The former Blue Spoon restaurant in Portland is to become a bar. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
The owners of Jing Yan restaurant aim to open a neighborhood bar called Low Key on Munjoy Hill this spring.
Low Key will be located across the street from Jing Yan at 89 Congress St., a space formerly occupied by the farm-to-table bistro Blue Spoon, which relocated to Rockland last year. Co-owner Britt Langford hopes Low Key will be ready to open by late April or early May.
The small space can seat about 25 customers. Langford said she and husband, Leo Zhang, have not yet finalized the hours of operation, but they hope Low Key will be open six days a week on a schedule such as 3-11 p.m.
The beverage program will focus on natural wine and draft beer, with a simple cocktail list offering twists on the classics. Low Key will serve bar snacks as well as house-made soft-serve ice cream, which they’ll also sell to-go through a service window.
Langford explained that she and Zhang first met in Beijing, where they opened a bar together before moving to the states in 2017. “Our background in the food business has always been in bars,” Langford said. “So we’re going back to what we have the most experience in by opening this neighborhood bar.”
Jing Yan opened in November 2020, and Langford said she and Zhang were motivated to open Low Key to provide a fun, casual gathering place for the local residents they’ve come to rely on.
“Our main purpose for opening this is really for the neighborhood, above all else,” Langford said. “They really supported us through the pandemic and beyond.”
NEW CAJUN RESTAURANT HAS OPENED IN NORTH DEERING
Cherished Pub – a dual-concept, Cajun-inspired restaurant – opened next to Cherished Possessions consignment shop in North Deering on Sunday.
Samuel Eakin, owner of Cherished Possessions, explained that his store licensed the menu and recipes from Bayou Kitchen, the long-time Cajun-themed breakfast and lunch spot on Deering Avenue. The venue serves a “Bayou Kitchen 2” menu of breakfast and lunch dishes from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., then the pub menu runs from 2-9 p.m. with a more limited offering of casual fare like fish and chips ($19), manicotti ($15), and the classic New Orleans muffuletta sandwich ($15).
The 1,800-square-foot space can seat 67 customers, with another 16 outside in the warmer months.
“I’m really pleased that it’s turned out like we envisioned it, which is often hard to do,” Eakin said. “It’s a very warm and comfortable place.”
Cherished Pub/Bayou Kitchen 2 will be open six days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and closed on Tuesdays. Eakin expects the restaurant to be open seven days starting later in March, when they’ll also begin featuring live music.
PRENTICE TO OPEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
The hospitality group behind Twelve and Evo Kitchen + Bar plans to open a Portuguese-inspired, all-day seafood restaurant on Thames Street this summer.
The new venue, named Douro, will be located near Twelve in a 3,300-square-foot space at 110 Thames St., the Prentice Hospitality Group said. The menu will feature Portuguese-influenced seafood dishes and a large selection of wines by the glass, classic cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
Twelve Chef Colin Wyatt and Pastry Chef Georgia Macon have just begun crafting menus for Douro. Prentice expects to release more details on the project in the coming months, noting that they aim for Douro to open in late summer.
LORNE WINE TO CLOSE AS OWNERS SWITCH TO IMPORTING
Lorne Wine in downtown Biddeford will close for good this summer as the owners transition into careers as importers of Central European wines.
Carson James and Erin Sheehan announced on social media last fall their plan to close Lorne in June, a month that would mark their fifth anniversary in business. James said Lorne’s lease expires that month, and as he and Sheehan mapped out their future, they decided it was time for a change of direction.
“We thought the best move for us would be to go to the other side of the supply chain and actually start working on importing wine as opposed to selling on the retail level and operating a bar,” James said, noting that he and Sheehan have made several trips to Central Europe in the last few years and amassed plenty of friends and connections in wine-producing circles there.
“Being able to represent some of these wineries and tell their stories in the best way possible is something we’re really passionate about,” he added.
James expects that their first shipment of wine will arrive in August. The duo will represent roughly a dozen producers from Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Germany, and will sell exclusively to wholesalers in New England to start.
James said going through COVID as a new business owner “took a lot out of me personally. I’m a lot grayer than I was before.” Nonetheless, he said shepherding the wine shop and bar to its fifth anniversary is a point of pride.
“As anybody who operates this type of business knows, getting to five years is a bit of a milestone,” James said.
OUN LIDO’S LAUNCH ON TRACK
One of Portland’s most eagerly anticipated restaurant openings, the three-floor, Cambodian-inspired Oun Lido’s in Old Port, appears on track to open in the coming weeks.
Co-owner Vien Dobui expects the new restaurant will open in the former Pat’s Pizza location at 30 Market St. by the end of February or early March. Workers are currently regrinding and sealing the floors, and the Oun Lido’s team then will need to set up the kitchen and pass inspections before launching.
“So far it’s looking pretty good, I don’t have any reason to believe we would fail anything major that couldn’t be fixed pretty quickly,” Dobui said. “But it’s not quite ready to set an opening day yet.”
A sister restaurant to Cong Tu Bot on Washington Avenue, Oun Lido’s was recently named among nine restaurants nationwide that Bon Appetit magazine can’t wait to see open in 2024. Chef Bounahcree “Bones” Kim’s menu will feature Cambodian cuisine with some Chinese and Vietnamese influences.
Dobui and Kim, who is a co-owner, originally had hoped to launch by the end of 2023, but ran into HVAC problems at the beginning of the winter, forcing them to extend their timeline. They plan to open the basement level first, offering takeout, then open the second-floor dining room later in the year, and the third-floor lounge and karaoke space after that.
While the project’s first phase seems to be in the home stretch, Dobui remains prepared for anything. “I’m trying not to get too comfortable,” he said. “You can never know.”
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