Novel, a book-focused bar and cafe coming to Congress Street, has delayed its opening until midsummer because of permitting and subcontractor holdups.

Co-owner Nate Donovan said he and partner Joshua Ames originally had hoped to open by January. But they weren’t able to secure a building permit for the 4,000-square-foot, two-floor space at 643 Congress St. – formerly Bomb Diggity Arts – until February, and are now running into delays with subcontractors during prime building season.

“It’s extremely frustrating. This much square footage on a busy street is not cheap,” said Donovan, who hopes to open in July. Donovan said they thought the Congress Street location would be ideal to attract foot traffic and a local clientele.

“We realized in a lot of Portland experiences, you’re trying to cram people into a thimble,” he said. “A lot of spaces are pretty small.”

Donovan said the roomy Congress Street space also will allow them to provide plenty of “soft seating” – lounge chairs, loveseats and sofas – in addition to cafe tables and bar seats.

Donovan expects the venue to seat about 50 on the ground-level book bar area, and 40 in the basement space, which will have a stage for live entertainment. Because of budget restrictions that have arisen since the project timeline stretched out, the owners plan to open Novel’s ground-level book bar area first.

The book bar will be a full-service cocktail bar and cafe featuring beans roasted in-house and a limited food menu upon launch, with items like pastries and charcuterie. Eventually, the menu will expand to include breakfast sandwiches, a variety of panini and desserts, and banger balls – sausage and mashed potato balls.

Novel has partnered with Green Hand Bookshop on Congress Street to build and curate the book selection. Donovan expects to have about 6,000 books, which customers can peruse, read while they eat and drink, or buy.

He compared Novel to Elements: Books Coffee Beer in Biddeford, except it will have a more “upscale” feel. “You’re going to walk in and see a lot of books on the walls, some soft seating, a copper bar, higher-end finishes with some live-edged wood,” Donovan said. “Ideally, you’ll get the mansion library experience.”

Novel will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

“There’s just been a lot of people who’ve said they’d love a space like this,” Donovan said. “We want to focus on giving the community something they’ll enjoy and something that is not currently available.”

BIG TREE NOW OPERATING SOUTH FREEPORT VILLAGE MARKET

The South Freeport Village Market has reopened with new owners and a new food and drink program.

Arlin Smith, a partner in Big Tree Hospitality, which is operating the market, said it opened Friday. Building owners Mary Beth and Chris Lorenz bought the property at 97 South Freeport Road in 2020 and then renovated the structure – a village hub since the 1950s – for more efficient use as a modern market and cafe.

Smith said the roughly 1,900-square-foot market has retained its basic layout through the updates. “It’s pretty much the same as the original market: a small skinny space with a kitchen right in the middle of it and a dining area for people to enjoy the food we’re putting out, and on the other side there’s a market component with sundries and snacks.”

Smith said the market serves coffee from Rwanda Bean and pastries from Little Spruce Baking Co. It also offers bagels from Biddeford’s Rover Bagel on Wednesday through Sunday. The menu features a variety of breakfast sandwiches ($5-$6) served on Little Spruce breads, salads ($13-$15) and deli-style and specialty sandwiches ($13 to $15).

“There’s more to be had. We opened with what we figured was the bare minimum of products, with hopes of adding to it. More beer, more wines, food, everything.”

The South Freeport Village Market is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Big Tree Hospitality, owners of The Honey Paw, and Eventide in Portland and Boston, also operates Higgins Beach Market in Scarborough and Town Landing Market in Falmouth.

LITTLE PIG TAKES OVER FORMER FIGGY’S

A Thai-inspired, takeout-only restaurant that will be opening on Congress Street in the former Figgy’s space plans a pop-up at the venue Saturday through Monday.

The restaurant will be called Little Pig, according to Michael Mcdonnell, who co-owns the restaurant with his Thailand-born wife, Piyathida. The couple have cooked at area eateries, including former Southeast Asian restaurant Tempo Dulu on Danforth Street and the Blair Hill Inn in Greenville, and their five children also will be helping with the operation, Mcdonnell said.

The pop-up runs each day from 2-6 p.m. at the 772B Congress St. restaurant. Donovan said the Little Pig menu will feature items including ground pork belly and shiitake dumplings, grilled marinated pork skewers with tamarind and palm sugar glaze, and banh mi sandwiches filled with fried hake coated in a thick choo-chee curry.

“Our tagline is, ‘Thai-ish snacks and street food,’ ” Mcdonnell said. “These are foods we eat at home, dishes my wife has cooked for our family. It’s been really fun for my wife and I to launch a little place for us and our family.”

Little Pig will be exclusively takeout, though Mcdonnell said they’ll have limited seating at a few outdoor tables. He said they expect to hold another pop-up weekend later in June before opening fully sometime in July.

While the owners haven’t yet set their hours of operation, Mcdonnell said Little Pig will be open Sundays and Mondays to cater to people who work in the restaurant industry on their usual days off.

CULTURAL CUISINE AT LA KERMESSE

The Biddeford Cultural and Heritage Center is hosting its Cultural Cuisine event on Saturday, June 24, as part of the 40th annual La Kermesse Festival.

The event, to be held under the main tent at St. Louis Field in Biddeford, offers foods representing the various cultures and cuisines of Biddeford’s residents, some of whom hail from Angola, England, Iraq, Jamaica and Eastern European Jewish cultures. The La Kermesse Festival – an annual weekend of music, arts and outdoor events – was started in 1983 to celebrate the town’s French Canadian connections.

“This is a great opportunity to experience dishes from different countries and ethnicities prepared by members of our diverse Biddeford community,” event organizer Debbie Litalien said.

The Cultural Cuisine event is free for attendees of the La Kermesse festival. Weekend tickets for the festival, available online, are $13 and day passes are $8.

WURST WEEK FOR HOT DOG LOVERS

Four Portland bars and restaurants are jointly hosting a weeklong hot dog crawl this month dubbed The Wurst Week Ever.

The four crawl destinations include The East Ender at 47 Middle St., High Roller Lobster Co. at 104 Exchange St., The Portland Hunt + Alpine Club at 75 Market St., and Room for Improvement at 41 Wharf St. Participants can obtain crawl cards from any of the four locations, then return their completed cards – indicating they’ve had at least one hot dog from each location – to be entered into a raffle.

Four winners will receive prizes that include gift cards from the crawl venues, “hot dog swag” and more.

The Wurst Week Ever kicks off with a party on Monday, June 19, from 5-10 p.m. at Hunt + Alpine featuring pickle martinis and three types of hot dogs. The crawl week winds up on Sunday, June 25, from 5-8:30 p.m. at Room for Improvement with the raffle drawing and games including bobbing for hot dogs and a hot dog lob.

PEPPER’S LANDING BUYS YORK LOBSTER POUND

The Cape Neddick Lobster Pound in York has been sold to the owners of Pepper’s Landing Lobster Co., which expects to reopen the 64-year-old restaurant in July.

J. B. Young, owner of “The Pound” as the local institution is known, put the property up for sale in March with an asking price of $2.5 million. The sale closed June 2.

Pepper’s Landing owners Ian Miller and Morey Highbarger launched their brand in 2019 when they opened their first two locations in Brunswick and Rochester, New Hampshire. They have since opened a location in Old Town and are preparing to open another in Ogunquit this summer. Miller and Highbarger also own Sea Salt Lobster restaurant in Saco.

The riverside Cape Neddick Lobster Pound has been a popular dining destination since it opened in 1959. But dramatically rising costs – including property taxes, utilities and food – made it increasingly challenging for the Young family to operate.

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