Where to Eat in Downtown Bangor Before Dawn or After 10 p.m., and What's Moving Into 68 Main Street

Where can you get a hot breakfast in downtown Bangor at 5 a.m.? Going by the hours downtown food spots post, you'll be waiting until 6. On a Tuesday night after 9, the list gets short too.

That's the gap a new restaurant at 68 Main Street plans to fill. Burgers & Bad Decisions is moving into the space Taste of India held for nearly 36 years. Owner Shianne Levesque told the Bangor Daily News she plans to open at 5 a.m. and close around midnight. That would put her doors open an hour earlier than the earliest downtown bakeries and about an hour after the latest posted kitchen closes. The paper said the restaurant aims to fill a gap in a downtown with few food options at those hours.

Downtown's food day, start to finish

Here's what the current posted hours look like, earliest to latest. They're based on each business's own site or its Downtown Bangor listing, and hours can shift around the holidays.

• 6 a.m., Bagel Central, 33 Central St. Bagel Central opens at 6 every day of the week. It closes at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The menu covers breakfast, bagels, baked goods and deli items made from scratch.
• 6 a.m., Gosselin's Bakery, 334 Harlow St. Its Downtown Bangor listing shows 6 a.m. to noon, Monday through Saturday, and points to Facebook for holiday hours.
• Noon, Seasons, 427 Main St. Seasons is open seven days a week and promotes an 11 p.m. kitchen "most nights." Its posted schedule is noon to 11 p.m. on Monday and Thursday through Sunday, and noon to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• Evening, Nocturnem Draft Haus, 56 Main St. Nocturnem has a food menu and posts hours until 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It doesn't list a separate time for when the kitchen stops taking orders.

Put those together and downtown's posted food hours mostly run from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The middle of the day has plenty of choices. The edges have very few.

Where the edges run thin

The 5 o'clock hour. None of the schedules above starts before 6 a.m. If you work an overnight shift that ends at 5, or a day shift that starts at 6, nothing on these schedules has breakfast ready before you clock in or after you clock out.

Sunday afternoons. Gosselin's posted week runs Monday through Saturday, and Bagel Central closes at 2 p.m. on weekends. On Sunday afternoons, the earliest of these spots are already closed.

Tuesday and Wednesday nights. These are the thinnest. Seasons posts a 9 p.m. close on both nights, two hours earlier than the rest of its week. Nocturnem posts a 10 p.m. close on those nights, but it doesn't say how late its kitchen runs. Midweek, these schedules don't promise much food after 9.

After 11 p.m. on any night. The latest posted kitchen hour on this list is 11 p.m. Food after that falls outside every schedule here.

A place that opens at 5 a.m. and closes around midnight would cover the first and last of those gaps every day, and both midweek nights too.

The handoff at 68 Main Street

The storefront came open quickly. In September the Bangor Daily News reported that Taste of India was closing after nearly 36 years because its owners were retiring. The paper's follow-up said the restaurant closed in the last week of September. According to the paper's October 21 story, Burgers & Bad Decisions was set to fill a space that had been empty for only a few weeks.

Levesque has managed other restaurants in the area. She told the paper she chose 68 Main St. because its fairly small size makes it feel comfortable and homey. She has put in new kitchen equipment and done some painting, but the space didn't need much other renovation.

Here's what she has described for the menu and the room:

• Burgers and chicken tenders, plus waffles and breakfast sandwiches served all day
• A vegetarian option for everything on the menu
• Signature drinks, each with a non-alcoholic version, because the restaurant will also be a bar
• About half a dozen arcade games at the front of the restaurant
• Free meals from the kids menu for anyone under 18 on Mondays
• A discount for first responders, law enforcement and veterans

She also explained the name in the Bangor Daily News: "The bad decisions [name] is because it's not a completely healthy menu, and we are a bar as well."

Who the hours are built around

The schedule comes from Levesque's own work history. She used to work at the Penobscot County Jail, and she told the paper she remembers how hard it was to find a convenient meal after a long shift. That explains the 5 a.m. opening. The paper said the restaurant is aimed at first responders and families.

The early hours also work for families. Levesque pictures parents bringing kids in for breakfast before school. She also pitched it as a dinner option, telling the Bangor Daily News, "Or if you're with your kids and don't feel like cooking, come on in and have something to eat as well."

The late hours come down to location. Levesque said the storefront is close to several local bars, which makes it an easy stop for food after a late night out. She thought about staying open 24 hours. For now she plans to close around midnight and stay open a little later on weekend nights. That puts the latest posted food in the Main Street bar area on the same block as the bars themselves. Nocturnem at 56 Main St. sits a few doors from number 68.

Planning around the new hours

As of the Bangor Daily News story on October 21, Levesque was aiming for early November and hadn't named a specific opening day. It may be open by the time you read this, or it may still be a few days out. Check before you plan around it, especially for a 5 a.m. stop. If the plan holds, here's how downtown's food day changes:

1. Before an early shift. The earliest downtown breakfast moves from 6 a.m. at Bagel Central and Gosselin's to 5 a.m. on Main Street. Weekdays, Bagel Central still covers lunch and an early light dinner until 6 p.m.
2. Sunday. Bagel Central covers 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Seasons opens at noon. A 5 a.m. to midnight spot would cover both ends of that day.
3. Tuesday or Wednesday night. Once Seasons closes at 9 p.m., 68 Main St. would carry downtown food until around midnight.
4. Friday or Saturday late. Seasons and Nocturnem post 11 p.m. Levesque has said she'll stay open a little past midnight on weekend nights.

Holiday weeks are coming, and posted hours often change then. Gosselin's points customers to its Facebook page for holiday hours, so check there before a Thanksgiving-week bakery run.

If you're thinking about a move downtown, or just want to talk about how the Main Street blocks are changing, Alonzo Michaud is glad to compare notes. Let's Connect.