Shays on Monument Square
When I noticed Shays on Monument Square, resurrected in the space where Michaela’s had been, I was delighted to see that place filled again.
Michaela’s was a big hit when it first opened. Though the room was small, it was attractively done, with its flaming red leatherette booths and cool interior. But after several months, regulars, which included yours truly, tired of the restaurant because the menu never changed. Right up to its last wheezing gasp you would be presented with the same choices as Day One. The chef/owner defended this. But his blind arrogance eventually got the better of him, and Michaela’s bit the dust, rightly so.
This is one of my main pet peeves when dining out. If restaurants don’t change the menu frequently, I stop going. Many places tweak their offerings on a daily basis or present a fixed list with many specials.
I’m surprised at how many otherwise good establishments in town rely on a permanent menu with few changes. For many years, Back Bay Grill, for instance, had but one bill of fare, without adjustment except for seasonal variations. Fore Street and Street & Co. on the other hand, offer new choices daily. I could go to either place seven nights a week without being bored.
I’m not sure what Shays has in mind. What it does have is the potential to be the ideal restaurant to go to before the movies. You can choose from hamburgers, pastas, grill fare, a beer, a slice of cheesecake and you’re decently fed—maybe.
We went last night for dinner. The restaurant has been operating for only two weeks, serving dinner, and will be open for lunch soon.
My first impressions are this: Keep Shays in mind when you’re in the neighborhood but don’t make a special trip. Maybe when the restaurant gets better known it might attract a lively bar crowd, appealing to those who like to make the scene.
What I saw was decent, reasonably satisfying and reasonably priced food. Personally, it’s not my type of place. It’s loaded with standard pastas dishes, fortified salads (the inevitable Caesar), hearty sandwiches, with good hamburgers in various guises, and a smattering of beef, pork and salmon entrees.
The restaurant is still attractive, even more so than its predecessor, painted in a warm coffe-beige tone. The red leatherette booths are still there and just as comfortable. They work well for two people as eminently gracious seating. For four it’s still very comfortable, and for six, it’s doable in a pinch.
There is also a group of tables for two and four in the front of the restaurant. The bar has been expanded and has an impressive display of premium Scotches, vodkas and other choices and an enormous beer selection. The big Gritty’s sign in the window is a dead give away that you’re in a bar and grill,--albeit, gussied up.
But it’s not a beer joint or hangout. In fact, I was surprised to learn, after asking our waitress a few questions, that the restaurant is owned by the people who run the charming Crooked Mile Café in the Old Port-- two establishments as different as peas and rutabagas.
I started with a first course of Maine shrimp in a wine-laced broth, with hefty slices of garlic afloat. The shrimp and broth were delicious. The barely cooked garlic was so plentiful that I can still taste it at this writing the day after. It was served with grilled bread to sop up the juices, which I did happily.
We both had the Philly burger, a hefty half pound of beautifully charred beef with sautéed onions under a sheath of Swiss cheese. The roll, nicely toasted, was humongous. But this was a fine burger--about the best I’ve had in Portland.
I chose to have French fries with my burger and my companion had the onion rings. The fries and the rings were preprocessed, I’d wager, using the variety that restaurants get from commercial food suppliers. This was unfortunate.
If Shays wants to lure customers away from the established competition (like the excellent Dave’s next door, a finer restaurant indeed) they need to improve on such basics like fries or onion rings.
I probably won’t go to Shays again except for their excellent burgers or before the movies when I want an easy meal at an attractive downtown restaurant close to the Nickelodeon.
E-mail this entry to a friend
Subscribe
Questions/Comments
