Celebrating new spaces for food and drink on Biddeford’s Washington Street
3 min readBIDDEFORD — In the temper for colcannon with a fantastic steak or some seafood? How about bangers and mash — or a pint of Guinness or Smithwick’s?
Or it’s possible it is a night for tacos or a burrito?
Soon, persons craving possibly — or equally — can partake when the Dunn Bar and Sublime Taco every open in the Washington Road creating in Biddeford that until eventually about a yr ago was known as the Wonderbar.
The two eateries share 1 kitchen area — Elegant Taco, a California-encouraged avenue taco and Mexican cafe, is leasing area from Dunn Bar. Every single restaurant seats 55 consumers.
Doug Darby and Ciel Caldwell obtained the 12 Washington St. assets in 2021. On a the latest day, they, along with Steve Siders and Kaitlyn Gaudreau, owners of Sublime Taco, snipped the ribbon in a celebration structured by the Biddeford Saco Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s been a lengthy haul by way of development,” stated Darby. “A lot of wonderful men and women helped and now we’re hoping we’ve crossed every hurdle.” Darby and Caldwell are hoping for an early June opening.
The Dunn Bar is named for Darby, who acquired his family members name had been Dunn just before it was transformed when his ancestors emigrated to the United States.
The Dunn Bar motto is “let the food stuff be refreshing and the spirits aged.”
Darby and Caldwell plan to offer contemporary seafood from SoPo Seafood, situated in a community mill developing, home cheddar from Nibblesford, a specialty cheese store just throughout the avenue, ground beef from Pineland Farms, espresso from Time and Tide and the like.
“It’s about superior, fresh foodstuff,” said Caldwell.
When regular Irish beer and spirits are provided, an array of local brews will be on tap as well.
The Dunn Bar has a cozy, heat experience inside. It has been refurbished but there are nods to the past, like an array of framed Wonderbar menus and a signal.
The location had earlier been owned by the Droggitis household for many years — it was the moment a shoe fix shop, grew to become Charlie’s Cafe in 1935 and later on the Wonderbar, owned by brothers Jimmy, Alex, Archie, and Charlie Droggitis. They marketed the restaurant in 1982 and it went through a few of entrepreneurs right until Vince Keely acquired it in 1992. Keely bought the house to Darby and Caldwell a year ago.
Elegant Taco has its very own Washington Street entrance. Owners Siders and Gaudreau mentioned they also hope to open shortly. Sublime Taco had been situated on Most important Street for about a few yrs, but outgrew the space, stated Siders.
Caldwell and Darby also have ideas for the next tale of the 12 Washington St. creating. They are creating two, a few-bed room apartments and 3, two-bedroom residences, and hope to finish them subsequent yr. The few have about 40 apartment units across the metropolis and are also house owners of LaundrYup, a cafe and laundromat on Hill Road.
Jim LaBelle, director of Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce, reported he is happy to see the evolution of the landmark.
“Biddeford’s recent transformation has been specifically noteworthy when historic structures, this sort of as this famous Wonderbar spot, are renovated and repurposed with a thoughtful appreciation of its loaded past alongside with new and inventive endeavours to make this site the future thrilling hub in our local community for generations to arrive,” he explained.
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