WESTBROOK – They say when one door closes, another one opens. That’s true in this case, just in the reverse order.
When opportunity opened one door for Andre Tranchemontagne, in the form of his band, Pinsky, getting signed by a New York record label, it necessitated the closure of his eponymous eatery on Main Street in Westbrook.
“We closed the doors Saturday afternoon,” said operations manager Sasha Richardson, on Tuesday.
“Andre is spending a lot of time touring, and so his time has become limited,” said Richardson, adding that the catering business at The Frog and Turtle restaurant, also co-owned by Andre and his brother, James Tranchemontagne, “has just exploded.”
“We’ve been doing a lot of off-site catering,” said Richardson. “This business has been growing so fast that we just wanted to focus our attention on one thing. With Andre’s band getting signed, something had to give a little.”
For Andre Tranchemontagne, the deal with Sinking Ship Records is the culmination of many years’ hard work. Pinsky has been together perfecting its alt-rock sounds since 2007. Their first studio album with Sinking Ship, titled “Losing Touch,” drops July 5, with CD release parties in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 9 and at Portland’s Empire Dine & Dance on July 23.
“I feel really good. It’s been, really, a little overwhelming at times,” he said Wednesday. “We’ll be touring in the fall, and bouncing around New England during the summer.”
But, he added, the closing of Tranchemontagne’s restaurant does not mean less work for the Tranchemontagne brothers.
The Frog and Turtle, located around the corner on Bridge Street, has gone gangbusters since it opened in 2007 – at least if an inability to get a table without a reservation on most nights is anything to judge by.
“Plus, Sasha has done an amazing job booking catering and off-premise functions, like bridal showers and baby showers,” said Andre Tranchemontagne. “That’s something we always wanted to focus on.
“Also, we always wanted to have a second Frog and Turtle, too,” he said. “So, now we’ll be able to focus our attention toward that goal. Whether we’ll go to the Southern Maine area, or a little bit north, we don’t know. It’s something that’s just in the beginning stages right now.”
Musical success and Frog fanatics aside, the Tranchemontagne brothers always had a tough row to hoe when it came to their 855 Main St. location. Try as they might, they just couldn’t seem to make the epicurical lighting strike twice.
James Tranchemontagne is executive chef in charge of the Frog’s fine-dining menu. Together with Andre as manager, he tried repeatedly to make lighter fare work on the main drag.
Their first attempt, the French Press Eatery, opened its doors in November 2009, serving breakfast and lunch. After a three-week experiment with a dinner menu last summer, the doors were shuttered on Aug. 11, just three days after an official grand-reopening party.
Then, on Aug. 24, the Tranchemontagnes tried again, reverting to Plan A, under advice from financial advisers, who said the business would be easier to sell if it was up and running. The restaurant never changed hands, however, and the doors closed for good in early January, after just 13 months in, and out, of business.
But after a quick, two-week facelift, the site relaunched as Tranchemontagne’s, once again with evening hours, but this time featuring a casual barbecue and Cajun menu, served up in a relaxed setting backed by pinball machines and foosball tables.
“In hindsight, I think we should have done Tranchemontagne’s from the beginning, rather than the Frech Press, just because of the different atmosphere,” said Andre Tranchemontagne. “Alcohol sales are always going to do better than coffee sales.
“But we had fun over there, even when it was the French Press,” he said. “It’s just that there were some hiccups along the line. It’s easy to place blame on other aspects, but we’re not that type of people.”
The Tranchemontagnes are still paying a lease on the space, and are working to sell the business.
“We’ve already had some people come in and take a look at it,” he said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
Prior to the Tranchemontagne proprietorship, the spot at 855 Main St. played host to a succession of coffee shops, most famously as part of the Freaky Bean Coffee Co. chain, which closed its Westbrook shop in February 2009, and everywhere else one month later.
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