Scallops and corn pudding at Linden + Front in Bath. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The leaves haven’t yet started to turn, but Bath’s Linden + Front is ready for autumn.

“Everything here is super seasonal,” our server tells us, tapping the eraser-end of her pencil on her lower lip as she describes the late-August dishes on offer that night. “I’d say you have to go with the burrata app ($17) while the peaches are so perfect. But there’s a sneaky app on there with a little more ‘oomph’ to it: the five-layer dip ($16). It’s good on a chilly night with some wine. But since it’s Maine, our nights are already chilly!” she says, chuckling and pointing out the window, where the corner of Front and Linden streets has been engulfed by twilight mist and fog.

The Sour Mayor mocktail at Linden + Front. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

My policy is to listen to recommendations from servers the first time I visit a restaurant, so I take her up on both, adding an appealingly tart and allspice-tinged Sour Mayor non-alcoholic cocktail ($13), as well as a glass of Königschaffhauser Spätburgunder, a German pinot noir that disappoints when it turns out to be rather tannic and harsh ($14).

Never mind. Both of those first dishes were good enough to make up for a disequlibrated glass of red. Fresh peach slices, roughly torn gem lettuce leaves, and basil and mint form the heart of the burrata dish, offset by oozy chunks of cream-filled fresh mozzarella and a few planks of grilled, house-baked focaccia. When I speak with co-owner Khristine Leeman later, she’ll tell me that this particular summer dish was once a special that earned a spot on the seasonal menu through sheer popularity. I get why.

I also appreciate the playfulness of the dish, which according to Khristine Leeman, is a riff on a classic American grilled-peach salad that shifts the source of the smoke from the fruit to the bread. It works nicely and avoids the occasional mushiness of grilled stone fruit. Tweaks like this are Linden + Front’s stock in trade, as fellow co-owner and chef Zac Leeman (Khristine Leeman’s husband) and head chef Joe Arena (formerly of the Schoolhouse 1913 in Harpswell) put their spin on “elevated, eclectic comfort food.”

The five layer dip at Linden + Front. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

If you wonder how a five-layer dip could aspire to a more refined version of itself, just imagine it assembled with layers of roasted, garlicky eggplant “caviar,” pureed artichokes, green olives and jolly sweety drop peppers to deliver pops of brine and sweetness. Served with more grilled slices of Arena’s airy focaccia, this was nearly (apart from poorly incorporated chunks of fresh goat cheese) a perfect comfort-food dish — exactly the sort of thing I could imagine scarfing while watching the soon-to-arrive leaf peepers through the plate-glass windows in Linden + Front’s bar room.

I say that while also secretly knowing I’d actually prefer a table in the 75-seat restaurant’s nook-like annex dining room, a space adorned with mirrors, mix-and-match landscape paintings, soft pendant lighting and an array of floral images that are Linden + Front’s signature motif.

Server Lauren Glancy takes an order from a table at Linden + Front early on an August evening. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

According to Khristine Leeman, the restaurant’s décor is inspired by the Moorish lanterns suspended over the bar. These are among the only legacy design elements to remind diners of Salt Pine Social and Relish, the two previous restaurants that occupied the rambling building.

“We were really lucky that we didn’t have to do any major construction, but we had to put our vision on the place with the floral theme. There isn’t a surface in here we didn’t touch,” Khristine Leeman told me. “Portland has all these little jewel box restaurants and bars. I felt like Bath deserved a place like that, too.”

The Leemans are right about the gap their restaurant fills. Linden + Front isn’t radically different from its predecessors, but it picks up the thread of their moderately priced, bistro-style cooking nicely. Looking for a classic flourless chocolate torte? There’s a good one on the menu ($9): dense and fudgy, topped with a dollop of Chantilly cream with aromatic bits of candied orange peel folded through. What keeps the cake from being a truly great dessert is its lack of textural contrasts. It’s missing a crunchy component to offset intensely gooey richness.

Balance issues occasionally crop up elsewhere on the menu, as well. The Fresno-spiced, smoked pineapple margarita ($13) sounded terrific on paper, but it wasn’t sweet enough to counteract the overwhelming flavor of applewood smoke deployed to cure slices of freshly cut pineapple. “It’s like sipping on a campfire,” my dinner guest remarked, setting the drink down after a single taste that would also be his last.

Grilled trout with olive tapenade at Linden + Front. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Fortunately, Linden + Front also offers plenty of evidence that the kitchen knows how to manage complex combinations of ingredients and components. Perhaps this newcomer, open only since February of this year, needs a little time to build its confidence. On that front, plates like dry-cured, grilled trout ($27) served atop an ample portion of the restaurant’s Market Salad (available separately for $10) inspire real confidence. Somehow Zac Leeman and Joe Arena manage to calibrate the salt levels in this dish brilliantly, no easy feat with a florid, herby green goddess dressing and a savory green-olive tapenade competing for your tastebuds’ attention.

And in the seared scallop entrée ($37), another glimpse of Linden + Front’s potential. Here, bacon lardons and fluffy Italian-style gnocchi luxuriate in a sweet-pepper succotash that toys with sweetness from the butter-browned scallops themselves and corn kernels zipped off the cob minutes earlier. But the real treat in this dish is jiggly spoonfuls of corn pudding that contribute their own perspective on sweetness to the plate. It’s a dish that bridges the seasons, a valediction to the summer and a prediction for the autumn. In all its layers and nuance, it says simply, “We’re ready.”

Susan Lapping, of Kernersville, N.C., left, and Kelly Pallitto, of Bath, dine on the deck at Linden + Front in late August. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

RATING: ***1/2

WHERE: 244 Front St., Bath, 207-389-4143. lindenandfront.com

SERVING: 4:30–8 p.m. Mondays, 4:30–8:30 p.m. Thursdays, 4:30–9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4:30 –8 p.m. Sundays

PRICE RANGE: Appetizers & sides: $7-$19, Sandwiches & entrees: $18-$48

NOISE LEVEL: Off-hours at the dog park

VEGETARIAN: Many dishes

RESERVATIONS: Yes

BAR: Beer, wine and cocktails

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

BOTTOM LINE: Bath’s newest neighborhood restaurant, Linden + Front, bills itself as “a modern table,” a slogan that signals its eclecticism. But really, this new venture by restaurateurs Khristine and Zac Leeman is a bistro through and through, with a menu that seems to revel in classics that are only slightly updated. And that’s not a bad thing. Dishes like grilled lake trout with green-olive tapenade and a green goddess dressing exhaling dill and tarragon, or burrata enhanced by a tumble of vinaigrette-dressed peaches showcase the kitchen’s talent with local ingredients. Heartier plates, such as an eggplant-and-artichoke-based five-layer dip served with grill-marked slices of chefs Zac Leeman’s and Joe Arena’s focaccia, also impress.

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