Portland Food Map

09/05/2025

This week's Maine Food & Dining report includes news from Auburn, Newcastle, Waterville, Bar Harbor, Bath, Bucksport, Orland, and Freeport as well as a list of new additions to the Maine Food Map.

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know: New entries have been added to the Maine Food Map: Marmee Dearest Espresso in Kingfield, The Corner Bar in Rangeley, Cafe Grazie , Luce Spirits and Claws in Rockland, Spark Bagel...

09/02/2025

Today is the first day of September and the unofficial start of the apple season! 🍎🍎🍎

Fall is the perfect time to plan a Maine road-trip. Follow the link below for guides to great orchards and heirloom apple varieties, Maine's cider tasting rooms, seasonal apple events, and other pomological resources to help you enjoy all that the season has to offer.

Maine Apple Orchards and Cider Guides: https://www.portlandfoodmap.com/2025-maine-apple-and-cider-season/

08/30/2025

Yousif Albadri has leased the long vacant space at the corner of Congress and High Streets where he plans to open the Y%F, an 80+ seat cafe. Albadri has begun building out the 2,200 sq ft space and hopes to open Y%F by the end of November.

The cafe will have their own in-house coffee roasting operation. In addition to the standard line-up of drip and espresso-based drinks, they’ll be serving some specialty hot and cold drinks like Spanish lattes, pistachio lattes and Turkish coffee. Albardi also plans to have teas and a variety of nonalcoholic mojitos on the menu. Their in-house bakery will make a wide range of cakes and sweet treats, and breakfast sandwiches will be available in the mornings.

08/29/2025

This week's Maine Food & Dining Report includes word of a new sushi restaurant in Westbrook, a Jacques Pépin birthday dinner in Beals, and other news from Eastport, Monroe, Brunswick, Rockland, Kittery, Lewiston, Stockton Springs, and South Portland.

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know: The Quoddy Tides has published article about Phoenix Fine Wines in Eastport and their new chef Philipp Player. “The day starts well before that with Philipp Player coming in fr...

08/28/2025

Silver Street by Taj is opening today at 5 pm. It is located at 35 Silver Street in the Old Port in the space formerly occupied North Point. It will be open daily, 5 pm – 1 am. 🍸🍷🍺

Owners Sai Guntaka and Jim Baldi and beverage director Cody Brann will be serving (see menu below) a range of cocktails as well as wine by the glass or bottle, non-alcoholic cocktails, and local draft beer including the Sai Lager produced in collaboration with Oxbow Brewing Company and the Talwar IPA produced in collaboration with Bissell Brothers.

Silver Street will launch with a more limited food menu but they plan to expand the offerings in the near future. You can see from the menu below there are a pair of entree, taco appetizers and desserts already available.

The 1,000 sq ft space has been completely renovated. It features a 10-seat bar, flexible banquette seating and can accommodate 40 people overall. The interior design is reminiscent of the look of Guntaka’s South Portland restaurant.

Guntaka is the owner and Baldi is the bar manager of the popular South Portland restaurant Taj Indian Cuisine.

08/26/2025

Dok Mali has announced plans to close their South Portland location, Dok Mali Noodle Bar. Their last day in business will be this Saturday.

Old Orchard Beach’s Asia House will be taking over the noodle bar space where owners Piranun Piradetpaopong and Rossarin Penna plan to open Asia House Kitchen and Bar. They will be serving a pan-Asian menu featuring poke, Thai dishes and Korean dishes. Renovations are underway with hopes of launching the restaurant and bar by the end of September.

08/21/2025

This week’s Maine Food & Dining Report includes word of Catbird Restaurant, a new establishment being launched by Molly Pritchett and chef Josh Grindstaff in South Berwick. See the article below for information. Catbird is expected to launch by the end of October. This week’s report also includes news from Skowhegan, Biddeford, Freeport, Warren, Old Town, Ellsworth, Yarmouth, and Brunswick.

Are there exciting food and restaurant developments taking place in your part of Maine? Drop us a line to let us know what’s going on.

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know: Molly Pritchett and Josh Grindstaff have leased the former Secundo space at 279 Main Street in South Berwick where they plan to open Catbird (website, facebook, instagram). The m...

08/20/2025

Il Leone chef/owner Ben Wexler-Waite has announced he’ll be opening a brick and mortar pizzeria in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn this fall. “The Brooklyn space will have an open kitchen and a large backyard and feature the same naturally leavened pies we have been serving the last 5 summers out of our trailer on Peaks Island. Our produce will continue to be sourced from small organic farms and farmers markets and we will continue to source the best quality Maine frutti di mare for our beloved Isola lobster pizza.”

Wexler-Waite confirmed that the original Peaks Island Il Leone will be reopening for the season next summer. “For all who have asked/are wondering, we will indeed be returning to Peaks Island on a continued seasonal basis.”

Il Leone launched on Peaks in the summer of 2021. This year they’ll be open through August 25th. The NYC outpost will be located at 158 7th Avenue, Brooklyn in the space formerly occupied by Bar Vinazo.

08/19/2025

A Filipino restaurant called Barkada will be moving into the Paper Tiger space with the hope to launch in the summer of 2026.

Chefs Nicole and Ben Bowers and business partners Margaret and Luka Dow launched the Barkada food truck this summer serving a menu of tofu, pork and beef bowls served over garlic rice or greens. Shown above is the Lechon rice bowl with cherry tomatoes, cucumber salad, pickled onions and a grilled pepper from the food truck’s opening day.

The food truck has given them a chance to get feedback from the Portland community. The restaurant menu will include the dishes they’re serving at the food truck with a wider selection of proteins, other toppings and side dishes. They’re also planning to have desserts like ube flavored whoopie pies and brookies. A selection of Filipino soft drinks with flavors like calamansi and fruit juices will be part of the drinks offered.

Nicole and Ben Bowers will be the chefs for Barkada. Nicole Bowers is originally from the Philippines. She and Ben Bowers met while attending the Institute of Culinary Education in NY. They’ve worked in Michelin-starred restaurants including for Daniel Boulud. Prior to moving to Maine they worked as private chefs in Florida. The Dows also have a background in the hospitality industry including operating a cafe in Boston and in food distribution.

When we first reported on their restaurant plans back in March, the team was looking to open at 25 Pearl Street but had since been exploring other opportunities in the Old Port.

Paper Tiger announced earlier today that they’ll be closing. August 31st will be their last day in business.

08/15/2025

Dutchman’s in Brunswick has been invited to participate in the 2025 New York BagelFest. They're one of 23 bagel producers from around the globe participating in the event, and the only one from New England. Jeremy and Marina Kratzer launched Dutchman's—initially as a weekly pop-up—in 2022 and have quickly become a favorite bagel shop in Southern Maine.

BagelFest was founded in 2019 by Sam Silverman. It's an annual event that celebrates all things bagel. BagelFest 2025 is taking place in NYC in November.

For more information on the event see: https://www.bagelfest.com

08/13/2025

Travel + Leisure magazine has published an article about the Portland dining scene.

How Portland, Maine, went from being a great little food town to one of America’s finest places to eat.

08/13/2025

This week’s Maine food and dining report includes word of new businesses in Auburn, Freeport, Biddeford and Camden and additional news from South Portland, Belfast, S**o, Orrs Island, Old Town, West Bath, Swanville, and Martinsville.

New food and dining developments are taking place all across Maine. Here are some recent updates to keep you in the know: Ken Sparta and Thomas Henninger, the owners of the Freeport Oyster Bar, are launching a new business in town called Sparta’s Sips and Subs (instagram). They plan to serve upsca...