Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes an article on how supply chain issues are impacting the launch of new restaurants in Portland.
Many of the region’s anticipated restaurant and food shop openings this year have become bogged down by big delays, reflecting the hard reality that Belleville ran into headlong. In sum: Workers everywhere and the things they produce are in short supply and running late.
Big Tree Hospitality owners Andrew Taylor and Arlin Smith announced that they will not be reopening Hugo’s their fine dining restaurant on Middle Street.
Portland, you made Hugo’s such a special place to dine and gather since 1988. We will always be grateful for the love and community that these walls have created. While Hugo’s closed over two years ago due to COVID, we are finally ready to announce that Hugo’s will not be reopening in its previous form as a fine dining restaurant.
Hugo’s was where the Big Tree Hospitality story began, and it will always be one of the most important parts of our history. First opened in 1988 as a bistro and piano-lounge by Johnny Robinson as a tribute to his son, Hugo, the restaurant underwent many iterations over the years. Bought in 2000 by Rob Evans and Nancy Pugh, Hugo’s quickly became one of the most avant garde restaurants in the country, earning Rob Evans significant national accolades such as Food and Wine Best New Chef 2005 and James Beard Best Chef Northeast 2008. Big Tree Hospitality founders Andrew Taylor, Arlin Smith, and Mike Wiley worked together under their mentors Rob and Nancy for four years prior to purchasing the restaurant in 2012. The Big Tree trio renovated the space in 2015 where it thrived until the COVID closure in March 2020.
Future plans for the space are still TBD but it’s available for private parties and small events.
Update: The Press Herald has also published an article on what the closure of Hugo’s says about the state of fine dining in Portland.
Vena’s Fizz House (website, facebook, instagram) is making good progress in renovating their new location at 867 Congress Street in Parkside and the owners hope to launch in December.
The former church will be home to the expanded Vena’s cocktail/mocktail bar and mixology shop which will eventually span three floors with seating for 129 people. The main floor with bar and mixology shop and the mezzanine seating area will be open for the relaunch of Vena’s.
The mixology shop will offer a similar mix of products as the old Vena’s with bar tools, books, bitters, mixers, and glassware as well as Vena’s branded products. Vena’s will also be hosting their mixology classes on Congress Street and the space will be available for private events.
The draft menu supplied with their liquor license application includes drinks like the Sea Rose (gin, rose petals, apple, hibiscus, tonic, lime, Vena’s meadow bitters), Mezcalcillin (mezcal, drambuie, ancho chili liquer, ginger, sfumato, Vena’s fiesta bitters) and a the Maine Maple Fire mocktail (maple syrup, apple cider syrup, lemon, ghost pepper, Vena’s aromatic bitters).
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Vena’s Fizz House was founded in 2013 and was originally located at the corner of Silver and Fore Streets in the Old Port.
Joe Fournier has relaunched the former Dirty Dove cocktail bar with a new name and concept as the Saint Joe Restobar (instagram).
The restaurant will be serving “pan-continental fare” prepared by “Executive Cheftender” Ezra Dunn. Locally Dunn has worked at Evo and Black Cow. Before moving to Portland from the Hudson Valley he led the kitchen at The Stagecoach Inn.
The Saint Joe Restobar—named after Joe Strummer from The Clash—is located at 229 Congress Street. It is open noon to 9 pm, Monday through Saturday.
Separately, Fournier and Matt Moran are opening A & C Soda Shop in South Portland as a successor to Fournier’s popular business A & C Grocery which closed on Washington Ave last year.
Tuesday – Chaval is serving a 5-course sherry dinner.
Wednesday – Rosemont is holding an apple tasting at their location on Thompson’s Point.
Saturday – Stroudwater Distillery is holding a fall infusion workshop.
Sunday – Ruby Thailand Cuisine is holding a fried chicken pop-up at their restaurant in South Portland.
October 27 – 29 – Harvest on the Harbor is taking place.
