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The owner of the Portland Public Market House said a lack of downtown foot traffic is a major reason why the venue is mostly unoccupied. The Public Market has hosted a half-dozen or more vendors in the past. Currently, Jamaican restaurant Yardie Ting is the only tenant, taking up most of the first floor, while the second floor has been vacant for several months, according to Bill Chen, who owns the 28 Monument Square building.
“After COVID, I think the foot traffic in Monument Square has dropped significantly,” Chen said. “Plus because of high inflation, people are more reluctant to go out to eat. And a lot of buildings in Monument Square have lost tenants.
So we are faced with a people problem, basically. I can’t have people rent in my building if they don’t see the traffic there.” Yardie Ting moved to the first floor from its second floor location in September.
Mr. Tuna closed in the Public Market in April before moving to its new space on Middle Street. Chen said that leases for the remaining vendors, including Khmer Kitchen on the second floor – which replaced the former Dila’s Kitchen and Pho Huong in 2023 – expired and were not renewed.
The organization Portland Downtown hosted the Monument(al) Market for the third season this year, with the aim of bringing more life to the square. The art and food market runs on Fridays through the summer and into mid-September, and averaged eight to 10 vendors a week. “It did well,” said Portland Downtown Executive Director Cary Tyson.
“I saw a lot of foot traffic there.” Tyson said the redesign project of Congress Square likely means some of the events originally planned for that location next year might be held in Monument Square instead, including markets, movies and live music. Portland Downtown is working with Friends of Congress Square Park to explore possibilities.
“That should bring a lot of activity there if all goes as planned,” Tyson said. Chen said his team has been trying to fill the vacancies in the Public Market for a few months now, including reaching out to Food Fork Lab in search of fledgling food businesses looking to launch in a small, manageable space. “So far, we don’t have much success,” Chen said.
“My goal is to have more tenants on the second floor to keep alive this concept of (the Public Market) being an incubator.” ROAST BEEF RESTAURANT HAS OPENED IN PORTLAND Roasty’s, a restaurant featuring regional roast beef specialty sandwiches, launched recently on Congress Street in Portland. Roasty’s is located at 642 Congress St.
, a space that formerly hosted Italian restaurant and pizzeria Ada’s Kitchen. Roasty’s owner Jenn Rockwell owned Ada’s from early 2020 until it closed at the end of 2021. “We’re so excited to be back in the Portland food scene,” said Rockwell, who also owns the original Ada’s Kitchen in Rockland and Main Street Markets, a café and deli also in Rockland.
“We’ve been warmly welcomed back and it feels great.” Roasty’s, specializing in roast beef sandwiches, opened recently on Congress Street. Photo courtesy of Roasty’s Roasty’s makes its own roast beef in-house from top rounds, cooking them sous vide for more than 20 hours so they gently reach a uniform rareness from end to end.
The menu offers six takes on roast beef styles from Boston, Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
“Everyone’s got their idea of what a roast beef sandwich should be,” Rockwell said. “It really just inspired us to offer all of those. People are coming back multiple times, working their way through the menu to try them all.
” The menu also features shoestring fries seasoned six different ways, and customers can substitute turkey for roast beef on any of the sandwiches. Roasty’s has 14 seats inside, plus a standing counter. The venue is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.
m. to midnight, and Rockwell said she expects to expand days and hours in the future. “We’re very much committed to be open late,” she said.
“There are not a lot of options late at night, and it’s a great place to come after work for industry folks and anyone out at the neighboring bars or show venues. It’s like perfect comfort food.” SECOND RODEO COFFEE LAUNCHES IN FERRY VILLAGE Inside Second Rodeo Coffee in South Portland.
Photo courtesy of Second Rodeo Second Rodeo Coffee launched recently in South Portland’s Ferry Village, in the former space of the Knitting Nook. The venue, at 124 Sawyer St., has about 30 seats inside, though it has capacity for close to 50 seats.
“We get a lot of families with little kids on the weekends, and they like to run around, so it’s nice for them to have a little bit more space,” owner Lana Cooney said. Second Rodeo uses Vermont-based Vivid Coffee Roasters coffee for their menu of espresso drinks and hot and iced coffees. The coffee shop also offers teas and tea lattes, sodas, seltzers and cold-pressed juices.
