Angela Lee and Alex LeBlanc have leased 147 Cumberland Ave where they plan to open Luncheonette (website, instagram). Luncheonette will be a counter service cafe and take-out spot serving a salad-centric menu along with sandwiches and a daily selection of house-made breads and pastries. Luncheonette will have draft beer, wine, house-made sodas, drip coffee and tea.
A sample menu on the Luncheonette website includes a Shredded Beetroot Salad plated with yogurt, dill and pistachio as well as an Eggplant Sandwich made with golden fried eggplant, baba ganoush and cabbage slaw. The daily selection of six salads can be ordered as described but customers can also choose to add on proteins like smoked salmon or roast chicken.
LeBlanc and Lee are just starting to plan out the renovation for 147 Cumberland Ave. They anticipate some additional indoor seating and making use of the back patio during warmer months, and hope to launch Luncheonette in late spring.
They have moved to Portland from New York. For LeBlanc who grew up in South Portland it’s a return home. Lee’s culinary career started in NYC baking at Petee’s Pie Co from there she went on to work as a whole animal butcher at Meat Hook and as a fish butcher at Osakana. LeBlanc’s most recent position was as the sous chef at Sailor in Brooklyn, and previously was the chef de cuisine at Gus’s. When he last lived in Portland, LeBlanc had worked for Abby Harmon at Caiola’s and for Matt Ginn at Evo Kitchen + Bar.
147 Cumberland Ave has most recently been the home of Union Bagel which is now located in Falmouth. Looking further back in the past it was also been a launchpad for Katie Made and Silly’s, and was the location of Peddleman’s/Falafel Underground. Here’s a look at what it looked like a century ago. The photo above is from September 2018.