During the summer and fall it's not unusual to see me all over the city, either on foot or on my bike. I regularly ride or walk to Standard Bakery or the Porthole for breakfast. Lunch at Duckfat, Blue Rooster or Eventide is pretty common. Sunday's on the deck at the Portland Lobster Company listening to music and drinking beer - yeah, for an old guy I get around quite a bit. And then I flip the calendar to November. As the weather gets cold, I don't venture as far from the West End. I find myself eating closer to home. Pai Men Miyake, Boda, Local 188 and Caiola's become my regular haunts. I walk down to Salvage BBQ and, being a combination of old and lazy, avoid the climb back up the hill by taking the elevator in the Maine Med parking garage seven floors up and then a nice level walk back to the house. Like most people I hunker down a little and unless I get in the car, I tighten up that perimeter a bit. Just on the edge of that cold weather perimeter is the Little Tap House. It's located on the corner of High St and Spring, long-time home of Katahdin and short-time home of Plush (which I think was destined for failure when they came up with the name) which is pretty close to everything but still has the feel of being off the beaten path. There appears to be very little parking nearby but there's an actual city lot right across Spring St that very few people seem to know about.
My first couple of trips to Little Tap House were fairly soon after opening and, although the beer was very good, the rest of the place needed time to develop and develop it has. They filled in the once spartan bar area with barrel-like high tops and the decor is finally getting there. Where the space had a cold feeling during those first few months, it now has a much warmer, comfortable and inviting feel. I've now eaten at the bar, the high tops and at a table. The three different types of seating areas work as they should. If you want to be in the action, sit at the bar. Like the action but are a little bar-adverse? One of the high tops is perfect and if you want a nice meal with some peace, wait for one of the tables in the back. I like the action so I tend to be at or near the bar. I will note that on our last visit, both TA and I noticed that our bar stools were very wobbly - the legs are in desperate need of tightening or maybe new stools altogether. Either way, when you're big enough to play linebacker for the Patriots a wobbly bar stool is somewhat disconcerting. As much fun it would be to see an overweight guy rolling on the floor amid a splintered bar stool, I might not appreciate the humor quite as much if that fat guy on the floor happened to be me. Bar stools aside, Little Tap House is a very comfortable and casual space. If you were uptight or stressed before entering, you quickly relax just by sitting down.
My first thought in going to Little Tap House is the beer. There's usually some unique varieties from some of my local favorites like Rising Tide, Bunker, Allagash or Oxbow. Skip a few weeks between visits and there will likely be four or five new choices to pick from including selections from away. I like that in a pub. On a recent trip we happened upon happy hour where Allagash White was being served at $3 and a house wine was also $3 (maybe $4??) a glass. I went with the Allagash while TA had the wine which was a Spanish red and actually pretty good. When happy hour ended, I switched to a stout but TA was satisfied with the happy hour wine and decided to stay with it only to find that it's only served during happy hour - that's right, you can't get a glass of it after 6:00 PM even at a higher price - bizarre. It usually doesn't bother me when TA has trouble ordering a drink as long as I have mine but the bartender, being a gentleman, didn't throw out the "I'll get his beer while you decide" so I too was sans drink. She finally settled on something red - the bartender was very up on his beer, not so sure of his wines. My advice, stick to the beers.
And then there's the food. I have had a slight issue with the consistency of the food. Nothing has been bad but I've had some dishes run from good to great. Twice in the past month I've had the fish and chips. One time it was possibly the best I've ever had, perfectly cooked with a great crunchy batter. Excellent fries. Next time it was still good but a bit greasy. First time I had the shepherds pie it was good and hot, almost too hot as in "oh my God, this is hot!" hot. TA recently had it and it was lukewarm - still tasty but, well, lukewarm. I really enjoy the poutine and there's a very good burger - both have been consistently good if you want to play it safe. Service has been consistently friendly and very good.
So, what's the verdict? The space is convenient, comfortable and friendly. The beer alone makes Little Tap House worthy of repeated visits. The food is a nice addition and, when it's really good, it's worth a trip for the food itself with a nice beer or two as an accompaniment. When the food is "just" good, it's still worth a trip for a great place to have a beer and something nice to eat. My hope is that the food will become as consistent as the beer so TA, who is not interested in the beer, will regularly give me the thumbs up when I suggest Little Tap House.
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