Back River Bistro

| Posted in Under Construction

The owners of Ruby’s West End, Matt and Corrinna Stum, have leased 65 Gardiner Street in Wiscasset where they plan to open Back River Bistro (website, instagram).

Back River Bistro will serve a menu of seasonally-driven bistro fare prepared with ingredients sourced from farms within a 30-mile radius of Wiscasset. The bar menu will offer both traditional and natural wines, and cocktails.

The Stums have moved to Morris Farm in Wiscasset where they plan to grow produce for the restaurant along with additional sourcing from Tarbox Farm, Heritage Home Farm, Broad Arrow Farm, Morning Dew Farm, and others.

Aaron and Alison Hansen have joined the Stums in launching the restaurant. Aaron Hansen will be the chef de cuisine for Back River Bistro and Alison Hansen will be leading the bar program. Aaron Hansen and Matt Strum formerly worked together at restaurants in Indianapolis before moving to Maine.

The Stums opened Ruby’s in April 2021, and hope to open the Back River Bistro for dinner by the end of November. They plan to add a lunch service this coming summer. Back River will be open Thursday through Sunday, 5 – 10 pm.

Longfellow Hotel

| Posted in Under Construction

The Longfellow Hotel (website, facebook, instagram) is currently under construction at 754 Congress Street. It’s located next to Tandem and across the Street from The Francis. Both The Francis and Longfellow are operated by Uncommon Hospitality led by Tony and Nate DeLois.

The first floor of the hotel will feature the Twinflower Cafe and Five of Clubs bar. The cafe will be “a wellness focused café serving clean and wholesome breakfast and lunch offerings, as well as espresso drinks and fresh juices” and the bar menu will focus on “classic cocktails, local seafood and charcuterie”. Both establishments will be run by Siobhan & Mike Sindoni the co-owners of the Wayside Tavern.

The Longfellow Hotel is expected to open this summer.

Esquire’s Best New: Twelve

| Posted in Reviews

Esquire magazine has named Twelve to their 2022 list of the Best New Restaurants in America.

Though it may be true that Eleven Madison Park is the performative Xanadu of a mad man, it is also one hell of a talent incubator. Before he moved to Maine – his wife, Selena, is a Mainer — Colin Wyatt was the executive sous there. Now he’s one upped EMP at Twelve, located in a reconstituted 150-year old brick storehouse at the water’s edge in Portland, ME. The technique is still there — Wyatt makes particularly good use of ferments and yeast — but Maine is the focus and there’s a New England modesty that prefers showing to telling. There are only twelve items on the prix fixe but Wyatt makes good use of his new home. The state shows up in the colors. The bright orange of sweet potato Parker house rolls mimic the foliage; the pumpkin-seeded butter that accompanies them recalls the fields. And goddamn if his soigne lobster roll — an entire half lobster impossibly folded into a small very buttery laminated dough — doesn’t turn the volume of the old Maine banger up to twelve.

Eastern Prom Food Trucks

| Posted in General News

The City held a meeting earlier this week to review a proposal for where food trucks will be allowed to operate in 2023 on the Eastern Prom. The Press Herald reports,

Portland city councilors on Tuesday heard feedback both for and against proposed changes to the city’s food truck program on the heavily trafficked and popular Eastern Promenade.

The council also heard from staff about their proposed plans for next season, which include reducing the number of spots available to trucks in the Eastern Prom’s Cutter Street middle parking lot from 14 to seven and implementing a new $3,900 fee for trucks to operate in the park on a first-come first-served basis.

The next meeting on the issue is taking place on December 1st and then the acting city manager is expected to make a final decision.

Botto’s Moving to Westbrook

| Posted in Under Construction, Real Estate

Botto’s Bakery (website) is moving their operation to a 14,000 sq ft facility at 5 Karen Drive in Westbrook. The new bakery represents a 25% increase over their current bakery. It’s expected to go into production in April 2023. According to a report in Mainebiz,

The bakery produces 4,000 loaves of bread each week and an average of 100,000 rolls at the Portland location. The new space is being designed for ease and efficiency as well.

