After months of preparation, the Water Street Kitchen and Bar, formerly Le Garage, in Wiscasset, is set to debut Thursday, June 27.

After a couple of days of soft openings with family members, friends and neighbors invited, is Thursday’s grand opening. The bar area is done, there are new table tops, and the menus have just been printed. The menu features seafood,  steak and some pasta dishes, at least initially, owner Ed Colburn said. He expects to have a bar menu and a lunch menu soon, and once the staff is ready, he anticipates expanding the dinner menu, too.

At Colburn’s side was the general manager Colburn said he convinced to come up from Boston, Shane McCarthy. 

Some of the items from Le Garage have remained in homage. The sign, once hidden under an awning, is now a place of pride in the bar area. The Rines Brothers sign offering “horseshoeing and jobbing” is above the bar, and drill presses are mounted on the walls.

An interesting addition is a triptych metal sculpture in three window openings to the dining room. The sculpture was wrought by Fishbone Metalworks of South Portland. Made of steering wheels, gears, chains, oil drains, grills, and more, arranged artfully, with the dining room windows’ light behind it, it pays tribute to the original restaurant and its automotive past.

Colburn said the new restaurant has everything it needs to go this week – liquor license, health inspection, all the food and beverage one could need – and now the time has come to see if his vision for the former Le Garage meets the expectations of those in town and beyond who have waited years for a restaurant to be there again.