Lisbon Street is getting a Sidecar.
Restaurateur Eric Agren has hung up signs teasing his next venture in the former Lyceum Gallery next to Fuel in downtown Lewiston.
It’ll be part lounge on Friday and Saturday nights, part special event space the rest of the week.
“We’ll put in some cooking equipment. We’re going to put in a bar and we’re going to redo the entire room to make it really cool,” Agren said. “It’s part of Fuel but it will kind of have its own identity. Different music, different food, different feel.”
The space holds up to 35 people. It’ll have a small menu and its own chef serving “really relaxed, small bite kind of stuff.”
He envisions people using Sidecar in off-hours for anything from corporate meetings to baby showers and Super Bowl parties.
It’ll get a top-to-bottom makeover with new floors and paints this summer. He’s shooting for a fall opening.
Taking off
Aviation Avenue is losing a casket company.
Batesville Casket Co. — headquartered in Batesville, Ind., not a nod to the local Bates name — sold its Auburn warehouse to Management Controls LLC for $475,000 earlier this month in a deal brokered by Craig Young of CBRE/The Boulos Co.
Anthony Struzziero, Young’s associate, said the casket company is downsizing into leased warehouse space in Portland. The Auburn site was used for storage and distribution.
“The new owner is an investor who intends to lease the building in its entirety,” Struzziero said.
No word yet to whom.
We (heart) wings
This week during an Auburn City Council meeting, Mayor Jonathan LaBonte gave Buffalo Wild Wings a shout-out for its year-over-year growth.
General Manager Brian May said his restaurant had the highest percentage growth in 2014 over 2013 among the 39 stores in the region, and that region stretches all the way down to Virginia.
“Ours was the No. 1,” he said. “Actually the South Portland location was No. 2.”
His reward: A trip last week to California. He got to bring a friend and picked the South Portland GM.
“It was a great time; we hope to do it again next year,” May said. “Each year has its own struggles, but we plan on growing just as fast as we did last year.”
Cluck yeah
There’s a sign in the former Tim Hortons on Lisbon Street saying Crown Fried Chicken is coming soon.
The restaurant hasn’t applied for any business licenses yet, according to the city, but someone at the property said this week they hope to open in two months.
The chain specializes in — surprise! — fried chicken, as well as halal offerings. A reviewer at UrbanSpoon.com described Portland’s Crown Fried Chicken as: “Open until 2 a.m., cheap, large quantity of food, and not to mention great taste.”
Art to dine for
Jennifer Gammon of Oak Street Pottery, featured in a Working story in Monday’s paper, forgot to mention one thing: She’ll have 16-plus pieces of one-of-a-kind ceramics hanging up at She Doesn’t Like Guthries for a show during the month of June.
Try a chicken walnut wrap — hold the pickle — and check it out.
Quick hits about business comings, goings and happenings. Have a Buzz-able tip? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
