Category: Under Construction

The Twinflower Cafe and Five of Clubs bar are scheduled to open this spring along with the launch of the Longfellow Hotel (website, facebook, instagram) which is under construction at 754 Congress Street.

Twinflower will be a daytime counter service cafe serving breakfast and lunch with a menu that leans into vegetarian, plant-based and gluten-free dishes. Five of Clubs will be the Longfellow’s lobby bar featuring classic cocktails, wines, local beers and NA drinks along with bar snacks like gougeres with chicken liver mousse, a selection of fresh seafood dishes, and larger dishes like a rabbit terrine with black truffles and pistachios.

Wilson Suliveras has been hired as the executive chef at Longfellow. He’s a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park). His Maine resume includes working at White Barn Inn as the pastry chef and then executive sous chef, and more recently for Bowman Brown as the executive sous chef at Elda/Jackrabbit in Biddeford.

Here’s a look at the draft menus with Twinflower on the left and Five of Clubs on the right.

Mr. Tuna will be taking over the former Solo Cucina market (photo on left) in South Portland. They will be using the space as a production kitchen and headquarters for their mobile food and catering/private events business.

Separately, Mr. Tuna is making good progress on the buildout of their Middle Street restaurant (photo on right). They hope to open sometime in May. The new restaurant will seat 26 overall—a 14-seat bar and banquet table seating in the front windows. Sidewalk outdoor seating will be available as well.

The Mr. Tuna location in Monument Square will be closing in March in anticipation of the move to Middle Street and South Portland.

Solo Cucina was opened by the owners of Solo Italiano on March 25, 2020, and it closed in January 2024.

The Prentice Hospitality Group is working on a new restaurant called Douro (website, instagram) which they hope to open this summer this fall. It will be located on the front corner of the Sun Life Insurance building (110 Thames St) near Twelve.

Douro will be an all-day seafood restaurant with a Portuguese-inspired menu with a large selection of wines by the glass as well as classic cocktails and non-alcoholic drink options. Twelve executive chef Colin Wyatt and pastry chef Georgia Macon are in the early stages of developing a menu so stay tuned for further details.

The 3,300 sq ft restaurant is being designed in a collaboration between Prentice staff and Woodhull Commercial Studio.

The Prentice Hospitality Group also operates Twelve, Evo Kitchen + Bar, The Chebeague Island Inn and is working on relaunching The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth which they bought last year.

To get caught up on all the new restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and other hospitality businesses in development visit the Under Construction List.

Taj (website, facebook, instagram) has leased a space in the Clarks Pond Shopping Center where they’re building out a new larger restaurant.

The new spot will seat ~70 people (see floor plan below) with an 11-seat bar, a dedicated area for takeout pick-up, a bigger kitchen as well as a larger space for their lunch buffet. Owner Sai Guntaka has long had a vision for a Indian cocktail program at Taj which will be a new element of the menu at the new restaurant. Jim Baldi will be consulting on the development of the cocktail program.

Guntaka hopes to complete the renovations and kitchen build-out in to for Taj to move to its new location in June. Watch for murals by Mike Rich Design and lighting by Neon Dave to be part of the new interior.

To get caught up on all the new restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and other hospitality businesses in development visit the Under Construction List.

Jing Yan owners Britt Langford and husband Leo Zhang, have leased the former Blue Spoon space at 89 Congress Street where they plan to open a bar called Low Key. Langford shared that their goal is to build a casual and comfortable spot for the neighborhood.

They’re doing some light renovations which will add a bar along the Congress Street side of the space and update the aesthetics including wall murals painted by Langford  (her work also graces the walls at Jing Yan).

The ~25-seat Low Key will serve classic cocktails, natural wine, beer with a food menu of classic bar snacks and appetizers (including a lobster roll) as well as soft serve ice cream. They’ll be adding a ice cream takeout window facing Merrill Street. Zhang and Langford hope to open Low Key in late April or early May.

Jing Yan launched in November 2020. You can see some recent photography of the food on this instagram post from September.

