SCARBOROUGH — A couple that run a popular Portland pub believe plan to open a new restaurant on Route 1 in Scarborough.

Dunstan Tap & Table, under construction in the Dunstan Crossing development, is tentatively scheduled to open in late May, Jennifer Brenerman said. The 3,500-square-foot space will seat 100, with room for private events or meetings.

Jennifer and Brian Brenerman live in Portland and own Shay’s Grill Pub in Portland’s Monument Square. The couple, who plan to move to Scarborough, have 50 years of combined experience working in the food service industry.

Jennifer Brenerman, who has managed the front of the house at Shay’s, said she has always worked in restaurants – as a teenager, through college and during her teaching career. When she and Brian met and married, he was already operating Shay’s, which he bought in 2006. Brian Brenerman also had previous experience in restaurant and hotel management, including in Boston and Denver.

Jennifer Brenerman said the couple wanted to open a second restaurant they could develop and design from the ground up.

Dunstan Tap & Table is “everything we’ve wanted in a restaurant,” she said. She added that since they are raising two children, ages 2 and 3, they are striving to create a family-friendly atmosphere.

“It will be open, spacious and colorful,” she said.

The menu is still being developed, she said, but it will likely be upscale pub-style food.

The couple will continue to operate Shay’s and will rent to own the new space in Scarborough.

Brenerman said the couple had looked for a suitable location for about six or seven years. They noticed a need in Scarborough for a pub-style restaurant, and other businesses had begun to move into the Dunstan development.

Brenerman said Shay’s is a place where regulars congregate and everyone knows one another, an atmosphere they would like to foster at Dunstan Tap & Table.

She said she likes that residents who live in the area will be able to walk to the restaurant, and there will be a field adjacent to it for children to play in, as well as a patio and fire pit. Eventually, the couple would like to tend a garden at the location.

“We are expecting a busy summer,” Brenerman said.

Juliette Laaka can be contacted at 781-3661 ext.,106 or at:

jlaaka@theforecaster.net.