Portlanders are getting a chance to try “one of America’s best” bagels, as Saveur magazine anointed them two years ago.
The much-anticipated soft opening of Forage Market took place over the weekend at 123 Washington Ave. If you missed it, a second soft opening is scheduled for Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. until the bagels sell out. A soft opening is when a new eatery opens informally for a day or two as a test run. Forage’s grand opening is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The original Forage in Lewiston is known for its hand-rolled bagels baked in a wood-fire oven. In 2016, a writer for the glossy national food magazine Saveur wrote, after tasting the market’s bagels: “These were not just great bagels for Maine. They were great bagels for anywhere.”
Though the Lewiston market also sells soups and sandwiches for lunch, the 4,000-square-foot Portland store will limit itself, for now, to an abbreviated menu of bagels, breakfast sandwiches and pastries, owner Allen Smith said.
“I think we may hold off and announce (the lunch menu) later,” he said. “We’re still consolidating the staff, and we want to make sure we’re ready for that.”
Smith said he was “very happy” with the turnout at last weekend’s soft opening. The market sold out of bagels around noon both days, he said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
