Bar Futo to Close Its Doors in Portland, Maine, After Three Years of Culinary Magic

It was short, but certainly sweet.

After just three years of service, the popular Old Port restaurant Bar Futo has announced its closure. The restaurant shared the following statement regarding the closure on its social media.

Bar Futo in Portland, Maine, to Close in the Fall of 2025

And so goes another great Portland restaurant, likely headed to the farm up north with all the other joints we’ve hated to see close.

Bar Futo originally opened in 2022, right after the heart of the pandemic, by Jordan and Marissa Rubin. If Jordan's name sounds familiar, that's because you probably recognize it from his fame as the man behind Mr. Tuna, and the fact he was recently named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs.

Located on Fore Street, Bar Futo was known for its delicious small plates and skewers, utilizing "binchotan" charcoal cooking. Binchotan is known for being the purest form of charcoal, making it completely odorless. Talk about allowing the cooking process to truly let the ingredients shine.

Bar Futo Earned a James Beard Award Nomination

This style of cooking, along with its creative menu, even led to Bar Futo receiving a James Beard Award nomination for its chef, Ian Driscoll, in 2024. That’s quite incredible, considering the restaurant had opened just two years before. But sadly, those doors are closing soon.

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As the restaurant wrote in its post, it will remain open through November 1, giving fans and other diners a chance to enjoy this tasty spot at least one more time.

Now, the good news is at the end of the post. While it doesn’t give much information, it at least keeps the door open for a future project. Let's hope it’s as tasty as Bar Futo was, because it’s exactly what Portland is always looking for: incredible flavors and great times. Best of luck to them, whatever their future venture might be.