Eric Devries, of Portland, shares fries with his son Miles Gips-Devries, 2, at A&C Soda Shop. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer Joe Fournier is tired of people taking him literally. At his cult-favorite Munjoy Hill supermarket, A&C Grocery, the Maine native certainly sold provisions , as his shop’s name might indicate – mostly wine and local produce – but the real story was the delicatessen he operated from the rear of the building.
If you knew, you knew that this was the spot for grilled cheeses and one of the area’s finest “real” Italian sandwiches. After vacating the Washington Avenue space, Fournier decamped to South Portland in 2022, where he opened up shop in the former Terra Cotta Pasta building. Once again, he’s picked a name that perhaps doesn’t tell the complete story.
At A&C Soda Shop, you’ll absolutely find sodas on the menu: tangy, appealing “herbal tonic” fizzers (all $5) like a tarragon infusion with Maine blueberry and lime-cranberry bitters sourced from Owl & Whale, a local mixology company co-owned by A&C’s beverage manager and fellow co-owner, Mike Gatlin. You’ll also find sodas paired with ice cream in the form of floats (all $7), as well as higher-octane, alcoholic “boozy floats” (all $13), like the not-too-sweet Mainahbub, a Moxie-based vanilla float ignited by one shot of vodka and another of Allen’s Coffee Brandy. Floats can also be blitzed at no additional cost into “brain freezes,” which are similar in texture to A&C�.
