Pictured: Andrew Levinson behind the counter at Profile Coffee Bar, which openedin Portsmouth on July 15. photo by Larry Clow
Coffee, coffee everywhere
If you need more caffeine to keep up with the long summer days, you’re in luck. Two new Seacoast coffee shops have opened recently, and a third is on the way.
The latest is Profile Coffee Bar, located at 15 Portwalk Place in Portsmouth, which opened on July 15.
Owner Andrew Levinson left a 20-year career in finance to open Profile. “I grew up in Oregon and I’ve got an affinity for West Coast-style coffee,” he says.
Profile uses Counter Culture Coffee, which is based in Durham, N.C. and offers coffee training programs around the country.
Profile’s menu includes espresso drinks, drip coffee, and a variety of tea drinks. Levinson says the café will also serve pour-over Chemex-brewed coffee, drinking chocolate, and nitro cold brew coffee on tap. Food will also be available — Profile will offer pastries and other simple items at first, and will eventually serve soups and sandwiches.
“We want to keep our menu as simple as possible and present the coffee in a way that’s very accessible,” he says.
Also joining the local coffee scene is Kate’s Bakery and Café on Badger’s Island in Kittery, Maine, which opened earlier this summer. And, in Dover, Bedford’s Flight Coffee Company plans to open its second location (in the former Café on the Corner spot at the corner of Third Street and Central Avenue) in early September.
Food pantry aims to fill The Music Hall
The Seacoast Family Food Pantry (SFFP) wants to pack the seats of The Music Hall in Portsmouth — not with an audience, but with food. The Music Hall hosts the “Fill the Hall” food drive on Saturday, Aug. 1. The event will collect donations of food and personal care products for local children and families.
The idea for the event came from SFFP volunteer Denise Wheeler, according to Deb Anthony, the food pantry’s executive director. The event’s goal is to fill each of the historic theater’s 900 seats with a box or bag of food that will go to local families. The pantry’s Summer Meals 4 Kids program provides 10 free meals each summer to children in the greater Seacoast area who qualify for free or reduced lunch at school.
“We serve about 200 to 250 children per week … and we’re always looking for ways to get more food for that program,” Anthony says. The event is “a fun way to do a food drive” and get the downtown community involved, she adds.
According to Anthony, the summer months can be difficult for children who might not be getting meals at home and rely on breakfast and lunches served at school.
“If you consider the schools in the local area, 32 to 52 percent of children are on free and reduced lunches,” she says. “Summer isn’t necessarily a time of year they’re excited about, because they don’t have those extra meals.”
As part of the program, families can pick up ingredients to make healthy meals at home. Anthony said the pantry works with the New Hampshire Food Bank and local farms to provide a variety of foods. The program also encourages children to cook their own simple meals.
“Last year, we tripled our numbers, and we’re expecting this year might be similar,” she says.
The food drive takes place Saturday, Aug. 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. For more information, call the food pantry at 603-436-0641.
New openings in Dover
Coming soon to Dover is Suppa’s, an Italian restaurant opening at 328 Central Ave., the former home of Central Wave. Dover resident Joe Romano, who previously managed the Chili’s Grill and Bar on Weeks Lane, is opening the restaurant with business partner Jamie Suppa. The restaurant has two sister locations in Pelham and Lowell, Mass.
“It gives a flair of something different (to Italian food),” Romano says. The menu includes specialty subs, pizza, and homemade dinners.
Elsewhere in Dover, Café Espresso, the Portsmouth-based breakfast and lunch restaurant, opened its second location earlier this month at 471 Central Ave.
French bakery comes to Portsmouth
Portsmouth will soon have its own slice of Paris. Charlotte Reymond and Victor Navarre are opening La Maison Navarre, a French bakery and café, this month. The café is located at 121 Congress St.
Both Reymond and Navarre are originally from France. Reymond grew up in Lyon and later worked at a luxury chocolate company in Paris. Navarre is originally from Paris and previously worked at an international baking supplier in the Netherlands.
The menu includes traditional French macarons, eclairs, and tarts, along with savory fare such as quiches, croquet monsieur, and sandwiches. There will also be a rotating selection of coffees and teas.
“Our concept is that you’re buying a ticket to France whenever you come into our shop,” Reymond says.
One of the signature offerings is an ice cream macaron — in which the traditional buttercream filling is replaced with a variety of ice cream flavors, Navarre says.
Along with food, Reymond and Navarre have plans to offer retail products, and want to rent out the mezzanine space in the café for private events.