Some traditions -- fortunately, some of the good ones, too -- die hard. A bakery and restaurant that gained a loyal following early on has been a mainstay in Wakefield for the past decade. Through three incarnations and changes in ownership, much of the original menu and the overall quality have been maintained. The plainly named Main Street Foods & Bakery begat Ginger's Café, which, about a year ago, begat the Fiddlehead Café, and if the sins of the fathers and mothers are visited upon the progeny, so, too, are the virtues -- or at least the aspirations.

The space is the same -- a big, high-ceilinged room with light flooding onto the window tables. Nearly two-dozen potted plants are lined up at the picture windows, an improvement on the artificial ones of the first years. The baked temptations are in display cases, and the work of local artists is on the walls. Mathias Oppersdorff's sensitive black and white portraits of colorful South County citizenry are currently on display.

Breakfast here has always been a way to be pampered and gain perspective while digesting the grim news in the Sunday Times; Sunlight glinting off your crock of raspberry jam and through your personal carafe of coffee -- that sort of scene. You can still pour the coffee at your own pace, although the jam and butter now come in plastic instead of ceramic. My old favorite was the Italian sausage and provolone frittata, which is still on the menu along with other favorites, such as banana-walnut pancakes.

On a recent visit I had the homemade corned beef hash, which comes with two eggs, home fries, and toast ($5.50). No extra charge for the English muffin, and the excellent hash was a vast heap with no doubt about its active ingredient -- potatoes and onions were mere decorative flecks.

During lunchtime, only about half as many sandwiches are offered than used to be, but Fiddlehead still has a good half-sandwich-and-soup deal, at $6. Their curried chicken with mango is delicious, and the pastrami Reuben is still on the menu. I decided on the wonderful faux carnivore experience of a grilled portobello wrap, aptly complemented with earthy arugula, roasted red peppers, and Boursin cheese, which is strong enough to stand out. Johnnie had a jalapeno-avocado sandwich, which, besides lettuce and tomato, had red onions and a spicy bean "pate" -- just a smear, though -- on jalapeno-French bread. Both soups were rich and flavorful, mine sausage and okra, and hers chicken-vegetable.

Our evening visit brought successful main courses, for the most part. A dinner special interested me, scampi over fettuccine ($19.95). The half-dozen medium-size shrimp were fresh and cooked with restraint, and the supplementary Asiago on the side, considerately suggested and retrieved by our waitress, added extra pizzazz. Johnnie's sole Francais ($13) was also fresh, lightly battered, and served with string beans and a raspberry-tarragon mayonnaise. The scalloped potatoes were tasty, but nearly cold.

A half-dozen of both red and white wines are available and affordable by the glass or bottle, with none of the latter more than $26. Prices of the seven regular entrées are also low, ranging from $12 to $15, and spanning gnocchi to grilled meat loaf. If you're budgeting, you might ask the price of any special you're interested in -- my scampi was five bucks more than the Key lime shrimp on the regular menu.

One aspect of our meals was, unfortunately, too typical of other experiences at Fiddlehead. I've enjoyed good service there, but by and large, most of the waitstaff have seemed untrained and overworked. On the recent visits, besides having to get up and fetch our lunch menus myself, the extra service settings were never removed from our table -- reprising the same oversight at breakfast. Add to that the old eye-contact-avoidance trick -- by a different waitress -- when dinner got busy, and I was sadly shaking my head. When will word get around to all servers that a simple nod and "in a minute" signal (forefinger, please) will pacify all but the Leona Helmsleys among awaiting customers?

Overall, how has the Main Street boîte come along in the past decade? I'd say A for aspiration, less so for implementation. Restaurant owners usually hate it when reviewers compare their place with the one there before. That's understandable, but when regulars have been encouraged to develop a sense of ownership along with their loyalty, it's another story. By making a point of continuing popular offerings, the folks at Fiddlehead Café have set themselves high standards and invited unavoidable comparisons.

Bill Rodriguez can be reached at billrod@reporters.net.

Issue Date: October 26 - November 1, 2001