A food cart called The Shuck Wagon (instagram) is planning to expand their mobile oyster shucking business this summer.
In 2020 The Shuck Wagon was onsite at some Portland area breweries including Fore River, Austin Street and Bunker Brewing. This year they’re building a second food cart that they hope to locate along the Portland waterfront and use for catering.
The Shuck Wagon is run by Spartan Sea Farms, an aquaculture operation in Freeport that farms oysters, scallops, quahogs, and kelp.
A new food truck called Cheese the Day (facebook, instagram) is being launched by Aaron Milberger.
Initially Milberger will be operating at Forever Two Wheels in Windham but will be adding dates in Portland as the year progresses. Weather permitting he hopes to launch in the first week of April.
The concept for Cheese the Day is “grilled cheese for adults made with regionally sourced, seasonal, fresh, quality ingredients, with a bit of indulgence.”
Arcadia has announced plans to move their Preble Street barcade to new, much larger digs in the 17,000 sq ft space formerly occupied by Port City Music Hall at 504 Congress St.
To help fund the move, Aceto has launched a $40,000 crowdfunding campaign on Go Fund Me. As of the writing of this article, supporters have already raised $20,000+ of the goal. To make a contribution visit the Go Fund Me page for Arcadia.
As reported back in January, a new brewery called Belleflower Brewing (website, facebook, instagram) has taken over the former Brewery Extrava space in East Bayside. Owners Zach Page, Melissa Page, Nick Bonadies and Katie Bonadies plan on launching later this year producing a line-up of hoppy beers and stouts to start.
Belleflower has now applied for a liquor license. In the cover letter submitted with the application they’ve indiciated that they will offer wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks in addition to their house-made beer, and will have a changing menu of “pre-packaged snacks from local vendors”. The draft menu includes a cheese and charcuterie board from The Cheese Shop.
Wyoming-based Vertical Harvest which is breaking ground on a 70,000 sq ft greenhouse in Westbrook this year has gotten some ink in Fast Company where they’ve shared plans to add greenhouses in Chicago and Philadelphia to their future construction schedule.
The C. Love Cookie Project is launching a baking academy to “offering women the skills needed to thrive in a professional pastry kitchen and lift immigrant women to the level they deserve.”
Accepted applicants will be shown the world of pastry through an intensive series of recipes with opportunities to express themselves through weekly recipe assignments. In addition to time learning in the CLBA kitchen, students will learn from various professionals in Portland’s baking and cafe community and enjoy having one-on-one time with the instructors. Recipes learned in class will be sold in C. Love’s retail space with students working on-site at the cafe.
C. Love has started taking applications and expects to start instruction in May. They’re also accepting donations for a scholarship fund for the academy.
Mr. Tuna is again expanding their first floor space in the Public Market House. This time owner Jordan Rubin is building out the area adjacent to Big Sky as a prep kitchen. This will provide Mr. Tuna with the space needed to breakdown and prepare tuna for use at the Mr. Tuna mobile units and at the Public Market House itself.
Also in the Public Market House, Maine Squeeze has shut down their juice bar. The window front space is now available for lease. A sign indicates that interested parties should reach out to leasing@juicery.com for more information.
A new food truck called Iron Clad Eats (instagram) is under development with plans to launch the spring. Iron Clad is focused on serving tacos that draw inspiration from street food and regional favorites. They plan to deliver “big loud flavors…to bring fun and unique food to go to the mouths of Maine”.
Chef Joe McCluskey is working to launch the truck along with family members Dan McCluskey and Stephanie McCort. Joe McCluskey has worked at several restaurants in the Brunswick area, and Dan McCluskey and Stephanie McCort have experience in the events and tourism industry in New York City.
Follow Iron Clad Eats on instagram to follow along with their progress to an opening day and watch for their kickstarter launch later this month.
Amy Ng, Erin Zobitz, and Marcus Im are leasing a space in The Black Box container building on Washington Ave where they plan to open ONGGI Ferments & Foods (website, instagram) this spring.
Their goal is to make the cultures of fermentation more accessible and approachable. ONGGI will be a market for fermented food, a retail shop for fermentation equipment and a resource through classes and workshops to learn the skills to produce your own fermented foods at home.
Ng, Zobitz and Im describe themselves as having been “obsessed over ferments for years” and are excited to share their passion for the topic and to become part of the broader Portland food community. During 2020 they operated an online initiative called 100 Days of Ferments which featured their “own recipes daily, alongside contributing recipes from people all over the fermentation space”. Additionally, Im has apprenticed with James Beard award-winning author Sarah Owens and has worked for both Tonx Coffee and Blue Bottle Coffee.
The team is currently working with architect Jacqueline Zhao to design their space. They will have more to share about their vision for the business in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime follow ONGGI on instagram and visit their website to sign-up for their mailing list.
A new food truck called Wicked Fresco (instagram) is under development with plans to launch this summer operating in Portland and the surrounding area.
Co-owners Camila Sohm and Eric Mendoza plan to tap into their Colombian and Salvadoran food cultures and Maine seasonal ingredients to serve a menu of sweet and savory salads as well as sides and hand-crafted sodas.
Sohm has worked in the food industry since moving to Maine 6 years ago. For both Mendoza and Sohm, they draw inspiration from seeing how the Portlanders supports restaurants from different cultures, and it’s made them want to launch the Wicked Fresco to be part of that community.
Follow Wicked Fresco on instagram to stay in the loop on their development.