Category: Under Construction

Portland Hunt & Alpine Club (website, Facebook, Twitter) has leased 75 Market Street, the former location of Simply Home, as the spot for their new craft cocktail bar. The owners have been search high and low for just the right location even before they initially shared plans for the new bar back in November. You’ll be able to get wander amongst the bars at The Grill Room, Sonny’s and the Hunt & Alpine Club without leaving sight of Post Office Park.

The plans for the space include room for about 50 people in the main bar area with room for additional 10-12 in the private Lodge Members room. Owners Briana and Andrew Volk anticipate opening sometime in mid-Summer. If you just can’t wait that long, consider buying a ticket to the Not So Hush Hush cocktail event they’re holding this Thursday in conjunction with Eventide.

 

According to a report from Maine a la Carte, Dishcrawl Tours (website, Twitter) is setting up a service in Portland and plans on starting tours in early May.

“At the first three restaurants, they get a trio of smaller-sized foods,” says Mary Soule, the Portland Dishcrawl “ambassador” who will be leading the tours. “And while they’re eating, hopefully the chef or at least the owner will come out and talk to people about the food and about the restaurant, the background and history of it. So instead of just sampling the food that the restaurant has to offer, it’s about really building a community with the locals and the chefs in their own towns.”

Portland’s food tour options have expanded quite a bit in the last year. In addition to Dishcrawl, you now can also choose from: Maine Foodie Tours, Wine Wise, The Maine Brew Bus, Maine Beer Tours and Maine Cocktail Tours.

Maine a la Carte interviewed Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy about the new food truck venture they have in development.

The menu will also include a series of daily breakfast and lunch rice bowl offerings. The rice bowls could have a Japanese flair, or have a southern twist – they’ll reflect a lot of different international and regional cuisines.

“The bowls would be a nice option for us to come up with a daily special or utilize the offcuts we can get from local farms and be able to do something a little bit different in a bowl format,” Deuben said.

According to the West End News, Johnny Robinson is planning to open Longfellow’s Attic, sharing the space currently occupied by The Frame Shop in Longfellow Square.

Robinson is best known as the original owner of Hugo’s which he sold Hugo’s to Rob Evans in 2000. He also ran Finch’s/Johnny’s Bistro in Falmouth.

According to a report in the Press Herald real estate section, Coffee by Design has bought a 44,000 square foot building in East Bayside where they plan on housing their roasting operation and “will feature a coffee bar training center, a public cupping and tasting bar, and a showroom for residential and commercial coffee equipment sales.” According to the article they’ll also be offering public tours of the facility.

The article is not, as far as I can tell, available online.

Portland’s food truck ordinance passed late last summer. 2013 will be the first full season for trucks to hit the streets and there will be a handful of vendors in the freshmen class.

One that I’m especially looking forward to is being developed by Karl Deuben and Bill Leavy, a pair of of chefs who have some serious fine dining credits on their resume. Deuben has worked at Alinea in Chicago, Hugo’s and Miyake. Leavy’s resume includes time in the kitchen at Back Bay Grill, Hugo’s and Miyake. You may also recall that Karl was the guest chef for last October’s Pocket Brunch at Broadturn Farm.

They’re in the process of renovating a food truck for a mid-May launch. The truck will be located in East Bayside on Anderson Street, near Tandem Coffee and Bunker Brewing. This new venture will give them an opportunity to apply all the skills they’ve developed in their fine dining careers in a more casual setting and format.

The business name is SmallAxe but the name for the truck itself is still TBD. Karl and Bill are working with The Brand Company, Maine magazine’s consulting division of branding, logo, etc.

As reported back in November, Miyake plans on reopening Food Factory Miyake at their original spot, 129 Spring Street, serving “Japanese comfort food”. The City Council is reviewing their liquor license application Monday and that means we get a peak at the draft menu (see page 67). It consists a mix of small plates (hijiki umani, shrimp with wakame sunomono, etc.) and a small list of entrees (pork with koji salt marinade, braised mackerel with ginger miso, etc.).

The liquor license application would seem to indicate that the new FFM will not be BYOB. The restaurant is likely to open sometime in July.

Culture Shock reports that Empire has changed hands and is going to be split into 2 different venues.

The word on the street is that the downstairs area will be reopened in early summer as a Chinese restaurant – which the Empire building originally was, back in the day – and the upstairs is tentatively planned to reopen this summer as well, still as a music venue.

The Press Herald published an article late Friday with additional information,

The five-year-old restaurant and music venue has been sold by Umbel and will be run by Theresa Chan, a Maine restaurateur, and Todd Bernard, a veteran of Portland’s arts scene. Bernard is a former owner of the Space Gallery music and arts venue, at 538 Congress St.

Umbel said the new operators will close Empire Dine and Dance temporarily so that the downstairs, which now is a bar and restaurant with space for small music groups, can be renovated into a Chinese restaurant.

According to a Insurance Guy Beer Blog Bissell Brothers Brewing (website, twitter) is taking over the space on Industrial Way formerly occupied by Maine Beer Company. The brothers plan to open “over the next few months”.

The plan is to provide 4-packs of 16 ounce cans with their double IPA being the premier and flagship beer. If you are one of the few that has been lucky enough to try The Substance you know this is going to be one of the best IPAs on the market when it hits the shelves of your favorite beer store. Be sure to tell your local beer store and bar that they need to carry this beer when it is released.