In my family, Howard Johnson’s meant two things: fried food and ice cream. The fried clam strips were strangely addictive – always uniform in size, crunchy and salty on the outside and so relentlessly rubbery inside that the clams bounced on the Formica table if they occasionally slid off a plate. We loved them. Our favorite ice cream was just as predictable, each identical scoop hyper-sweet and flecked with shards of peppermint stick that melted on the tongue and settled into the molars (where they likely contributed to an adolescence filled with dentist’s visits.)
We didn’t go to Ho Jo’s for the “cuisine.” We went for the fried food and the sweets, the abundant parking, the child-friendly waitresses and the booths.
FORESIDE TAVERN
RATING: **1/2
WHERE: 270 Route 1, Falmouth. 781-4255, info@theforsidetavern.com
SERVING: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday
PRICE RANGE: Appetizers $10.95 to $13.95, entrees $9.95 to $24.95
NOISE LEVEL: Moderate
VEGETARIAN: Some dishes
GLUTEN-FREE: Some dishes
RESERVATIONS: For parties of eight or more
BAR: Yes.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
BOTTOM LINE: At this family-friendly local favorite on Route 1, the welcome is warm and the patio – in particular – attractive, but the dining room can grow noisy and the food is only fair. Start with crab cakes, among the most reliable dishes on the menu. They’re moist, meaty and flavorful. Avoid the heavy and pricier meat-based entrees and try a simply grilled fillet of salmon instead. Desserts here are house-made, so sweet lovers should splurge on a slice of peanut butter mousse pie. It’s built on a vanilla wafer crust and covered with chocolate ganache, and the peanut butter filling is rich, smooth and sugary, sure to please both grownups and children.
Ratings follow this scale and take into consideration food, atmosphere, service and value and type of restaurant (a casual bistro will be judged as a casual bistro, an expensive upscale restaurant as such): * Poor ** Fair *** Good **** Excellent ***** Extraordinary. The Maine Sunday Telegram visits each restaurant once; if the first meal was unsatisfactory, the reviewer returns for a second. The reviewer makes every attempt to dine anonymously.
Foreside Tavern fills a one-time Howard Johnson’s on Route 1 in Falmouth, and while the orange roof and the blue spire may be missing, the tavern still reminds me a lot of Ho Jo’s. A huge parking lot out front always seems filled with cars, even if the dining room and the separate bar and the lushly planted patio have a few tables available. The waitresses are kind and funny – quick to answer a question or haul over another high chair or recommend their favorite sweet from the menu of house-made desserts. And the booths are comfortable, providing fine views of the artwork and photographs displayed on the walls and available for sale. So what about the food – the fried fish, the grilled meats, the salads, stews and pasta? It’s familiar. It’s predictable. It’s filling. But it’s only rarely really good.
Supper here started well. There were no fried clams on the menu, but the waitress did recommend pan-fried crab cakes ($13.95), served with a small pile of shiitake mushroom slaw and three dollops of malt vinegar aioli. The cakes were excellent, with a crispy, golden brown exterior and lumps of meat held together with hope instead of bread crumbs. The kitchen knows that fresh crabmeat demands care: This crab was only lightly salted so that the flavor of the seafood came through – and that aioli enriched the cakes and added a tangy finish.
Unfortunately, crab cakes were the high point of the meal.
A Japanese noodle salad ($11.95) starter proved a colorful disappointment. The white somen noodles were mounded onto a plate and blanketed with golden peanuts, green scallions, pickled vegetables and an orangey chili dressing. I like noodles that slither on a fork (or a set of chopsticks) and feel soft and smooth against my teeth, but these noodles were so dry that I ended up pushing them to the side and plucking out a few slivers of red pepper to dip into the sriracha dressing instead. (Suggestion to the kitchen: Lose the noodles. Stick with the pickled vegetables and the spicy dressing. You’ll have a winner on your hands.)
Grilled pork tenderloin with cipollini marmalade ($22.95) turned out to be slices of flavorless, gray pork (the term “mystery meat” came to mind) topped with large cipollini onions, Swiss chard, beets and mashed potatoes. The beets were mildly sweet, and the rosy Swiss chard retained some crunch, but neither the onions nor the spuds had much taste. (And nothing on the plate could save that pork.)
A friend’s pan-fried haddock ($18.95), on the other hand, suffered from too much sauce. The haddock itself was competently cooked and appealingly crisp, but it was swimming in brown butter and I had to use my knife to clear enough capers to find the fillet. My friend’s verdict: “under-salted, over-capered.”
By now the parking lot outside was nearly full, and most of the booths and tables in the dining room were occupied. With the noise level rising (I counted 12 speakers hanging on the walls) I raised my voice and asked for a slice of Peanut Butter Mousse Pie ($5.95). Good news. It was meltingly delicious – super smooth and creamy and topped with a glistening layer of chocolate ganache. What much of the meal lacked in flavor this pie had in spades.
I couldn’t help wondering what I’d missed between the appetizers and dessert at Foreside Tavern. The place was humming early on a weeknight. The bar area was packed with customers both standing and seated at the high tops near the windows. Tables in the dining room were turning over quickly as parents came in juggling toddlers and car seats, and left toting containers filled with leftovers.
I decided to give the place another try, and went back the following week, this time taking a photographer friend who is a self-proclaimed salad junkie and sandwich fan.
Even before noon on a weekday, the parking lot looked full, and we were happy to find a table on the patio. The setting outside was lovely, cool and shady and remarkably quiet (though Route 1 is clearly visible in the distance.) And once again, the waitress was terrific. She recommended the freshly brewed iced tea, and quickly brought out entrees – a Caesar salad and Reuben sandwich, and a simply grilled salmon fillet.
My friend, the salad queen, declared the Caesar ($7.95) “photogenic” but “not great.” The lettuce was limp, the dressing was blend and the generous shower of cheese on top was way too generous. (More and more restaurants seem to be snuffing out Caesars with too much cheese. Et tu, Foreside?) Luckily her Reuben ($9.95), a thick sandwich of corned beef on marbled rye, was much better. I bit into a corner and savored the creamy Thousand Island dressing and the sharp bite of sauerkraut on top of the pleasantly fatty meat. This sandwich was simple, classic and satisfying.
The grilled salmon entrée ($13.95) was a mixed bag. While the fish was moist, nicely grilled and served with a spicy chipotle crème fraîche that seared my tongue (in a good way), the accompanying watermelon salad was, again, limp and watery when I’d hoped for crunch and sweetness.
Foreside Tavern obviously does a brisk business and has a loyal following among the families who fill the dining room booths, and the couples who spend time in the bar area. I doubt they’re going for the cuisine. My guess is they’re going for the atmosphere, for the sense of community, for the convenience and the genuinely warm welcome.
James H. Schwartz has covered food, travel and architecture for The Washington Post, Downeast, Coastal Living and Southern Living magazines for more than 30 years. He retired from his job as vice president at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2013 and relocated to Maine.
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