Category: Under Construction

David Kessel from Moonday (instagram) and his partner Rebecca Perea-Kane who is the founder of Thicket (instagram) have leased the former Ishi Ishi space on Washington Ave where they plan to jointly operate their coffee bar and jewelry businesses.

Kessel launched Moonday this past summer as a food cart serving espresso-based coffee drinks prepared with beans from Speckled Ax. Moonday will be expanding their menu with a selection of teas at the new shop.

Renovations are well underway and they expect to open within a few weeks. Hours for the business are still TBD.

A new food cart called Slide Street Co. (instagram) is under development and expected to launch in spring 2022.

Chef/owner Adam Heath is planning a menu of “Slider sized burgers and sandwiches with a colorful twist”. The flagship burger will be The Acadia which is a Maine beef burger prepared with bacon rillette, IPA jalapeño pickle, Pineland Farms cheddar, and a blueberry mustarda. Heath also expects to have a rotating list of specials. Other items on the menu will be the Lil’ Squeeler (confit Pork belly, rose harissa, miso pineapple relish, green jade matcha bun) and the Hibiscus Biscuit (Hot fried chicken patty, basil honey, pickled cabbage, hibiscus biscuit). As a special twist that makes Slide Street sandwiches colorful and distinctive Heath will be creating house-made buns that use natural food colors to create brightly colored sandwich buns.

Heath moved to Portland in 2008 and has worked for a number of local restaurants including as part of the kitchen team that initially launched Tiqa, summers working at The Inn on Peaks Island and at Union at The Press Hotel for the last 4-5 years. He’s excited to be launching his own business and the opportunity to “showcase my own dishes and flavor profiles that I know the all patrons will enjoy everyday”.

Heath is planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter next week to raise funds to support this new business.

The Portland Stonewall Kitchen store on Middle Street is expected to close by the end of March. Stonewall is still searching for a new space in Portland to move to. Stay tuned for details on the location and timing as they become available.

The current store is located at 182 Middle Street across from Bard Coffee and Tommy’s Park. There’s no word yet on anyone moving into that spot.

Indy’s Sandwich (website, facebook, instagram) is under construction at 744 Maine Street in South Portland.

The new business is a collaboration between Darit Chandpen and Aujima Pitafai from Mi Sen, Pattira Tedford from Mitr, Inorn Ongkeo from Lots of Eats in North Andover, Massachusetts, and Nattasak Wongsaichua and Danai Sriprasert from Boda and Green Elephant.

Indy’s will serve breakfast and lunch with an American-Asian fusion menu of sandwiches as well as some appetizers and hot soup and specialty entrees. Indy’s will have a beer and wine license. The restaurant will be set-up for quick take-out but will also have some indoor seating.

The owners are all friends who have long wanted to collaborate on a sandwich shop and are excited to bring this concept to South Portland.

Roll Call (instagram) has leased the former Big Sky Bakery space on the first floor of the Public Market House. The new Roll Call will have an expanded menu serving breakfast and lunch and will have some limited indoor seating. Timing on the opening is TBD pending renovations.

Roll Call initially launched as a pop-up at Austin Street Brewing before opening their sandwich shop on Clark Street. The Clark Street location closed in early 2021 and that summer the Roll Call team launched a food truck. Owners Michael and Siobhan Sindoni have subsequently opened the Wayside Tavern in Parkside.

The Sinful Kitchen has announced plans to relocate to 952 Brighton Ave when their current lease expires. The new restaurant is expected to open in April, and until then they’ll continue to operate from their current location just down the road at 906 Brighton Ave.

The AWESOME news is that it will be just 4 doors down at 952 Brighton Ave. (The old Subway Sandwich Shop)

Get ready for better parking, easy in and out access, bigger space, bigger menu, outdoor dining ( possibly year round) and the list goes on…..

We’re hoping to be open in the new location around April without too much of an interruption in business but that will depend on the various contractors that we need to coordinate as well as approval from the city council since this is considered a “new” business.

Until then keep visiting us at our current location.

Krista Cole, the owner of Sur Lie in Portland, has bought Gather in Yarmouth from the restaurant’s founder, Matt Chappell.

Cole shared on instagram,

I met Matt at Gather many years ago for an industry event. When I learned that he was selling Gather, I reached out. I learned over the next several months about Matt and Gather’s steadfast commitment to buying local and to their community. I got to meet a team that cared equally as much about the relationships they had with their regulars and the impact that supporting local had on their community. The values were identical to that of Sur Lie. Having a sister restaurant was a dream that seemed far away, and here was an opportunity to take over and continue the important work that Gather has been doing.

I am so stoked to share the work that the Sur Lie and Gather teams have done over the last few weeks. We’ve done some minor touch ups to the space to make it our own, and the chefs have been hard at work collaborating on a menu that we kick off this week! We look forward to connecting with you and contributing to the Yarmouth community.

Chappell also shared thoughts on the transition.

Ten years ago, I started Gather Restaurant so Yarmouth could enjoy fresh Maine food in a friendly, neighborhood environment. This month, I’m proud to pass the reins to Gather’s new owner – Krista Cole. Through her success as owner of Sur Lie, Krista has demonstrated her commitment to Maine farms and shown that she can thrive in this challenging industry. She shares the values that have made Gather what it is today, and I can’t wait to see how she will make it her own.

I am forever grateful for my staff, and for all the supportive customers.

Gather opened on September 21, 2012 with Chad Conley as its original chef. At the start of the pandemic Chappell and his team have been active participants in Cooking for Community, a program that brought Maine restaurants and social service organizations together to fight hunger. Chappell announced his plan to sell Gather this past August.

Kate Hamm and husband Jason Eckerson have leased the former Yeto’s space at 299 Maine Street in Biddeford where they plan to open a  New England-style fish and chips restaurant called Fish & Whistle (instagram). The restaurant is named for a song by John Prine.

The menu will include fish and chips as well as fish and chicken sandwiches, a calamari burger made with Maine squid, smoked tempeh sandwich served with sour kraut and mustard on rye, salad, chowder, a smoked mackerel fish dip, hand cut fries, seasonal vegetable slaw and a chip butty sandwich. Fish and chips will be available in half and full sized portions for $12 or $19. Additionally, the dessert menu will includes soft serve ice cream as well as Hamm’s excellent cakes and tarts by the slice.

Hamm is the pastry chef at Leeward and founder of Sweet Woodruff Provisions. Eckerson has worked for Big Tree Hospitality where he’s been the sous chef at Eventide and seafood buyer. The couple hope to open Fish & Whistle in April.

Yeto’s and its sister restaurant D&G went out of business in early December.