In a rare move of city assent and common sense, the Portland City Council has overturned an ordinance that had banned the sale of meats at Portland’s farmers markets, which had made the state motto of Get Real Get Maine unlawful here.

This is great news for the farmers and consumers, and I applaud the city for coming to terms in recognizing so fast that the ordinance was foolhardy. Though I’ve heard that one of the more volatile members of the city council thought it was a waste of time to make any change whatsoever.

There are a few new restaurants about to open, though it’s too bad that those culinary entrepreneurs haven’t been able to set up shop in time for the summer cache of tourists and diners. Still, it’s time for something fresh to penetrate our fairly crowded restaurant scene.

Speaking of which I’ve had the chance to go to some new places—for me at least. For a long while I’ve been hearing about how good the food is at Pat’s Café located atop Pat’s Meat Market on Steven’s Avenue.

The restaurant will never win awards for décor or ambiance, though it has a certain pleasant hominess with its hanging plants, shiny wood lacquered tables and good neighbor feel.

As for the food, it’s first rate. The starter that I had of grilled leeks with goat cheese and Serrano ham was delicious. My entrée of pan roasted chicken breast stuffed with sausage and manchego cheese was also highly flavorful and satisfying. The desserts were a little lackluster compared to the savory offerings. But at $89 for two including cocktails, it’s a great deal and I will definitely go there again.

One of the more novel dishes I had recently was at Sophia’s, that little lunchroom on Market Street that is constantly SRO at noontime. I go there quite often for the soups, fabulous bread and novel Mediterranean style vegetable and meat plates that are served there, in a sort of ode to the Da Vinci Code diet.

When I was there yesterday I had a chunk of their pizza, which is basically a slab of Sophia’s great bread topped with homemade tomato sauce, cheese and in this instance turkey sausage. Then I noticed on the wall menu an offering of lima bean salad. It’s not really a salad but lima beans mixed with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and other spices. It’s served either hot or cold. I chose the cold version, and it was wonderful.

I suppose it’s an odd combination to have pizza and lima beans, but I thoroughly enjoyed the pairing.

On less rarefied ground I went to Anjon’s in Scarborough for dinner the other night. I was in the mood for the hearty fare of Italian American cooking that only Americanized-tomato sauce laden old style Italian restaurants offer.

Anjon’s has been around since 1954, and I bet nothing has changed since then. Italian restaurants like this one are the Chop Suey of bastardized Italian fare. As long as it’s tomato based and garlic laced it’s called Italian.

We ate in the bar room rather than in the main dining room that has a scenic view of Route 1 traffic whizzing by the Scarborough marshes.

Anjon’s may not be up to snuff for the captains of a Sopranos family standard, but just right for lesser mortals out for a hearty meal.

Our waitress couldn’t have been more pleasant or organized in describing the dishes and bringing the food in a timely fashion.

The bread is that Silver Cup version of Italian bread, slices as white as cotton candy and as chewy as cotton balls.

My appetizer was grilled shrimp wrapped in Prosciutto, smothered in their famous marinara sauce, all of which was served atop their gooey grilled Italian bread loaded with chopped garlic the size of peas.

I have to admit it was good, though it defies any notion of Italian cuisine.

My main course was lasagna, which is my test of a restaurant’s ability to prepare pasta. I chose the version served with sausage.

Oddly the lasagna was served with sausages on the side rather than mixed in the layers. The lasagna was good, prepared with a tasty ricotta filling, but those rashers of sausage were lackluster-- an unsuccessful after thought.

For dessert I had the cheesecake, a mile high slab that was pretty good.

Since I’ve written off Casa Novella and Espo’s, the only place left to have Italia- American food is Anjon’s or the Village Café. I will go to Anjon’s again. The food was good, the surroundings pleasant enough, though the kitschy décor is a bit much.

One night we set out to go to the Front Room for dinner only to find the place closed. I’m not sure of their schedule but they seem to be taking a well deserved night off occasionally.

We rode around town trying to figure out where to go. When we passed by Hugo’s we thought, well, why not? Dinner at Hugo’s is a far cry from a casual meal out. I hadn’t planned on having such a formidable dinner. But the food was as fabulous as ever. Rob Evans is really an incredible chef. The degree of creativity, quality and inventiveness that goes into each dish is a marvel of culinary daring.

If you haven’t been there for a while or need a place in which to celebrate something special, Hugo’s is the ultimate choice in town.

This is not to say that our other star establishments are not holding equal sway. They are. You know the names. No need for me to give gratuitous plugs.

I’ve been to Moody’s several times this month where I stop for either breakfast or lunch on my way up to the Camden area. It’s still one of my favorite diners in Maine. Try to go there on Tuesdays when their special dessert is the lemon pound cake—really good.

In Camden, the Waterfront Restaurant off Bayview Street is still a good spot to go for lunch and to enjoy the glorious harbor views. Locals prefer Ephemera across the street. But I haven’t been there yet.

Last summer I made the rounds of restaurants to discover whose fried clams were worthy of racking up on the calories. This year I think I’ll concentrate on the best places for lobster, including the ubiquitous lobster roll. Stay tuned.

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