Category: Under Construction

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a feature article about Harding Smith and his fourth “Room” restaurant, Boone’s Fish House and Oyster Room.

This has been Smith’s life the past few months, as he juggles managing his three Portland restaurants while trying to open a fourth: Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room, a new seafood place on Custom House Wharf.

In a year with an unusually large number of restaurant openings in the works in Portland, Boone’s is one of the most anticipated. It’s a project that will give Smith an unprecedented fourth restaurant within the city limits, and revitalize the late-19th-century waterfront building where it’s said Alexander Boone first served baked stuffed lobster.

Food writer Meredith Goad has also put together a series of sidebars on four other up and coming restaurants that are set to launch this year: Chris Gould’s restaurant on Fore Street, Bresca and the Honey Bee, Sonnet and Vinland.

A new food truck called Urban Sugar Mobile Cafe is under development. Owners Valeri and Kevin Sandes will be serving a range of made to order sweet and savory mini gourmet donuts both traditional and more innovative flavors.

Their 70’s vintage ice cream truck (aka Rosie) is currently undergoing renovations. The Sandes plan to launch sometime in the beginning of July and operate on a year-round basis both on the streets of Portland and for catered private events.

A new business called Fizz is under construction at 345 Fore Street. Owner Johanna Corman she plans on opening Fizz as a “mixology shop and natural soda/mocktail bar”. The small shop will include both a retail space selling bitters, syrups and cocktail making equipment, as well as a small bar that serves house made sodas. The store is likely to be open by mid-summer.

Corman is seeking out and stocking local products such as the Blueberry Bitters produced by Sweetgrass Farm in Maine and Royal Rose Cocktail Syrups as well as those from farther afield. Originally from Maine, she and her husband Steve moved back to the state in 2008 and run the general store on Cliff Island.

A business card in the window at 339 Fore Street indicates that the space is the future home of Compass Rose Restaurant. The owners are Tony and Rose Kratovil.

I stopped by The Honey Exchange Friday to pick-up some equipment and spotted the brown paper and signage for Black Cat Coffee at 463 Stevens Avenue in the space formerly occupied by Good Eats Boutique.

I talked with co-owner Jenny Siler who along with her husband Keith James Dunlap are launching the new coffee shop. Their plan is to create a neighborhood coffee shop for that part of town. They’re talking with a number of local roasters but haven’t made a final decision about whose coffee they’ll use.

The pair just signed the lease last week and are working their way through a very long task list to convert the space. They hope to be open by early August.

The folks at Salvage BBQ & Smokehouse have posted some photos of the progress they’re making in renovating 919 Congress Street.

Mark Ohlson, the owner of MJ’s, the new wine bar under construction at One City Center has shared some of his plans for the business.

The bar will serve “30 wines by the glass and half glass from around the world focusing on traditional varieties from prominent regions”. He’ll also have a smaller set of local and international beers available. The food menu will consist of a “selection of cheese, nuts, olives and chocolate and appropriate accompaniments”.

Ohlson is a Certified Sommelier. In addition to the wine bar, MJ’s will have an educational program. Starting in September he will be offering “drop in tastings as well as a ten-week course for a simple certification level via The One City Wine Academy (OCWA). A five-week beer course will also be available.”

MJ’s will have “a ‘Wall of Wine’ with maps, books and 40 fragrance jars to help suggest classic wine flavors. And a ‘Wall of Vinyl’ where guest can pick out and play from a selection of classic records or they can bring in their own.”

Mark has worked at a number of restaurants in Portland including Perfetto’s, Bull Feeney’s, Walters, and Hugo’s. He’s currently a bartender at Little Tap House. I first met him when he tended bar at Uffa and then at Frog and Turtle in Westbrook during its first couple years in operation.

The Forecaster has published a roundup of recently opened and upcoming restaurants in South Portland including Otto Pizza.

“I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but I have fallen in love with Otto Pizza,” [Councilor Linda] Cohen said as she moved for passage of the license to allow owners Mike Kean and Anthony Allen to open their third Otto Pizza in Maine.

According to an article in Sentry, Otto Pizza is planning to open a new location in South Portland at 159 Cottage Road.

The property, currently vacant, that may become the new Otto was previously a Getty gas station. It sits on a busy downtown intersection at Cottage Road and Highland Avenue surrounded by the South Portland Public Library, the Holy Cross School and Red’s Dairy Freeze.

Carman’s Cafe is under construction at 64 Market Street. Owners Darren Thomas and Abigail Johnston plans are for a business that’s equal parts coffee shop, gluten-free bakery and bookstore. The business is named for Thomas’ grandfather.

Carman’s Cafe is slated to open sometime in late June/early July.

See the Under Construction List for info on other Portland food businesses in development.

As part of a larger article on waterfront real estate, the Press Herald reports that Kings Head LLC has leased a ground floor space in the Pierce Atwood building where it plans to open a gastro-pub.

CBRE-The Boulos Co. announced this week that King’s Head LLC has a lease for a 2,250-square-foot gastro-pub serving high-quality beer and food. King’s Head currently operate pubs in Stowe, Vt., and Athens, Ga., and plans to open its Portland restaurant in September, according to CBRE.

When contacted Wednesday, Justin O’Connor, a partner in King’s Head, said that, for marketing purposes, he is not granting interviews until the pub is ready to open.