Andersons bring family fare back to Main Street

Main Streets Market & Cafe
42 Main St., Concord
978-369-9948
Hours: Open daily -- Breakfast, 6:30 a.m.-11a.m.; Lunch, 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Dinner, Tues.-Thurs. 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat 5 p.m.-11 p.m.
No Reservations
MasterCard and VISA accepted
Handicapped accessible

The Andersons are back on Main Street. This time it's Dave and his wife, Karen, the fourth generation of Andersons in this prominent location, and they're serving bistro fare that rivals Boston grills.

They want to evoke the feeling of the Concord center of their parents by creating a comfortable pub setting in which locals can meet and socialize.

Dave, 46, who was born and raised in Concord, was 7 when he started selling hot dogs in the family grocery and catering business, and later continued in the catering business. Karen, 42, earned an associate's degree in restaurant management from Paul Smith's College in New York and also cooked in Europe.

They bought the building from his family about eight years ago, transforming the catering and take-out area in the back near the Mill Brook into the larger cafe and eventually expanding into the 50-seat, bay-windowed front. They encourage an ''Old World atmosphere" by discouraging the use of cellphones and laptops.

Since Thanksgiving, when the Andersons got their liquor license, this hive of daytime activity, which offers breakfast and lunch, has become an evening destination with musical entertainment five nights a week. Two pleasant guitar-strumming singers accompanied our meal with a combination of folk, country, and blues.

The food was more than pleasant, thanks to Dave and Sean MacAlpine, the dinner chef whose training on an Italian yacht and in an Ogunquit restaurant has prepared him well for this assignment.

Both appetizers were standard grill offerings -- the large cheddar cheese quesadilla ($8), dusted with parsley and accompanied by sour cream and a homemade mango sauce, was enough for supper, especially if you added chicken ($12) or crab ($16). (A little guacamole would have been nice, too.) Lightly browned, the two New England panko-crusted crab cakes ($14) rested on a bed of mixed greens with a tangy red chili and mayonnaise dipping sauce.

The stars of the meal were the main courses. Slices of red onion focaccia arrived at the table with a plate of rosemary-garlic extra virgin olive oil, shortly followed by a bowl of mixed greens, slivered broccoli stalks, and carrots, drizzled with a maple-balsamic dressing. It's often easy to pass over pedestrian New England haddock ($19), but the fresh 7-ounce steak was dressed up just enough with a caramelized onion and bread-crumb coating and irresistible sides -- a mound of three-onion risotto next to slightly crunchy, perfect haricot verts (French green beans).

The Beaujolais-marinated steak tips ($19) were cooked just as requested -- medium -- and complemented by sweet-potato fries and sauteed button mushrooms, and topped with ribbons of deep-fried leeks. Athena fettuccine ($14) could have been ordered with additional chicken ($5) or shrimp ($9), but was full of sauteed artichokes, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, spinach, and feta cheese in a garlic-wine sauce.

From the modest, but well-chosen wine list we selected a red, the Argentine El Portillo, a 2005 Malbec ($22), the least expensive of five red wines -- a good value and full bodied.

For dessert, the rock slide ($5.95) lived up to its name with a brownie topped with more brownie chunks (the slide), whipped cream, a chocolate and caramel syrup, and two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Other same-priced desserts include flan, tiramisu, triple chocolate cake, and a sundae.

According to Anderson, the menu is still evolving, and he has added a couple of less expensive entrees such as an English cheddar burger ($9) and chicken tenders ($9), both with fries. It isn't a large menu, but it's interesting enough to come back for the nightly specials or the other seafood offerings, not to mention temptations earlier in the day including the homemade soups, paninis, wraps, and muffins.

With food like this, the Andersons will be on Main Street for many more years.

ELISABETH TOWNSEND