Category: Under Construction

Logan Abbey the owner of the George’s North Shore food truck has leased space in Westbrook where he plans to open a restaurant called George + Leon’s Famous Roast Beef (instagram). The new restaurant will be located at 9 Cumberland Street in the building that’s currently home to the Brea Lu Cafe. Abbey hope to open the restaurant in mid-summer.

George + Leon’s will serve an expanded menu and will also have a full bar. In addition, Abbey plans to use the space to host pop-up events with other food trucks. George + Leon’s is named for Abbey’s dog (George) and 3-month old son (Leon).

Abbey expects to continue operating the The George’s North Shore food truck in addition to the new restaurant. Brea Lu Cafe itself is moving to a larger space on Larrabee Road that will open this spring.

Ruby’s West End (website, instagram) owners Matt and Corrinna Stum have announced plans to move their West End restaurant. They have not yet released the new location for Ruby’s.

Ruby’s is currently located in the former Aurora Provisions building at 64 Pine Street and that space was recently listed for lease. The Stum’s opened  Ruby’s in April 2021, and recently launched a new restaurant called Back River Bistro in Wiscasset.

Dedalus Wine (website, facebook, instagram) from Burlington, Vermont has leased a 3,040 sq ft space at 127 Marginal Way where they are expected to open a Portland outpost of their business. They filed as an LLC in Maine in September 2021.

Dedalus was founded by Jason Zuliani in Burlington in 2007 and has since added shops in Stowe and Middlebury. Dedalus acquired Cured in Boulder, Colorado and it became the base for them to expand into Colorado. Dedalus has also reportedly bought a property in Brooklyn in August.

Allspeed Cycle and Snow will be moving into a new building on Brighton Ave that they purchased earlier this year.

A new coffee shop called Tar Coffee (website, facebook, instagram) opened this morning in the Public Market House in Monument Square.

They’re serving a full spectrum of brewed and espresso-based beverages, along with a menu (see below) of sandwiches, house-made cinnamon rolls, beignets, and New York-style bagels. The beans for Tar are initially being sourced from Carpe Diem from North Berwick but Tar plans to eventually set up an in-house roastery.

The owners previously operated a coffee shop called Dermody Road in Gorham, New Hampshire.

Co-owners Jordan Rubin and Marisa Lewiecki have leased space in the new building under construction at 83 Middle Street where they plan to relocate Mr. Tuna (website, facebook, instagram) from Monument Square.

The new restaurant will serve an updated Mr. Tuna menu with the addition of a full bar program of cocktails, sake, beer, wine. Rubin shared that the new restaurant will bring to life the full vision he had for Mr. Tuna when he first launched the business as a food cart in 2017. The space will have 25 indoor seats (see draft floor plan below) with additional sidewalk seating in season.

Lewiecki and Rubin hope to open the new Mr. Tuna this summer. The current Mr. Tuna location in the Public Market House will continue to serve as a commissary kitchen for the Mr. Tuna food trucks and catering operation, and may also be a pick-up spot for Mr. Tuna takeout.

Rubin launched Mr. Tuna as a food cart in 2017. The Mr. Tuna sushi counter opened in the Public Market House in 2018. Rubin, Lewiecki Sasha Brouillard, and chef Cyle Reynolds launched Crispy Gai in the summer of 2021. Rubin and Lewiecki launched Bar Futo on Fore Street earlier this month.

Quanto Basta (website, instagram) owner Betsy English has leased the original LB Kitchen location where she plans establish a permanent home for her Neapolitan pizzeria.

If you had told me two years ago that the world’s tiniest little food truck would become an actual pizza place, I’d say you were out of your mind. And perhaps I am..a little..but you kind of have to be to do this, right?! This was always the dream, but it really came down to finding the perfect space, & I couldn’t be happier to have landed in #lowermunjoy with Lee & Bryna of LB Kitchen as my neighbors. They have welcomed me with open arms, and I’m so excited for the opportunity to grow next to them in their new space.

English plans to serve a menu inspired by regional Italian cooking with a rotating selection of sourdough pizza along with natural wines from Southern Italy, beer and spritzes, plus some additional small plate “snackies”.  After some renovations (construction starts in February) she hopes to have the new brick and mortar QB open in June. The Quanto Basta food truck will be taking a vacation in 2023 while English puts her energy into launching the restaurant.

Quanto Basta launched as a food truck in August 2021, and has built a strong following for their mobile pizza operation. LB Kitchen is in the final stage of building out a larger restaurant for themselves at the corner of Smith and Congress Streets – just two doors down from their current location. LB Kitchen expect to open their new spot in January.

Owners Arvid Brown and Nick Coffin have applied for a liquor license for their new bar Room for Improvement (instagram) providing a first look at the draft menu and cocktail list, and floor plan (see below).

The cocktail menu (see first 3 pages below) is broken up into six categories: From the Freezer, Classics, Wildcards, Escapism, Large Format, and Shots. Additionally, the bar will serve beer and wine.

As previously reported, the concept for Room for Improvement is a 36-seat modern dive bar and will be located at 41 Wharf Street. Coffin and Brown hope to open in March.

Kerry Hanney the baker/owner of Night Moves, and Wade Ritchey have leased 695 Broadway in South Portland where they plan to launch two businesses.

Hanney will be building out the right (white) side of the building where she’ll relaunch the acclaimed Night Moves Bread (website, facebook, instagram). She focuses on bread and baked goods made with sustainably grown local grains which she mills in-house. In 2020 Food & Wine named Night Moves one of the 10 Most Essential bakeries in the nation.

Can a loaf of sourdough have terroir, just like wine? If yes, Kerry Hanney’s would be Maine in bread form. One of the region’s most forward-thinking bakers, she leans heavily on local grains and mills them herself. And her loaves, packed with fruit and nuts or subtly flavored with maple syrup, are essential breakfast slices—just add some local butter.

In addition to her breads and baked good, Hanney will sell coffee, tea, espresso-based drinks to go, and bottles of wine and cider. Home bakers will also be able to buy bags of fresh house-milled grains.

Ritchey will be renovating the left (blue) side of the building where he’ll be launching a bar called Lambs (instagram). Lambs will serve a full bar program of beer, wine and cocktails with a pop-up oyster bar in warmer months and food collaborations with Night Moves year round.

695 Broadway is located along the waterfront and is an easy walk/bike/drive from Portland and has ample parking. It sits adjacent to South Portland Greenbelt which is connected to the Eastern Trail. Hanney and Ritchey plan to have waterfront outdoor picnic table seating.

Construction has already begun and the hope is to open both businesses this spring. Leslie Benson is the architect for the project and Jim Rodney is the builder. Among other projects Benson was the architect for Oxbow Beer in Oxford Maine and Rodney recently completed the build-out of Bar Futo.

Stay tuned for more information on Ritchey’s and Hanney’s exciting plans as they get closer to an opening date.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram has an article about Papi and the growing Latin food scene in Portland.

Papi is the latest addition to the area’s growing and diversifying Latin food scene, a reflection of diners’ appetites for new culinary experiences that also provides the local Latino community the comforting tastes of their culture. While Mexican cuisine has long held significant space in the restaurant scene, here and nationally, representation of other Latin American countries on Maine menus is more recent.