According to a report by the Munjoy Hill News, Jay Villani plans on opening a third Portland restaurant this Spring.
“I’m going to be opening a new restaurant next spring. It’ll be a chicken barbeque place and it’ll be on lower Congress Street,” said Jay Villani Saturday afternoon.
This will be Villani’s third restaurant and fourth food venture in Portland after Local 188, Sonny’s and Bunker Brewing.
Maine a la Carte has published an interview with David Turin about his new restaurant, David’s Opus 10. Turin plans on repurposing the private dining room in the back of David’s in Monument Square to launch Opus 10.
“David’s Opus 10” will be an 18-seat restaurant with its own independent, open kitchen and a fixed price, multi-course menu. Seven courses will be served Tuesday through Thursday, and nine courses on Friday and Saturday. Turin is hoping to open the place by the first week in November, depending on how well renovations go.
Bo Byrne, currently the chef de cuisine at David’s 388, will be moving to David’s to cook with Turin at the new place. Carlos Tirado, who has been sous chef at the South Portland restaurant for the past two-and-a-half years, will take Byrne’s place there.
Whaddapita has announced that they’re moving from Forest Ave to a location in South Portland.
The PitaMan has BIG NEWS: we’re moving and will re-open soon in our new South Portland location. Stay tuned here on our facebook page for updates on our GRAND RE-OPENING.
The Press Herald reports that a Frosty’s Donuts is under construction in South Portland and provides an update on Tony’s Donuts plans to open a second store in South Portland.
When it comes to doughnuts, Mainers can’t seem to get enough.
Now there’s word that Frosty’s Donuts, a mainstay on Brunswick’s Maine Street since 1956, will open a South Portland store this month. Soon after, Tony’s Donuts of Portland will open a shop about a mile farther down Broadway. They join a handful of other local bakeries known for their doughnuts, such as The Cookie Jar in Cape Elizabeth and The Holy Donut in Portland.
According to the Forecaster, Buck’s Naked BBQ is planning to open their 3rd location in the Old Port at the former site of Havana South.
The Caisses said they had been looking for a new space for about 13 weeks.
“We’re highly motivated to get it open for the holidays,” Alex Caisse said. “All the guts are there, we just have to put our touch on it.”
Their existing restaurants, in Freeport and Windham, are each specialized to accommodate the clientele of the area, and the Wharf Street location will follow suit, they said.
Maine a la Carte has published an interview with chef Chris Gould about the small plate restaurant he’s planning on opening this Spring in Portland.
“It will be like tapas-style small plates, but it’s not going to be necessarily Spanish or French or Italian,” Gould said. “It will be kind of chef’s whim, and the menu will change every day, depending on what’s available, what’s fresh. And it will be anything from pastas to sashimi dishes, fresh oysters, all from Maine. I’m using a lot of local products, whether it’s veal and lamb in the spring or braised short ribs or beef cheeks in the winter. But all small plates, all good price points, anywhere between $5 and $20 – mostly right around $12 a dish.”
According to a report from Maine a la Carte, Kamasouptra is in the process of opening a new location in the Maine Mall.
On or around Sept. 1, Kamasouptra intends to officially open in the Maine Mall food court in the location previously occupied by Taco Bell. With a robust roster of national retailers and chain restaurants, the Maine Mall’s list of Maine-based food purveyors will grow to two, including Amato’s, once Kamasouptra opens.
Sprudge, the leading blog in the specialty coffee world, has published an article about Tandem Coffee Roasters.
Sorry, we had to get that out of our system, but for reals people! The “other Portland” is home to a brand new specialty coffee operation called Tandem Coffee Roasters, a labor of love brought to the world by three former Blue Bottle employees: husband and wife team of Will and Kathleen Pratt, and their sole employee, Vien Dobui, who reached out to Sprudge with pics and info (Editors Note: When your only employee takes the time to reach out to relevant media, you have likely Hired The Right Person).
I heard from Kathleen Pratt yesterday and she confirms that, pending successful completion of inspections, they’re on target to open in a couple weeks. My caffeine addiction has me currently bouncing back and forth between Bard in the AM and Speckled Ax in the PM. I look forward to the challenge of fitting a third destination inTo the line-up.
Maine a la Carte has posted an article about a restaurant called Gather that’s under development in Yarmouth.
[Owner Matt] Chappell has hired Chad Conley, the chef who managed the Freeport farm that serves the Miyake restaurants in Portland, to run the kitchen. In addition to his time with Miyake, Conley has worked at Hugo’s and Yosaku in Portland, at Jean Georges in New York, and at the Harborside farm of organic gardening expert Eliot Coleman.
A few new under construction factoids:
