Category: Under Construction

Evo Kitchen + Bar is launching a new outdoor eatery. Named Evo X (instagram) the mobile kitchen will be located adjacent the Eastern Prom walking trail near the former Portland Company Complex.

The concept for Evo X is of a waterfront seafood shack serving a menu of on-concept dishes and a few options (e.g. chickpea fries) carried over from the regular Evo menu.  There will be outdoor picnic table seating, counter service and drinks will be available from the Fore Points Marina bar which is also currently under development. The menu is a collaboration between chefs Matt Ginn and John Glover.

Planning for the project got underway last year with the goal to launch in the summer of 2019. The owners are aiming to launch Evo X in the second half of June.

Wild Burritos on Congress Street has permanently closed. Taking its place is a new eatery, Sal de la Tierra (instagram).

Owners Carlos Sanchez and Isai Galvez are in the process of renovating the space at 581 Congress Street. They hope to open their Mexican/Puerto Rican restaurant in the next few weeks.

A new restaurant called Craft is in the early stage of  development with plans to be located in Windham. In the near term, co-owners Chase Rochon and Dylan Duran Stafford are launching Craft Curbside (instagram) a “hyper locally sourced prepared food and cocktail mixer shop”.

Rochon is  the front of house manager at Liquid Riot where he works with Stafford who is the bar manager. Joining them will be chef Tyler Reinhart who is Johnson & Wales graduate and a Liquid Riot alum.

Craft will be a restaurant with craft cocktails and a catering arm. Rochon is a Certified Cider Professional and plans to work with Maine cider makers on some special house blends.

 

Hi Bar Bakery is in the process of building out and launching a food truck. Hi Bar launched in 2018, and is one of the businesses operating out of Fork Food Lab. They hope to have their food truck out on the road in July.

DSO Creative is working on converting a truck to Hi Bar’s needs. The plans include “[n]ew service windows and awnings going in first followed by new interior paneling, new kitchen layout, counters, hood installation and various other new additions.”

Randy and Ally Forrester are making progress on renovating the former Terlingua space. If the remaining work goes as plans they’re on track to open Pizzeria Radici (website, instagram) by the end of June.

The word “radici” means root in Italian and indicates the restaurants intent to pair ancestral food traditions with the “sustainability and versatility of Maine’s harvest from the land and sea”. The Forresters hope to open the pizzeria this coming summer.

The Forresters moved to Portland from Allentown, New Jersey where they operated Osteria Radici. Osteria Radici was a James Beard awards semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2018, and Randy Forrester was a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic in 2019.

Highroller Lobster has bought a food truck to reconnect with the way the business originally launched as part of the way they’re adapting to the challenges brought by the pandemic. They hope to launch the food truck in early summer.

A new  coffee shop called Burundi Star Coffee (facebook) is under construction at 261 Saint John Street in the space formerly occupied by Huong’s Ice Cream. As the name suggests, Burundi Star will feature coffee from Burundi.

A new food cart selling Hawaiian shaved ice will be opening this spring. Haole Ice (instagram, facebook) is the creation of Julie and Don Martin who got inspired to open the cart while on a trip to Hawaii for a wedding. They plan to serve “the traditional pineapple, strawberry, lychee and mango to macha tea, sage and passion fruit, basil, sweet corn, and – in tribute to Maine – blueberry and maple.” according to a report in the Press Herald.