The Asador Grill at Rock Row

| Posted in Under Construction

Chef Germán Lucarelli, owner of The Lost Fire in Kennebunkport, has leased space at Rock Row where he is planning to open The Asador Grill (instagram). The restaurant will specialize in Patagonian cuisine featuring traditional open-flame cooking.

“The Lost Fire began as a means of reconnecting with the tastes of my home and introducing people to the unique style of grilling Argentinians have mastered, “ said Chef Germán Lucarelli. “The Asador Grill will bring guests closer to the wonder of authentic open fire cooking than ever before.”

Lucarelli opened The Lost Fire in 2018, two seafood restaurants Casa Seventy-Seven and Ultramar in 2023, and he launched an ice cream food truck in 2024 called Dos Elenas Gelato. The Asador Grill will be his first business in the Portland area.

Construction of the 7,000 square foot restaurant is expected to start in 2025. An opening timeframe is TBD.

Upcoming Food & Dining Events

| Posted in Events

Tuesday – Master Sommelier Jonathan Eichholz and Butter + Kale are holding 5-course wine dinner at Magnus on Water.

Thursday/Friday – SMCC culinary and hospitality students are serving a 5-course Dining with the Departed dinner.

Friday – Author Corrie Locke-Hardy will be at the Equality Community Center for a reading from their new cookbook The Revolution Will be Well Fed and herbal tea workshop.

Saturday – McDougal Orchards in Springvale is holding their 5th Annual Apple Tasting.

Sunday – Great Maine Apple Day is taking place in Unity.

October 23 – Mrs. Gee Free Living and Sur Lie are collaborating on a gluten-free dinner. GMRI is hosting a talk about sustainable seafood with guest Ben Conniff, co-owner of Luke’s Lobster.

October 24 – The Maine Center for Entrepreneurs is holding the biennial Maine Food Producer Showcase & Golden Fork Awards at Brick South on Thompson’s Point. Farms for Food Equity is holding their Fall Harvest Gathering fundraiser with food from Big Tree Catering and Harbor Fish, wines from National Distributors and beer from Oxbow.

October 25 – Kasha’s Kitchen in Kittery is holding a Polish dinner.

October 24-26 – Harvest on the Harbor is taking place.

October 27 – Victoria Nam from Siblings Bakery is teaching a virtual class on Spiking Your Cakes With Whole Grains for the Maine Grains Alliance.

October 29 – The annual HospitalityMaine summit is taking place at Sugarloaf.

November 4-10 – 207 Beer Week is taking place.

November 5 – Gross Confection Bar is holding a (sold out) pastry baking class.

November 11-17 – Brunswick Wine Week is taking place.

November 20 – GMRI is holding an event to discuss Climate Resilience Potential in Gulf of Maine Fisheries.

November 28 – Thanksgiving is taking place. We’ll be publishing a list of Turkey events, dinners, community meals, special takeout and take home options. Send us the details on ones you may be offering or know about.

November 29 – The deadline to submit recommendations for the 2025 Beard Awards.

December 1 – Sean Turley will be delivering a presentation on cider & pomology at Lambs in South Portland.

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.

Kelly Nelson

| Posted in People

Restaurant community member, Kelly Nelson, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her friends have set-up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to help with medical bills and journey forward with an MS diagnosis.

The resources collected via this GoFundMe will go towards her mounting medical debt, and ultimately allowing Kelly to take some much needed time away from work to begin her medical journey and assess what the future holds for her. Those close to Kelly know she is grieving the loss of her former self. That process is painful enough without the stress and worry of financial burden. We’re hoping this GoFundMe can alleviate some of that burden and offer the opportunity for grace as Kelly enters this new chapter of her life.

Nelson has worked in the Portland industry for 15+ years. You may have crossed paths with her at Local 188, Sonny’s, Piccolo, Evo or more recently at Fore Street where she is a server and manages the restaurant’s wine list. You can read more about Kelly in this interview we published in 2021.

She is unmistakable, eccentric, and nothing short of fabulous. Her hair shifts from one vibrant shade to the next (it’s currently flamingo pink) and cephalopod tattoos wrap her arms and legs. On Instagram she’s @geeksquid, and if you follow her you are well aware of her fondness for hairless rats. After contributing to the Portland food scene in various ways for over a decade, she now revels in the role of wine coordinator at Fore Street. She is, of course, the one and only Kelly Nelson.

