Bam Bam on Brighton

| Posted in Under Construction

Bam Bam Bakery (website, facebook, intagram) has leased the former Cakes Extraordinaire space at 1054 Brighton Ave where owner Tina Cromwell plans to relaunch her gluten-free bakery. Initially Cromwell will use the space as a production kitchen for online orders but as she scales up staff will open the Brighton Street location as a retail bakery as well. The retail shop will sell gluten-free bakery mixes, flour and some gluten-free products from other food producers.

Cromwell has also recently shared plans to launch a Bam Bam food truck called the BamBamBulance—click on the link to understand why. The BamBamBulance will be used for deliveries, for pick-up spots for preorders, events, and perhaps also as a traditional food truck.

Bam Bam is taking their new space through a very thorough process in order to convert the kitchen to a completely gluten-free facility.

Cromwell closed her Commercial Street retail operation in 2020. There had been plans to reopen Bam Bam in East Bayside earlier this year but they fell through.

Man & Oak on Free Street

| Posted in Under Construction

Man & Oak (website, instagram), a Maine-based whiskey event and education company, has leased the 2,132 sq ft second floor of 44 Oak Street where they plan to open a private bottle club in Portland.

Man & Oak will feature 300 private bottle lockers of various sizes. Members will be able to store their special bottles of whiskey, other spirits and wine which they’ll be able to access and consume onsite. Man & Oak will also include a space for trainings, tastings, education programs and other related events. The new business will not be a bar or a bottle shop, but will sell glassware, etc.

Since they announced plans to launch the business back in November, Man & Oak has already leased out a third of their locker spaces.

Nighthawk’s at Mast Landing

| Posted in Under Construction, Beer

Mast Landing (website, facebook, instagram) has announced they’ll be partnering with Nighthawk’s Kitchen (instagram) in the launch of their new 11,000 sq ft brewery and tasting room in Freeport. While the kitchen is being built out Nighthawk’s will initially open as a food truck and then expand into a brick and mortar restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with indoor and outdoor seating.

According to the press release, the menu will feature “original and approachable menus of American and international comfort foods utilizing the freshest locally sourced ingredients” including options for vegans and a children’s menu.

Nighthawk’s Kitchen is the creation of Christian “Nighthawk” Noe who moved to Yarmouth from NYC in 2020 where in addition to operating Nighthawk’s Kitchen at LIC Flea and Food and Rockaway Brewing Company in Long Island City he also founded a catering company called Film Eats.

Mast Landing anticipates opening their new Freeport location in July where they will be “showcasing small-batch recipes made and offered exclusively at the Freeport location, as well as its lineup of flagship beers”.

Cafe Louis Opening Today

| Posted in Openings

Cafe Louis (instagram) the new South Portland restaurant by Eaux chef/owner Evan Richardson along with business partner Ben Ferri is scheduled to open today.

Cafe Louis will serve brunch and coffee during the day (8 – 3) and dinner (5 – 10). The menu is inspired by Richardson’s family from Costa Rica and Honduras with dishes like Ron Don (mussels, coconut, plantain, cassava, green curry, sourdough) and Fiddle Head Empanada (tat soi, cabot cheddar, garlic scape adobo) on the brunch menu.

Cafe Louis is located at 173 Ocean Street in the same neighborhood as Judy Gibson, BenReuben’s Knishery, Solo Cucina Market, Taco Trio (which is moving to larger quarters) and the soon to open SoPo Seafood store and oyster bar.

Luna & Salt Yard

| Posted in Openings

The indoor/outdoor rooftop bar Luna (instagram)  and street-level restaurant and coffee bar Salt Yard (instagram) will be opening with the launch of the new Canopy Portland Waterfront (website, facebook, instagram) hotel on Commercial Street at noon on Wednesday.

Located on the sixth floor overlooking Commercial Street, the 88-seat Luna features indoor and outdoor seating areas with views along Commercial Street and across the Old Port (see below). The menu includes a set of house cocktails and mocktails, wines and draft beers as well as small plate such as duck wings, burrata, spicy crab rolls and a selection of desserts. Luna will be open 4 – 11 pm seven days a week.

The 53-seat street level restaurant and coffee bar Salt Yard will initially open for breakfast and lunch (7 am – 2 pm) with dinner service to be added to the line-up later. Salt Yard will be serving coffee from Rwanda Bean along with house made baked goods and a menu that includes flatbread pizza, salads, soups and sandwiches and breakfast items.

 

A Tale of Two Portlands

| Posted in General News

The Press Herald has all the details on an errant dumpling machine ordered by Little Brother from China.

“We saw that it was headed for Tacoma, Washington, and then Portland, Oregon.” Lee said. “We called them and they said, ‘It’s already in the water. We can’t do anything about it now.’”

Guyer, laughing, recalled the company’s suggestion: “Can’t you just go to Oregon and pick it up?”

Crispy Gai to Open on Wednesday

| Posted in Openings

Crispy Gai (website, instagram) is scheduled to open their new restaurant on Wednesday June 30th. Jordan Rubin (aka Mr Tuna) and Cyle Reynolds originally launched Crispy Gai as a pop-up takeout business last November. Now with its own full kitchen Crispy Gai will offer an expanded menu with dishes like wok fried water spinach, grilled lobster, grilled pork neck, and oysters served with fried shallot and Nam Jim seafood sauce.

The cocktail program will be led by bartender Arvid Brown with “tropical-leaning” drinks that riff off of the ingredients used in kitchen. The menu includes drinks   like the Bermuda Love Triangle (a tropical take on a gimlet that incorporates a lime leaf and lemongrass infused citrus cordial and a local coconut gin) and the Wave of Mutilation—a reference to a Pixies song from the 1980s—which is a Mai Tai-like drink that uses over proof rye whiskey, banana liquor and cashew orgeat.

The new Crispy Gai is located at 90 Exchange Street in the space formerly occupied by Eaux. It will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 4 – 10 pm.

 

Strata Opening Saturday

| Posted in Openings

The new and expanded Strata (website, instagram) culinary knife and kitchen store is scheduled to open this Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm.

Strata was founded by Evan Atwell in 2018, and was among the first wave of businesses that took up residence in the Black Box container retail spaces on Washington Ave. The new shop is located at 67 Washington Ave in the former Nissen Bakery Building.

Atwell will keep knives at the center of what Strata sells but will have a more diverse product selection including glassware, cookbooks, pasta making tools, traditional handmade Japanese ceramics and lacquerware, aprons, kitchen towels, etc.

Atwell also plans to offer in-person classes for knife sharpening, knife skills, and other topics in the future.

Pigeons Closing

| Posted in Closings

The owners of Pigeons have announced they plan to close the Washington Ave restaurant. This Saturday will be their last day in business. Pigeons opened on May 12th of this year.

Hi, friends. This will be our last week of service at PIGEONS. Life is certainly not a straight path… but that’s the pain and beauty of it. Thank you to the team behind PIGEONS who created something truly magical. A team full of talent, professionalism, charm, wit and heart.

The owners plan to expand their wine shop, Maine & Loire, into the full space of the restaurant.