Highly-Anticipated Restaurant Opens in Downtown Waterville

For Immediate Release

March 16, 2021

Media Contact:

Nancy Marshall, Marshall Communications

Front & Main will serve locally sourced foods prepared by innovative chef

Waterville, Maine - Maine’s newest restaurant is set to open Thursday, March 18, in downtown Waterville. Front & Main, located in the new Lockwood Hotel, will bring more vitality to the downtown area and builds on the city’s growing food scene. It will feature contemporary American cuisine showcasing a locally sourced food and beverage menu and will be a central gathering space for residents of Waterville and the region.

Front & Main’s focus on community manifests in its gathering and event spaces, which include both indoor and outdoor areas. The restaurant has a formal dining room, spacious communal lounge and bar, and an outdoor patio and event space that will soon be outfitted with firepits. The restaurant’s décor is considered modern and warmed with natural wood and stone. Work by Maine artists—painter and sculptor Bernard Langlais and Passamaquoddy basket weaver Jeremy Frey—curated by the Colby College Museum of Art, is featured throughout.

The dinner menu features classic tastes with a twist, like the locally sourced beef burger with applewood-smoked gouda and house-made pickles or salmon with maple lacquer and caramelized root vegetables, and bold innovations like Maine lobster bucatini with shitake and uni cream or Moroccan-spiced short rib with charred eggplant puree. Open seven nights a week, Front & Main will also offer a weekend brunch with specialties like ployes with cinnamon mascarpone as well as more traditional breakfast items. An extensive wine and beer menu, as well as distinctive craft cocktails and non-alcoholic creations, ensure variety for all patrons.

“Maine provides an exciting variety of high-quality ingredients that have inspired me and spurred my creativity as a chef,” said executive chef Jesse Souza. “Growing up in Maine, I’ve always loved the change of seasons, and now as a chef I can create seasonal dishes by incorporating Maine’s renowned fresh food from land and sea from award-winning local food producers to give our guests a unique dining experience throughout the year.”

Maine products partners include Skowhegan’s Crooked Face Creamery, Maine Grains, and Rowbottom Farm; 3 Level Farm in South China, Winter Point Oysters in Bath, and Universal Bread, just a few blocks away in downtown Waterville. Some Maine breweries represented are Cushnoc, Bissell Brothers, Maine Beer Co., and Freedom’s Edge Cider in Belgrade, and Maine spirits come from Liquid Riot, Wiggly Bridge, and Tree Spirits of Oakland, among others.

Lobster Bucatini with shiitake and uni cream is one of the unique offerings on Front & Main's dinner menu. Photo credit: Gabe Souza Photography

In addition to the dining room, Front & Main has a fireplace and bar stocked with dozens of Maine beers, spirits and handmade cocktails.

“We believe Front & Main will bring new excitement and something special to Central Maine,” said Jordan Rowan, general manager of the Lockwood Hotel. The restaurant expects to create 30 new jobs in the city, a number that will double with expanded seating and the opening of the hotel this August. “This is a special moment in time for downtown Waterville, and we are excited to be a part of the resurgence of our city.”

Colby College, which began working with city leaders in 2015 to reimagine downtown, invested more than $26 million in this project on the south end of Main Street to attract area residents and visitors to downtown and contribute to a new, more sustainable, economy for Waterville.

The Lockwood Hotel and Front & Main are key elements of a multi-year partnership to enliven Waterville’s city center and make it one of Maine’s most exciting destinations for arts, culture, dining, and recreation. The restoration of the former Waterville Hardware Store building, directly across the street, as a new home for artists and performers, will open later this spring as well.

Upon opening, dinner will be served 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Brunch will be served from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. To allow for COVID-19 safety, Front & Main will initially seat up to 24 people with additional seating at the bar, lounge, and private dining room. Curbside pickup will be available as well.

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Editor's Note:

Click the images above or the links below in order to access downloadable versions.

Lobster Bucatini: https://s3.amazonaws.com/NMC-Clients/Front+%26+Main/Lobster+Bucatini

Front & Main Bar: https://s3.amazonaws.com/NMC-Clients/Front+%26+Main/Front+%26+Main+Bar+-+Evening

About Front & Main:

Front & Main Restaurant at the Lockwood Hotel offers locally sourced foods from Maine purveyors, farms and the ocean, prepared by an innovative chef and served in an art-filled dining room. For more information, visit Front & Main.