Category: Under Construction

A Charcuterie Food Truck

| Posted in Under Construction

A new food truck called The Portland Board (website, facebook, instagram) is set to launch in September by owner Graham Young. The Portland Board will be operating out of a vintage baby blue 1979 Volkswagon bus.

Young plans to offer both medium and larger sized boards for groups as well as smaller “bites” of pairs of chacuterie options. He also hopes to collaborate with local business with one-off menus that expand beyond The Portland Board’s focus on chacuterie.

Young started working in restaurants when he was 11-years-old and “quickly developed a love for the fast pace and hard work which always stayed with me”. He’s worked in the cannabis industry for the last decade in Maine and California. Since he’s moved back to Maine has been inspired by the food community here and the food truck is a way of connecting with it.

Food Trucks: Eat It & Beet It, Clam Bar, Knitting Nook

| Posted in Under Construction, Openings

The new food trucks keep coming. Here’s some information on three more:

The Clam Bar (instagram) is getting ready to open. The business is located at 199 West Commercial St. They will initially be opening with a food truck kitchen while the brick and mortar restaurant is still under development. September 1st is the target open date.

The Knitting Nook (instagram) in South Portland has expanded on the existing cafe offering with a food truck serving breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays.

A new food truck called Eat It & Beet It (instagram) is under development. Founder Lea Andrukaitis Verrill plans to serve a menu of gourmet beef and vegan/vegetarian burgers which will feature a beet burger she’s developed. Verrill hopes to open in late 2021 or early 2022. Verrill has worked the last few years as a pastry chef at Botto’s Bakery.

Plate The State

| Posted in Under Construction

A new Maine cooking show called Plate the State (website, facebook, instagram) is currently taping their first set of episodes which are expected to air Sundays on News Center Maine at 11 am starting on October 3rd.

The show is co-hosted by former Union chef Josh Berry and Maggie Knowles who will be “sharing the stories of where our food comes from and how to enjoy it at home”.

The season premiere opens with a fly fishing adventure in Rangeley then how to make a trout dinner over a campfire at Cathedral Pines Campground. Throughout the 11-episode season, viewers will visit The Honey exchange, Slack Tide Sea Salt, The Apple Farm, and Mousam Valley Mushrooms amongst many others.

Belleville on Forest Ave

| Posted in Under Construction

Belleville (website, instagram) has leased this building at 767 Forest Ave where they plan to build out a production bakery. The new bakery will nearly quadruple the size of their production space. A rotating rack oven and proofing equipment are on order and expected to arrive later this year. Belleville hopes to be back in full swing by the holidays and will keep up their occasional pop-up series in the meantime.

The new bakery will allow them to produce more baked goods more efficiently to meet the ever growing demand for their croissants, pizza and other foods.

The Munjoy Hill location will continue to be the retail shop for Belleville. However sometime in late 2022 or 2023 they may open a second retail location at the bakery on Forest Ave.

Bravo & Ruby’s

| Posted in Under Construction

Bravo Maine (website, facebook, instagram) is relocating to 559 Brighton Ave (the original Rosemont Market building) where they’ll be serving dinner Tuesday and Wednesday evenings (starting September 15th) in addition to holding their ongoing cooking class series.

We are happy to announce we are moving to the former Rosemont Market annex at 559 Brighton Avenue in early September. This new location will allow us to offer a better experience for our cooking classes with a beautiful bigger kitchen and a nice workshop area. We will also offer in our new location FRENCH DINING, every Tuesday and Wednesday night. The entire menu is house-made from the baguettes to the Chocolate Bomb Fondue. Originally from France it was important for me to share my enthusiasm and love regarding for French food.

Bravo Maine had been co-located with Ruby’s West End (website, instagram) at 64 Pine Street. Ruby’s itself has their own expansion news. They’ve started serving dinner Thursday through Sunday. Ruby’s is up for a liquor license at Monday night’s City Council meeting. You can take a look at their dinner menu on their website.

Mobile Food: Moonday, Quanto Basta, Witty Monkey, Maxim’s

| Posted in Under Construction, Openings

2021 has seen a riot of new mobile food and drink operations. Here are a four more that have recently surfaced or recently launched:

Moonday (instagram) is a mobile espresso cart that popped-up for the first time this past weekend. Owner David Kessel is serving cold brew and espresso-based drinks made with Speckled Ax coffee as well as a house-made chai.

The Witty Monkey (instagram) Monkey launched in July. Owner Sokly Soeuy is serving up dishes from Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian cuisines.

Quanto Basta (website, instagram) is holding their first pop-up on Saturday August 21st. Owner Elizabeth English plans to serve a rotating menu of four to five Neapolitan pizzas as well as Italian pastries and provisions. [more info]

Maxim’s Desserts (instagram) has relocated to Portland from Kennebunkport. Owner Max LeBlanc serves pie cones which are a “waffle cone with crushed pie filling and crust coating the inside, ice cream in the middle, and more pie sprinkled on top, all made to order”. Maxim’s currently expects to be operating in Portland through the end of August.

Portland’s mobile food scene continues to rapidly expand. Stay tuned for more updates on new food trucks, carts and pop-ups. For the best information on which carts and trucks are open on any given day check out the Food Truckalico app.

Belleville Plans for the Future

| Posted in Under Construction

Belleville has announced that they are in the process of signing a lease for a production bakery space. The new space will enable them to expand their production capacity and “efficiently operate a sustainable business”. They will also be making some renovations to their Munjoy Hill storefront which will remain the primary retail space for the business.

We’ve severely missed baking for you all but are forever grateful for the time and space we’ve found to reimagine this bakery. Thanks in part to so many of you, we’ve rediscovered our joy and passion and are incredibly inspired to continue living out this dream.

Belleville plans to be closed for the remainder of August but will resume holding periodic pop-ups in September. When they reopen on North Street Belleville will be open 4-5 days a week for breakfast and lunch.

At some point in the future a second retail shop for Belleville may open at their new bakery.

Buzz Coffee on Exchange

| Posted in Under Construction

Buzz Coffee (instagram), a new coffee food cart that launched this year in mid-May, has leased space at 19 Exchange Street where they plan to open a brick and mortar cafe in the subterranean space formerly occupied by Blake Orchard.

The new space will enable an expanded menu that includes espresso drinks, drip coffee, cold brew, teas, and locally made bagels and cream cheese spreads as well as “a small curated selection of local art and Maine made goods”.

The cafe is expected to open in October. The coffee cart will continue to be in operation throughout the fall and be back on the streets next spring.

$7k Hi-Fidelity Beer Kickstarter

| Posted in Under Construction, Beer

Hi-Fidelity Beer (website, facebook, instagram) has launched a $7k crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. to help open the doors at their East Bayside low/mid ABV brewery.

Owners PD Wappler and Dante Maderal have leased Unit 6 at 200 Anderson Street where they are planning to launch with a 3 barrel system. The Hi-Fidelity Beer tasting room they will serve their own house beers as well as a variety of liquid refreshment with non-alcoholic options such as coffee, tea, and house-flavored seltzer.

The tagline for Hi-Fidelity is  “our beer, your space”. They envision operating a tasting room that melds a traditional brewery tasting room and a public space that will appeal to the members of the Portland arts community.

Maderal was formerly a brewer at Atlantic Brewing in Bar Harbor, and Wappler is a musician. They hope to open Hi-Fidelity Beer by the end of this summer.