A menu that features dishes like eggplant parm and garlic bread sounds like something you'd expect to find alongside red-checked tablecloths, candleholders made from straw-wrapped Chianti bottles – and maybe even a pair of cartoon dogs sharing a romantic plate of pasta in an alley.

But in designing their new Washington Avenue restaurant, Roustabout, co-owners Kit Paschal (formerly of Portland Hunt & Alpine Club and Boston's Eastern Standard), and Anders Tallberg (Hugo's and Hungry Mother in Cambridge, Massachusetts) ditched the traditional red-sauce joint template, cleanly stripping away every stereotype and replacing it with imagery that reflects the nautical heritage of the city. "When you walk in, you know you're in Portland, Maine," Tallberg says.

Read more

Source: http://www.pressherald.com/