October 29 – the 17th Annual Veg Fest is taking place, as is the 2022 East Bayside Halloween Fest.
November 19 – Lorne is holding their 2nd annual La Fête du Beaujolais.
Thanksgiving – here’s the start of our Thanksgiving list. Entries will be added as restaurants post their details.
Saltwater Grille – a 3-course dinner for $55-65/person.
Harraseeket Inn – is serving their Grand Buffet (menu); $139/adult, children 6-12 are $49/child, children 5 & under are free
Down East magazine has published an interview with Sean Turley.
By day, Sean Turley is a Portland lawyer. But when he swaps out his business suit for denim overalls, he turns into one of Maine’s foremost apple nerds. His “origin story,” as he puts it, goes back a decade: One autumn day, he was driving through central Maine with his now-wife when they stopped at an orchard. Turley knew a few types of apples from supermarkets — Gala, Golden Delicious, etc. — but at this single orchard, he encountered more than two dozen different apples with names he’d never heard. Awed by the sheer variety, he loaded up his trunk and hauled them home for a tasting with friends.
To learn more from Turley about the world of heirloom apple varieties visit his instagram account, The Righteous Russet.
Wednesday – the chefs from Oberlin (from Providence, Rhode Island) and Regards will be serving a collaboration dinner.
Saturday – USM is leading a Big Queer Historical Bar Tour, there will be a community cider pressing at the Mount Joy Orchard., and A&C Soda Shop will be holding a pop-up in South Portland.
Sunday – MOFGA is holding Great Maine Apple Day at Unity, and McDougal’s Orchard is holding an apple tasting.
October 18 – Chaval is serving a 5-course sherry dinner.
October 19 – Rosemont is holding an apple tasting at their location on Thompson’s Point.
October 27 – 29 – Harvest on the Harbor is taking place.
October 29 – the 17th Annual Veg Fest is taking place, as is the 2022 East Bayside Halloween Fest.
November 19 – Lorne is holding their 2nd annual La Fête du Beaujolais.
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Wilson County Barbecue,
If ketchup-based sauce and beef brisket are all that comes to mind when you hear the word, “barbecue,” it’s time for a visit to Wilson County Barbecue in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood. Opened by Spencer Brantley and his business partners from Ri Ra, the restaurant is “a whole-hog-focused, sub-regional restaurant” specializing in Eastern North Carolina barbecue dishes. Chief among them, tangy, pit-smoked pulled pork that gets a jolt from apple cider vinegar and red pepper flakes.
Khanhly Nguyen has applied for a liquor license for the Old Port Noodle House at 245 Commercial Street.
Nguyen is in the process of buying the Veranda Noodle House from family members. He expects to continue to operate the business along the same lines but will rename it as the Old Port Noodle House.
The Veranda Noodle House originally opened in 2015.
A new African restaurant called Merveille is under construction in Woodfords Corner at 683 Forest Ave in the space formerly occupied by the Shawarma & Kebab House.
Owner Liliana Mungongo Da Silva is a recent immigrant who originally hails from Angola. Here’s a bit of her personal history shared in her liquor license application.
Indeed, I embraced commerce, trading and business at an early age in Africa. Coming out from a humble family, armed with a very strong will to succeed in life, my beginning was hard. I endured the hardship from selling water in the street to becoming one of the prominent businesswomen in Luanda, Angola. I became a role-model and led many other women into the field of business, traveled to more than 20 countries around the world; due to political unrest, I finally rested my luggages in the USA.
Da Silva’s goal is for Merveille to be “place where people from different cultures can meet and mingle.” Merveille is intended to be a place where Americans can experience a food culture that may be new to them, and where members of the African immigrant community “can easily find their home foods when going to or coming back from work”.
The draft menu includes some regional dishes like fufu, fumbua, bolino de chuva, kikwanga, plantains and casava leaves along with vegetables, salad, and dishes featuring goat, fish and chicken.
Merveille is a French word that appears to mean a ‘wonder’ or ‘marvel’.