The Good Table restaurant changed hands last year after 40 years. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The three generations seated at the table next to mine had just begun to sing when their Sketchers-sporting patriarch – not a day under 80 – barked his own birthday celebration to a stop. “Cut it out before the whole restaurant starts in with that!” he snapped, slamming down a glass of frothy, spiced milk. “I just want to eat my cookies [with malted milk ($12)] in peace. I am a grown-up!”

His family didn’t seem to take offense. They laughed as they shut everyone up by passing around plates piled with executive pastry chef Georgia Macon’s salted chocolate chip, lemon-cornmeal and shortbread cookies. Within seconds, the only sounds coming from that table were murmurs of approval. And 20 minutes later, you’d have heard the same noises coming from me.

Familiar with her work at Twelve, where pastry and bread co-star with savory dishes devised by chefs Colin Wyatt and Matt Ginn (Ginn also acts as the executive chef at The Good Table), I figured Macon’s desserts would be a highlight of my recent meal at the newly reconceptualized Good Table. And I was right. It helps that the restaurant’s new owners, the Prentice Hospitality Group, took most of the guesswork out of pastry by supplying all baked goods from an offsite commissary kitchen. That’s a wise move, because while The Good Table’s kitchen is spacious, it’s not especially baking-friendly.

Still, for guests who remember the former family-operated restaurant’s cozy informality, seeing efficiency-driven corporate practices will take a little getting used to. I don’t expect the transition to take long, however. It’s among the subtler shifts at The Good Table. Contrast that with a thorough interior design makeover that transmits an unmissable, unmistakable message: This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.

Light-shaded neutral wall colors, hardwood floors and polished glassware displayed on open shelving emit an inoffensive, Restoration Hardware-like vibe. On balance, the stately-not-stuffy atmosphere might not be thrilling, but it does the job of signaling that this Good Table has a well-paying job, a mortgage and maybe a boat.

It’s also an upgrade from the already retro, “reassuring and familiar” ambiance that our former critic described in a three-star review back in 2014. Then, as now, the menu leans in to comfort foods and “the popular and predictable,” although today, Greek-American plates are out, and modern American bistro dishes are in.

Many of them are also conceptualized and executed well. Take a Brassica salad of chiffonaded Brussels sprouts and kale, drizzled with a garlicky, Caesar-ish dressing and tossed with butter-toasted panko breadcrumbs ($14). Add an order of four yeasty, nutty brown-bread rolls – Macon is a world-class expert on pull-apart rolls – for another $6, and perhaps a bracing glass of Slovenian Krasno orange wine ($13), and you’ve got the makings of a classic, corner-bistro lunch. You’ll also have enough to share, if you’re so inclined.

The kale salad at The Good Table. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

“The portions are large, and the majority of dishes are designed to be shared,” acting chef de cuisine Jim Stein said. “That goes along with the theme of abundance. We want to see people ordering the bread and sharing it among the family, or a large bowl of mussels and passing it around the table.”

On my recent visit, I didn’t try the mussels, but I did sample another shareable appetizer, the duck fritters ($17), a dish that Stein, an alum of legendary Charleston Low Country restaurant McCrady’s, imagined as a meatier riff on Iberian salt-cod fritters. My guest and I were wowed by the crisp, deep-fried exterior of these yielding and steamy croquettes, and I especially admired how nicely they cozied up to the punchy tang of mustard in the deviled-egg puree beneath.

While the halibut dish that critic Andrew Ross tasted at The Good Table has been rotated off the menu, a new halibut dish has taken its place. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Also to Stein’s credit, I ran into precious few execution issues across the half-dozen menu items I tasted. In my halibut main dish ($36), a dish that has since been rotated off the menu, I found the brothy white beans to be undercooked, while the fish itself was (pretty significantly) past its flaky peak. But I could still enjoy the flavor combination of citrusy simmered chard and mustard greens, not to mention the bright salsa verde.

Meanwhile, on the front-of-house side, service was friendly and (no surprise given the restaurant group’s scale), extraordinarily efficient. Before I even sat down, I’d already received a dinner suggestion. “Hey, I’m going to recommend something to you before you even place your drink order,” the host said conspiratorially. “Get the schnitzel. It’s so great today.”

That was all the goading I needed. I placed my order for the thinly pounded, quick-fried pork loin cutlets served with bacon-strewn German potato salad ($27). And while I could see bacon crumbled in among the Maine fingerlings, I just couldn’t believe my tastebuds. How were those little shards generating such intense smokiness? They weren’t, as I learned when I spoke later with Stein. That depth comes from his insanely collagen-rich ham-hock jus, a sauce he says is “basically a smoked bacon broth.” I could have drunk it by the cupful.

Instead, I sipped a bittersweet, seasonal strawberry Paper Plane cocktail ($15), one of The Good Table’s subtle updates on classic cocktails. It, like most of the other recent tweaks and upgrades to the restaurant, seemed to conflate modern with minimal. “It’s really a very gentle twist on the original,” Stein said. “The new cocktail menu has a dinner-party theme to it. So when you invite someone for a drink, you’re probably not going to do something too outlandish.”

Bartender Natalie Austin puts the finishing touches on a strawberry Paper Plane at the bar at The Good Table. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

I don’t always agree, but in a neighborhood restaurant styled after a contemporary bistro, I think a clear-eyed, pared-back refocus is the right move. Stripping away decades of wall-to-wall carpet, unexciting beverage options and heavy dinner options also suits the corporate project of making The Good Table feel more prosperous and polished. In nearly every regard, it feels like a place for grown-ups.

RATING: ****

WHERE: 527 Ocean House Road, Cape Elizabeth, 207-835-0037. thegoodtablerestaurant.com

SERVING: 4–9 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4–9 p.m. Saturday & Sunday

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers & salads: $10-$21; entrees: $18-$39

NOISE LEVEL: Electric leaf blower

VEGETARIAN: Many dishes

RESERVATIONS: Yes

BAR: Beer, wine and cocktails

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

BOTTOM LINE: The Good Table, version 1.0, succeeded in Cape Elizabeth for nearly 40 years on the strength of its American and Greek-American comfort food menu and family-friendly atmosphere. After the restaurant was sold to local conglomerate The Prentice Hospitality Group last year, it essentially became a new restaurant with the same name. Today, under the day-to-day direction of acting chef de cuisine Jim Stein, The Good Table, version 2.0, carries on the landmark’s tradition of success, this time as an updated, minimal and modern, bistro-like restaurant. The updates won’t please everyone, but on balance, they’re improvements that lend The Good Table an elegance it was lacking. Wines by the glass are straightforward, varietal-typical options, while appetizers and entrees are approachable and familiar. Among the traditional bistro suspects, roast chicken ($32) and steak ($39), you’ll also find a fantastic pork schnitzel served with profoundly smokey ham-hock jus, a garlicky kale “Caesar” served under a blanket of snowy parmesan shavings, and crunchy duckmeat fritters plated with mustardy deviled-egg puree. Prentice Group superstar Georgia Macon makes all The Good Table’s breads and pastries – treats like tender brown bread rolls and platters of assorted, homemade cookies – and frankly, that’s enough reason to visit right there.

Andrew Ross has written about food and dining in New York and the United Kingdom. He and his work have been featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio and in The New York Times. He is the recipient of seven recent Critic’s Awards from the Maine Press Association.

Contact him at: andrewross.maine@gmail.com
Twitter: @AndrewRossME