Manic Designs is changing locations
LEWISTON – Enough with the George Foreman grill and the microwave.
That pretty much describes the extent of the kitchen in Manic Designs, the funky, three-year-old restaurant on Lisbon Street. It’s also what’s prompting the restaurant to move across the street and down the block into the space formerly occupied by Legal Eagle, where a full, commercial kitchen awaits.
“It’s very exciting, we’ve got all these ideas tumbling around,” said Linda Hertell, owner of the restaurant.
The lease was finalized this week; she hopes the move will be complete by April 1. She expects work will begin this weekend getting the new space ready.
Two changes can be expected right off the bat: evening hours and a change in menu.
Hertell said she expects to keep the restaurant open until 10 p.m. and perhaps later on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. It’s likely the restaurant will be open until 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but “we’ll play it by ear” for a while, she said.
The improved facility will allow the cooking staff to make cookies, muffins and breads, as well as offer a salad bar and hot buffets.
Hertell said they were discussing the possibility of offering Mexican, Thai or Chinese buffets on select nights.
The new location won’t be able to accommodate as much retail merchandise as it does now. Manic Designs sells unique food and specialty items, which add to the restaurant’s eclectic atmosphere.
Hertell said they’ll try to preserve its funkiness in the new location, making it “fun to go in,” but appropriate “to take a business associate.”
The restaurant, which is affiliated with Richardson Hollow Associates Inc., a provider of mental health services in the area, used to sell items made by artists with disabilities. But Hertell said they had to discontinue that after a while because the artwork wasn’t selling.
“Because we’re not a nonprofit, we couldn’t keep doing that,” she said. “It was very sad for us.”
Hertell acknowledges that profits have been scant in general, but that’s to be expected. She said restaurants have to be prepared to tough it out for three to five years before they can expect to see a return. About a half-dozen downtown restaurants have come and gone since Manic opened, she said.
“Lisbon Street still doesn’t have the foot traffic yet to support” a lot of restaurants, she said. But that’ll change.
“Lisbon Street is going to wake up and become alive,” she said. “And that will ripple down our way.”
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