Maine
Sunday Telegram 9/2/01
Saltwater Grille:
Expert grilling, unbeatable location
By DENISE COMPTON,
HOW IT RATES
Saltwater Grille
231 Front St., South Portland
799-5400
Food:
Atmosphere:
Service:
Dinner hours: lunch 11am-3pm, dinner 5 pm to 9:30 pm seven days a week
Credit cards: Visa/MC & Amex
Price range: entrees $16 to $23
Vegetarian dishes: yes
Reservations: recommended
Bar: full
Wheelchair access: yes
The bottom line: Expertly grilled fresh seafood, steaks, and chicken
served in a picturesque Maine harbor setting.
Location, location, location. The Saltwater Grille offers a spectacular
sunset view of Portland harbor and the skyline. The harborside open deck
is lovely with white cotton sun umbrellas, and the screened porch is furnished
with white wicker. The spacious dining room and bar with their hardwood
floors, cathedral stone fireplace, slate blue walls and comfortable couches
are quite neighborly and nautical. Sunlight pours in from the bay windows.
Steaks, fish and chicken are expertly grilled; it's what the Saltwater
Grille does best. The menu is upscale and imaginative, but on a Saturday
night in August, the restaurant was a little too busy to attend to details.
There was a short wait for a dinner table. We were seated in the bar and
served an appetizer and wine immediately. By the time our Spring Point
mussels arrived, our table was ready. While the waitress assisted us in
moving to our harborside table, we were asked to settle our bar bill before
moving to the dining room. This was awkward with a hot appetizer waiting.
Our mussels ($7.95) were steamed in a fragrant lobster, tomato, garlic
and shallot sauce. They were visibly steaming; this broth was comparable
to a sweet bouillabaisse and was served with half a loaf of soft Italian
bread and whipped butter. Excellent.
The wine list ranges from Tommasi Pinot Grigio for $25 a bottle to Antares
Merlot, California, for $42 a bottle. Dom Perignon lists for $150 a bottle.
The diverse wine list includes varieties from France, Australia, Argentina,
Italy, Chile and New Zealand. The Saltwater Grille offers 10 select wines
by the glass. I tried the Heritage Cotes Du Rhone for $4.95, which was
served at room temperature and was mild and even in flavor.
Our dinner had two low points. The first was our second appetizer, a hopeful,
kid-friendly choice: barbecue pulled chicken tostaditos ($6.95). I will
use the words from the menu to explain this concoction. "Tri-colored
corn tortilla layered with pulled chicken, black beans, corn and topped
with melted cheddar served with a grilled golden pineapple and red flame
grape chutney." The whole was less than the sum of its parts. There
was nothing wrong with the concept, the flavors or the ingredients; it
was just visually unappetizing and not particularly tasty. Less said the
better.
The
second disappointment was the house mesclun salad. I was served a wilted
salad and I checked with the waitress, wondering if I may had inadvertently
ordered wilted greens. She quickly agreed to ask the kitchen if this in
fact was the case. In minutes she returned with a fresh version of chilled
mesclun greens with spiced walnuts, Stilton crumbled with red onions and
a tangy sun-dried tomato dressing served on the side.
The volume of food coming out of this kitchen is remarkable. The Saltwater Grille can seat around 150 people, and the place was packed. The
timing of the serving of our courses was uneven. Attention to detail and
quality control is a challenge when the numbers are high.
The grill itself is visible from the dining room, and three, if not four,
line cooks are grilling and turning out some fantastic entrees. The evening's
special of grilled swordfish with anahei pepper and fresh peach salsa
($17.95) was a summer tropical feast and visually a pleasure. This dish
was beautifully arranged; a large portion of expertly grilled swordfish
was topped with a sweet and spicy peach salsa with minced red onion and
bits of the anahei pepper. This was served over rice with a few tender
steamed green beans, summer squash and zucchini. It was a fine recommendation
from our efficient, though busy, waitress.
We also tried the Maine steamed lobster ($22.95), which was a full lobster
bake complete with sweet white corn, french fries, and cole slaw. The
lobster, which was at least a 1-pounder, was served steaming hot with
drawn butter atop a generous portion of Maine mussels. The cole slaw was
coarsely grated, the fries were crisp, and the lobster dinner was quite
satisfying.
Chicken piccata ($13.95) was another sample of expert grilling. A good-sized
boneless breast was nicely charred and topped with a mild roasted red
pepper sauce. This tender chicken was served on a bed of sweet, creamy
mashed red potatoes and a medley of grilled summer vegetables.
Desserts are not in print, which makes it a bit harder to decide, especially
when the restaurant is busy. However, our waitress was most willing to
tell us about the in-house pastry chef and to repeat, slowly, the wonderful
special desserts. Temptations included an English pudding with caramel
and white chocolate, a triple chocolate torte, a lemon chiffon cheesecake
and a tri-berry torte.
We tried the lemon chiffon cheesecake, which was a fine 1950s rendition
of one of Betty Crocker's gourmet chiffon cakes. It was a huge portion,
and the cake was ever so light and creamy. It was full of fresh, tart
lemon flavor, topped with whipped-cream roses and a fresh lemon wedge,
and drizzled with lemon curd. Beautiful and luscious.
The tri-berry torte was full of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries
topped with whipped cream. The torte's cake was itself sweetened with
sugar and cinnamon, and again it was a substantial portion and a visual
delight. Both desserts were $4.95.
The entrees at this waterfront location define the Saltwater Grille.
Desserts are a close second, and the mussels are worthy of a return visit.
The menu offers more intriguing entrees, including a potato-encrusted
haddock with thyme lemon butter, a fisherman's stew of fresh seafood and
shellfish in a creamy saffron broth over linguine, a grilled filet mignon
and scallops carbonara.
Despite the wilted greens and gargantuan tostaditos, I do recommend the
Saltwater Grille. The setting is exceptional, the fish is fresh, and
the grilling is expert.
Denise Compton is a free-lance writer who lives in Yarmouth.
Ratings are based on a five-star scale.