The shop sells a rotation of pastries from several bakers around town, including croissants, muffins, scones and custard tarts. The menu of items prepared in-house includes a breakfast sandwich (which can be served on waffles or an English muffin), avocado toast, cinnamon toast and peanut butter and jam, with some gluten-free options as well. Second Rodeo is open Thursday through Tuesday, from 7 a.
m. to 2 p.m.
on weekdays, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.
m. on weekends. Cooney hopes to eventually host events in the space like group meetups, book launches and poetry readings.
“I have a strong desire to make this space into more than just a coffee shop,” she said. “I really want it to be a community hub.” VESTA COMING TO NORTH YARMOUTH Local restaurant veterans plan to open a North Yarmouth restaurant in the former Trudy Bird’s Ølbar space.
The ownership team of Kristen Mixter, her husband Mike Christina and their business partner Ramsey Fakhouri hope to launch the Mediterranean restaurant Vesta at 424 Walnut Hill Road sometime in January. Mixter and Fakhouri both worked previously at Crispy Gai, where she was bar manager and he was sous chef. Christina is the former general manager at CBG.
Mixter said she and Christina bought a house in New Gloucester three years ago. “We recognized quickly that up in this neck of the woods, there wasn’t even a fraction of the quality and availability of the restaurants we were used to in Portland,” she said. “We wanted to fill that gap with something we were passionate about.
” Vesta’s cuisine will be “rooted a little bit more in Italian styles, with some eastern Mediterranean Lebanese-Turkish influences as well,” Mixter said, noting that Fakhouri is a first-generation Lebanese-American. The menu will include dishes such as supplì (Italian fried rice balls); Roman-style sourdough pizzas; house-made pasta; sandwiches such as burgers, chicken shawarma and falafel; as well as entrees featuring steak and fish. A selection of beer, wine and cocktails will all be available on draft.
“It’ll be an approachable cocktail menu,” Mixter said. “It’s going to have pretty recognizable ingredients in there.” Vesta’s dining area can seat just over 50 inside, with outdoor seating for about 20 more.
An adjacent event barn seats 30. Mixter said Vesta will be open Thursday through Monday from noon to 9 p.m.
ELEVENSES DELAYED UNTIL JANUARY The launch of Elevenses, Brunswick’s hobbit-core all-day café and bakery, has been delayed till January. Owners Nicole and Chris Juntura said they are scheduled to officially open Jan. 11, and announced the launch via social media.
“We’re big into the numerology over here,” Nicole Juntura said with a laugh. The Junturas had hoped to open Elevenses last summer, but the project was held up by trouble scheduling electrical and plumbing contractors and receiving required permits. Elevenses will be located at 50 Maine St.
, former home to Kings & Queens barber shop. The 1,300-square foot space can seat up to 80 customers. The brunch-focused themed restaurant, inspired by J.
R. Tolkein’s fantasy novels, will feature some British specialties like a full English breakfast and Scotch eggs. Elevenses will also eventually offer an afternoon tea service.
“We’re trying to make it fun and feel special, but also accessible,” Juntura said. The Junturas said they plan for Elevenses to be open seven days from 7 a.m.
to 11 p.m., though they may cut back that schedule to start until they find their rhythm.
“We’re very excited to welcome the community and people outside of it who are traveling here just for this,” Juntura said. “We’ve had people tell us they’re going to take the day off from work (to come to the opening), so we’re trying to work really hard and live up to the expectations.” SUSTAINABLE FOOD TALK IN BRUNSWICK The Sustainable Brunswick lecture series continues Wednesday evening with a program titled “Feel Good Food.
” The event features presentations by Ashley Charleson, environmental planner for Brunswick, Tim Holland of Midcoast Vegan, Dr. Tim Howe of Maine Health, and Harriet Van Vleck, coordinator for the Merrymeeting Food Council. Speakers will cover topics including the impact of easy vegan and vegetarian substitutions, the benefits of sustainable eating, ways to access local food options, and various actions proposed in the town’s draft Climate Action Plan.
The free event runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Curtis Memorial Library.
The Town of Brunswick and Curtis Memorial Library launched the Sustainable Brunswick lecture series last January. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website.
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