The Platonic ideal of a good diner: The Front Room

As Congress Street tips at the peak of Munjoy Hill and tumbles into Casco Bay, the aesthetic appeal of The Front Room is pretty self-explanatory. Around dusk on an autumn Monday, there it is, framed by the leaves left with a deep blue background, slinging drinks for some of the best happy hour values in town.

The East End staple, and its phenomenal homemade sausage ($2), has buoyed many a dull brunch conversation when guests come to town, always impressing with its vibrant menu and darkly hued decor. As a weekend mid-morning hot spot, with bloody-marys spicy as you can handle, Harding Lee Smith's street corner gem is the Platonic ideal of a good diner. Or it's the refined diner of the future.

Regardless, conversation battles clattering cookware for din-supremacy, and the energy is unrelenting. The place is the best venue around for the anything-goes talk, with ample tall booths forming a ring around a cluster of intimate 4-tops.

And yet, despite the wonderfully blurred line between kitchen and dining area, the Front Room saves its entire southwestern corner for a hearty watering hole that, every day, unassumingly, churns out a hot little happy hour every day from 4 - 6 pm.

The approximately 10 seats at the bar are the fodder for an ongoing game of musical chairs, with a large, muted flat screen TV adding the requisite sports news to your conversation. Monday is Happy Hour's slowest day I learn, but today it's 5 pm and the bar is cranked.

It's this weird mix too, some ladies, dressed with a mind for glitz, are giggling over their Absolut drinks, ($3.50), while some smoke-throated fishermen crowd a different corner, nursing Miller Lites ($1.50).

Defying the melee, bartender Eva notices me right away, and I'm asked what I'd like to drink within 48 seconds of entering, with the drink specials offered in a crisp list. On Saturday and Sunday, I'm happy to learn, this masterful happy hour allows the booze-artist some autonomy with the Bartender's Choice special, a seasonal, creative cocktail. Eva has made a delicious-sounding Cinnamon Manhattan in past weeks, for example.

It's genius, really, for a rock-solid restaurant to accommodate a sometimes raucous bar scene spilling into where people eat. An unsuspecting couple, a group of college drinking buddies, a business meeting that needs a couple stiff ones to loosen the proceedings, whoever comes through that door for happy hour inevitably sees the sparkling New American Comfort Food menu, and goes all in for dinner.

Or maybe after toddling up the hill from an Eastern Prom picnic, a group of friends wants to dash in for a quick, affordable cocktail. Believe me, $2 for a glass of house white is deadly. It's not like it's unwelcome, but beware the snares of these inspired food options. Your allotted hour will turn into the whole night without you knowing it.

The worst part? You probably won't even mind.

The expansion of a bar and grill is what JP Thornton's needed.

Located in a tiny strip mall with plenty of parking, the new location for JP Thorntons features the same cafe we've always known and loved but now boasts a bar and grill.

Brunswick's trustiest watering hole: Joshua's

Feeling like a respite from the same ol' Portland scene, I make a break northward, headed for a college town tavern I'd heard a lot about. After about a 37 minute drive, I hit Brunswick's wide Missouri-like Maine Street, trolling past at a crisp 12 miles an hour trying to find "123," the address where the village's trustiest watering hole, Joshua's, lies in wait.

The tavern is quietly massive when I find it, unassuming on the outside, but occupying the better part of a city block. It's warm, with the amber glow I'd hoped for, on the inside, perfect for seeking shelter from snow or sleet. In the room around the bar itself (there's a great restaurant attached) there are tall ancient brick walls, meeting at odd places a bit like you'd expect in a museum.

Fitting, as Joshua himself is not some well-to-do Bowdoin grad as I'd suspected, but in fact the estimable Union army general Joshua Chamberlain, by whom hills were taken by blood and courage, and for whom great beers have been brewed. The dream of a menu, bursting with ample pubgoer favorites, also honors the former Governor with such options as the Fredericks Burger (with Salsa and Monterey Jack, $8.50), and (you guessed it) the Gettys Burger (with Bacon and Cheddar, $8.50).

The Grand Old Man of Maine also graces the cover of the menu, and his spirit seems to guard the mood of the place. The staff is smiling, but has that sense of urgency with their service. When our cheerful waitress recommends the made-in-house blue cheese dressing, I can tell she's doing it whole-heartedly, which further reflects her respect for the menu and her job. I actually take her word on everything, starting with a delicious, frosty cold Gritty's Halloween to go with the Crabmeat Stuffed Mushrooms ($7).

The dark brew matches the rich, indulgent app perfectly with fresh crabmeat generously overflowing the caps.

When the weather allows, there is an upstairs room/open space that offers a beautiful overlook of Maine Street, a nice college perch for a people-watching cocktail, but tonight the inside decorations are center stage. There's a sort of winter-sports/local breweries theme, the bar is covered in vintage early 90's bumper stickers and used license plates.

It seems the ideal place to come in from great adventures in the Maine woods and start telling increasingly tall tales. With the World Series on, I swing for the fences with the Grilled Rueben ($8). This is the ultimate test for any dining establishment that dares offer the king of sandwiches. Marble rye? Check. Sauerkraut out the sides? Ok, ok. An inch at least of not too dry corned beef? This is getting strange.

Joshua's passed the age-old Rueben tests without lifting a finger. I stop thinking so hard or trying so hard, and just kind of let go a little bit, order another Gritty's. Geez, what's the rush? If you find yourself in Brunswick in a raging snowstorm, remember the warmth of Joshua's. All you have to do is duck in, and you can't really go wrong. They'll take care of you from there.