Cabana at 111 Middle Street

| Posted in Under Construction

A new Latin American restaurant called Cabana (instagram) is under construction at 111 Middle Street in the space formerly occupied by Piccolo.

Lunch at Cabana will be available for takeout or dine-in service. Dinner service at Cabana will feature a shareable tapas menu, cocktails and  Afro/Samba/Latin music until midnight. The menu will draw inspiration from all over Latin America with a special emphasis on the flavors of Dominican cuisine.

Owner  René Emilio Peña—who also operates La Bodega Latina on Congress Street—hopes to open Cabana by early summer. He moved to Portland 10 years ago from Miami where he worked in the fashion industry. His vision for Cabana is to meld his passions for fashion, music, art and food into a fully immersive experience that makes use of the small space as part of its personality.

Eat It & Beet It Launching March 31st

| Posted in Openings

The first new food truck of the spring, Eat It & Beet It (instagram), will be launching on March 31st at Goodfire Brewing in East Bayside.

Founder Lea Andrukaitis Verrill plans to serve a menu of beef and house-made beet burgers. All of the sandwiches on the menu will also be available in a gluten-free version, and all of the sides will be gluten-free.

Here’s a look at the starting menu for Eat It & Beet It. All the burgers come with the choice of quarter pound 100% beef burgers or vegetarian beet burgers.

Upcoming Events: Beard Nominees Due Out Wednesday

| Posted in Events

Wednesday – the short list of final nominees for the 2022 James Beard Awards will be released; 10 Maine chefs and restaurants were named as semifinalists this year.

Friday – Union Bagel is re-openning their shop on Cumberland Ave.

March 29 – Maine’s newest cidery the Absolem Cider and Oxbow Brewing will collaborating on a beer/cider dinner at the Oxbow Beer Garden in Oxford, and chef Cody Finch will be holding the next dinner in his Codex series at Petite Jacqueline (5 courses @ $85/person).

April 9 – the Beer With(out) Beards festival will be taking place.

April 22 – May 1 – 4th Maine Seaweed Week.

June 13 – 19 – the 5th Annual Portland Wine Week will be taking place.

July 21 – Magnus on Water chef Ben Jackson will participating in the Outstanding in the Field series with a dinner at Glidden Point Oyster Farm in Edgecomb.

July 23 – Chaval chefs Ilma Lopez and Damian Sansonetti will participating in the Outstanding in the Field series with a dinner at Dandelion Spring Farm in Bowdoinham.

F&W: Best Coffee Shops

| Posted in Reviews

Food & Wine has recognized Little Woodfords in their list of the Best Coffee Shops in Every State.

Opened elsewhere in 2017 but now very much at home on this busy corner, the pint-sized, fiercely queer Little Woodfords has had an outsized impact in coffee-mad Portland; owned by city council member Andrew Zarro and husband TJ, the shop features coffees from some of the best roasters in New England, keeps a rotating menu of astrology sign-themed drinks, and isn’t afraid to stick its neck out for their workers, for their beliefs, and for Portland. There are a lot of coffee shops in town, this feels like the one where you’re most likely to find someone organizing a revolution.

Bar Futo to Open This Summer

| Posted in Under Construction

A new Japanese-inspired bar and grill called Bar Futo (instagram) is under construction at 425 Fore Street in the space formerly occupied by Five Guys. Bar Futo is being launched by chef Jordan Rubin and Marisa Lewiecki, co-owners of Mr. Tuna and partners in Crispy Gai.

Chef de cuisine Ian Driscoll will be serving a “menu of skewers, large cuts of meat and whole fish grilled over Japanese charcoal, and kakigori.” The bar program will include an extensive sake list that has been curated by Alyssa DiPasquale from The Koji Club in Boston as well has house-designed and classic cocktails. Sommelier Courtney O’Neil will be Bar Futo’s GM and in charge of the wine program.

The 2,662 square feet 66-seat restaurant (plus outdoor patio seating) is expected to open this summer.

Rubin launched Mr. Tuna as a food cart in 2017, and the Mr. Tuna sushi counter opened in the Public Market House in 2018. Rubin and chef Cyle Reynolds launched Crispy Gai in the summer of 2021.

 

Brew for Ukraine

| Posted in Beer

Oxbow Brewing is taking part in the Brew for Ukraine (website, facebook) Victory Beer Series launched by Pravda Brewing in Lviv, Ukraine.

Pravda is making their recipes and label art available for their dry hopped strong ale, Belgian tripel, American red ale, Belgian witbier, and Ukrainian imperial stout.

Oxbow began brewing a version of the Belgian witbier at 4 am Tuesday morning and expects it will be available in six weeks. The proceeds will be donated to aid Ukrainians fleeing from the war.

Other Maine brewers: please drop us a line if you’re also taking part in Brew for Ukraine.

MRW: Spirit Quest

| Posted in General News

Maine Restaurant Week has announced the winners of the 2022 Spirit Quest competition:

The Judge’s Prize of $1,000 went to Blyth & Burrows for their pairing of a Scallops Ceviche made with grapefruit, Fresno pepper, kelp, and lava salt on a prawn crisp, with a “Ponzu Scheme” cocktail made with Pisco, shiso, grapefruit, coconut, soy, ponzu foam. The judges were Angie Bryant the author of the Bar Guide column in the Press Herald, and Christine Burns Rudalevige who is the editor of Edible Maine and also a Press Herald columnist.

The People’s Choice Prize of $750 went to BlueFin at Portland Harbor Hotel for their pairing of Tuna Poke made with crisp wonton, sesame soy tuna, cilantro lime slaw, scallion, Sriracha mayo, and a Cucumber Tonic cocktail made with Drumshanbo Irish Gin, St. Germain, cucumber-cardamom simple syrup, lime and tonic.

Maine Calling: How Maine Restaurants Are Faring

| Posted in General News

Matt Lewis from HospitalityMaine and Peggy Grodinsky from the Press Herald were the featured guests of Jennifer Rooks on the latest episode of Maine Calling in a show that asks How Are Maine Restaurants Faring?

It’s Maine Restaurant Week, and we check in on the foodservice scene in Maine to find out how restaurants are faring at this stage of the pandemic. We’ll also discuss how Maine chefs and restaurants are regularly honored with James Beard award nominations.

Dok Mali Thai Kitchen

| Posted in Under Construction

A new restaurant called Dok Mali Thai Kitchen is under construction in the former Lois’ Market space at 47 India Street. The 32-seat restaurant is being launched by chef Nonglack Thanephonesy.

Chef Thanephonesy plans to tap into her own culinary creativity as well as inspiration drawn from contemporary trends in street food and regional cooking in Thailand to serve a menu that departs from the standards served at many Thai restaurants today. Some example dishes include a lychee duck dish she’s currently developing as well as her aunt’s recipe for Mee Ka Tee, a curry soup.

In addition to Dok Mali Thanephonesy is also the owner of Capital Thai Kitchen and Bar in Exeter, NH. She grew up in Portland and is looking forward to bringing her vision for a Thai restaurant to her home town and to downtown Portland.

Thanephonesy hopes to open Dok Mali on Memorial Day weekend.

The architect for Dok Mali is Tracie Reed from Dextrous Creative. Reed has also been the architect of Rose Foods, Belleville on North Street and the redesign underway at East Bayside Tandem Coffee.