Refresher Course on Downtown Dining

“Is Lewiston going foody?” is what classical and medieval studies professor Margaret Imber posted on Facebook after a Japanese restaurant opened in the former Ames department store space in the Lewiston Mall.

Tasty crêpes, sandwiches and soups. Look up! There’s Julia Child’s "The French Chef" playing on the widescreen TV.

The special board at Marché, a short walk from campus at 40 Lisbon St. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Over the generations, landmark eateries like Gene’s, Steckino’s, The Warehouse and No Tomatoes have defined local dining. We thought it time to offer a refresher course.

So here are a few current downtown scenes from photographer Phyllis Graber Jensen. The featured restaurants are Fuel, Marché and Mother India, all on Lisbon Street; Fishbones American Grill, two streets down, closer to the Androscoggin, on Lincoln Street; the Bread Shack, in Auburn; and an old friend, Luiggi’s Pizzeria, where the pizzas are famously “all made with meat unless ordered otherwise.”

As adventurous restaurateurs treat chowhounds to cuisines from French to Greek to Indian, these are good days to have an appetite in the Twin Cities — so much so that Mikey Pasek ’12 launched College Night in Town, an evening of gourmandise and other downtown attractions for Bates and other area college students during Short Term.

The map below offers directions to all the eateries featured above and during last spring’s College Night in Town, plus a newcomer, Forage Market, at 180 Lisbon St.