The Royale Lunch Bar plans to add regular dinner service and focus their menu on fried chicken, according to a report from the Press Herald.
FitzGerald said customer surveys also indicated that its fried chicken sandwich was by far the most popular item. The new menu will serve the chicken as pieces with sides. Other popular items, such as mac and cheese, poutine and Caesar salad, will remain on the menu.
Two Fat Cats (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) will be giving up their India Street location—where the bakery was founded—and moving to new digs in West Bayside this spring.
The new location at 195 Lancaster Street will provide Two Fat Cats much needed room to continue to grow their business. The 3,000 sq ft building will have space for seating and has onsite parking for customers. Owner Stacy Begin is working with Barrett Made to design and build-out the space with open bakery concept.
Two Fat Cats was founded in 2005 by Dana Street, Alison Pray, Matt James, and Kristen DuShane. Begin and Matthew Holbrook bought Two Fat Cats in 2012, and in 2018 TFC added a South Portland location.
Chef David Turin is exploring an opportunity to launch a new restaurant in the Midcoast. Turin recently spoke to the Edgecomb Planning Board about the former Muddy Rudder building which now operates as the Water’s Edge Banquet & Function Facility.
According to a report in The Lincoln County News, if the project moves forward the restaurant will likely be named David’s Water’s Edge with a target opening date in April and a menu that is “similar to David’s Restaurant in Portland, while likely being a little more seafood-oriented” with the possible addition of a raw bar.
Turin operates three restaurants in the Portland area: David’s, David’s Opus Ten and David’s 388 in South Portland.
John and Tanya Lowell are in the process of buying Andy’s Old Port Pub with plans to reopen it “with the same operations that had been enjoyed by so many and bring back jobs to those that were suddenly displaced, yet, have loyally committed to return.”
John Lowell was a manager at Andy’s for a year prior to its closure on October 31st. He hopes to reopen in early 2020.
Blyth & Burrows owner Joshua Miranda has announced the concept for his new restaurant in the Old Port, Via Vecchia (instagram, facebook, website).
Located at 10 Dana Street in the 3,900 sq ft space formerly occupied by Vignola/Cinque Terre, Via Vecchia will be a “modern take on a European bistro serving small plates Italian food, classic cocktails, and Italian wines” with a focus on the bar and cocktail program.
For the design of Via Vecchia, Miranda and his team are “drawing inspiration from pre-WWI European bistros” with the aim of making it “feel both elegant and comfortable” The front room (see floor plan below) will have a long curved marble bar. In back restaurant area, “guests will eat in a greenery-filled space under skylights, akin to a courtyard in Venice or Rome.”
Principle members of the staff will be Randa Vashon as general manager, Chris Peterman as sommelier, and chef Mitchell Ryan. Ryan was the previously the executive chef at Vignola / Cinque Terre.
Here’s a look at the draft menu supplied with the liquor license application to the City:
Here’s a look at the floor plan. The front room (formerly occupied by Vignola) has a long curved bar with with some large format booths and a few tables looking out onto the cobble stoned streets outside. The back restaurant area maintains the layout formerly used at Cinque Terre.
A new food truck call George’s North Shore (instagram, facebook) is now under development. Owners Logan and Alison Abbey relocated from Massachusetts several years ago and the North Shore roast beef sandwich is a taste of home they’d like to introduce in Portland.
The feature item on the menu will be a Super Beef Threeway: a grilled buttered bun, thin-sliced rare roast beef, topped with white American cheese, mayo and James River BBQ sauce.
The food truck will launch this coming spring, and the Abbeys plan to do some pop-up events in the meantime. George’s is named for their dog, George Castanza.
A new restaurant called Dos Naciones is under construction at 649 Congress Street in the space formerly occupied by Local Sprouts.
Dos Naciones plans to serve Mexican and Salvadoran food.
Magnus on Water (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) has announced they’ve hired chef Ryan Nielsen.
Nielsen has spent the last year working for chef Bowman Brown at Elda and prior to that was the executive sous chef at Armsby Abbey in Worcester, Mass.
Nielsen shared that he finds inspiration in Latin American cuisine but that we should also expect to see notes of Nordic and Japanese/Asian influences on the Magnus menu as well.
Magnus on Water is in the final stages of construction and is expected to open early next year.
The owners of Yobo, Kim Lully and chef Sunny Chung, are working with Sarah Gabrielson and chef Tony Pastor to launch Maine Street Steak & Oyster (instagram).
The 38-seat restaurant will be located at 148 Main Street in Brunswick, and will serve “local steaks and a first class raw bar featuring Maine oysters and seafood” and is expected to open sometime in early January.
Jamie Brichetto has leased 46 Veranda Street, the long time home of Pizza Time and more recently a 2nd location of Union Bagel Company.
Brichetto is renovating the space where she plans to open Je’s Neighborhood Store. Je’s will serve prepared food, market staples and will have a dedicated candy section. Brichetto lives in the neighborhood and working to tune the offerings of the market to unmet needs of the community.
Brichetto hopes to open Je’s sometime in January.