The Send Opens Friday

| Posted in Openings

The Send Brewing Company (instagram) will open on Friday, 11:30 am – 9:30 pm. The brewery and restaurant is located at 15 Ocean Street in the Knightville neighborhood of South Portland.

The beverage menu (see below) includes Knightville IPA, Thornton Heights Pale Ale and Ferry Stout on tap as well as Sapporo and Mast Landing All the Way Up. The Send also serves sake, wine, hard seltzer, cider, hot tea and other nonalcoholic options. The Send will start brewing some Japanese-style lagers next year.

Chef Jayde Miller is serving a menu of Japanese comfort food (see below) including onigiri, karaage, okonomiyaki, gyudon, salads, a matcha green tea ice cream. Shown above is the karaage, daikon salad and a glass of the Thornton Heights Pale Ale.

Owner Cole Corbin (linkedin) worked for 8 years at Maine Beer Company initially as a brewer and then as the director of brewing operations and the technical director for the Freeport-based brewery. Earlier in his career Corbin was an aerospace engineer at NASA. Miller is a graduate of Johnson & Wales and spent a year living in Japan.

They’ll be open Thursday through Monday 11:30 – 9:30 except Sunday night when they’ll close at 8:30 pm.

Restaurant Unstoppable in Maine

| Posted in People

Restaurant Unstoppable (website, instagram) host Eric Cacciatore has been in Maine and New Hampshire for the last few months interviewing restaurant owners.

The 1-2 hour sessions cover a lot of territory exploring career paths, business strategies, approaches to hospitality, technology use, and lessons learned from being a small business owners. For anyone in the industry, or who is a customer who wants to better understand it these are really interesting interviews.

Here’s a list of the recent Maine interviews:

Check back in at the Restaurant Unstoppable website in early January for an interview with Ilma Lopez from Chaval and Ugly Duckling.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in General

Tuesday – Via Vecchia is holding a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner. Regards is holding a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner.

Friday – Taco Trio will be holding a Mexican Spirits Tasting.

Saturday – Browne Trading is holding their annual free champagne and caviar tasting.

December 31 – We’ll be building a list of NYE special dinners and food/drink events. Send us a message if you know of one we may have missed.

January 1 – Woodford F & B is serving an island vibed New Year’s Day brunch, and Chaval is bringing back their well-loved brunch menu for New Year’s Day.

January 11 – Good Medicine Collective is hosting a dinner in collaboration with chef Felicia Dumont.

January 30 – Community Plate will be holding a potluck dinner at Maine Mechanics Hall.

February 1 – Portland on Tap is taking place.

February 2 – Rafael Zimmerman from Magnus on Water⁠ will be the guest chef at a 2025 Flanagan’s Farm Supper Club dinner.

February 8 – Adrian Arvizu from Big Tree Hospitality⁠ will be the guest chef at a 2025 Flanagan’s Farm Supper Club dinner.

February 13 – Devin Finigan from Aragosta⁠ will be the guest chef at a 2025 Flanagan’s Farm Supper Club dinner.

March 2 – Sara Jenkins, Dustin Martin, and Lauren Radel from Nina June will be the guest chefs at a 2025 Flanagan’s Farm Supper Club dinner.

May 17 – The Maine Wild Wine Fest is taking place in Freeport.

Planning a wedding, holding a business event, or hosting visitors from away? Our printed guides are a great resource to help your guests explore the Maine restaurant scene.
25-packs of the Portland and Midcoast pocket guides are now available on our online store.

4 Star Review of Off Track Pizza

| Posted in Reviews

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published a 4 star review of Off Track Pizza.

Operated by a trio of Via Vecchia veterans – Mark Hibbard, Josh Miranda and chef Mitchell Ryan – this casual, retro-inspired restaurant serves exceedingly tasty, supersized 18-inch pies and individual slices with flavor profiles that range from classics like sausage and fiery cherry bomb peppers, pepperoni topped with oven-singed “crispy cups” that pool with spicy oil as the pizza bakes, and the Ur-pie: a classic red-sauced cheese pizza that’s not only fantastic tasting, it’s affordable ($4.50/slice and $25 for an enormous pie).

Maine Food & Dining News: Unity, Oakland, South Portland, Wiscasset, Bangor, Biddeford, Kennebunk

| Posted in Maine

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know:

  • The Bangor Daily News reports that Matthew Secich will be closing down his Unity business Charcuterie this spring and moving to Montana.
  • Sunrise Bagel has opened a new location in Oakland. The new shop is located at 50 Main Street and is open Monday through Friday 7 am – 1 pm, Saturday/Sunday 8 am – 1 pm. Sunrise has bagel shops in Waterville and Augusta. They closed their Winthrop shop in October.
  • Maine Public reports that a small research harvest of Maine Shrimp will be taking place early next year. The tasty local shrimp have been off the menu for a decade due to low stock levels.
  • Broadway Bowl, Fork Food Lab, and Red’s Dairy Freeze are recipients of the South Portland business awards in the Best New Business, Business of the Year, and Heart of South Portland categories.
  • The Bangor Daily News reports that a new ice cream shop called Mainely Scoops is under development in Wiscasset in the space formerly occupied by Jodie’s, and that the Bangor Wine & Cheese Company is changing hands.
  • Apéro (website, instagram) opened for business on Friday. Apéro is located at 20 Alfred Street and is open Wednesday/Thursday 4 – 9:30 pm, Friday/Saturday 4 – 11 pm, and Sundays 1 – 7 pm.
  • Via Sophia by the Sea has announced that December 22nd will be the last day in business for the Kennebunk restaurant and its downstairs bar the Rabbit Hole.

