Mainebiz has published a report on the Exchange Street Cafe, an Italian restaurant which is under construction at 7 Exchange Street.
Richard Petrucci says he and his co-owners are investing a little more than $60,000 to refurbish the Exchange Street location, which is sandwiched between City Beverage and retail shop Toko Indo. They plan to open the restaurant sometime in April for lunch, dinner and late-night meals.
The owners of Nosh are working on opening a new taco shop called Taco Esco Bar this June. It’s slated for a retail space across Congress Street from Nosh.
The folks over at Dobra Tea received a shipping container’s worth of supplies over the weekend and are working towards opening the shop later this week. They’ve have published a number of photos of the unpacking and set-up of the tea room on Flickr.
For more info on the business visit their website, www.dobrateame.com.
Construction of the River House on York Street is well under way. The restaurant is being built at the former site of Popeye’s Ice House. The most detailed information available comes from a Mainebiz article published back in December,
At the same time, [Tod] Dana and [Alex] Fisher are teaming up with Cheryl Lewis and Noreen Kotts, El Rayo’s culinary team and the former owners of Aurora Provisions, for another venture. The four are converting what used to be Popeye’s Ice House into a new restaurant Dana describes as a “neighborhood bistro.” It’ll have 60 seats, and gets its name for its view of the Fore River. They hope to be open by late next summer.
A pair of updates for the Under Construction List:
Mainebiz has published a report on Miyake’s planned move to Fore Street.
The restaurant, owned by chef Masa Miyake and his business partner William Garfield, will leave 129 Spring St. and open at 468 Fore St. in May. The new dining room will be able to seat between 42 diners, up from 31 now, and fit 14 people at its sushi bar, according to General Manager Karl Deuben.
A collection of food news and links for your Saturday morning:
Every so often when a new restaurant at is under construction at 653 Congress Street you can catch a glimpse of the old Neon Diner sign (see this recent photo by Corey Templeton). That’s the case now as Gogi, a new Asian fusion restaurant, get’s set to install their new street sign in the old Neon Diner frame. I’ve heard that Gogi hopes to open in March. The Neon Diner was in operation 1991-1995.
A new sandwich shop, the Exchange Street Cafe, is under construction at 7 Exchange Street. The owner plans to offer “quality food and reasonable prices.” You can see a draft menu (page 67) and floor plan (page 72) in the documents supplied as part of their liquor license application.
If that address sounds familiar it may be because last year an Italian restaurant called Canelli’s was under construction there and in 2009 a sushi bar called Wasabi was slated to open in that spot. Neither ever opened. Hopefully this new venture has better luck.
Today’s Portland Daily Sun includes an interview with the owners of Boda. They were asked “What one dish and one drink really define you?”
Bob’s signature dish is braised pork hock with star anise. It’s the only thing on the menu that is his alone. He carmelizes sugar in a pot, adding star anise, cinnamon, black pepper, garlic, galanga, fermented yellow bean paste and both dark and sweet soy sauces to give structure to the broth for the pork to simmer for hours on a back burner while the evening’s ingredients are prepped. It’s a dish he learned from his father, a building supplies salesman who loved to experiment in the kitchen.
an interview with Steve Corry on the new French bistro, Petite Jacqueline, he’s in the process of opening in Longfellow Square,
Corry plans to open Petite Jacqueline in the first or second week in March, he said. The concept of the new restaurant, Corry said, is “authentic French comfort food” with a “vivacious bistro atmosphere,” where customers can sit down for lunch or dinner.
and a piece on the potential changes to the law regarding tips before the Maine legislature,
Last week, this paper covered the issue before the legislature regarding changes to the “tipping” rules for restaurant employees in this state. I now know that at least one wary local was paying attention.