony’s Donuts is still under development.

A new neighborhood coffee shop called Omi’s (facebook) is under construction at 28 Brackett Street just across the street by Outliers. Co-owners Naomi Hall and Katie Bruzgo plan on sourcing their coffee from Maine roaster Seacoast Coffee.

Checkout the renovation photos on their Facebook page. Their plan is to have a colorful and comfy space.

The shop was briefly mentioned last week in a Portland Daily Sun article about the Harbor View Park neighborhood.

Construction crews are making big strides in completing renovations at Hugo’s. The restaurant announced last week on Facebook that they’re now taking reservations for dates starting on July 8.

Several other businesses on the Under Construction list have been sharing photos and status updates recently:

• The Portland & Rochester Public House has posted a set of construction photos.
• Black Cat Coffee has posted a photo of the newly painted space.
• Carman’s has posted a set of 15 construction photos and news that they’ll be sourcing their coffee from Matt’s/Speckled Axe.

A new venture called Maine Fodder (website, facebook, twitter) is currently under development in Portland. It’s a “collaboration of a Farmer/Chef and a Dietitian” that will be tap into their connections with local farmers and their own work experience in cooking, farming and nutrition to launch a food truck and educational program.

The truck will be serving a dual purpose both as a food truck serving prepared foods and as a mobile farmers market that brings vegetables, fruits, meats and cheeses from many of the areas smaller farms to retail customers and restaurant kitchens in the area.

The owners hope to launch by mid-summer.

You can read more about the food truck on the Farm Truck  page on their site.

Chef David Levi has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the launch of his restaurant Vinland. Levi has leased 593 Congress Street and is in the process on renovating the space—watch the video for a glimpse inside.

At Vinland Levi will be dedicated to using 100% local products, foregoing the typical ingredients common in most restaurants in favor of innovative locally foraged, grown and raised alternatives.

Vinland will forge a distinctly Maine cuisine. Drawing from indigenous food traditions along with those of the Acadians, New Englanders, and other peoples of the North Atlantic, the cuisine of Vinland is an expression of our place and history. Yet the mission is as much about ecology, building the local economy, and teaching good nutrition as it is about great food. We see these four elements as inextricable and mutually reinforcing…[read more]

Visit the Vinland page on Kickstarter if you’d like to help fund the project.

Mainely Burgers have announced that they’re launching a third food truck. The new truck will specialize in dessert and operate under the name Mainely Treats. Owners Ben Berman and Jack Barber hope to launch the new truck on July 1st.

Introducing Mainely Treats, a food truck serving gourmet ice cream sandwiches, floats, and sundaes. It’s a dream come true for us; this is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. To make it happen, we’re working with some incredible local businesses including Mount Desert Island Ice Cream and Blue Rooster Food Co. Believe us, Mainely Treats is going to be serving some of the best treats around.