Maples bakery in Yarmouth will close at the end of March, though its New Gloucester location is expected to open in April. Patti Mikkelsen/For Lakes Region Weekly
Popular Yarmouth bakery Maples will close permanently this month, according to social media posts from the owner.
“I am selling the Maples Yarmouth location,” the March 18 Facebook and Instagram posts from owner Robin Ray read in part. “I intended to keep two locations open, but as the reality of New Gloucester opening came closer I realized that I could not physically and emotionally keep up with the demands that they both would require.”
Maples is opening a location at 1055 Lewiston Road in New Gloucester. The new bakery is expected to launch in April.
Ray wrote that her decision to close the Yarmouth Maples after 10 years “has been a blow to my beloved staff who represent me everyday and I know it will be a blow to the community as well.”
Maples’ 4,400-square-foot site at 881 Route 1 in Yarmouth has been listed as a business for sale for $250,000 by Malone Commercial Realtors. The listing notes that buyers will need to create a new business name.
Ray’s social media post said Maples will stay open in Yarmouth until March 29. “But I need to be honest that there are a lot of big emotions attached to this announcement and I am carefully weighing everyone’s mental wellbeing that works here,” she added.
Ray could not immediately be reached for comment.
LOST KITCHEN OPENS RESERVATIONS
Reservations opened this week for the 10th season of The Lost Kitchen, Freedom’s widely celebrated destination restaurant.
The wildly popular Lost Kitchen restaurant in Freedom. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The Lost Kitchen announced on its website Monday that it has started taking reservation requests by mail, a system it instituted about five years ago after being overwhelmed by phone calls and people visiting in person seeking to secure a table at the in-demand restaurant.
Each spring, The Lost Kitchen receives tens of thousands of postcards from aspiring customers vying for a spot in a dining room with one seating each night for about 40 customers. The restaurant’s season generally runs from May through Columbus Day.
According to the restaurant’s website, they will draw from the postcards they receive at random between April 1 and May 15, calling the selected postcard senders to confirm reservations. Cards not pulled during this period may still be selected later in the season to fill vacancies made by cancellations, the website states.
FULL TURN RETURNS
After closing temporarily to renovate and to plan for the new menu, Full Turn restaurant is reopening this week with a new “Italian Sunday Dinner” theme.
The East Bayside restaurant on Anderson Street, in the same space as the former Baharat, reopens on March 24. Full Turn partner Chloe Kessell said the new menu will feature classic dishes like Bolognese and housemade pasta, Caesar salad, focaccia and garlic soup, as well as snacks, and a blind-tasting menu for two.
Kessell and her team launched Full Turn on Dec. 2 with a “staff favorites” menu theme. The new Italian small plates menu will run for about 15 weeks, Kessell said.
B CORP HAPPY HOUR AT LUKE’S
Luke’s Lobster is hosting a B Corp happy hour on March 27 to help raise money for its Lift All Boats program.
The event runs from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Portland Pier restaurant, and features snacks from other regional B Corps like Bristol Seafood and Cabot Creamery. The gathering is meant to be a meet-and-greet for B Corp employees and founders in the area, as well as to raise awareness for Luke’s Lift All Boats project, a student lobster fishing mentorship program built to help diversify Maine’s lobster fishery and make it easier for BIPOC Mainers to get licensed.
A certified B Corp is a for-profit corporation that has been certified by Pennsylvania-based B Lab, a nonprofit company that measures a company’s social and environmental performance. The B stands for “beneficial.”
Admission for the happy hour is free, with a $5 suggested donation. Register online at Resy.
UNION WINEMAKER JUDGING LYON COMPETITION
Keith Bodine, co-owner of Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery in Union, has been tapped to serve as a judge for the 14th Concours International Wine, Beer and Spirits Competition in Lyon, France, on March 24-25.
Bodine has previously judged competitions in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. His judging duties in Lyon involve tasting two rounds of 15 samples each on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s one of the less intense judgings I’ve done, honestly. Thirty (samples a day) is a good number,” Bodine said Tuesday, speaking from France. Bodine said palate fatigue can set in when tasting large amounts of wine and spirits over consecutive days, and tasting acidic wines can make the task even harder.
Bodine isn’t yet sure if he’ll be tasked with judging wines, spirits or both in the Lyon competition. In all, the event’s judges will review roughly 10,000 samples from more than 50 countries. According to a release from event organizers, judges are drawn from all sectors of the beverage industry and include oenologists, sommeliers, restaurateurs, producers and wine shop owners, as well as knowledgeable consumers.
Bodine earned his master’s degree from the University of California at Davis in enology (winemaking) in 1995. Before moving back to his native Maine in 2005 to open Sweetgrass, Bodine had been building and managing wineries and distilleries in the U.S. and China.
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