Category: Under Construction

Brea Lu Cafe has signed a lease for 9 Westbrook Street in Westbrook, the former location of Thanksgivings.

According to a report from the Press Herald, owner Christian DeLuca hopes to open in August.

DeLuca said Brea Lu’s menu will be “exactly the same” as it was on Forest Avenue, featuring breakfast and lunch dishes. The restaurant will have its own parking lot, which the Forest Avenue location did not, and about the same amount of seating, at least at first.

You can see a video of the current interior of the space on Brea Lu’s facebook page.

Urban Eye has posted an update on the BRGR Bar which is slated to open on Brown Street in the former Margarita’s space later this summer.

A Portsmouth restaurateur closed on the first floor of the shuttered Margaritas in downtown Portland Wednesday. The grassfed-adult-milkshake-themed BRGR Bar is expected to open on Brown Street in late August. “We are excited by the location and getting to know Portland better,” said Carolyn Gregory, director of operations.

For more information on BRGR Bar see their instagram account, website, and facebook page.

Elaine Alden and Thomas Takashi Cooke have leased 54 Washington Ave, the space next to Terlingua, where they plan to open Izakaya Minato (instagram). Minato is the Japanese word for “port”.

The couple moved to Portland late last year from San Francisco where Cooke had been the head chef at Tsunami, a sushi restaurant. They recently completed a 3-month stay in Japan where he staged at an Izakaya restaurant in Tokyo called Tsumamina.

Alden and Cooke are aiming to create “a fun, casual place to go gather with friends for drinks and food” for dinner, and may also serve lunch.

Izakaya Minato will be joining to a number of new restaurants and other food businesses on Washington Ave including that have opened in the last couple of year: Oxbow Brewing, Terlingua, Hardshore Distilling (under construction), Drifter’s Wife, Maine & Loire, Flying Fox Juice Bar (under construction), and Roustabout.

Chef David Mallari, owner of The Sinful Kitchen and The Pig Kahuna, has announced plans to take over 953 Congress Street where he will open Salty Sally’s Bar and Grille (facebook) in June.

What will the menu be like?
This will be a bar and grille type place. Very casual with some new dishes and old stand-bys. Most importantly there will be a FULL bar with 4 taps! There is a sample menu on our Facebook page.

What will the hours be like?
To start we will most likely be open 7 days a week. 4-Close weekdays and 12-Close weekends. We will be adding lunch hours as we get settled.

Mallari has posted a draft menu on facebook.

For additional reporting on Salty Sally’s read this article from the Press Herald.

The Press Herald reports that Brea Lu will be relocating from Forest Ave.

If the location he wants works out, the new Brea Lu will no longer be in Portland but will be “very close,” DeLuca said, hinting that it would be just outside the city limits. The possible new site used to be a restaurant, but it needs a lot of cosmetic work, DeLuca said. It has the potential for outdoor seating and parking “which was a big problem for us (on Forest Avenue) and a big complaint from our customers.”

Urban Eye has posted an update on Rossobianco, the wine bar/restaurant David Levi has under construction in Bramhall Square.

A sample menu shared with Urban Eye includes starters such as fried risotto balls with porcini ($5), asparagus, egg, reggiano antipasto ($8) and saffron risotto with marrow ($16). More substantial meals like beef liver and caramelized onions on polenta ($22) and buckwheat pasta, chicken bone broth and chanterelles ($16) will pair with natural wines from Northern Italy.

Gorgeous Gelato will be operating an outpost in Fort Williams Park this summer.

On the agenda for tonight’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting is a request regarding 184 State Street, former home of The Frame Shop. Building owner Geoffrey Rice and “prospective lessee” Mike Keon are seeking variances regarding the required number of on street parking spots and closing hours “for a proposed restaurant”.

Keon and business partner Anthony Allen own Otto Pizza and Ocho Burrito. The opening of a new restaurant at 184 State Street, would provide Keon and Allen 3 spots in Longfellow Square: the former Petite Jacqueline space now being converted into an Ocho Burrito, the original Ocho space just around thee corner on Congress, and 184 State St.

Raw foods producer Blake Orchard (website, instagram, facebook) has leased the subterranean space at 19 Exchange Street for a production kitchen and retail shop. The 1200 sq. ft. space was most recently occupied by the House of Jerky.