Maine Sunday Telegram restaurant critic Andrew Ross has put together his list of the best takeout fried food.
I realized a few months ago that I’ve eaten less deep-fried food than perhaps ever before. While my cardiologist is probably elated, I’m less pleased about the dearth of crunchy, golden batter in my life. With Hanukkah in full swing right now (it started Thursday evening and runs through this coming Friday), the timing seems perfect to bring back a little deep-fried delight.
Two local restaurants, Woodford F & B, and A & C Grocery are offering a chance for customers to support them now that comes with a payout with interest down the road.
Eaux chef/owner Evan Richardson along with business partner Ben Ferri have leased space in South Portland where he plans to open a new restaurant. Cafe Louis (instagram) will be located at 173 Ocean Street in the former home of RJ’s Pub.
Cafe Louis will serve brunch during the day and become a small plate/bar at night. Richardson has Costa Rican and Honduran family, and the cuisine from those countries will be the point of inspiration for the food at Cafe Louis. The menu will include re-imagined classic dishes like gallo pinto, chicharonnes and chorreadas.
Richardson hopes to open the new restaurant this spring in March or April. It will be joining a fast growing restaurant row in Knightville that includes Taco Trio, Judy Gibson, Solo Cucina and SoPo Seafood which is also under construction.
Richardson continues to move forward with plans to relocate Eaux to a larger location in Portland—details on the new spot are forthcoming. He had started work on the Cafe Louis project back in 2019 before making the decision to move his flagship restaurant to new quarters.
The Portland Phoenix has published an interview with Pete Sueltenfuss, co-owner of Other Side Deli and Other Side Diner.
It’s a dreary, overcast Friday morning. Pete Sueltenfuss, owner of the three Other Side Diner and Deli locations in Portland, sits in the almost deserted diner at 500 Washington Ave., off Bates Street.
“The delis have been open the whole time, we never had to shut them down at all,” Sueltenfuss said of his East Deering spot nearby on Veranda Street and the West End location on Vaughan Street.
A new Mexican restaurant in Cape Elizabeth opened today. Tacos y Tequila (website, facebook, instagram) is located at the site formerly occupied by the Bird Dog Roadhouse.
Tacos y Tequila is serving lunch and dinner 7 days a week. They have indoor seating and takeout with online ordering.
Due to cold weather and the pandemic keeping diners away, East Ender has decided to retarget their energies into a takeout and delivery model.
This temporary shift will be under a new/old name. Owner Karl Deuben is reviving the the Small Axe brand—the name of the food truck that he and his then business partner Bill Leavy launched in 2013 and retired when they bought East Ender in 2015.
Follow them on instagram to stay in the loop.
Update: The first round of Small Axe dates are slated for December 17 – 19. Here’s a look at the menu.
Palace Diner sous chef, Joshua Smallwood, is launching his own pop-up series. Falafelopolis (instagram) will, as the name implies, serve a falafel sandwich along with some optional ad-on sides such as hummus, harissa, pickles, and reportedly a lemon tahini cookie.
The first pop-up is tentatively scheduled for in mid-February. Follow the Falafelopolis instagram account to stay in the loop on when the date is set.
Chef Ambrely Ouimette is launching a takeout sushi pop-up. The Calypso Sushi (instagram) menu includes:
To place your order send a direct message to the Calypso Sushi account on instagram, and payment will be handled through Venmo. The two options for pick-up dates are December 14th and 15th, 11am – 7pm in Portland at Ishi Ishi Ramen on Washington Ave.
More & Co. has announced that they’ll be permanently closing their Yarmouth cafe and shop on December 20th.
As with any love story, the imprint of the beautiful, enlightening and challenging experiences lasts even after the story is complete. More & Co., our love story, will always feel like home to us and will always be remembered as a place where creativity and tenderness flourished…We would like to deeply thank all who have worked alongside us; we would like to to thank all of our vendors and makers; we would like to thank all of the dedicated customers who continually preferred something just a little bit different. We love you. It was an honor to share time and space with you.
Little Giant (website, facebook, instagram) has been reconfiguring their back patio into a new outdoor dining deck. The heated backyard deck will seat up to 25-30 people and be made comfortable with 35,000 watts of electric heat.
Little Giant hopes to launch the new dining area before the end of December. They plan to use it to expand the number of nights they’re open, add a lunch service and re-start their weekend brunch. They’ll also be using the space for private dining and events (contact info@littlegiantmaine.com for inquiries).
Owners Ian and Kate Malin sees this investment in an outdoor space a middle way forward for his West End restaurant that allows him to keep business activity high enough to stay in business while side stepping the risks to his staff and customers of indoor dining.
Other establishments building-out more winter-friendly outdoor dining spaces include: Rising Tide, Thirsty Pig, Oxbow, Chaval, The Yard, Mast Landing and Terlingua. For more options see our Outdoor dining list for Portland.
Update: Here’s a look at the completed outdoor space below. Additionally, Little Giant has also purchased some electric heated seat pads from Huga to make the outdoor dining experrience more comfortable for their customers.
