Lunch in the ’hood

Lovin’ Rick’s on the Hill

By Kathy Gunst

Rick’s, 100 Congress Street, Portland, (207) 775-7772. Open for lunch Wed. through Fri. from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner on Tues. through Sun. from 5:30 p.m. till close (reservations recommended), and brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends.

THE ’JOY OF COOKING: Rick’s, on the Hill, is clean, simple, and delicious.

I have a fantasy about the perfect neighborhood restaurant. It’s a small room, with subtle lighting, mellow music, and a waitstaff that is friendly, efficient, and never obtrusive. The food is simple, fresh, and always innovative — great soups, salads, stews, and local seafood. It’s the kind of place you could go three nights a week, and never grow tired of. “Stop dreaming,” my husband says. “We live in a small town in Southern Maine. It’ll never happen.”

Last week, on the grayest, coldest day of the year, I announced to my husband that I had found the place. “Only thing is,” I explained, “We have to move to Portland, to Munjoy Hill.”

Rick’s is the fantasy neighborhood restaurant. It’s a single room, simply decorated with beautiful local art work. There are less than 20 tables, wooden floors, simple wooden tables and chairs, with white fans spinning overhead. Even in December, the month of excessive decoration, simple greenery lines the windows with small clusters of chili pepper holiday lights. You walk in and the enticing scent of char-grilling and spice hits you hard. Immediately, you are starving.

I’m there with a good friend and her two-year old son at lunch time. I don’t generally like to review places at lunch (dinner being the true show-off meal), but it’s a hectic time of year, and lunch can be interesting if it offers something beyond your basic burger. The waitress immediately fetches a high chair and a glass of milk for my little friend, and we settle in, listening to Emmy Lou Harris. At noon, the place is almost full with business people and neighborhood friends lunching together. The snow turns to rain and we feel cozy, welcome, and ready to eat.

We start with the Warm Baby Spinach Salad with seared salmon, roasted corn, red onion, and radish. One bite and I’m in the middle of a clear, July day. The flavors are that fresh and light. The vinaigrette is spiked with fresh OJ, and the salmon, a thin filet, is perfectly grilled and just hot enough to wilt the tender spinach. Fresh corn (presumably from Florida) is grilled and taken off the cob and scattered alongside the salmon with thin strips of colorful red onion and radish.

The Hearts of Romaine with roasted garlic dressing, white anchovies, reggiano parmesan, and warm Croutons is the best “Caesar-like” salad around. The romaine is so crisp and fresh that it snaps in your mouth and the roasted garlic dressing (with just a subtle hint of lemon) gives the salad the right creamy coating. A shower of grated parmesan and grilled slices of French bread, nicely doused with olive oil, complete the salad. If you’ve never tasted white anchovies, I suggest you run to Rick’s. They lack the intense salt and fishiness of regular anchovies, and offer a subtle, almost sweet flavor. Even the two-year old wolfed one down.

Speaking of the young lad, he managed to devour the Red Lentil Soup with Sausages — a thick, hearty broth that laughs in the face of December weather. (My young friend, it turns out, has all the makings of a food critic. He ate virtually everything placed in front of him and smiled as he pointed at the plates, begging for more.)

The menu listed Maine Crab Cakes with Watercress-Strawberry Salad with Lemon Crème Fraiche. I was turned off by the thought of strawberries in December, but the crab cakes arrived with a pile of peppery watercress scattered with glistening pomegranate seeds and paper-thin slices of sautéed pear. It was the most spectacular, original winter salad I’ve tasted in a while. The crab cakes were the essence of what crab cakes should be, and rarely are: a generous-sized cake overflowing with fresh crab, chives, and tiny bits or red pepper, with no heavy breadcrumbs or fillers. The Chicken and Spicy Monterey Jack Quesadilla with guacamole and pico de gallo was filled with grilled chicken, caramelized onions, and cheese — a great combination of sweet, smoky, and spicy flavors. The guacamole was superb, but the pico de gallo was a bit overloaded with cumin. The quesadillas were accompanied by yet another interesting salad of mixed greens with thin julienne slices of red pepper, carrots, and zucchini sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds.

My one caveat about Rick’s is the front door. Every time someone arrived, a blast of cold air came in with them. On a busy Saturday night, in the dead of winter, I suspect it’s a major problem.

Ordering dessert at lunch is a bit decadent but, hey, we were with a two-year-old who was behaving awfully well. The Chocolate Cream Pie made my eyes open as wide as his. A generous wedge of chocolate graham cracker crust with a thick, chocolate pudding/ýousse filling was rich, creamy, and luscious, and served with vanilla-spiked whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder. The cranberry-pear pie was packed with fresh fruit and a light crumb topping that provided just enough sweetness to counterbalance the tart cranberries. Unfortunately, the vanilla ice cream that accompanied the pie tasted mediocre, like store-bought.

Next time we go to Rick’s for lunch, I’ll try the Pan-Fried Haddock Sandwich with lemon-chive mayo, the classic Grilled Cheese with ripe tomato and garlic fries, or the Grilled Fish Tacos. The dinner menu looks even more enticing with comfort food like Chicken Pot Pie, Mom’s Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and Southern Fried Chicken. There’s also more sophisticated choices like Pan-Roasted Lobster with fennel, pernod, and chives; and Risotto with lobster, roasted corn, and sage. We may not move to Portland, but I have found my new favorite neighborhood restaurant.