Marc Patry has cooked at, owned and operated the Riverview Café for six years. Prior to that, the structure was a vegetable stand and a bakery and, before he purchased the building and opened the cafe, Patry worked at another local eatery.

What possessed him to purchase a restaurant?

“Insanity,” he says. But, since then through its ups and downs, renovations and evolutions, he has made it his own.

The panini at the Riverview Café are in demand, and “the chicken and feta panini is one of our more popular menu items,” says Patry.

“All of our chicken is made to order, and this sandwich is made with freshly grilled chicken, feta, bacon, tomato and ranch dressing, and served with our hand-cut fries.”

“All of my sandwiches and other recipes are pretty basic and simple,” says Patry, though the cafe’s repertoire of panini sandwiches includes offerings such as the “Tangy Smoked Turkey and Swiss,” made with a cranberry mustard, the “Sante Fe” made with grilled chicken and sun-dried pesto, and the “Grilled Roast Beef ‘n Onion” made with lean roast beef, sauteed onions, cheese and a sharp honey mustard.

They’ve also got a variety of healthy wraps, including a Mexican chicken wrap made with Monterey Jack cheese and salsa, and an Italian-style wrap made with ham or salami, veggies and Italian dressing.

“A lot of people claim that our fish and chips are the best in town,” he proudly exclaims, and “all of our potatoes are grown locally at Bell Farm.”

The cafe’s haddock Parmesan is also a popular item. It’s “6 to 8 ounces of fresh haddock encrusted with mayonnaise and fresh Parmesan cheese … my secret recipe,” says Patry. “We serve it with mashed potato, corn … whatever they want.”

“If we have it, we’ll make it for them.”

Other big sellers include the cafe’s corn chowder, a French onion soup topped with croutons and mozzarella cheese, and a fish chowder seasoned with fragrant yellow curry.

The Riverview Café also serves a variety of baked goods every day, including blueberry, apple and pumpkin muffins as well as potato and zucchini breads, depending on the season.

In addition, the Riverview Café offers a full breakfast menu every day of the week, from three-egg-omelets to pancakes – including blueberry, chocolate chip and “apple pie” cakes made with cinnamon and apple pie filling. The French toast is made with generous slices of Texas toast.

Everything is “made from scratch, fresh and to order,” says Patry.

One particularly notable breakfast menu item is the French toast breakfast sandwich. “It’s kind of unique,” says Patry, boasting “two pieces of French toast with 2 fried eggs in between and served with maple syrup.”

“I find food fun,” says Patry, and although the regular menu is consistent, he also offers a number of specials drawn from local and seasonal availability and influenced by his own adventurous spirit.

“We’re always trying different things,” says Patry. The lunch specials at the Riverview Café include local delicacies such as lobster rolls, and more unusual offerings such as a Fontina cheeseburger served with hand cut fries, a slow-cooked pulled-pork sandwich and a sandwich made with freshly grilled Maine lobster, haddock, and a seafood stuffing topped with a crab cake and sauce and served on a roll with a side of fries.

The specials change often, however, so you can expect to find something new every week. “Our specials are truly specials,” he explains, “not discounted menu items.”

Most recently, Patry has added a market to his Lincoln Street restaurant. At the Riverview Café Market, he sells fresh lobster and steamers, which he will cook and have ready for you when you get there – if you like – as well as rib eye and sirloin steak, haddock, burgers, hot dogs and other deli meats.

“We’re still working on it,” he says, and it may be a week or so before the market is fully stocked, hoping to be in full swing by Father’s Day.

He will also be adding a farm stand to the back of the market “as soon as the local stuff starts coming in.”

It hasn’t always been easy explains Patry. A couple of days before Memorial Day, he says, “the lobster pound that I bought blew a gasket and, when I arrived the next morning, most of the water had leaked out,” leaving nearly 200 lobsters high and nearly dry.

Patry spent the whole day cooking and cleaning lobsters and then creating menu specials using lobster meat. “It was an interesting weekend,” he added, “I’ve never shucked so many lobsters in one weekend in my entire life!”

He posted his specials on Facebook and sold most of the food, but on Memorial Day he gave it away to every veteran who visited.

Also, with the extensive road work that has occurred in front of his cafe in the last couple of years, as well as businesses that have moved to other parts of town, it’s been a dusty and rough couple of years.

Undaunted, Patry is “encouraged by the number of new faces” that have walked through the large green doors that lead into the cafe, and he is optimistic that with all the new improvements he has made this will be a summer to remember.

Eat in or get it to go. The Riverview Café is located at 536 Lincoln St.,  Lewiston, and is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and, on weekends, an early dinner.

For more, go to: www.riverviewcafemaine.com

Riverview Corn Chowder

“I don’t measure anything,” says cafe owner Marc Patry, so all measurements are approximate.

5-6 potatoes, diced

1 qt. half & half

2 tbsp. butter

2 cups corn

1 tbsp. dry mustard

2 tsp. chicken stock

Cook the potatoes, but keep them firm. Drain and add all other ingredients and simmer until corn and potatoes are cooked.

Variation: For clam chowder, substitute 2 cups of diced clams for the corn, use clam juice instead of chicken stock and leave out the dry mustard. Cook thoroughly.