“I had to turn down business this summer,” said co-owner and Vice President Steve Mathews. “It was like a 3-ring circus trying to manage it all, and it hasn’t been easy on the employees. It was either expanding or downsizing and going backwards didn’t make sense. The new facility is going to provide a better working environment for a great team, and now there’s a plan in place for the next generation.”

Botto’s has been located on Washington Ave since the company was founded in 1949. There’s no word yet on whether the new Westbrook location will include a retail store.

The current 9,000 sq ft Botto’s building at 550 Washington Ave is listed for sale by Boulos for $1,200,000. It’s situated near the intersection of Washington Ave and Veranda Street in the East Deering neighborhood. The current configuration include an 800 sq ft retail space. The Roux Institute is planning a major build out at the former B&M factory property nearby.

Goodfire Freeport Opening Saturday

| Posted in Under Construction

  • Goodfire Brewing (website, facebook, instagram) will be opening their new tasting room and restaurant in Freeport on Saturday. The new location has seating for 75 (including the bar shown above) along with an additional 75 of outdoor seating. The 24-tap draft system will be set-up to serve 12 beer, 6 wines and 6 cocktails.

The kitchen is headed up by Ben Christie along with sous chef Colin Kennedy. The menu (see draft menu below) features “interesting & approachable takes on bar food classics” such as Smoked Ricotta Dip served with tomato confit, olive salad and focaccia,  a Napa Cabbage salad served with a roasted jalapeno and pepita viniagrette, cotija, pickled onions and herbs, and a Fried Pork Cutlet sandwich made with apple mostarda, basil and cabbage slaw. There will be four different styles of wings a kids menu and a selection of desserts that includes a soft pretzel bread pudding.

Christie along with Goodfire Freeport general manager Kevin Nelson are both Big Tree Hospitality alums where Nelson was the general manager of The Honey Paw and Christie was the chef de cuisine at Hugo’s. Kennedy’s resume includes time as the sous chef at Leeward.

Goodfire Freeport features a private dining room that can seat up to 14 and is decorated with a mural (see below) by artist Lydia Jane Brown from October Wilde. A few steps away at the end of the bar Goodfire has built in a pilot system brewing system which they’ll use to produce small batch and experimental one-off beers.

Goodfire Freeport is located at 180 South Freeport Rd, Freeport Maine 04032 which owners David and Julia Redding have been renovating since taking over the space in the summer of 2021. Hours will be Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday noon – 9 pm, Friday and Saturday noon – 10 pm, and open for retail sales only on Monday (1 – 6 pm).

Goodfire Brewing launched their original location on Anderson Street in East Bayside almost exactly five years ago in November 2017.

Upcoming Events/Thanksgiving List

| Posted in Events

Monday – Cera is hosting a meeting “to start a dialog amongst Portland’s chefs/restauranteurs about sustainability in food systems.” Winemakers Alessandra Divella of Divella and Clémence Lelarge of Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot will be at  Maine & Loire for a wine tasting. Tally’s is opening their second location in the Stevens Square Community Center.

Tuesday – the new Thai restaurant on outer Congress Street Mitr (facebook, instagram) is opening, and Yes Yes Pizza is holding a pop-up at Fish & Whistle in Biddeford.

Wednesday – the new West End bakery Zu Bakery (website, instagram) is opening, and Broken Arrow is serving a 4-course cider dinner, and Evo is holding a 5-course Rhone wine dinner.

Thursday – Petite Jacqueline is holding a Beaujolais Nouveau dinner.

Saturday – author Eric Kim will be at Onggi for a book signing.

Sunday – Chef Amanda Shulman from Her Place Supper Club in Philadelphia will be holding a pop-up at Crispy Gai.

Thanksgiving – here’s the 2022 Thanksgiving dining and takeout list. Drop us a line if you know of a Thanksgiving-themed offering not yet on the list.

November 26 – it’s the official grand opening for Sweetcream Dairy in Biddeford.

November 29 – The Press Hotel is screening Hearts of Glass a documentary about the Vertical Harvest greenhouse in Jackson Hole. Vertical Harvest is now building a 70,000 square foot greenhouse in Westbrook. Following the screening the Press Hotel will host a panel and Q&A with the filmmaker, a Vertical Harvest co-founder, employee Sean Stone, and Maine Medical Center’s Employee Relationship Specialist Chris Hynes.

