With the same name but new owners, the 60-year restaurant institution Christie's has been back in Newport for about three years, this time with a classy, upscale persona and yet an affordable, downscale menu. It's downstairs from the uber-posh Forty 1 North and certainly can hold its head up, chichi-wise, under that shadow.
Inside, there's a bar area with tables and also a semi-secluded, sun-filled room with mood-lightening orange scoop chairs. But the more noticeable mood enhancer is a charming mural of beaming '40s-era beauties in the modest but colorful bathing suits of the period, lined up next to a 20-foot-long communal table that invites conversations with strangers.
But you want to be outside, under one of the square white umbrellas at a café table. There's not a water view, but it is breezy. You're handed a drinks menu first, and if that is happening Sunday through Thursday 6 to 10 pm, the martini choices are only $5. All-evening happy hours are what sailing's all about, no? Or so I've heard. Beer drinkers get numerous bottled choices, from Peroni to Allagash. The nearly four dozen wine choices are all over the map, with no regional bias. Numerous classic drinks are suggested, such as a Pimm's Cup and a Sloe Gin Fizz, which again suggests closing your eyes and imagining somebody's grandfather forgetting to yell "Coming about!" and nearly toppling you with the boom.
You can in fact get food here, too. We came in the early evening, so the menu categories were small plates, salads, sandwiches, and big plates.
For appetizers, there were numerous temptations. The lobster quesadilla ($13) had roasted poblano pepper, queso blanco, and salsa verde. Instead of burger sliders, there were fried oyster sliders ($11), two stacked in buns with white bean hummus and chipotle cream. Not tempting but with points for honesty were the Thai mussels ($13), from halfway around the world instead of locally.
I had the heirloom tomato gazpacho ($7). It was jam-packed with goodies — toasted pumpkin seeds, diced tomatoes, and cucumbers, with a drizzle of chili and lime crème fraîche and a micro-greens garnish — but the base was rather bland, hardly seasoned at all. I suppose I could have asked for Tabasco sauce. Johnnie's fried calamari salad ($12) was more successful, with plenty of lightly fried squid rings and a toasted sesame and lime dressing she liked, though it had an unannounced hot chili accent, plus green papaya and hearts of palm bonuses. Her main dish of fish and chips ($15) consisted of two halibut fillets atop a cone of shoestring potatoes, with a red cabbage slaw and two dipping sauces on the side. Now there was no hint of chili or lime in the fries, though this time such was announced.
My high point, along with the calamari, was the tempura prawns and New York sirloin ($25). The sweet potato and corn hash was nicely browned and tasty. The smear of green vegetable purée was good with the two jumbo fried prawns, and the steak was medium rare as ordered, topped with an appreciated cilantro garnish. The Bordelaise dipping sauce was just right for the sirloin, rich and winy.
The retro desserts, from cotton candy to mini-ice-cream-cone trio, didn't appeal to us, so we had no trouble holding off.
