The Portland Food Map archive provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.
Here’s some notable news from December 2009, 2014 and 2019:
- 2009 – Saigon opened for business on Forest Ave on December 7th.
- JP’s Bistro opened for business on December 8th. They’ve since moved to Falmouth and their storefront on Woodford Street is now home to Knotted Apron.
- Market House Coffee and Peanut Butter and Jelly Time both launched on the 2nd floor of the Public Market House. PB & J Time served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as well as breakfast cereal.
- Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appetit included Tu Casa’s enchilada salvadoreña with tongue on his list of best restaurant budget dishes of 2009.
- Coastal Maine Popcorn opened on Exchange Street in December, as did Po’ Boys and Pickles.
- The then new Walter’s opened on Union Street on December 29th. Walter’s was originally located on Exchange Street in the space that’s now home to Off Track Pizza.
- The author of the Type A Diversions announced plans to retire from writing her blog.
- 2014 –Word broke that Two Fat Cats was buying Maine Pie Line. The then owner of Maine Pie Line, Briana Warner, is now the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms.
- Bon Appétit included the Tuna Sandwich at Palace Diner in their list of the Best Meals of 2014.
- Maine Craft Distilling launched a tasting room/mixology shop in Freeport.
- Business Insider included Bard Coffee in their list of the 50 Coolest New Businesses In America.
- 2019 – The Maine Sunday Telegram examined whether the Portland restaurant industry is a bubble about to burst.
- Maria’s reopened at their new location on outer Congress Street in December 2019.
- Josh Miranda shared details on Via Vecchia which was then under construction on Dana Street.
- John and Tanya Lowell began the process of buying Andy’s Old Port Pub.
- Bon Appetit included Izakaya Minato on their list of the 24 Restaurants We Couldn’t Stop Talking About in 2019.
- Word was out that Randy and Ally Forrester were planning to locate Radici at 52 Washington Ave.
- Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz, and Don Lindgren shared the news that they were working on the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook. They’ve since gone on to publish a 2nd volume of the local foods cookbook.