Visit this page to learn more and to donate to the GoFundMe campaign.

Practical Pomology Now On Kickstarter

| Posted in General News

Practical Pomology: A Field Guide, a new book guide for identifying and describing apples is now available to pre-order on Kickstarter. The 150-page book explains how to differentiate between seedling and grafted trees, how to recognize and name the various features of the apple, and includes anatomical photographs of the thirty-four varieties (Saint Lawrence shown below) that most commonly grow in historic orchards. The books is extensively illustrated with photos an drawings.

Practical Pomology has been written by Sean Turley, a Portland-based apple author, historian, photographer, cidermaker, forager and the creator of The Righteous Russet instagram account. Turley worked extensively with Maine’s preeminent apple expert John Bunker on writing the book, as well as with designers, artists, and photographers to bring the subject to life.

Apples are everywhere; so are books about apples. But despite the extraordinary quantity and quality of tomes about pomes, no text has ever been printed that provides a comprehensive, systematic approach to describing and identifying historic varieties of apples—let alone one that condenses the foundational work by pomologists over the last couple of centuries into a simple-to-follow, practical resource for the expert and novice alike.

Practical Pomology: A Field Guide aims to fill that void. Across its pages, you will be taught how to recognize and differentiate between seedling and grafted trees; describe and classify the anatomical features of the apple; and identify and distinguish among the varieties most commonly found in historic orchards. It is a resource that can be pulled off the shelf when deciphering descriptions of lost varieties in antiquated texts and a portable manual you can toss in your backpack when heading out into the field. Whether you are new to pomology or an old hand at describing and identifying pomes, this book should prove to be an indispensable resource.

You can pre-order your copy of Practical Pomology on Kickstarter now through December 14th. The book is expected to go to print in early January and be shipped to customers in mid-March.

The North Point and Salvage BBQ Have Closed

| Posted in Closings

Two more Portland establishments have closed their doors.

The North Point closed this weekend. Owner Dan Talmatch shared on instagram, “The North Point has closed it’s doors for the last time. This decision wasn’t made lightly, but was made in light of rising costs, difficulty staffing, and generally decreasing sales. More info will follow, but for now, I want to offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all that have made The North Point a Portland staple for nearly 12 years. We’re still loving you right back.” The Silver Street bar opened for business in February 2013.

Salvage BBQ has closed. The large sunny Parkside restaurant opened for business in September 2013 in at 919 Congress Street. The menu at the time included options like the Meat Coma and the Meat Fatality—½ rack of ribs, ½ pound of brisket, ½ pound of pork, ½ of a roast chicken, sausage, a bowl of chili and 2 pints of sides. A sign posted in the window late last week (see upper right image) read simply “Salvage BBQ Is Closed, Thanks for 10+ Years.”

Farewell to Local 188

| Posted in Closings

Local 188 has closed. The landmark restaurant had been in business for 25 years and contributed to the development of Portland as a nationally acclaimed culinary destination. They will be missed.

Chef/owner Jay Villani share some brief parting words,

Just wow. What a ride. None of this would have been possible without you.

You have given me a backdrop I can proudly hang my apron on. Words can not express how incredibly lucky I feel. The depth of meaning you all have given my life is immeasurable. What a truly special gift.

Thank you…

All of you.

When the restaurant launched in 1999, it brought a new vitality to Longfellow Square joining Cafe Uffa in an intersection that had not yet become the restaurant hub it is today. Warm personal service, an innovative menu of Spanish-inspired dishes, a great atmosphere and space made Local 188 a popular destination at the start of the new century. The name of the restaurant is a reference to its original street address 188 State Street—where Pai Men Miyake is now. It moved to much larger quarters on Congress Street in 2007.

In a fitting coda for a long running establishment, the kitchen at Local 188 had passed on to the next generation with Villani’s son Jackson (aka Sonny) as the chef de cuisine. If you’ve dined at 188 during the last few month you’ve likely had some delightful new dishes he’s brought to the menu.

Local 188 may have closed but the impact the legions of staff have made on the lives of their customers and on the city’s culinary scene and will be remembered for a long time to come.

Maine Food Influencers

| Posted in People

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram profiles 5 Maine food instagram influencer accounts: Biddo Foodies run by Holly Norburg and Daniela Amieva, Eating Portland Alive run by  Rob Schatz, Eating Through The Seacoast run by Jake Cryan, The Maine Foodies run by Erik and Alexis Dirkmaat, and Portland Eats ME run by Lydia Belden. All excellent accounts well worth following.

