Category: Under Construction

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.

There are a couple under construction updates in this week’s City Council agenda:

• A new sports bar called Mark’s Place is under construction at 416 Fore Street. A draft menu was supplied as part of their liquor license application (page 65).
• The owners of Hugo’s has applied for a revised liquor license in anticipation of the opening for Eventide Oyster Company. As you can see from the floor plan below, the kitchen will expand into 86 Middle Street and that will be the sole passage between Hugo’s and Eventide. You can see a draft menu for Eventide in the liquor license application (page 45).

Bier Cellar is under construction at 299 Forest Ave across the street from Glickman Library. As the name suggests the store will retail craft beer as well as a big selection of craft beer, as well as wine, cider and mead. Owners Greg and Katie Norton “are optimistically shooting for June 1” for an opening day.

Tandem Coffee Roasters is under construction at 122 Anderson Street in Bayside. Involved in the new venture is Kathleen Pratt who resume includes the highly regarded Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco.

You can follow their process of getting the operation up and running on their Tumblr and see some additional photos om the More & Co. blog.

A new ice cream shop is under construction on Commercial Street in the former home of Bubble Tea. I’ve heard the name of the business is Captain Sam’s Ice Cream.

Portland magazine has published an interview with Carmen Gonzalez, chef of new restaurant opening this Spring in the Danforth Inn.

If you dine with González at her new restaurant, opening May 15 at The Danforth bed and breakfast, you can go international, too, devouring sizzling snacks as  part of a culinary “journey through most of Latin America and the Caribbean,” where lobster will be served as few up here have seen it before.

“One of my signature dishes is a lobster and avocado terrine with key lime mayo and aranitas (grated green plantain and garlic fritters), which I plan to have on the menu, along with lobster fritters.”