Category: Under Construction

A new cheese shop and specialty market called Nibblesford (facebook, instagram, twitter) is under construction in Biddeford. Brothers Travis and Ian Kern hope to open Nibblesford early this summer.

Nibblesford will sell cheeses from a wide variety of Maine producers as well as Maine made culinary equipment and goods such as cutting boards, linens and knives. Nibblesford will be located at 5 Washington Street just on the other side of Shevenell Park next to Palace Diner.

Travis Kern has been working in the restaurant industry for 20+ years—his most recent position was as the chef de cuisine at Local 188. Ian Kern has moved to Maine from New York City where he managed the Mysterious Book Shop.

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a report on some of the new food trucks set to open this year.

By April, according to Portland city records, 21 food trucks had been licensed or renewed their licenses, with another 11 licenses pending. On top of that, nearly 15 newcomers have announced plans to hit the road this summer, serving tacos, fish and chips, vegan comfort food, lobster rolls, burritos and banh mi. That’s nearly 50 food trucks that will be roaming the Greater Portland area this summer. Why so many?

Rosemont Market has announced plans to open the Rosemont Market & Wine Bar on Thompson’s Point.

With the anticipated opening of the Children’s Museum at the Point, we jumped at the opportunity to put fresh, local food into the hands of more Maine families and those visiting from away.

Our intention for the wine bar space is to create a gathering place for our community to come together and enjoy a glass of wine, some local snacks, and to share the stories of our producers that make Rosemont’s wine program so special.

We look forward to hosting our friends and neighbors, farmers, and suppliers as we all experience and celebrate good food, delicious wine, and our community. We can’t wait to welcome you in.

The new Rosemont location will be located in one half of the space formerly occupied by the Cellardoor Winery tasting room (Rwanda Bean Coffee is already building out a new roastery in the other half of the space).

The market and wine bar is expected to open as soon as this summer.

A combination bar/cafe and specialty market called Friends & Family (instagram) is under development at 593 Congress Street in the space formerly occupied by Vinland. The 30-seat counter service eatery will serve small plates, cheese and charcuterie as well as wine, beer, and aperitivos. During warmer months Friends & Family is also planning additional seating in Congress Square Park.

Friends & Family situated in the center of the Arts District with the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Stage, Space Gallery, and State Theater all within easy walking distance. Being a go to casual space to gather pre/post a show or visit to a gallery is a key part of the vision for Friends & Family.

Founders Cecily Upton and Michael Malyniwsky hope to open Friends & Family in July.

Upton grew up in Maine. Early in her career she worked at former Portland restaurants Natasha’s and Pepperclub, as well as Space Gallery and the PMA. In New York she was part of the front of house staff at Gabrielle Hamilton’s restaurant Prune. She worked as the youth programs director at Slow Food USA before co-founding FoodCorps. Upton returned to Maine in 2015.

Malyniwsky grew up in Ottawa and moved to the US in 2001. The last 7 years he’s worked in California where most recently he was the founding chef of Cellarmaker House of Pizza in San Francisco.  Malyniwsky was on the opening teams of Birch & Barley in DC, and was the sous chef at CityZen working with Michelin-starred chef Eric Ziebold.

Follow Friends & Family on instagram to stay in the loop as they work towards an opening day this summer.

The Bangor Daily News has published an article on the big increase in the number of food trucks planning to operate in Portland this year.

There were three times as many licensed food trucks in Portland last month than there were in 2019. Those totals could signal another surge in the number of mobile food options on the scene as chefs find ways around high rents and the lingering threat of the virus.

A new wine-centric restaurant and bar called Wayside Tavern (instagram) is under construction in the former Flood’s space in The Francis hotel. The plan is create a space that can be both a restaurant and also a neighborhood spot to grab a glass wine and snack with friends. The wine program will be weighted to old world wines from Europe.

Wayside is being launched by the founders of Roll Call, Michael and Siobhán Sindoni.  Prior to moving to Maine, Michael was the executive chef of the Joule Hotel and opened the restaurant CBD Provisions in Dallas. Siobhán was the sommelier/manager at FT33 in Dallas. They also worked together for Makeready as culinary director and service/wine director. Their most recent Makeready opening was Frannie & the Fox in Hotel Emeline in Charleston.

Experience Maine Market (website, facebook, instagram) has leased the former Rosemont Market space at 5 Commercial Street where the market will include a retail shop, tasting space and cafe that specializes in Maine made products.

At Experience Maine owner Rachel Sagiroglu plans to serve coffee and baked goods from local roasters and bakeries in the cafe. The space will be set-up with an area that can hold up to 21 people for tastings of Maine beers and wines. Sagiroglu also plans to build out a demonstration kitchen to host cooking demos with local chefs, cooking classes and tasting events.

Rachel Sagiroglu hopes to open the Experience Maine Market this summer. Sagiroglu grew up in the Begrade Lakes area and worked in the Portland restaurant industry before pursing a career in marketing and event and travel planning with “20 years of experience planning meetings, travel and events and experiential marketing campaigns”.

For more information on read this recent article from Mainebiz.

Update: The new name for this business is The Maker’s Gallery.

Silly’s (instagram) owner Colleen Kelley has applied for a beer and wine license so customers at her current restaurant at 68 Washington Ave can enjoy sangria and beer with their meals.

Cellardoor Winery (website, facebook, instagram) closed their tasting room on Thompson’s Point last September. Owner Bettina Doulton has now leased a new space on Middle Street at the corner of Church Street for Cellardoor to open a new tasting room and retail shop in Portland.

Après (website, instagram) a cidery and hard seltzer producer is under construction at 148 Anderson Street in East Bayside. Ian Goering, former head brewer at Tributary Brewing has been hired as the head of production at Après, and the operations manager Sarah Bryan—formerly with Schilling Beer—will manage front of house operations.

Après is being launched by co-owners Ryan Houghton from the Hop Yard and Michael Cardente. Extensive renovations to the industrial building are in full swing with hopes to open the 80-seat tasting room and outdoor seating area sometime this summer.

Après is looking forward to being part of Maine’s burgeoning cider industry, and will be Portland first hard seltzer producer. The production space includes 15-barrel brewing operation and a barrel-ageing room for their cider. A food program for the tasting room is in the early planning stage and will be augmented with appearances by local food trucks.

For people that want the most unique social drinking adventure, Après is redefining the tasting room experience by creating the most unique house-brewed hard seltzer + cider and an unforgettable social environment. We facilitate the simple act of discovery – where people enjoy rare products and connect with others in exciting ways.

Maine has 21 on-market cider producers and now 7 cider producers under construction.