Category: Under Construction

Zen Chinese Bistro has applied to the city for a liquor license application. You’ll recall from last week’s news that Zen is under construction at 45 Danforth Street in the building that used to be the home of District.

Zen’s cover letter indicates that they plan on operating a “full service restaurant serving gourmet, lighter, healthier, fresher Chinese cuisine” and that they currently own both the Mediterranean Grill in Freeport and AKI Japanese Cuisine in Brunswick. A draft menu is also included in the supporting materials (page 59).

A Chinese restaurant called Zen Bistro is under construction at 45 Danforth Street in the space occupied until recently by District. The building has been bought by the owners of Mediterranean Grill in Freeport. They hope to open Zen Bistro later this Summer.

The Grand Opening for Mark’s Place is scheduled to take place this Friday. According to a full page ad in this week’s Portland Phoenix, the doors at Fore Street’s newest bar will open at 4 pm and there will be free hors d’oeuvres, 4-6.

Mark’s is located at 416 Fore Street which most recently was a venue called The Edge.

Salt Cellar is under construction in the basement space on the corner of Middle and Market Streets. Salt Cellar was founded in Portsmouth NH and this will be there second location. You can see there full product line of finishing salts on their e-commerce site.

The windows of the new retail store are filled with a set of quotes about salt:

•  It’s a true saying that a man must eat a peck of salt before he knows him. -Cervantes
• Thou hadst better eat salt with the Philosophers of Greece than the Courtiers of Italy. -Ben Franklin
• Salt is what makes things taste bad when it isn’t in them. -Anonymous
• Of all smells, bread; of all tastes, salt. -George Herbert
• Salt is the policeman of taste: it keeps the various flavors of a dish in order and restrains the stronger from tyrannizing over the weaker. -Margaret Visser
• Salt is born of the purest parents: the sun and the sea. -Pythagoras
• It takes four men to make a salad: a madman for the pepper, a miser for the vinegar, a spendthrift for the oil, and a wiseman for the salt. -Unknown

 

The Portland Phoenix has published an interview with chef David Levi about Vinland, an almost purely locavorion restaurant he has under development.

 

He envisions a small restaurant (under 30 seats) that is “accessible and enjoyable” and will support local businesses, farmers and fishermen. Even with Maine’s limited growing season, Levi wants Vinland to be open year-round — using pickling, fermenting, drying, smoking, curing and storing techniques. There is no location for the restaurant yet, but he says he is getting close to finding a space.

Tonight’s meeting of the Historic Preservation Board is reviewing Otto’s plans to expand into 574 Congress Street where Wild Burrito used to be located. Otto opened at 576 Congress in June 2009 and by the end of the year had taken over the space to the right to open Enzo. The vacancy left by Wild Burrito provides a natural way for the popular pizzeria to grow.

For anyone interested in architecture or the history of the building, the back-up materials for the meeting make for an interesting read.

On the corner of Forest Ave and Vannah Street the Veranda Asian Market is under construction. The store front used to be the home of Aubuchon Hardware.

Based on the name, it seems likely that the  market is part of the Veranda Thai/Veranda Noodle Bar family of businesses. The sign facing Vannah Street indicates they plan on selling take-out food from the market.

There are a couple new additions to the Under Construction list:

• Kushiya Benkay is under construction at 653 Congress Street. If the address looks familiar it’s because it was the former home of Gogi, Barava, Granny’s, Uncle Billy’s, Nile, etc. It even once was the home of a Jim Ledue restaurant that I was quite fond of called Bella Cucina. According to Wikipedia Kushiya is a Japanese term for a skewered and charcoal grilled food, roughly analogous to Yakitori, except formally Yakitori only refers to grilled chicken and Kushiya could be any type of skewered food. The sign in the window indicates that they hope to be open as soon as July.
• Novare Res is rumored to be working on a new venture which will, if the information proves out, be a pub/brewery/distillery that will be collaborating with other brewers in the state. From what I’ve heard the new place is located on the corner of Commercial and Union Wharf. There’s no official word yet from Novare Res on their plans.

Roost House of Juice is raising money on Kickstarter to help fund their juice bar under construction on Free Street. Owners Kathleen Flanagan and Jeanette Richelson will be “offering fresh-pressed juices and smoothies with as much local organic Maine produce as possible” that are “entirely plant-based with no soy, no gluten, and no dairy”. If that sounds like your thing you might want to help them out with a donation.

The campaign if already off to a good start and is approaching the 50% mark for their $8,500 goal.

Roost is following in the footsteps of Food Coma TV and Union Bagel Company. Both organizations ran successful Kickstarter campaigns that were important in getting their ventures up and running.