Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co. will take over the adjacent Commercial Street space recently vacated by The Maker’s Galley, nearly doubling the brewery’s footprint in the Old Port.

Brickyard co-owner Brad Moll said the brewery’s current space at 9 Commercial St. is 1,500 square feet, while the next-door unit – vacant since September after the nearly two-year-old cafe and gift shop closed – is about 1,100 square feet.

“We certainly have had a need (for expansion), our dining area is too small,” said Moll. “When the opportunity came about, it was the right thing to do to jump on it.”

Moll said the additional dining area will also provide Brickyard Hollow with a small private event space as needed. The new room will also feature a second, smaller bar with about 10 seats, he said.

Moll said Brickyard Hollow hopes to open the expanded area by late March.

Brickyard Hollow opened its first location in Yarmouth in 2018, and launched on Commercial Street in 2020. The brewery now has nine locations.

CAFE LOUIS OPENING CAMDEN RESTAURANT

The owner of Cafe Louis in South Portland plans to open a sister restaurant in Camden later this year, in the former home of Wolfpeach.

Cafe Louis chef-owner Evan Richardson said he bought the building at 50 Elm St., where Wolfpeach closed in August. He said the new Midcoast restaurant will be appropriately called Costa Media, and that he hopes to open by mid-December.

“It’s not going to be exactly the same as Cafe Louis in South Portland. It’ll have similar overlaps, but it’ll be its own thing tailored to Camden,” Richardson said. “As a company, we say our best ability is availability. So we’re going to try to figure out when Camden wants us throughout the week and try to provide a price point and quality of product that matches Cafe Louis.”

Like the cuisine at the two-year-old Cafe Louis, the menu at Costa Media will feature upscale Costa Rican- and Caribbean-influenced dishes.

The roughly 1,900-square-foot Camden venue seats 35-40 inside, with an additional 40 seats on the back patio. Richardson will head up the Costa Media kitchen, which he said will be staffed in part by former Wolfpeach cooks. At Cafe Louis, Richardson has promoted sous chef Khristian Martinez to chef de cuisine.

“My wife and I have always enjoyed our time up in Camden,” Richardson said, explaining why he chose to launch a new location on the Midcoast. “And we’ve done a few pop-ups in the Wolfpeach space over the last year, and most of them sold out very quickly.”

Richardson said he sees similarities between South Portland and Camden, most notably how “supportive” both communities are with new businesses.

“We’re hoping to provide a quality product that’s readily available to everybody, made by a bunch of people who take pride in what they’re putting out,” he said.

RAISING FUNDS FOR LEWISTON

Several Maine restaurants and food business have announced on their social media pages plans to donate some of their recent profits to charitable funds related to the Lewiston shootings.

LB Kitchen, Three of Strong Spirits, Luke’s Lobster and Rock City Coffee in Rockland are among the venues pledging to donate sales proceeds to shooting victims and their families. Some are selling special products to raise the money, like Bake Maine’s Maine-shaped cookies with a red-icing heart representing Lewiston.

Other food purveyors are offering discounts related to the Lewiston tragedy. For instance, Black Salt food truck last weekend offered free food to on-duty first responders, and half-off meals to off-duty responders. And on its Instagram page, Otto’s Pizza thanked Unum Insurance for ordering pizzas from their Auburn pizzeria for every educator in Lewiston on Monday, “from elementary to high schools, tech schools and adult education.”

DOWNEAST CIDER + CHEESE FESTIVAL IS BACK

The sixth annual Downeast Cider + Cheese Festival, celebrating two of Maine’s traditional artisan products, returns to downtown Ellsworth in November.

Running from Thursday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 12, the four-day festival features a combination of free and ticketed events including tastings, workshops, presentations and live music. The festival’s signature event is a guided tasting, held in two 90-minute sessions on Nov. 11, and spotlighting products from 11 Maine cideries and cheesemakers. Following the tasting, participants can buy ciders and cheese from the purveyors; tickets are $55, available online.

Other festival events include a cheesemaking demo on Nov. 10 led by Monroe Cheese Studio owner Eric Rector; a talk titled “DNA, History + Weird Apples” featuring speakers John Bunker, Cameron Peace and Todd Little-Siebold, also on Nov. 10; and a cider pressing on Nov. 11.

For more information, visit the Heart of Ellsworth website.

UKRAINE BENEFIT DINNER IN LEWISTON

At a time when many people’s thoughts and well-wishes are directed toward Lewiston, some folks there are looking to boost the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.

A four-course benefit dinner is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 16 from 5-8 p.m. at The Green Ladle, an educational hub and event space for culinary students at Lewiston Regional Technical Center.

The event will be hosted by Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline and Lewiston resident Tetiana Cherednichenko, who is a Ukrainian refugee. The evening will also feature Ukrainian folk music and a silent auction.

Tickets are $75, and event organizers said proceeds will go to three nonprofit groups giving humanitarian assistance to Ukraine: Nova Ukraine, Support Hospitals in Ukraine and United24. Register for the event online through the events calendar at Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

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