The ownership team of Luke’s Lobster has leased the former Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern on Commercial Street with plans to reopen the long-vacant seafood venue early next summer.
The restaurant will still be called Dry Dock and will not be a Luke’s-branded venue.
“It’s an iconic location and brand, and we’re just excited and honored to be the ones to bring back this seafood tavern,” said Luke’s Lobster founder and CEO Luke Holden. The menu hasn’t yet been finalized, but Holden’s team is talking with longtime fans of Dry Dock to learn what they loved most, and he expects the newly reopened venue will feature plenty of old favorites.
Dry Dock launched at 84 Commercial St. in 1983. When it closed 35 years later, in 2018, it had plans to renovate. But those plans never came to fruition. Having been shuttered all this time – and during the damaging storms of last winter – the space will require extensive renovations this winter, according to officials at Luke’s. They hope to expand the deck and build an addition for a new kitchen and bathrooms but will preserve the Dry Dock’s interior aesthetic.
“We want to revive all that amazing old character for the guest area,” Holden said. “The old architecture and exposed beams and brick are really quite magnificent.”
“Our family has loved the Dry Dock location for decades,” said Jeff Holden, managing partner at Luke’s Lobster. “I was a regular when I had my business here on Commercial Street back in the 1980s and ’90s. We feel truly grateful to work with Steve (building owner Stephen Goodrich) to bring the legacy of Dry Dock restaurant back to life here – preserving it for the people of Portland and its visitors is as much sentimental to us as it is good business.”
NEW DOWNTOWN EVENTS SPACE
A new downtown special events space is expected to launch in November in the former home of The Dogfish Bar & Grille.
To be called The Downtown Social, the venue at 128 Free St. will be available for public and private events. Some of the festivities will be programmed by ownership, and the space will also be available for rent for rehearsal dinners, holiday parties and other gatherings.

Courtney MacIsaac, co-owner of The Downtown Social on Free Street, on the event venue’s deck. Courtesy of The Downtown Social
“I feel since COVID, there’s been a real disconnection with people, and we haven’t come back to where we were before,” co-owner Courtney MacIsaac said. “The basis of the Social is to bring people together to connect.”
MacIsaac said she hopes The Downtown Social will launch Nov. 1, to coincide with the city’s monthly First Friday Art Walk.
The two-floor venue has a deck and can accommodate up to about 100 people. MacIsaac will program some of the space’s events, including internationally themed supper clubs – working with different communities in Portland to showcase their cuisines and cultures – as well as ’80s nights and bingo nights.
MacIsaac said her events will be aimed at an older clientele. “We want to offer different events for people who are my age – I just turned 50,” she said. “I want people to be able to come out and listen to music, do something fun and still get to bed early.”
Clients who rent Downtown Social for private events will be able to chose from in-house food options, such as a menu of hors d’oeuvres.
MacIsaac has worked in the events business for 20 years. She also owns the Maine Lobster Bake Co., a Portland-based catering service.
SWEETS & CO. OPENING IN SACO
Gluten-free bakery and café Sweets & Co. is on track to launch in Saco on Oct. 18, according to owner-baker Lorraine Fagela.
The bakery, at 294 Main St., will feature gluten-free baked goods, including sourdough bread, bagels, focaccia, cinnamon buns, pastries and quiches. Beverage offerings include bubble tea and coffee made from organic and Fair Trade beans from Farm House Coffee Roasters in Winterport.
Fagela said she aims to use as many local ingredients as she can at Sweets & Co., such as Maine buckwheat flour in the bagels, and local maple syrups and honey in other baked goods.
Fagela believes there’s high demand for a gluten-free bakery in the area, and expects people will drive from beyond the town’s borders to purchase her goods. “There are really not a lot of gluten-free businesses or bakeries in Maine,” she said. “We’re not just attracting the people of Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach, but people from all throughout Maine – that’s my hope. Good gluten-free is hard to come by.”
Fagela said Sweets & Co. will also offer hands-on cooking classes for up to 12 people starting in November, covering topics such as gluten-free baking for the holidays, Thai street cooking and gluten-free homemade pasta. She was formerly co-owner of Roots Café in Westbrook, which specialized in gluten-free baked goods.
TRUCK-OR-TREAT AT CONGDON’S
Congdon’s After Dark food truck park in Wells will host its annual “Truck-or-Treat” event this Saturday.
Participating food trucks include Vy Banh Mi, What-a-Wrap (wrap sandwiches), MacDaddy’s Seafood & Tots, Knew Potato Caboose (gluten-free loaded French fries), El Rodeo Go (Mexican), and Congdon’s Too (doughnuts & desserts), along with a bar/beverage truck.
The event, which is free, runs from 4-8 p.m. Dancers from Fox Run Dance Hall & Studio in Newington, New Hampshire, will perform “Thriller” in the parking lot at 5 p.m.

The scene at last year’s Truck-or-Treat at Congdon’s After Dark in Wells. Courtesy of Congdon’s After Dark
Guests are encouraged to dress in costume and bring children for trick-or-treating at each of the food trucks. Pets are welcome but must be on a leash.
ALLAGASH PARTNERS WITH HEARTS
Allagash Brewing Company has signed on as an official partner of the state’s new professional soccer club, Portland Hearts of Pine.
Allagash will collaborate with the Hearts on a special beer, to be available at the stadium during matches when the team’s season kicks off next spring at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
“Our club is a reflection of the diverse communities and cultures of Maine, and Allagash Brewing Company has long been a beacon of pride for the city of Portland and state as a whole,” said Kevin Schohl, president of Hearts of Pine, in a news release. “Having a beloved beer brand located right in our backyard as our brewery partner was a natural fit.”
SLAB TO CLOSE
Slab Sicilian Street Food announced Monday that it will close at the end of the week, making it the latest in a slew of recent restaurant closures in Greater Portland.
The restaurant, which is on Preble Street, said in an Instagram post it will close, effective Saturday.
“Since the pandemic, people’s habits have definitely changed,” Slab General Manager and Chef Christopher Bassett said. “Alcohol sales are down, and we were highly focused on that.
“Our takeout sales and our pizza sales have been good, and our frozen pizza business is thriving, but a large-format space like what we have here, with live entertainment and patios and a large event space, just don’t seem to be what people are doing these days,” Bassett added. “Things aren’t the way they were 10 years ago when we opened.”
Slab launched in 2014 by master pizza maker Stephen Lanzalotta, who developed a devoted following for his pizza while working at Micucci Grocery. He died at 63 in 2022 after battling cancer for years. The restaurant was beloved for its thick-crusted, one-pound rectangular pizza slices.
Slab will continue to sell its take-and-bake, rising-crust frozen pizza.
“We’re just focusing on our frozen pizza business at this point. That’s a better direction for our efforts,” Bassett explained. “We want to expand that and go national with it.”
Over the last month, more than a half-dozen restaurants have announced their plans to close, from the 10-month-old Thistle & Grouse in Old Port to the 48-year-old Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth, many citing increased expenses and trouble hiring enough people.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs. You can modify your screen name here.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.