Maine has a large and growing food social media community. Whether it’s a specific geography, a type of food or a particular type of food lifestyle you want to learn more about there’s likely an account out their publishing about that already. If there isn’t then maybe you’re the right person to step into those shoes and share your passion with the world!

Maine Flavor Ice Cream Shop Opens Today

| Posted in Openings

A new West End ice cream shop will open for business today. Maine Flavor (website, instagram) will be launching their new scoop shop and retail store on Spring Street at 3 pm. They’re located at 175 Spring Street/144 State Street.

They’ll be serving eight ice cream flavors on opening day: Lemon Shortbread, Maine Wild Blueberry Crisp, Maine Butternut Chai, Milk Chocolate and Vanilla Bean (all dairy-based, organic and gluten-free) as well as three vegan and gluten-free options Coffee Crunch, Cranberry Chocolate Chunk and Maine Strawberry (shown above).  The Maine Flavor kitchen is a certifiable gluten-free facility and their house-made dark chocolate and ginger bread ice cream bowls are vegan in addition to being gluten-free. Pints of their ice cream to take home and ice cream sandwiches and cookies will also be available.

Owners Susan Purcell and Andrew Applegate leased the space next to Chocolats Passion in the former Mercy Hospital building back in July and where they have built out a new ice cream production facility in addition to the retail shop.

Maine Flavor has been in business since 2016. Their ice cream is available at a number of Portland area retail locations like Montes, the Portland Co-op, Union Wharf Market, Lighthouse Bikes and Barber Brothers market in South Portland, and Lois’s in Scarborough in addition to being for sale at their new shop.

Maine Flavor will initially be open Friday through Sunday, 3 – 6 pm.

Also under construction the former Mercy Hospital building is a new Two Fat Cats bakery/cafe.

Benny’s on Congress Street

| Posted in Under Construction

Ramona’s owner Josh Sobel has leased the former Broken Arrow space at 545 Congress Street where he plans to open a second restaurant called Benny’s (instagram). Renovations will be taking place during the winter and Sobel hopes to open Benny’s in early spring.

Benny’s will be open for lunch and dinner operating as a Philly-inspired sandwich shop with counter service by day, and transitioning into a sit down restaurant serving pasta and salads for dinner. Benny’s will also have a small cocktail menu. Sobel shared,

I’m excited to be in a neighborhood with so many other great small businesses and restaurants.
I’ve wanted to make cheesesteaks and cutlets since we opened Ramona’s, but the limitations of the space always made it impossible.

Benny’s feels like the natural evolution of our business. We hope to be a place that can service the neighborhood throughout the day. We want to start dinner service a bit earlier so that young families can join us. As a parent of young kids, it’s important to me that we are able to provide a great dining experience for kids as well as adults.

Carrie Dessertine from Mey & Co. has been hired to design the restaurant. Dessertine has designed a number of restaurants in Maine including Ramona’s, Bread & Friends, Elda in Biddeford, and the new Mr. Tuna.

Sobel and Chad Conley launched Ramona’s as a takeout service in April 2020 and opened with indoor seating in March 2022. Conley sold his interest in the company to Sobel in 2023.

Dry Dock 2.0 Under Development

| Posted in Under Construction

Luke Holden, Ben Conniff, Bryan Holden—co-owners of Luke’s Lobster— have leased 84 Commercial Street where they plan to relaunch the Dry Dock (instagram) as a seafood tavern with a full bar program. The team expects to renovate and restore the building this winter and open the new Dry Dock in time for the summer of 2025.

Jeff Holden, managing partner at Luke’s Lobster commented, “Our family has loved the Dry Dock location for decades. I was a regular when I had my business here on Commercial Street back in the 1980s and 90s. We feel truly grateful to work with Steve [Goodrich] on the opportunity to bring the legacy of Dry Dock restaurant back to life here – preserving it for the people of Portland and its visitors is as much sentimental to us as it is good business.”

The Dry Dock was a fixture on the Portland waterfront since it launched in 1983. It’s been closed since 2018 and while there have been some plans in the past to redesign and relaunch it, they have not come to fruition.

The Luke’s on Portland Pier will continue to operate where it is and the Dry Dock will open with a separate menu and concept.