City Side Grill open for dinner

John Pulsifer recently opened City Side Grill on Park Street in Lewiston.

- Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
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LEWISTON — John Pulsifer was merely looking for kitchen space — a place to make birthday cakes for kids at his summer camp — when he discovered his new restaurant.

He'd spent eight years as a partner in Eggcettera in Poland and the last 38 summers as the chef at nearby Camp Fernwood.

"I started when I was a teenager," he said of the camp job.  "I've never seen a summer." When he and his partners sold Eggcettera in January, Pulsifer planned a slowdown.

Then he looked at the seating area at 16 Park St. He imagined creating a lunch and dinner spot for younger folks in the area, a place with a bar and a small dance floor.

"It becomes your life," he said.

The City Side Grill opened for dinner on Aug. 20. On Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day, it will open for lunch, too. By mid-September, he hopes to employ eight or nine people, including both his kitchen help and his wait staff.

The menu aims for lots of dishes, each sporting fresh ingredients and shying away from fried foods.

Among his dishes are an assortment of grilled, flat-bread pizzas, salads and appetizers. His entrees include grilled yellowfin tuna, Yankee pot roast, shrimp scampi and chicken picatta. None is priced more than $16.

"It's stuff that works everywhere else," said Pulsifer, who hopes to give people a moderately priced alternative to chain restaurants.

There's nothing wrong with those — "they're consistently mediocre," he said — but they never surprise you. And that's part of the fun of going to dinner, he said.

When he opened, his menu had 32 items. By mid-September, it'll be even larger.

Besides a full lunch menu, he plans to offer a soup, salad and sandwich buffet for $5.99.

For somebody who works downtown, it will be cheap enough to stop by a couple of times a week.

If people do make it a regular stop, the place will thrive. Pulsifer seems unworried about failure, something that plagues so many restaurants. He has worked on startups in Mechanic Falls, Livermore Falls and Madison. None failed to draw customers, he said.

"Give people good food and plenty of it," he said. Also, serve them well.

"They'll come back," he said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com