Bull Feeney's has its fish and chips down to a science

Familiarity with a certain number of Maine's brew pubs might give you the impression that they can't be trusted to make especially good meals. But a dinner at Bull Feeney's will change that misapprehension.

If "Maine's Best Fish & Chips" isn't immediately identifiable as what its claims to be – because you might not have eaten every Maine restaurant's and pub's fish and chips – it was all it should be one recent winter night, with a crisp batter coating and moist fish.

The broth of the onion soup held a delicate flavor of white wine, and the crisp toasted bread and cheese on top wore savory, browned bits well worth prying off the side of the bowl.

One brew not on the beer list and newly on tap, Red Hook Long Hammer IPA ($4.50), proved aromatic, with a light, astringent flavor of hops that some beer drinkers have learned to love. Allagash Dubbel and Tripel and some imports keep the ale list engaging, but the wines available are less so.

Consider instead the whiskey, described on the menu with another claim difficult to prove: "Maine's most extensive selection of single malt scotch, Irish and bourbon whisk(e)y."

The restaurant is named for the son of an Irish immigrant who, according to the menu, at age 24 in the year 1878 was running a "grocer," or grocery store, that fronted a saloon.

The taste of the Old Country inside a shot of Irish whiskey might have made the cold climate of Maine more acceptable 132 years ago. So might the taste of Shepherd's Pie ($12.95), though the abundance of thyme in today's version might have tasted a little odd back then. Ground lamb in savory gravy under a layer of peas and carrots, and a cheddar-cheese-topped, browned layer of smooth mashed potatoes, doesn't go amiss.

And when your son has earned the name of Bull by charging his leather-helmeted head through the defense, helping a long-ago Portland High School football team win games, you will need some solid sustenance on hand – perhaps bangers and colcannon ($8.95), Irish sausages with a mixture of sauted cabbage and mashed potatoes. The price works for a high school kid too.

That bull-headed character turned out to be the only person who could make John Wayne cry, according to an online biography of the great director John Ford, who also favored the hymn "We'll Gather at the River" in many of his movies. Gathering at a pub in those films was almost as inevitable.

The fish and chips ($10.95) would have been cod in the old days, according to fish historian Mark Kurlansky, but today, with the scarcity of fresh cod, most restaurants rely on haddock. As long as the kitchen knows how to keeps the fish tender and moist and the outside golden and crisp, this is a winner – and Bull Feeney's kitchen, run by Chef Lee Gardiner for about five years, has it down to a science.

Line cook Leeman White said the beer batter is made with clam fry, a seasoned flour coating, mixed with Pabst Blue Ribbon, and the haddock is fresh. "When the fish floats above the fry oil, you know it's done," White said. "It doesn't take too long for it to cook. If you know what you're doing, you'll be fine. You just want to be sure the batter is golden brown; if it's too dark, you know you overcooked it."

There is certainly prowess behind the fries too – a mix of sweet potatoes and white potatoes showed off the best of both – crisp, slightly salty and moist. Straightforward coleslaw was just fine.

Caesar salad ($3.95), however out of place in the Irish section of the menu, was the real deal, admirably made with crunchy romaine and dressed with a light lemony and garlicky dressing made perfect by a touch of anchovy. The other salads on the menu would be worth trying on the basis of that Caesar, either the spinach salad ($7.95) with strawberries, blue cheese, red onions and toasted pecans, or the field greens with grape tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette ($3.95 side salad, $6.95 dinner salad, plus $1 for goat cheese).

Gaelic ribeye steak ($20.95) comes with fried onion rings. Haddock with chorizo ($16.95), simmered with new potatoes, Roma tomatoes in a cream sherry and lemon sauce, are from a new menu.

The cookie dessert ($4.95) is impossibly good, a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie the size of a small plate still warm and fragrant with butter and sugar. Add a spoonful of vanilla ice cream to each bite, and the bonds of self-restraint snap.

Creme brulee ($4.95) didn't achieve the same black magic, but its broiled sugar top cracked nicely over the custard, a light mixture flavored with Bailey's Irish Cream.

N.L. English is a Portland freelance writer and the author of "Chow Maine: The Best Restaurants, Cafes, Lobster Shacks and Markets on the Coast." Visit English's Web site, www.chowmaineguide.com.

Bull Feeney's