Cheese Shop owners opening new Forest Avenue cafe and wine bar

The future home of Sissle and Daughters at 634 Forest Ave. Courtesy of Sissle and Daughters

The owners of The Cheese Shop of Portland plan to open a new all-day café, wine bar and market on Forest Avenue this fall.

Mary Chapman-Sissle and her husband, Will Sissle, said Sissle and Daughters will be located at 634 Forest Ave, which was formerly an auto garage. The 1,300-square-foot space will include a café featuring cappuccino, espresso and coffee drinks in the morning, along with light breakfast items such as house-baked goods and quiches.

Later in the day, the space will convert to a wine bar “with exciting wines that won’t be seen at every other place you can get a glass of wine in town,” Chapman-Sissle said, adding that the menu will feature cheese plates and charcuterie with housemade pates and other light fare.

The venue will have a full kitchen, so they’ll also sell sandwiches and prepared meals to go, like mac and cheese, lasagna, beef bourguignon and other braised meat dishes. “It’s meant to be a resource for the neighborhood and families. People can stop in after work, have a glass of wine, then grab something to take home for dinner,” Chapman-Sissle said.

Sissle and Daughters will also have a small retail space featuring a pared-down selection of the items they sell at The Cheese Shop, including pastas, olive oil and wines to-go.

The space can seat 20 customers inside, with outdoor patio seating for about 15. “Our goal was to have a space that would feel a touch intimate and to make sure that everybody who comes in would be helped to the hospitality standard we want to set,” said Sissle. “We want to make everyone feel appreciated for their time with us.

“We’re lucky because it has a big parking lot, so we’ll have up to a dozen parking spaces for customers, which is always very important in town,” he added. “People seem to be almost as much excited for the parking as the food and wine.”

The owners plan to launch in October. They emphasized that their Washington Avenue shop, which they launched in 2018, would stay open.

“This is a separate business, and it’s meant to complement and expand upon what we do at The Cheese Shop,” Chapman-Sissle said.