Jasper Ludwig and Brian Haskins, of Newcastle, stand behind the bar at The Alna Store, which just marked its first year operating under their ownership. The menu has changed completely every two weeks throughout the year with different themes and seasonal local ingredients. (Johnathan Riley photo)
Just over a year has passed since the landmark Alna Store was reborn again as an elevated restaurant and market under the ownership of Jasper Ludwig and Brian Haskins. With national and state recognition already under their belts at a level unprecedented for Lincoln County, owners are continuing to put local identity first.
“I’m hoping that more folks that are local will give us a try. This press that we just got … certainly got a lot of new faces in, which is really great,” said Ludwig, who was born and raised in Newcastle. “But, you know, I see us as a public house for the community to come and enjoy food and warmth and hospitality.”
The store has stood at 2 Dock Road since the 1940s. Under Haskins and Ludwig’s ownership, the building is a combined open market and restaurant with bar seating.
In November, the Portland Press Herald’s food critic Andrew Ross gave the store a rare 4.5-star rating, and last week it was named a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. The foundation nominates restaurants nationwide for its prestigious awards.
According to records on the foundation’s website, The Alna Store is the first Lincoln County restaurant to receive the honor.
Haskins and Ludwig bought the store from Jane and Ken Solorzano in April 2022 and opened the doors that December after a longer than expected remodel. It’s been a long, tough, and busy year, the new owners said Jan. 25, and they look forward to settling in throughout the next one.
“We went from being construction workers and contractors, organizers of physical labor, to a restaurant without any break,” Haskins said. “Everything just unfolded and happened really organically.”
They knew how to run a restaurant, having spent almost a decade at the helm of 5 Points Market and Restaurant in Tucson, Ariz., which the couple opened in 2014 and still own. The specific character of The Alna Store took shape as when they found chef Devin Dearden and lead baker Kristen LaMontagne, who contributed in “absolutely massive and beautiful ways,” Ludwig said.
The staff came together largely through word of mouth, gathering several members from the Portland restaurant industry, one from Vermont, and others from nearby Edgecomb, Newcastle, Whitefield, and Gardiner.
As for customers, they count regulars from Portland to Camden, Augusta to Georgetown.
“We thought of ourselves originally as kind of in the middle of nowhere, and then after opening and learning where folks were from, we tend to realize that we’re pretty central to everywhere,” Ludwig said.
Returning to Maine after 20 years, Ludwig said, she did not see the store’s business model in the area and wanted to bring it here.
“The term ‘farm to table’ to me is so tired, but I think just very intentionally sourced food is something that I don’t see a lot of in the Midcoast,” Ludwig said. “Being able to have a third wave coffee experience with your brunch is another thing that I don’t see often in the Midcoast.”
The market, which shares space with the restaurant, offers some items used in meals like in-house fermented foods, greens, natural wines, and local dairy, plus a selection of international goods and drinks.
Dearden largely has creative freedom with the menu, which has changed completely every two weeks for the past year. Menus would alternate between seasonal New American offerings and culturally themed groups, including Japanese, Italian American, Spanish tapas, Greek food, and French offerings.
Earlier in January, the menu featured Japanese-inspired offerings along with vegetables starters and winter salads. Currently, a nostalgic New American selection includes seared scallops with baked peanut, Szechuan peppercorn roasted carrot, jalapeno, and chili oil, charred red cabbage with apple cider reduction and sunflower seed crumble, and chicken fried steak with celery root, pinto potato mash, and fried broccolini.
“It felt like we were opening a new restaurant every two weeks,” Ludwig said. “After a year of that, we’re interested in not having that be our business identity, and also just focusing on really beautiful food and whatever is inspiring, not being confined to one specific theme.”
Moving ahead, the dinner menu will change roughly every three weeks.
The brunch menu has also been overhauled for the winter season, save for popular pancakes and the burger.
“A lot of folks say it’s the best one they’ve ever had, and when you hear that from a bunch of 70-year-old Mainers, you really take it to heart,” Ludwig said.
Through the winter, Wednesday night means sourdough pizza night at the store. Happy hour at the bar runs from 4-6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday with $2 off cocktails and a bar menu including chickpea fried chicken, a cheeseburger, kale Caesar salad, and salmon bellies.
Along with settling in to a menu identity and looking for a work-life balance, the duo plans to rework the interior of the store somewhat and hire summer staff to join their core crew of 12. Additional part time staff includes members of the Lincoln Academy track team, who work in the dish pit.
“It’s really lovely and elevated food, but it’s all being made by people who live in this community, and even if you go further down the line, it’s being raised responsibly, being grown locally, being harvested locally, being foraged locally,” Ludwig said.
Being open year-round and using local suppliers are an important part of the business model as well, they said. On the operational side, the owners said employing locals at a living wage and hiring local contractors sets their place in the local economy.
“There’s a lot of conversation surrounding Midcoast Maine becoming an unaffordable place for folks, and the fact that everyone that’s working for us can afford to live here, we think that says a lot,” Ludwig said.
Upcoming projects include keeping market offerings updated and growing the bar program. The pair are searching for a bar manager to create a cocktail program based on spirits and seasonal ingredients.
Looking back on their first year, Haskins and Ludwig said their highlights are memories of laughter with staff and interacting with visitors, especially those who last saw it from decades past.
“It’s great that we’re getting a lot of attention and that people in other states are interested in what we’re doing. But really we’re doing this for Mainers,” Ludwig said. “We’re doing this for locals.”
The Alna Store, at 2 Dock Road, is open for pizza night from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday, dinner 4-8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and brunch from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, call 586-5515, go to thealnastore.com, or find The Alna Store on Instagram and Facebook.
The Alna Store, at 2 Dock Road in Alna, has changed hands several times in the past decade and is now run by Newcastle local Jasper Ludwig and husband Brian Haskins. The store houses both a specialty market and a locally sourced restaurant, which recently earned state and national recognition. (Johnathan Riley photo)
