It was the perfect occasion for a place like this. A snow-stormy night when you don't want to drive far, just want to huddle with folks, warm up in friendly surroundings, and have a good, simple meal. Being in Wakefield, our first thought was to wheel, carefully, over to the bowling alley.

The coffee shop at Old Mountain Lanes is somewhere between a local hangout and a community hall, and it was doing brisk business this weekday night. Waitresses were scampering about and most of the booths were full, many with families. The young were presumably being instructed in how, since they're stalwart South Countyites and not the pusillanimous city folk up north, knee-deep snow must never stand in the way of eating out.

But I wasn't in the mood for the clatter of bowling pins and wanted to ratchet up the occasion a notch as a treat. So we passed the marker-board temptation of a meatloaf special and headed toward the adjacent steak territory -- Camden's. Stepping from the neighborly din of the bowling alley into the restaurant is like being invited from somebody's rec room up to their kitchen table, where your hosts are smokers and heavy drinkers (a large bar stakes center place), but nice people. They're renovating (expanses of sheetrock remain unpainted), but they know that such nice people as yourselves won't mind.

We sat in a far corner, to minimize the Marlboros, and took in the view. Three-dozen Tuesday-night hi-lo poker players spilled out from the bar into the adjacent dining area. Country music whined pleasantly in the background. Before us were burgundy paper place mats and flatware wrapped in paper napkins, next to menus with prices that pass the resulting savings on to us. A half-dozen beers are on tap, with three times that many bottled. Wine, by glass or carafe, is inexpensive, and familiar labels attest that it's perfectly drinkable.

You come to a place like this for Betty Crocker, not Johanne Killeen. The appetizers are mainly bar fare, from chili skins ($5.95) to nachos ($4.95) -- you know that the fried calamari ($5.95) will be traditionally fried rather than sautéed. That said, the teriyaki chicken wings ($4.95/six, $7.95/12) were quite good, juicy and with the marinade reduced enough to stick rather than frustratingly slide off. Johnnie ordered the signature clam chowder ($2.75 and $3.75) and I recalled from prior visits that I'd be jealous -- it's as rich and tasty as the creamy version gets, and generous with the active ingredient.

For main dishes, the coffeehouse raison d'être -- fish & chips -- is available here, of course. For $8.95 you get a couple of pieces of flounder, fresh from Point Judith, with a thin, breadcrumb crust so it's not greasy. When you're done, you can get seconds. You heard me. Consider yourself an honorary local: if you know to ask, you can get seconds. And that goes for the other fried seafood as well, from scallops ($11.95) to whole-belly clams ($14.95).

But since this wasn't the coffee shop end of the place, there were steaks and chops and a couple of chicken offerings. In the home-cooking ambience that Camden's tries to maintain, they also serve roast turkey dinner ($9.95) "with all the fixin's!" as the menu declares.

Johnnie wanted fish and chips, but was willing, between darted glowers, to explore the menu. She settled on a special, broiled swordfish ($13.95), which was finished with lemon, butter, a touch of oregano, and cooked to her taste. I had a special as well, pork tenderloin ($13.95). It earned its name, since I could put down the steak knife and start cutting it with my fork after the first slice. It was moist enough, but not pink, as I'd requested, peppercorn-encrusted, with a brown gravy that went well with the mashed potatoes. Both our dishes came with mixed vegetables, steamed but not to death, and Johnnie's baked potato was mercifully foil-free.

Grapenut pudding ($1.95) is the dessert to check out here, if you like the New England specialty. But that evening, there was a second kitchen-made choice, chocolate mousse ($3.75). I appreciated the way the mousse was as light as the whipped cream topping and left the heftier chocolate flavor to the nearly black Graham Cracker crust. Other desserts on the regular menu, besides ice cream, span the range of human needs for sweets: addiction ("chocolate thunder" cake), homeyness (carrot cake), and what can pass for exotica (Key Lime pie).

Thus fueled, we were ready to stub out our imaginary cigs, push away from the table and go bowl a few frames.

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

Issue Date: March 7 - 13 2003