Ronhave remains The Groceria Cafe returns with quality BY BRIAN DUFF
	the groceria cafe the groceria cafe 484 Stevens Ave., Portland, (207) 874-0706. Open from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Mon. through Thurs., and from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on Fri. and Sat. Credit cards accepted.

The Groceria Café above Pat’s Meat Market has always closed for the month of July. So when they shut their doors this June, few people suspected there was anything amiss. But that Saturday in June was chef Greg Gilman’s last at the restaurant. For a time it had seemed as if it would be the Groceria’s last day as well. Though Jaime Vacchiano owns both Pat’s and the Groceria, the restaurant was in many ways Gilman’s baby. It was hard for anyone to imagine the place without him — so hard in fact, that the staff arranged for other jobs, and prepared to move on when Greg did.

The Groceria has long been adored by its neighbors around Stevens Avenue, and by other Portlanders in the know. The news that it might be closing struck regulars as a small tragedy. But not to worry: Chef Karl Ronhave has stepped in to ease the pain. One week after the Groceria’s reopening, there are signs that Ronhave will succeed, and that this splendid neighborhood spot might continue to charm in some familiar ways and some new ones.

Ronhave has reworked the menu a little but keeps to the spirit of the place. Italian mainstays are still prevalent, but while Gilman liked to fold in Greek influences, Ronhave is working in more French ingredients. The new menu is also a little less geared toward seafood — appropriate given that it’s above a meat market.

The rustic coziness of the dining room hasn’t changed at all. Vacchiano and Gilman used wood salvaged from an old farmhouse in Gorham to give every part of the sizable space an intimate feel. But I can’t remember if there used to be so many dried flowers. We felt a little like we were in that episode of Queer Eye where they ran around the Straight Guy’s house to see how many dried flowers they could throw out in a minute.

Ronhave was also wise to keep the prices where they were, with plenty of entrees under 20 dollars. Even better is the reasonable wine list. Though it is still pretty small, there are more intriguing choices under 30 dollars, even under 20, than you often see on much longer lists, and plenty of wines by the glass. The Groceria has always had the cuisine and the atmosphere to deliver a first-rate meal, but with the food and wine prices where they are, it also feels right if you want to stop in for a casual dinner.

Gilman could always be trusted to do great work in the Groceria’s open kitchen. Though it had to be re-staffed from scratch, the new kitchen was already doing good work under Ronhave when I visited just a week into the venture, and promises to be very good once the kinks get worked out.

Occasionally the menu misleads, but not in unpleasant directions. The mushroom salad made us expect a wet jumble of shitakes and portobellos. What you get is better — large pieces of grilled mushroom resting on spinach greens sweetened with a vinaigrette. Since the jonah crabcakes came with a shredded carrot and arugula salad, we expected some sweetness. Instead, the sprinkling of carrot barely affected the dish — which nonetheless could not have been better. The crabcakes were perfectly tender, seasoned with subtlety, and with just the right breading. We admired the lime aioli for fearlessly risking associations with tarter sauce to complete this tangy dish nicely.

One of the perennial favorites under Gilman was the crisp ravioli appetizer. Now you can get an agnolotti filled with roasted garlic and butternut squash. The agnolotti are good, though the filling could be more distinctive, but they are arranged around a pile of crisp roasted leeks that were an unusual and unexpected delight. Touches like this will go far in creating new classics on the menu.

The entrees show potential to be very good once the kitchen becomes adept at getting them off the heat at just the right time, and laying off the seasoning a little to let the ingredients speak for themselves. Because the veal roulade is sliced thin, it might be easy to overcook — ours had been just a little. The halibut, on the other hand, was cooked just right, and worked nicely with the lobster cream sauce. We noted throughout that somebody in the kitchen had a slightly heavy hand with the pepper. Even our pinot noir was peppery.

It was nice to choose between mashed potatoes, risotto, or polenta tuiles with each entrée. Risotto is hard to get just right, and the Groceria’s still needs perfecting, but the polenta was unexpectedly good. Rather than the thin crisp wafers that "tuiles" might lead you to expect, you get several moist, sweet, tender cakes.

The staff in the front of the house is new as well, and they are clearly still learning about the food. But everyone seemed charming, and our server pleasantly relayed our many questions to the kitchen without so much as an eye-roll. This may be the Groceria’s toughest challenge: to recreate the feeling of being among a quirky happy family that you got when eating there. On Gilman’s last night, it seemed everybody who ever worked at the Groceria showed up, many with their families, to eat one last meal and say goodbye. My recommendation is that fans of the old Groceria give the new folks a few weeks to settle in, and then gather again to say hello.

Brian Duff can be reached at bduff@une.edu