The Press Herald reports that Cafe Crepe is taking over the Public Market House space vacated by K. Hortons.
Lauren Brinkmann, owner of Café Crêpe in the Freeport Public Market, said she has considered opening a second location in the Public Market House three times, but she had hoped for a first-floor space. When the K. Horton’s spot opened up, she said, she jumped on it.
Chad Conley, co-owner of Palace Diner, has leased the former Brea Lu Cafe space at 428 Forest Ave where he plans to open a new restaurant serving breakfast and lunch. This new venture will serve a different menu from Palace Diner.
The building was the scene of a fire a year ago that displaced Brea Lu and other residents. It’s in the early stages of construction right now, and Conley hopes to open the restaurant this summer.
MaineBiz has published an article about the new owners of Howie’s Pub.
Joseph Hardy and Adam Moore, under the name Highlife LLC, bought the neighborhood Howie’s Pub, at 501 Washington Ave. in the East Deering neighborhood, from long-time owner Howie Chadbourne for $320,000, in a deal that closed Jan. 10.
Tuesday – there will be a screening of Just Eat It at the Maine Historical Society as part of the New England Foodscapes Series.
Wednesday – Stroudwater is hosting an event with food from Nosh and the Marshmallow Cart at their distillery on Thompson’s Point.
Friday – Oxbow is holding a bottle release for Sausuga, there will be a bourbon tasting at Tiqa, a Winter Graze dinner is taking place in Yarmouth, and Rosemont is holding a wine tasting at their store on Brighton.
Saturday – the Winter Farmers’ Market is taking place, as is a wine tasting at LeRoux Kitchen.
Sunday – The PSO is hosting the next edition of Symphony & Spirits at Sonny’s.
For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.
The Maine Sunday Telegram has reviewed the Portland Meatball Company,
The salads, like nearly everything I ate at Portland Meatball Company, seemed to have been rushed out of the kitchen, unexamined and, more importantly, untasted. Yet rather than focus on badly needed quality control for the restaurant’s few remaining customers, the kitchen staff wandered distractedly in and out of the desolate dining room throughout both of my visits, until inevitably declaring the restaurant closed more than an hour early.
The golden Dish has reviewed Izakaya Minato,
When we arrived two local restaurateurs I know were leaving and both recommended the pork belly. Spot on. What came out was a hearty bowl of braised pork belly ( buta no kakuni) stewed in mirin and soy—a pan-regional stew of this texturally unctuous meat: sweet, fatty, tender.
and both The Blueberry Files and Peter Peter Portland Eater have reviewed Big Fin Poké.
I often complain about going to Westbrook, not for any particular reason other than Portland-centrism and that I always manage to get lost whenever I attempt to navigate to or through our neighboring city to the west. But add Big Fin Poké to the small, but growing, list of things I’ll happily (ok, begrudgingly) travel to Westbrook for.
Urban Eye has posted an update on the A & C Grocery under construction on Washington Ave.
After nine years in the grocery business — he worked at Rosemont Market and was a founding partner at The Farm Stand in South Portland — he is ready to go out on his own with A & C Grocery. “I’ve been thinking about this concept for years,” said Fournier, who plans to open in two and a half weeks.
A & C Grocery (website, facebook), a “neighborhood one-stop grocery shop” is under construction at 131 Washington Ave.
A new Korean restaurant called YOBO is under construction at 23 Forest Ave in the space formerly occupied by BiBo’s Madd Apple Cafe. Yobo will serve “refined Asian comfort food with a rustic appeal” and feature wonderful boutique wines from small vineyards.” Owners Sunny Chung and Kim Lully plan to create an atmosphere that is “intimate and casual, with all the comforts of dining with good friends.”
Chung and Lully formerly operated a farm to table restaurant in Concord, New Hampshire called Sunny’s Table. They hope to open Yobo in the April/May time frame.
Redevelopment of the old Margarita’s on Brown Street into the Portland outpost of BRGR Bar continues with a recent proposal to add an outdoor deck and make renovations to the street signage and entrance.
the Press Herald Maine chefs traveling this winterhas published an article about to gather new ideas for their restaurants.
The trips satisfy more than just a chef’s appetite for good food, although simply eating a variety of dishes is always a major goal. They also benefit customers because chefs return home filled with new ideas for expanding their menus and ways to make their food more authentic.
Izakaya Minato (facebook, instagram) is scheduled to open today. The 36-seat Japanese restaurant is located at 54 Washington Ave next to Terlingua.
Owners Elaine Alden and Thomas Takashi Cooke moved to Portland from San Francisco where Cooke had been the head chef at Tsunami, a sushi restaurant. The couple also spent 3 months in Japan where he staged at an izakaya in Tokyo also called Tsumamina.
Here’s a look at the menu:
