Dana Street, Sam Hayward Inch Closer to Total Domination of Downtown Portland

Just days after critic James Schwartz blasted much of the food and service at Street and Co. as "bland," an update about owner Dana Street's latest project has surfaced. The two-story waterfront development, spotted on Portland's Maine Wharf in February and being built from the ground up, will indeed house a seafood restaurant from Street and chef Sam Hayward on the first floor (the top floor will be for offices, as suggested in a summer report).

John Golden got some new details during an interview with Street, who is also involved with Hayward in Portland's seminal farm-to-table restaurant Fore Street:

It hasn't been named yet, but Street described it to me as a classic New England seafood house reminiscent of the way fish houses were in the early part of the 20^th century as brasserie-style dining rooms...Next door to the restaurant space is Street's Upstream Trucking, a seafood company co-owned with George Parr, who is their fish forager and manager. In addition to its wholesale operation, it will have a small retail fish shop open to the public.

The lease has been signed for the large 68-72 Commercial St. space, which will seat 144, and the owners hope to open sometime in summer 2015. It'd certainly be a shame for them to miss out on prime tourist season with such a draw.