New Yorker Jake Kirsch was working at a restaurant in Portland when a friend suggested he come to Ogunquit for a summertime stint bartending at The Front Porch, a gastro-bar and gay piano lounge. He ended up staying for five years, brainstorming ways to open his own restaurant concept in town.
After a stint in nearby Boston, Kirsch was tipped off to a space opening up on Ogunquit’s main drag. In 2017, the budding restaurateur opened up his elegant, “but by no means pretentious,” alfresco beach bar Brix + Brine. Just three years later, he opened a contemporary American bistro called The Crooked Pine across the street.
“On day one I had a set of regulars I knew from bartending at The Front Porch that were there to support,” recalls Kirsch. “Ogunquit is such a great town; it truly is a community. In the winter, it’s small enough that your social life is waving to people at the post office, and in the summertime, the streets are as crowded as any major city.”
