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 March 2010, 2015 and 2020:
- 2010 – Skinny Cart BBQ launched on Washington Ave. The Blueberry Files and Edible Obsessions published reviews of it.
- Tom Yordprom opened his West End coffee shop Yordprom Coffee Company on March 5th.
- Justin McEdward from Bard Coffee competed in the North East Regional Barista Competition.
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Time received a 4 star review from the Press Herald.
- Provisions of a 2009 state law that required wine store tastings to be run “in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children” were revoked.
- 2015 – A Cape Elizabeth high school sophomore named Nat Jordan raised $2,518 on Kickstarter to fund lemonade food cart called LemonCycle (facebook).
- A new iteration of East Ender opened on March 9th, Isa Bistro opened for business on March 19th, The Sinful Kitchen opened for business on March 29th, and Home Catering Company opened on March 31st.
- Several Maine chefs and restaurants were announced as 2015 Beard Awards nominees.
- An underground restaurant known as Caatboxxx was serving excellent food and cocktails from a secret location in East Bayside.
- 2020 – The month of March started off with great momentum for the restaurant industry. Four businesses in Portland, two in South Portland, two in Biddeford and one in Yarmouth were all pushing forward to opening date.
- Five Portland bartenders competed in the Northeast regional Speed Rack competition. Sarah Jackson won the competition and LyAnna Sanabria came in 2nd place.
- Steve and Michelle Corry announced their plans to close Five Fifty-Five in mid-April.
- The Food Network named Biddeford-based Night Moves Bread to their list of the Best Bread Bakeries in America.
- A & C Grocery opened a second location on Clark Street on March 12th.
- Leeward opened their restaurant on March 12th.
- The Covid Pandemic became a hard reality on Friday March 13th. Restaurants jumped into action with a variety of procedures to address the situation based on what was known about the disease at the time. Within a few days restaurants began the difficult transition to being take-out only businesses.
- Portland Food Map launched The Big Take-out/Delivery List.
- Restaurants engaged in efforts to feed school children and to feed frontline workers, and Maine distilleries began producing hand sanitizer.
- On March 18th the Governor issued an emergency order mandating that all restaurants and bars statewide close to dine-in customers.
- Solo Cucina Market opened for business on March 25th.