Category: Under Construction

According to Press Herald food writer, Avery Yale Kamila, Coastal Maine Popcorn plans on opening a retail shop at 45 Exchange Street.

An article in today’s Press Herald on the closing of LL Bean’s Portland store casts doubt on the possibility of Trader Joe’s landing in the spot.

Alison Mochizuki, spokeswoman for California-based Trader Joe’s, said Monday that “Portland, Maine, is not in our two-year plan.”

Travels with Hilary has published some additional information on the Cuban restaurant going in on Wharf Street.

…Cassady [Pappas] is a long-timer with restaurateur Michael Boland, so it makes sense. Boland, by the way, has a very successful track record with the restaurants he’s opened in Bar Harbor. He’s a savvy businessman. If this version of Havana is anything similar to the original one, it should be a nice addition to Portland’s crowded restaurant scene.

• Leasing – There’s a “Restaurant for Lease” sign on the exterior of Katahdin. When I checked last week they were still open for business. [According to info supplied in one of the comments on this post Katahdin is moving to 25 Forest Ave.]
• Moving – According to a report from Portland Food Heads, Loco Pollo is moving to a new location—no details available yet on where they’re moving to.
• Building – There’s construction taking place at 50-52 Wharf Street where Cake and The Iguana used to be but no word yet on what’s going to be moving in there. [The comment from Portland207 also indicates that the Wharf Street location is slated to be a Cuban restaurant, and a comment from TJ has uncovered that the new spot will be a sister restaurant to Havana in Bar Harbor.]

Saigon Restaurant has its signage up, the interior looks finished and, while it’s not easily visible in this photo, there are “Coming Soon” signs in the window so an opening day doesn’t seem all that far off. An early draft menu showed a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes on the menu.

According to the agenda for the upcoming Portland City Council meeting:

• JP’s Bistro (sample menu)  is moving in to take over the space formerly occupied by Rachels at 496 Woodford Street.
• Nosh Bar (sample menu) is the name of the  “upscale delicatessen and lounge” moving into old The White Heart location at 551 Congress Street. The re-opening of this location help mitigate the contraction in the number of Portland bars as pointed out by PortlandTaps.com.

James Tranchemontagne, owner of The Frog and Turtle, is opening a new restaurant in Westbrook with his wife and brother. The new business is taking over the space formerly occupied by Freaky Bean on Main Street and will be called The French Press Eatery. They plan on having it open in a few weeks and will be serving “12 different breakfast sandwiches, our donuts, soups, salads, sandwiches and a lot of different coffees”.

Portland Psst! has published a round-up on changes of ownership at The White Heart, Thanh Thanh Bida and Awful Annie’s, as well as news that Po’Boy’s & Pickles (see sample menu) is replacing the D’Angelo’s on Forest Ave and G’Vanni’s Bistro (see sample menu) is going to occupy the spot on Exchange Street vacated by Walter’s.
The agenda from next week’s City Council meeting also provides a first look at the menu for Boda. For a more complete list of all the upcoming venues take a look at the Under Construction List.

According to an article in today’s Portland Daily Sun, the owners of Bangkok Thai are planning on turning it into an Asian fusion restaurant to be called Boda.

The restaurateurs are closing Bangkok Thai, their popular lunch and dinner restaurant at 671 Congress St., and converting it into a new Asian fusion eatery similar in some respects to their other Congress Street restaurant, the Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro. Boda should be open in December.

“The food will change every two weeks, and we’ll have five to 10 items every night, that’s all. We’ll make it simple but good quality,” said Wongsaichua.