It took six years and a global pandemic, but now Clementina Senatore can finally walk into her restaurant and smile.

That’s not to say that during this time in Belfast, a Neapolitan restaurant that she runs and co-owns with chef Alessandro Scelsi, was not doing well financially. On the contrary, during its first three years, meanwhile Belfast was booming, with performance far beyond owners’ expectations.

“We underestimated a lot of anticipation and were so busy the first few months. It was completely crazy. Then it continued for years, and “During that time” was a circus, ”Senatore said. “We opened a little restaurant with a wood-fired experiment, then the pizza took off and we became famous for it. Somehow we’ve become a pizzeria, and that’s not our goal. We didn’t want to do all pizza.

At first, during this time Belfast became known for its pizza. But the restaurant also has a serious wine list that its owners wanted customers to know better. Photos courtesy of Meanwhile in Belfast

Bloggers, social media influencers, and even the press (including a four-star pizza-centric rave in this newspaper) all contributed to people’s impression that during this time Belfast was a pizzeria. To be fair, restaurant pizza has always been presented as an implicit focal point. Meanwhile, in Belfast, it remains the only restaurant in the entire state certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana as a maker of “real” artisanal Neapolitan pizzas. And honestly, meanwhile, the pizza catches the eye because it’s fantastic.

But for Scelsi and Senatore, pizza has become an albatross. So they did the unthinkable: they killed their a la carte menu and replaced it with a tasting menu (pizza remains one of the dishes), redecorated to emphasize the restaurant’s original high-end intentions, and have makes a feature of Sommelier Senatore’s 200-bottle wine list. Six years later, meanwhile Belfast has quietly grown into the prix fixe, nighttime rendezvous that it was always meant to be.

Take time

If they are lucky enough to survive long enough, all restaurants change with age. Some are even improving. Often, however, these changes are not captured by the food media. Food magazines, newspapers and websites share an insatiable thirst for novelty, #CaeSals, cronuts and Dalgona coffee, not to mention the “Best Restaurants” lists which are actually recaps of “Best New Restaurants”.

And that’s how we miss what’s going on in places like during this time in Belfast.

One of the reasons I accepted this position was that I was told that the overhaul of old restaurants was not only encouraged, it was expected. For someone who once argued with one of the founders of Eater over why ‘new’ didn’t mean ‘important’, that was music to my ears. Sometimes what happens on the other side of the opening day hype is the most interesting part of a restaurant’s history.

When chef / owner Keiko Suzuki Steinberger opened Suzuki’s Sushi Bar in 2006, it received a lot of attention in the form of news reports and magazine reviews. “Like a lot of new restaurants… probably no more than most,” she said. Then, “around seven or eight, it went down”.

She spent the first half of the life of her family owned restaurant in Rockland learning the ropes as a novice owner, developing and honing her considerable sushi-making skills, and learning how to manage her small staff.

If you only read the reviews of this first phase, you missed a gradual change that took place at Suzuki, a change that was not complete until around 2015, but that turned the restaurant into one of the best bars. to Japanese New England Sushi.

“At first I was still new. I didn’t use a lot of local ingredients, ”said Steinberger. “As time goes by and I learn more and more, I ask myself ‘How can I do better every day?’ my way of thinking has changed. Now I think “better” means supporting the local economy. It’s fresher and it makes customers happy. I also offer promotions based on seasonal products available. It’s more interesting and the flavors are better.

These days, Steinberger bet that most people find out about Suzuki’s Sushi Bar through word of mouth. “People know me and I’ve been here for a long time now. I have built a good reputation for myself. It is not easy. It’s slow, she said.

A stable construction

A dozen years after opening in Bangor as part of a first wave of farm-to-table restaurants, The Fiddlehead still relies primarily on its track record to attract new customers. “I’m a Mainer, and we’re good at sharing information with each other as to whether something is worth it or not,” said co-owner and general manager Laura Peppard. “You can create that kind of loyal following, that good word of mouth that you get when people dig you. It’s slow, but it kept us viable.

In the beginning, the local press also played an important role in helping Peppard and chef / co-owner Melissa Chaiken gain exposure – perhaps more than they expected. “We were new to Bangor in 2009, and with the financial crisis it was the worst time to open. Nothing was happening here, ”said Peppard. “Then we won the award for the best new restaurant in Bangor Metro, and it was great for us. But we were the only new kids in town, so the next year when the awards rolled in we took home the best new restaurant award again. It was hilarious. “

Ask Peppard what has changed at Fiddlehead since year-end, and she is quick to point out Chef Chaiken’s policy of launching a new menu every season. But an equally important, albeit more subtle, development is hard-earned familiarity – an ease that allows each of their teams to do their jobs better.

“Our bartender has been here for 10 years, our dishwasher for four years, and we have servers who have been here for seven years. We know each other’s body language and we have a rule that no passive-aggressive language is allowed in the restaurant. Just say it and apologize if you offend someone. It took a while, but now we’re all talking in an adult way, and that makes it so much easier, ”she said. “It’s also a physical ease that we all have now. I know where all the cracks in the ground are. It sounds weird, but it’s relaxing, even when you’re in the weeds or… you know, a pandemic. “

The bar reflected in a mirror at the Little Giant in Portland’s West End in 2019. No longer the new kid on the block, the restaurant has embraced the change. Photo by Brianna Soukup / Staff Photographer

Accept the change

Where The Fiddlehead relied on the comfort of their relationships and surroundings during COVID, Little Giant took the hiatus to complete a reinvention that co-owner Ian Malin began before the pandemic.

At first glance, the Portland restaurant looks like it was when it launched in the summer of 2017, when everyone from GQ to Bon Appetit took notice. Aside from a few now ubiquitous and always busy parklet tables up front, Little Giant still seems like “a neighborhood restaurant that is sometimes discovered by tourists when they come to town,” as Malin puts it. But inside (and out) the changes underway are no less dramatic than during this time in Belfast’s complete design overhaul.

Since splitting from original business partners Andrew and Briana Volk (Portland’s Hunt + Alpine Club) in 2019, around the time press and social media attention began to wane, Malin has taken over. a difficult decision: to be allowed to change. Plus, he had to embrace the mutability of the restaurant.

“It was there, and we had some traction, good social media following, infrastructure that worked, but it wasn’t so new and fresh anymore. People got their impression of Little Giant from the time they came before, ”he said. “But for it to work, rather than starting from scratch, we had to start thinking of Little Giant as constantly evolving, not stagnant. You just had to let it evolve.

The changes began when Malin handed over full control of the food to Little Giant’s new chef, Neil Ross. “With a menu led by a chef, he immediately became the creative force,” said Malin. “I’m not here to get in the way.

Instead, he turned his attention to construction. First virtually, by setting up a management system which, he hopes, will underpin a culture of more supportive employees, then physically, by putting into service a huge rear terrace with heating from the top and by downstairs to keep around 20 additional guests warm.

“COVID has given us the impetus to have outdoor meals, and I’m already hearing people say they’re coming back,” he said. “We’re not doing a reopening or anything, but everything looks new. It must show, because the other day I asked someone to buy me a $ 100 gift card for my own restaurant. This had never happened to me before, but it made me smile.


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