This week, the Buzz is reopening, renovating and serving up a slice of Kathy.

A caricature David Dyke drew of himself making pizza at his new pop-up shop, David Made Pizza, Saturday evenings at Forage Market in Lewiston. His goal is to draw an original sketch on each pizza box as it goes out the door, as time allows. Submitted graphic

And Marge. And Dennis.

First up: A new pizza pop-up shop with delightfully named pies.

David Dyke, a Latin teacher at Windham High School who lives in Auburn, has launched the new pop-up David Made Pizza at Forage Market from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., on Saturdays in the eatery’s off-hours.

Dyke said his first summer job growing up was at a Little Caesar’s in Vermont. After he and his wife, Becca, moved to Maine in 2017, he worked at Forage one summer and fell in love with its brick oven.

“I’m really grateful to them,” he said.

Ideas started percolating from there. The June menu is kicking off with three pies: The Marge, a traditional margarita pizza with tomato sauce and blended mozzarella, finished with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and herbs. The Kathy, a Marge with pepperoni and “a hot honey drizzle after, so it’s like a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy.” And the Dennis, a blended mozzarella base, with Parmigiano-Reggiano and topped with burrata cheese, “so it’s this really decadent, rich, cheesy pie.”

The Kathy pizza from David Dyke’s new Lewiston pizza pop-up, David Made Pizza. Dyke, who named his first three pies Kathy, Marge and Dennis, said, “They’re all inspired from composite characters; the pie has specific personality elements of which I associate with people I’ve known, but no pie is based on one specific person.” Submitted photo

The rectangular sourdough crusts are airy and about an inch thick, he said, edged with crisp, caramelized cheese. At 8-inches-by-10-inches, “it’s a little bit smaller than printer paper and then it’s about the thickness of Homer’s ‘Iliad,’ for my Latin teacher context,” Dyke said.

They’re sized for “two people comfortably or one person uncomfortably,” he added.

Prices range from $13 to $16. Customers are asked to call at least one hour ahead for pickup. Phone orders start at 3 p.m.

The pop-up will run through the end of August. Dyke said his goal is to “make pretty things, delight people with quirky art on the boxes and ingredients and a wood-fired pizza oven that you don’t often see.”

David Buchanan in his orchard behind the Portersfield Cider tasting room in Pownal in 2017. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal file photo

FROM AN OPENING TO A REOPENING

The tasting room at Portersfield Cider in Pownal is back.

David Buchanan, who has more than 200 apple varieties on his farm and a passion for collecting rare varieties, wasn’t able to open it last year due to COVID-19.

He announced this week that the tasting room will reopen this Saturday, and going forward, be open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays by reservation. Buchanan will have both cider flights and plates of local cheese.

American cider tastes can change quickly, he said. It’s hard to stay up on that in a vacuum.

“I miss direct interactions with customers not only because it’s very gratifying seeing them enjoy my cider, but because I learn from them,” said Buchanan. “Seeing the expressions on their faces and hearing their reactions, it’s a kind of collaboration. Sending bottles out into the world without any direct feedback just isn’t the same.”

Construction is underway on the $1.1 million project at Ironhouse Engineering, a consulting company on River Road in Lewiston, where they are adding office space to the former Provencher’s Landscape & Nursery. The Walmart Distribution Facility can be seen in the back left of the photo. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

FROM REOPENING TO BUILDING

Ironhouse Engineering is more than doubling in size at 299 River Road in Lewiston.

President Brian Langlais said he originally anticipated that the company, which specializes in consultant work for utilities and power generators, would have 12 to 15 local employees and a handful of remote workers.

“We hired 10 employees last year, so right now we’re at 24 employees total as a company, so we maxed out our local space,” he said. “We actually just hired a couple more people this week. We’re going to be closer to 16 locally and we’re anticipating in the next year to be up around 20 to 25 locally.”

Langlais worked for Central Maine Power Co. before starting his company.

“We can do our work from anywhere, really,” he said. “We just happen to do a lot of work in Maine but we’re starting to branch out a lot more throughout the northeast.”

The office space, a former barn, is getting a renovation on the existing 3,600-square feet and an addition of 4,266-square feet, a $1.1 million project, according to the city building permit. The look will stay the same.

“It’s a bit of a unique office, to be working out of a barn for a business office,” he said. “One of the challenges we had, too, it was a barn so it had a lot of hard surfaces; noise management was a challenge, having quiet places to take meetings.”

Construction is expected to wrap by October.

Quick hits about business comings, goings and happenings. Have a Buzzable tip? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.