For a statewide guide to eating and drinking see the Maine Food Map—a growing list of coffee shops, bars, restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and other food and dining businesses in all of Maine’s 16 counties.

Free Christmas Meals

| Posted in Events

Maine restaurants are providing free meals to people in need this Christmas:

Taj will have meals available for pick-up on Christmas at their South Portland restaurant. Email tajholidaymeals@gmail.com to request a meal and for more information.

Crispy Gai in collaboration with Car Hop, The Honey Paw, Regards, Chaval, Mr Tuna, and Bar Futo are delivering meals in the Portland area on Christmas Eve. Fill out this form by 9am on December 22nd to request a meal.

The Send Brewing Launching Soon

| Posted in Under Construction

Preparations for the launch of The Send Brewing Company (instagram) are wrapping up. Owner Cole Corbin (linkedin) hopes to open his Knightville brewery and restaurant within the next few weeks.

The Send will have their own IPA, pale ale and stout on tap as well as Sapporo and an additional guest tap—house-made Japanese-style lagers will eventually be added to the tap list. Chef Jayde Miller will be serving a menu of Japanese comfort food including onigiri, fried chicken, curry korokke, gyudon, daikon salad. Miller is a graduate of Johnson & Wales and spent a year living in Japan.

Corbin worked for 8 years at Maine Beer Company initially as a brewer and then as the director of brewing operations and the technical director for the Freeport-based brewery. He’s also worked as a bartender and prep cook at Mast Landing and Knighthawk’s Kitchen. Earlier in his career Corbin was an aerospace engineer at NASA.

The 50-seat space retains the same layout as Foulmouthed Brewing which previously occupied the building. It now features a neon/mural installation co-created by David Johansen (aka Neon Dave) and Jill Perry from Third Bird Creative.

To get caught up on all the new restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and other businesses under development visit the Portland Food Map Under Construction List.

The Lists: Ocotillo & Mr. Tuna

| Posted in Reviews

Ocotillo and Mr. Tuna were both cited in the New York Times The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024 list. Ocotillo was included for their Mushroom Breakfast Taco (taco on the right) which the Times loved as much for the mushrooms, scrambled eggs and potatoes as for “housemade salsa macha, a brick-red drizzle exploding with toasted chiles, nuts and seeds, and sweetened with roasted garlic.” Mr. Tuna was included for their Tuna de Tigre (photo on left) which the Times describes as “cubes of ruby fish are decked out in a tangy-sweet sauce of puréed coconut, lime juice, fish sauce and chiles, and crowned with a tangle of crunchy, golden shallots.”

Mr. Tuna also earned a mention in Food & Wine restaurant editor Raphael Brion’s list of 11 Unforgettable Dishes From 2024. Brion was delighted by the “off-menu special that is the tuna sashimi tasting will knock your socks right off.”

Tuan Yuan Hotpot on Forest Ave

| Posted in Under Construction

Qi Shen, the owner of Sichuan Kitchen, is working on a second restaurant. Tuan Yuan Hotpot (facebook) will be located at 29 Forest Ave in the former Able Baker space on the first floor of the Portland Stage building. The name of the restaurants means reunion dinner.

Shen launched Sichuan Kitchen in 2017, and had offered hot pot dinners on Wednesday nights prior to 2020. Shen is excited to introduce the Sichuan variation of hot pot dining to her customers and to bring to life a dedicated hot pot restaurant in Portland. She hopes to launch Tuan Yuan by the end of February.

The draft menu for Tuan Yuan includes a variety of broth options like Seafood Kimchee and Chinese Sichuan Spicy and a wide assortment of meats, seafood and vegetables for the hot pot as well as appetizers and desserts (shaved ice and mochi with rice wine).

Tuan Yuan will seat 56 (see the floor plan below). The first floor has a 9-seat bar and seating in booths and tables for an addition 29 people. The mezzanine dining are offers two 6-seat round tables and three small tables.

Via Sophia by the Sea Closing

| Posted in Closings

Via Sophia by the Sea (website, facebook, instagram) has announced that December 22nd will be the last day in business for the restaurant and its downstairs bar the Rabbit Hole (instagram).

We are looking forward to seeing everyone for our final night of service on Sunday, December 22nd. Thank you to everyone in the community and our wonderful guests for supporting us from the beginning.

The Kennebunk-based restaurant opened in late June 2022. It was the second location of the Washington DC restaurant Via Sophia and was launched in collaboration with the Kennebunkport Resort Collection which also operates Rosella, Earth at Hidden Pond and 5 other restaurants.