Alone for the evening I took myself to Fore Street to sit at the bar for dinner. It opened on June 24th, one of the first major restaurants in the city to offer inside dining. Then I felt somewhat uncertain. Is it safe to be dining inside?
Fore Street has always enjoyed the vital buzz of a busy, popular, fine dining establishment, a comforting continuity. Far from being a hulking relic of the old order, how would they handle the new reality of inside dining?
In purity, the Fore Street polished concrete bar looked like a still life
In many such other cities as New York, indoor dining is still not a reality. Yet restaurants try to figure out models that can keep them alive. Curbside pick-up helped pay some of the rent and operating costs. New outside dining in Portland has an obvious short life span when cool weather arrives in a few months. But once a restaurant reports that one of its workers has covid-19, it must shut down as experienced this week at Eventide and Honey Paw; it may give diners pause to dine in public inside or out.
In its heyday, the former Gotham Bar and Grill in New York (photo, New York Magazine) is now closed after founding chef Portale left and successor just didn’t generate enough interest
Then what? Inside bookings will still only be at 50 percent of normal capacity. Yet restaurants all over Portland are erecting outdoor dining rooms. Maybe these will have 10 tables at most. Fore Street, however, has a huge covered outdoor dining room in the works erected in the parking lot. The hope is to replicate indoor-dining capacities. Though I pity the wait staff who must carry the food trays down those steep stone steps from atop the hill.
The relatively quiet reception area; but the lofty room is still a dazzler
Under normal circumstances, it’s a tough business, but dining in Maine’s innovative restaurants are still in high demand, though accepting with a note of caution by some diners. And some restaurants are offering a grocery component and other schemes, and even more should consider steam tables of prepared food that would allow walk-ins to buy their breakfast, lunch, or dinner to take home, fresh off the flame.
We’ll see if half capacity dining rooms are enough to give restaurants a viable income. After all we’re getting a bit bored sitting at our dining room tables or most likely perched on a couch or easy chair in front of the television.
Interestingly in my real estate work, restaurant space is in high demand for lease and for sale by potential investors who are seeing through the clouds a silver lining of opportunity.
On a recent trip to Camden, however, I stopped at my perennial favorite, Moody’s. It was noontime and the place was filled with more waitstaff than diners. The counter was roped off and seating is arranged at every other table or booth. Our waitress said she was glad to be back but it’s not what it used to be. She also said that the day before the restaurant was crowded (half full) and that day we numbered only a handful of diners.
Thursday lunchtime at Moody’s
I had a similar experience at Becky’s where I stopped in recently to have a chicken salad sandwich as though a revelatory experience. I was the only one at the counter and every other booth was taken.
So, I asked before going to Fore Street how the bar was going to be arranged? Would I be sitting shoulder to shoulder to other diners? I had qualms about dining in after practicing months of not going out much in public.
It turned out that my nearest neighbor was a plexiglass shield. Groups of 2 chairs within the plexiglass protection area were perfectly arranged. When you reserve you’re asked to attest to your well-being. Then you must wear a mask upon entering, which you obviously take off when seated and ready to dine.
The normally packed bar area was a sea of calm, which midway held 10 diners. No more sofas either at which to lounge for drinks and nibbles. Instead only three tables were set up, spaced far apart. I thought I would miss the inimitable buzz that bar dining produces.
By mid-evening the bar “filled up”
The meal at Fore Street that night was one of the best I’ve had there (the kitchen less taxed?). The same could be said for dinner on the patio several weeks earlier at their sister restaurant, Scales, across the street on the harbor.
At the bar, the server wore his obligatory mask. There is something about masks that make the experience one of mystery. All you can see is your interlocutor’s eyes, which convey feeling and meaning–and mumbled speech.
A glass of Clos San Quilico blanc
The first course was beautifully composed–tuna tartare set on an oval plate. On one side was smoked tuna sitting in a luscious pool of aioli; on the other end of the plate was raw bluefin tuna–ruby red perfectly cut cubes of fish on a bed of greens and a light sesame dressing. In the middle was a small mound of house-made potato crisps. I used these to scoop up the smoked tuna but not the raw. The crisps would have overpowered the fish. I used a fork, wrapping the lettuce around the fish. It was a gorgeous dish.
Tuna tartare, halibut
For a main course one of the most perfectly cooked pieces of halibut arrived, giving fork-flaky new meaning as it sat in its cast-iron vessel. The fish cut apart in silken sheaves. It was bathed in julienne strips of preserved lemons in a deeply flavored sauce of butter and buttermilk that you stirred around to combine. Delicate and full of citrus, acidic flavors, this fine fish from Maine waters was perfect.
Dessert was equally good: three scoops of ice cream—pistachio-caramel, strawberry-rhubarb sorbet and vanilla raspberry swirl– set on a bed of oatmeal-benne crush, crisp peppermint and little meringue balls. That and a second glass of Clos San-Quilico, a sublime Corsican wine that had the buttery overtones similar to a fine Meursault.
Trio of ice creams
Thank you, Fore Street, for your momentous return, showing that Portland is still a city of fine dining if you’re one of its main contenders for excellence.
Fore Street, 288 Fore St., Portland, ME 207-775-2717
Rating: Solid 5 stars
Ambiance: Cool and very collected
Seating: Half capacity inside dining; outdoor dining pavilion coming soon
Service: Very professional, very friendly by long-time wait staff
Parking: On site
$$$: Expensive, $120+ per person–3 courses with wine, cocktail, tax and tip
