Nick Yee, the owner of the Kuno (instagram) food truck, has leased 166 Cumberland Ave where he plans to open a brick and mortar restaurant of the same name. Kuno will be serving an expanded menu of Southeast Asian dishes and his family recipes with a full bar.
Yee hopes to open the restaurant in September, and in the meantime will be offering takeout using the food truck kitchen and delivery through services like 2DineIn.
Yee launched the Kuno food truck in February of 2019.
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A new food truck called Little Easy Snoballs (website, instagram, facebook) launched yesterday at Back Cove.
Owner Lauren Gauthier offers up 30+ flavors of snoballs (classic snoball flavors and some house specials) you can also get yours topped with marshmallow fluff, condensed milk or “stuffed” with ice cream. I got a peach flavored snoball with ice cream.
Gauthier plans to locate Little Easy on Back Cove on weekdays and on the Eastern Prom on weekends.
NewYork Fried Chicken is now open. NFC is located at the corner of Cumberland and Washington in the former Bob’s Clam Hut space. The signage indicates they’ll be selling a menu of fried chicken, kebabs, gyro, seafood, subs and ice cream.
There are restaurants by the same name according to Wikipedia they are not a chain or a franchise despite operating a very similar concept.
The Food & Dining section today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes articles on:
Leigh Habegger, executive director of Seafood Harvesters of America, and Andrew Taylor, Arlin Smith and Mike Wiley, the co-owners of Eventide, Hugo’s and The Honey Paw have co-written an article for the Press Herald advocating for passage of the Restaurants Act and funds to support the seafood industry.
The connection couldn’t be clearer: Without restaurants, many fishermen have nowhere to sell their catch. Without fishermen, many restaurants have nothing to offer. We’re proud to harvest and serve the best-managed, most sustainable seafood in the world, especially when it comes on a steamed bun or slurped down with a squeeze of lemon. By passing the RESTAURANTS Act and providing additional assistance to the commercial fishing industry, Congress would make sure fresh oysters, lobster tails and haddock filets continue to make it to consumers, returning hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of jobs in the process.
For more information on the challenges faced by restaurant during the pandemic visit the Independent Restaurant Coalition website.
A bill has been proposed for the Maine Legislature which would enable restaurants to sell alcohol to go through 2022, according to a report in the Press Heraldi.
But Sen. Louie Luchini, D-Ellsworth, who sponsored the bill to extend the to-go law until April 2022, said it has helped prevent many restaurants from going out of business during the pandemic.
Sip of Europe, the cafe and creperie at 229 Congress Street, has gone out of business.
However, owner Yulia Stolkner will be moving the business into Fork Food Lab to continue making crêpe cakes. You can continue to stay in touch with Sip of Europe through their accounts on instagram and facebook.
Magnus on Water reopened last week for service on their patio. As they scale up the menu for that aspect of their business, the team is also working on a new project.
Magnus hopes to open a food truck across Water Street in Mechanics Park overlooking the Saco River. Serving out of a converted Airstream, Magnus will be offering a more casual scaled down menu that customers can enjoy in the park.
Andrew Zarro (website, instagram) the co-owner of Little Woodfords, has thrown his hat into the ring as a candidate for the District 4 City Council seat. Zarro makes the case that his perspective as a small business owner is central to what he can contribute to leadership in Portland on the City Council.
Owning and operating a small business is challenging on a good day. It’s also one of the most wonderfully rewarding contributions to make to your community. I opened my first shop three years ago in woodfords corner because I wanted to invest in our neighborhood and be the change I wished to see. COVID-19 changed the landscape in our city, and small businesses are facing a mass extinction without the continued support from federal, state and municipal governments. We need a voice on our council that understands the needs of Portland’s small businesses both on and off peninsula, the nuances of our neighborhoods and the empathy of someone who knows these struggles first hand.
Two of the food truck tracking platforms we wrote about in late June have joined forces. Food Trux which has just recently launched in Denver, Colorado has acquired Maine Food Truck Tracker, a Portland company that provided a web-based app/service for Maine food trucks.
FoodTrux CEO Matthew Noone is also excited about the possibilities presented by this deal: “Because Maine Food Truck Tracker was first in the local market with more than 50% of the state’s food trucks signed up, I couldn’t be more excited to merge with them. The fact that both companies are based here in Portland, our home market for FoodTrux.co, just makes this collaboration all the more beneficial for us and the food truck operators.