December 3 – it’s the first day of the Winter Farmers’ Market which is located at the Stevens Square Community Center.

December 10 – Bissell Brothers is serving a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner, the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

December 11 – Koji Alchemy author Rich Shih will be at Judy Gibson for a koji workshop and fermentation dinner.

Hilltop Coffee Closing

| Posted in Closings

Owners Guy and Stella Hernandez have announced they’ll be closing Hilltop Coffee later this year.

Apparently, 2022 had a different idea for us. At one point, a potential new building owner indicated we would no longer have a home here as they would not be renewing our lease. (Cue a mad search for a new location, sigh…) Many twists and turns, ups and downs, highs and lows later, we find that the demands of this corner of Munjoy Hill and the demands of our lives beyond it mean our time here at 100 Congress is over.
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Our lease runs out at the end of the year and we have decided that it is time to see what new adventures await us.
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We’re sure some of you may have questions. We may or may not have all the answers for you, but feel to stop by to say hello/goodbye, we’ll be around through the start of December.
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The coffee will be strong. The food will be good.

Guy and Stella previously owned and operated Lolita and before that Bar Lola.

Updated: for additional reporting see this article in the Press Herald.

Cong Tu Bot Reopens Friday

| Posted in Openings

Cong Tu Bot is  set to reopen this Friday for indoor dining and with a new concept as a quán nhậu. The concept of a quán nhậu approximately aligns with the idea of a Vietnamese pub or tavern and more directly translates to a shop/diner for drinking and feasting.

The menu (see below) features many new dishes with a few classic carry overs—CTB dessert fans will be happy to know that the chè and the flan made the cut. Some new options include a Rare Denver Steak Salad w/shrimp paste & pineapple sauce, grapefruit, shiso, watercress, birds eye chili, Chicken Liver Pâté w/ fried mantou, whipped condensed milk, chinese mustard, pink peppercorn, and a Caramel Braised Monkfish w/ caramel-cured egg, cilantro, black pepper, and steamed rice.

Also new on the menu is an expanded beverage program designed by Matthew Im, Ashley Ogando, and Hannah Hermes. The bar menu is centered around wine with both by the glass options and bottle list as well as cocktails, beer and no ABV drinks. Cong Tu Bot will also be a BYOB restaurant (see corkage details below).

Co-owner Vien Dobui shared that the popular noodle dishes from their previous dinner service like the phở and bún will eventually make a return.

Cong Tu Bot will be open Friday through Monday, 5 – 9 pm and for the first time is taking reservations.

Upcoming Events/Thanksgiving List

| Posted in Events

Monday – French author and cider producer  Claude Jolicoeur will be giving a talk at Urban Farm Fermentory. The Washington Baths will be holding their next Bread Soup Cake dinner.

Wednesday – Bar Futo will be holding a pop-up at Crispy Gai.

Friday – Sunday – the 5th Annual Downeast Cider and Cheese Festival is taking place in Ellsworth.

Saturday – Pasilla is holding a pop-up at Cabana.

November 14 – Cera is hosting a meeting “to start a dialog amongst Portland’s chefs/restauranteurs about sustainability in food systems.”

November 15 – Yes Yes Pizza is holding a pop-up at Fish & Whistle in Biddeford.

November 16 – Broken Arrow is serving a 4-course cider dinner, and Evo is holding a 5-course Rhone wine dinner.

November 19 – Lorne is holding their 2nd annual La Fête du Beaujolais.

November 20 – Chef Amanda Shulman from Her Place Supper Club in Philadelphia will be holding a pop-up at Crispy Gai.

Thanksgiving – here’s the 2022 Thanksgiving dining and takeout list. Drop us a line if you know of a Thanksgiving-themed offering not yet on the list.

December 3 – it’s the first day of the Winter Farmers’ Market which is located at the Stevens Square Community Center.

December 11 – Koji Alchemy author Rich Shih will be at Judy Gibson for a koji workshop and fermentation dinner.