October 23, 2006

Restaurant review
By Mort Peche

(photo/Bollard staff)

The Café At Pat's
484 Stevens Ave., Portland
874-0706
www.cafeatpats.com

Pat's Meat Market has been a fixture in Portland's Deering neighborhood since 1918. The Vacchiano family eventually installed an eatery on the second floor that's been manned by able chefs for years. For the last couple years, chef Karl Ronhave, a veteran of restaurants in Vermont and Portland, has been at the helm, and since then The Café at Pat's has become one of the most satisfying restaurant experiences off the peninsula.

Chef Ronhave has a thing for Mediterranean dishes. Created with the bounty from local farms and fishermen, these dishes become something new. Maine's flavors, in the hands of a skilled student of Italian, French and Spanish cookery, are eye-opening.

The first glimpse of this at a recent dinner were scallop-and-haddock quenelles ($10), a specialty in Lyon. These oval-shaped, seafood-and-cream dumplings were served over balsamic radiccio with melted parmesan. I don't normally like any cheese on seafood, but it worked. Helped by a parsley sauce, the quenelles also looked great on the plate.

Mussels ($10) are served with caramelized shallots, roasted red peppers, and Serrano ham – a slow-cured mountain ham used a lot in Spanish cooking. As we all know, you just can't get better mussels anywhere in the world, and Chef Ronhave adds some nice accents to bring the full flavor forth from Casco Bay's finest. Ronhave will tweak those accents depending on the season, but one appetizer that's changed little are the killer Jonah Crab Cakes ($11), served with a lime aioli. I think a few regular customers may have threatened to stage a cutlery-wielding rebellion if he changed those.

We also tried the Ravioli appetizer: chicken, roasted squash, and Serrano ham Ravioli in a Romano cheese-and-sage sauce ($10). It was excellent, though I didn't expect or particularly appreciate the crispness around the edges.

Entrées at The Café at Pats mirror the seasons, as well. A dinner last winter featured an out-of-this-world Paella with fresh Maine shrimp. Our menu last week listed braised lamb shank with roasted onion, garlic, and a Port reduction ($18); and Chargrilled Ribeye with a cognac-and-green-peppercorn sauce ($25). I saw a huge pork chop with sweet apple jam ($17) on the next table, and realized once again why putting a restaurant over a butcher's shop is a brilliant idea.

I decided to try the traditional beef braciole ($21), an Italian specialty: thin skirt steak rolled and stuffed with spiced pork, parmesan, and basil. My companion ordered the pan-seared salmon filet ($21), served with a fennel, bacon and roasted tomato ragout.

The cut of salmon that arrived was stunning in size, and cooked just right, a tad rare. Its melt-in-your-mouth texture was well matched by the tomato-fennel ragout. Outstanding. The braciole, by contrast, seemed over-done. I couldn't taste the filling as much as I expected to, though I don't know that I'd had this variety of braciole before.

Several other entrées on the menu this night practically demanded a return visit, like the pan-seared duck breast in an orange-marsala reduction ($20), and the oven-roasted scallops in a parsley-saffron cream with Serrano ham crumbles ($24). There are numerous vegetarian options, like the asparagus, chevre and chestnut crepes ($14). The wine list is inspired, though we stuck with beers and two well-made Manhattans.

We finished the evening at the bar, a cozy room off the dining room with couches amid rustic woodwork. A romantically lit, tree-shaded terrace can be found beyond glass doors. (I had several spectacular brunches on that terrace this past summer. Do not miss the beef-brisket hash with caramelized onions and three kinds of shoestring potatoes, served with two poached eggs on top [$8].)

We ran into a couple friends at the bar who live nearby. They make a point of eating here at least once a week. The Café at Pat's is a Deering neighborhood secret, they said, one adding that "God forbid" someone should write about the place.

Secret or not, seen from Stevens Avenue at night, drivers get just a glance of warmly lit woodwork through the windows above the butcher's shop – it could be a dinner party. In essence, it is, and you're invited.


The Café at Pat’s is open for dinner Tues.-Sat. at 5:30 p.m. Sun. brunch is served from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.