The North End received a boost in the economic arm for this new year with the opening of The Fountain Bistro at the intersection of Broadway and Meridian. I think I was expecting another slightly dumpy coffee bar. Instead, the The Fountain Bistro is a bright, happy place with a first rate wine and lunch menu and a burgeoning chic clientele. We need places just like this in the North End more than almost anything.
It shows some cheek from owner Jill A. Holmes to field a top notch lunch place in the middle of the Great Recession, but even more so to open a restaurant that is well-staffed, organized and reasonable in cost. I could find only one lunch menu item above $10. At the wine bar, I munched happily on a delicious chicken ceaser salad. Two businessmen in suits networked to my right while two well-dressed matrons on my left engaged in happy, bourgeois converse. The place was full of diners and a strong winter light raced through the ample glass windows at this newly remodeled location.
Wow!. That bright, happy feeling doesn't hit me too much during this time of year in Bellingham. I will definitely have to do that again. Cheers to the The Fountain Bistro . Check out their Facebook page.
