Jim Amaral is a man on a mission. Since 1993, he’s been working to connect Mainers with the wholesome goodness of fresh baked bread from his Borealis Breads bakeries. More recently, he’s become a mover and shaker in the burgeoning effort to get more Maine-grown food on local tables. Now the residents of Portland’s Back Cove neighborhood have a convenient way to find Amaral and his breads: The Borealis Breads Bakery & Bistro, which opened in late December at 182 Ocean Ave.

Since its earliest days, Borealis Bread has boasted that it’s the “Van Gogh of Dough,” as a way to emphasize its artisan qualities.

“I tell our bakers: People eat with their eyes,” Amaral says. “You’ve got to make it look good and taste good.”

This good-looking and good-tasting bread is no stranger to Portland, having been baked in the now defunct Portland Public Market and later the Forest Avenue Hannaford. But after Hannaford decided not to renew the Borealis lease in early 2007, Amaral says “I started looking for a new location, and I was really interested in being in a neighborhood, rather than a commercial strip.”

He studied zoning maps, traffic patterns and neighborhood amenities, before discovering a vacant building on Ocean Avenue. But when he called the real estate broker, he learned that the building had gone under contract a mere three hours earlier. However, the deal with the owners of the El Camino restaurant in Brunswick eventually fell through and Amaral pounced.

“It’s a totally under served neighborhood,” Amaral notes. “There are 8,000 cars that go by a day.”

Into this residential neighborhood next to Cheverus High and near the Back Cove Trail, Amaral and Chef Josh DeGroot have brought a full menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings. Breakfast is fairly simple, with granola, yogurt and focaccias stuffed with bacon and local cheeses or veggies and local cheeses. When lunch rolls around, there’s a full menu to choose from. Sandwiches, of course, are the highlight, with combos like roast turkey with garlic and herb spread ($7), chicken salad with tarragon and walnuts ($7), classic egg salad ($6) and veggies with hummus ($6). Each day brings special paninis, salads, soups and pizzas, too.

Sandwiches move aside on the dinner menu to make room for entrees that change frequently. Recent offerings included wood oven roasted hot pork sausage ($12), Shaker chicken ($15) and wood oven roasted winter vegetables ($12). Lighter fare includes a panini of simmered Maine chicken, York Hill goat cheese, cranberry relish and arugula ($8), a warm salad of chicken livers, greens, beets and shallots with sherry vinaigrette ($8) and a Maine shrimp chowder with bacon and thyme ($5.50).

“There’s been a very significant change in people’s awareness of local food and where their food comes from,” Amaral says. “Over the last five or six years, people started asking where the food is coming from and what ingredients go into it.”

This is a trend with a direct benefit for Borealis Breads, since 10 years ago Amaral began using Maine-grown wheat flour in his breads.

“When I’m working with the farmers growing wheat for us, I know where it’s coming from,” Amaral says. “I know when it was milled. With whole wheat flour, the fresher it is the better the quality.”

Beginning next month, the bistro will go a step further in promoting local foods when it kicks off a series of monthly dinner speakers. The first will feature the builders who constructed the restaurant’s wood-fired oven, who will talk about how to create one in a backyard and how to cook with wood. The second will likely feature Aroostook County wheat farmer Matt Williams. Each will be an opportunity to learn about, and taste, the unique flavor of Maine.

— Avery Yale Kamila