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.
Coffee continues to be a growth industry in the Portland area:
For more info on the 22 other eateries, bakeries and bars under development, see the Under Construction list.
The Porthole has submitted their application for a liquor license. Per usual, the application includes a floor plan (shown below) and a draft menu (page 20).
Owner Ken Macgowan is also renovating the old Comedy Connection space and opening it as the Porthole Pub. For more information read the article in the Press Herald Food & Dining section earlier this week.
Word is starting to spread on In’finiti as more folks get the chance to see the new space and attend one of the pre-opening friends and family events. According to a community forum post on BeerAdvocate.com, they’ll be opening on Monday.
The look is somewhat industrial with a touch of steampunk, a beautiful view of the brewhouse and distillery, a touch of nautical (portholes), a huge deck right on the wharf, a beautiful wood bar and tables, and the railings and lots of other touches built from Allagash barrel staves. The menu is great with a good variety of nicely done upscale pub food and entrees, local without being in-your-face-local…
The front page of Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a feature article on the relaunch of The Porthole.
As for the food, the restaurant will be serving breakfast and lunch year-round, and will be open seven months out of the year for dinner, serving mostly seafood.
[Chef Jesse] Poirier said the menu will retain “the staples that made the Porthole famous in the first place.” That includes the fish fry, the Florentine, the lobsterman’s breakfast and the lobster Benedict.
The Forecaster interviewed Portland coffee drinkers and coffee shop workers about the potential impact of a new Starbucks on Commercial Street.
Steven Karan, an East End resident who stopped by Crema last week, said the independents shouldn’t feel threatened by another Starbucks.
“I wouldn’t worry about a Starbucks affecting places like this. They’re apples and oranges,” he said. “Starbucks will always have their customers, I guess. But I don’t see how a chain like that will make that much difference.”