A spotlight from Old Port
Fore Street
Sam Hayward's wood-fire hearth in Portland's Old Port — a New England landmark since 1996
We are end consumers that can influence the public's view of Maine produced food.
— Sam Hayward & Dana Street, Chef-Partner & Owner-Partner
The 1996 hearth
Sam Hayward and Dana Street opened Fore Street in June 1996 in a converted brick warehouse one block off the Portland waterfront. They gutted the room down to timber posts and built the restaurant around a single monumental idea — an open brick-and-soapstone hearth with a wood-burning oven, grill, and turnspit visible from nearly every table.
It quickly became the standard-bearer for a coastal New England restaurant grounded in what Maine growers, foragers, and fishermen brought to the door.
A daily conversation with Maine
Hayward, a James Beard Best Chef Northeast honoree, has long treated the daily menu as a conversation with Maine's producers rather than a fixed document. Vegetables, meats, and fish are chosen at dawn and cooked over hardwood and apple wood a few hours later.
The kitchen's fluency is in restraint — fire, salt, herbs, and time, in service of ingredients that shouldn't be dressed up.
The Old Port
Fore Street sits in Portland's Old Port, on a cobblestone block of red-brick warehouses that once served the city's shipping trade. Standard Baking Co. shares the building's ground floor; Street & Co. and Scales — both Dana Street ventures — are steps away.
Together they've anchored a walkable food district that draws travelers off I-295 and gives Portland residents a working, working-class-elegant hearth to gather around.
Order this
The dishes that made Fore Street
Turnspit-roasted chicken
Whole birds turn slowly on the wood-fired spit until the skin lacquers. The most-ordered dish since opening night.
Wood-oven roasted mussels with almond, garlic, and chili butter
Maine mussels are roasted (not steamed) in the wood oven — a whisper of smoke and a rim of caramelized butter clinging to the shells.
Wood-grilled Maine day-boat catch
Whatever the boats bring in that morning, seared hard over hardwood coals. The menu is printed daily.
Good to know
Fore Street, answered
How do reservations work?
Reservations open two months in advance and vanish within minutes. A portion of tables is held for walk-ins each night, and the bar is first-come.
Where should I sit?
Ask to be seated where you can see the hearth. Watching the turnspit is half the meal.
How often does the menu change?
Every afternoon. If you have a dish you love, order it that night — tomorrow's list will read differently.