Fore Street sits one block from the waterfront in Portland's Old Port District, open since June 1996. The dining room is arranged around a brick and soapstone hearth — a wood-burning oven, grill, and turnspit visible from most tables — where hardwood and apple wood fires do the cooking for seafood, meats, game, and vegetables.
The menu changes daily based on what local farmers, fishermen, and foragers deliver, with recurring dishes like wood oven roasted Maine rope-cultured mussels, wood-grilled hanger steak, and turnspit-roasted half chicken, alongside a rotating raw bar and a house-made charcuterie program.
Chef-partner Sam Hayward built the restaurant's reputation and was named Best Chef Northeast by the James Beard Foundation in 2004; Frederic Eliot now runs the kitchen as executive chef. Fore Street has been named a James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurant semifinalist across numerous years, and Hayward himself was recognized as an Outstanding Chef semifinalist. The restaurant is part of a small Portland family that also includes Street & Company, Scales, and Standard Baking Company.
The menu changes daily based on what local farmers, fishermen, and foragers deliver, with recurring dishes like wood oven roasted Maine rope-cultured mussels, wood-grilled hanger steak, and turnspit-roasted half chicken, alongside a rotating raw bar and a house-made charcuterie program.
Chef-partner Sam Hayward built the restaurant's reputation and was named Best Chef Northeast by the James Beard Foundation in 2004; Frederic Eliot now runs the kitchen as executive chef. Fore Street has been named a James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurant semifinalist across numerous years, and Hayward himself was recognized as an Outstanding Chef semifinalist. The restaurant is part of a small Portland family that also includes Street & Company, Scales, and Standard Baking Company.