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.
The renovations over at 190 State Street, the future home of Petite Jacqueline, seem to be well underway. A new banquet wraps along the left wall and the front window. The bar has been left in the same location. As you can see from the floor plan submitted with the liquor license the overall layout is remaining largely the same. The owners are hoping to open this March.
Mainebiz reports that Siano’s Old Port location has closed and is making way for Zapoteca, a new Mexican restaurant that, according to the article, “will be competing with upper-level Portland restaurants such as Havana South, Fore Street and Street and Co.”
Shannon Bard trained at the Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio, Texas, which specializes in Latin American cooking, and will be the restaurant’s head chef. Possible entrees include Red Snapper Veracruz with a tomato, green olive, cilantro and lemon sauce; carne asada with an anchovy-chili sauce; and stuffed, baked jalapenos. The restaurant’s salsa and mole sauce will be homemade, and the bar will serve 70 to 80 tequilas and fresh-squeezed juices, Tom [Bard] says.
The former Maple’s Organics gelato shop on Middle Street and the tattoo studio that had been adjacent to it are being renovated. The combined space is slated as the future home of Dobra Tea. The company started out in Burlington, VT and they now tea houses in Madison, WI and Ashville, NC.
They plan on opening for business on March 31st. If you a tea drinker and looking for a job be sure to check out the job posting.
Today’s Press Herald includes a pair of front page stories on “food-service transitions”. The first article is on the closing of Terroni’s Market on Park Ave—today is its last day. Terroni’s was opened by Florence Terroni in 1949.
And as regulars dropped in for lunch and said their goodbyes, it was an emotional time.
“Don’t get me crying again,” [44-year employee Sheila] Cunningham said while reminiscing about her years at Terroni’s.
The second article is on the increased interest of chain restaurants in Portland and the plans two burger chains that have plans to open in the Old Port.
“They are looking for niche markets that they wouldn’t have touched a few years ago, (when) they had bigger fish to fry,” said Dick Grotton, president and CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association.
This spring, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, a nationwide chain based in Lorton, Va., will open in the Old Port, in a 2,900-square-foot space at 425 Fore St.
Another Virginia-based burger chain, Arlington’s Elevation Burger, plans to open three Maine locations, including one in the Portland area this year, said spokesman James Stewart.
According to a report in the American Journal, the French Press Eatery is temporarily closed while it changes from a breakfast and lunch coffee/sandwich shop to a BBQ and Cajun restaurant serving lunch and dinner. (via Westbrook Diarist)
On Tuesday, James Tranchemontagne admitted they have struggled to keep the French Press profitable, saying, “It never really clicked that it was breakfast and lunch.” He and his brother sat down to discuss its prospects recently and determined the best course was to transition to a lunch and dinner menu. He said the plan is different from last year’s attempted expansion.
“We probably should have done this in July. We are a young company and we learn a lot as we go,” he said.
James Tranchemontagne is the chef of the Frog & Turtle. He and his brother Andre are co-owners of both restaurants.