To get caught up on all the new restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and other hospitality businesses in development visit the Under Construction List.

Those of you keeping a lookout on the former Maelily Ryleigh’s will be happy to know that 951 Forest Ave is slated to open as  Smoked BBQ & Neighborhood Pub (website, facebook). Smoked BBQ is the new brand name for the restaurants in Windham and Portland that were formerly known as Binga’s Wingas.

The menu offered at the Smoked BBQ Windham location includes wings, tacos, burgers, salads, sandwiches, sliders and more. Owner Mike Harris hope to open the 60-seat Smoke BBQ in March.

Binga’s Stadium on Free Street closed in early 2021 and at the time the plan was for a new Portland Binga’s to open at 951 Forest Ave.

To get caught up on all the new restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and other hospitality businesses in development visit the Under Construction List.

Former Westbrook food truck Don’s Lunch (facebook) is relaunching as a brick and mortar restaurant. Owner Craig Bernier is taking over the former River’s Edge Deli location at 616 Main Street. The new Don’s Lunch will be open for breakfast and lunch serving the River’s Edge breakfast menu and the classic menu from the Don’s food truck for lunch. Bernier expects to open at 6 am, 6 days a week.

Bernier has started renovations to the kitchen and dining area and until those are closer to completion an opening date is still TBD. When it does, Don’s will have counter service with both indoor and outdoor seating. Bernier is adding a takeout window that faces out onto the restaurant’s deck.

River’s Edge Deli recently closed upon the retirement of its owner Steve Lampron.

Bon Appétit has included Oun Lido’s (website, instagram) in their short list of the Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2024.

The opening of Oun Lidos, the second restaurant from the team behind popular Portland Vietnamese mainstay Cong Tu Bot, is a good enough reason to book a trip to Maine this spring. Oun Lidos will be a multi-level restaurant in Old Port, with an all-day takeout counter offering Chinatown-style baked goods, rice plates, and boba to-go. Chef Bounahcree Kim will move over from Cong Tu Bot to helm the kitchen and serve the Khmer-Chinese food of his childhood, with dishes like iced jello salad with coconut sauce and mi ka thung—a fresh wide noodle stir fry with shredded beef, five spice gravy, and pickled mustard greens.

The list includes just nine featured restaurants. The others are located in Ashville, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

First word on Oun Lido’s (originally to be named Lido’s 2) broke in May of last year and the restaurant is under construction at 30 Market Street (former home to Pat’s Pizza). Plans are for it to launch in February for takeout and with limited seating and with the full launch of it’s dining room and expanded menu in the spring.

The owners of Terlingua have taken over the former Danforth/Little Giant building in the West End where they plan to open a new restaurant called Ocotillo (website, instagram) which will serve brunch 8 am – 3 pm.

As you can see from the sample menu (see below), like Terlingua, Ocotillo is taking its culinary cues from the flavors of Mexico and Texas. An agave-focused beverage program with coffee and agua frescas will complement a menu of breakfast tacos, sandwiches, and variations on eggs benedict with churros, French toast, a burger, salads and seasonal specials to round out the offerings.

Owners Melanie and Pliny Reynolds are making some design changes to the space to lighten up the room and bring it into alignment with the Terlingua color palette. Ocotillo will have seating for 106 people including the bar, dining room and the secluded outdoor seating area. The restaurant will be available for private functions.

Terlingua’s executive sous chef, Al Zoni, will be moving over to Ocotillo to become the head chef for the new restaurant. Lea Pilsbury, who has been at Terlingua since 2021, will be serving as the front of house manager. Wilson Rothschild is the executive chef for the overall restaurant group and Justin Dewalt is its chief operating officer. The Reynolds and their team are currently hiring to fill out the team for an anticipated spring launch of Ocotillo.

Terlingua opened on June 25, 2015 at 52 Washington Ave. The restaurant moved to its present location in late 2020.

Nearby Ocotillo are Ugly Duckling, Ruski’s, Zu Baker, Smalls and Oh No Cafe which take together are establishing this part of the West End as Portland’s Brunch District.