Chef Jason Loring and two business partners are opening a new clam shack at Thompson’s Point in Portland that will be made out of renovated shipping containers.

Loring, owner of Slab and Nosh Kitchen Bar in Portland, is joining forces on the project with Mike Fraser, owner of Bramhall Pub, and Nat Towl, a builder who helped Loring design Slab.

“It’s going to be a lot of really, really high-quality fresh seafood right from the water,” Loring said, describing the menu at the new clam shack. “I’ve got a friend who owns a lobster boat who can literally pull right up to the point because they’re going to build a dock. He can pull his boat up and carry the lobster right over to my restaurant.”

The restaurant, which will be called The Point, will serve all the fried foods traditionally found at clam shacks, including fried clams, fried oysters and fried scallops, as well as steamers and lobster dinners. Loring said he would serve Rhode Island calamari when it is in season, and three or four versions of lobster rolls, including a tempura-fried lobster roll served with a corn chowder.

There will be a children’s menu as well, featuring items such as chicken fingers and cheeseburgers.

“The other big thing we’re going to try to do is steamers and boiled lobsters to go, by the pound, like a pickup,” Loring said. “Or if you wanted lobsters for the night, you could come and just grab five boiled lobsters and the fixings to go with them and take them home real quick. It might even grow into a scene where there’s an outdoor boil that has potatoes and corn and all that, all ready to go.”

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Thompson’s Point is a 30-acre former industrial site that juts out into the Fore River. Currently under development, the site will eventually include an outdoor concert venue, a sports arena, hotel, bakery and cafe, offices and residences. The Circus Conservatory of America has already relocated there, and on Jan. 31, Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville announced it will open a 5,000-square-foot tasting room next spring where it will host wine tastings, dinners, cooking classes and other special events.

Loring said his project will start out small, with just two shipping containers, and build out from there. The Point will have all outdoor seating its first year – up to 50 picnic tables seating 200-300 people – and will basically be a beer garden serving beer and wine. The restaurateurs will add floors, using more shipping containers, as they grow.

“We might have a roof-top deck or something like that, but that’s all down the road,” Loring said.

Loring said they hope to open this summer, no later than July.

“I think it’s just natural,” he said. “It’s right on the water. The sunset over there is beautiful.”

And there’s more in the works. Loring said he and Fraser are working on another project together that he’s not ready to talk about.

“I want to try to open four places and bring some stuff to Portland that doesn’t already exist,” he said.

 


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