Step into Fish Bones American Grill in Lewiston and you’ll notice an attention to detail you won’t find at most area restaurants – from the linen on the tables to the service at them.
“It’s all about delivering an experience,” says Paul Landry, a Murray-Heutz customer for more than twenty years. “It’s about making it memorable and comfortable for your customers.”
An OpenTable Diner’s Choice winner in 2016, the casual-upscale restaurant has been offering healthy food choices since 2005, when Landry and his wife Kate first opened its doors at the then-underdeveloped mill site. The seafood grill serves up American cuisine with a multi-national flair – an approach that enables chefs to prepare and present unique dishes featuring locally sourced sustainable products.
“We saw a perfect opportunity to inject life into a building and a community at the same time, doing something we loved and were good at,” says Landry of the restaurant and its unique fare. “It took some work to get it right, but eventually we did it.”
The couple planned and built Fish Bones after operating Mac’s in Auburn with partners in 1994. Aiming to recapture the “big treat” of visiting Happy Jack’s Restaurant in his youth, Landry set in motion plans for a new seafood restaurant that would create a similar experience for the next generation of Lewiston/Auburn families. With ongoing support from Murray-Heutz (then Murray Oil) – their propane provider at Mac’s – they pulled it off.
“We knew firsthand that the customer service with Murray Oil couldn’t be topped,” says Landry, “so we didn’t see a reason to go anywhere else.”
Since Fish Bones opened, the mill area has grown to become a center for commerce – and Fish Bones has grown right with it, thanks in part to the Landry’s relationship with Murray-Heutz.
“We could have chosen natural gas rather than propane, but that would mean giving up our relationship with Murray Oil,” says Landry. “We chose to go with what we knew worked –and 12 years later we still know it was the right move.”
What’s next for the couple? For starters, they’re helping to inspire the next generation of culinary leaders, supporting students at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center (three of his five chefs are graduates of the school). In 2010 the Landrys established the Fish Bones Hospitality Scholarship, which to date have awarded over $30,000 in scholarships to deserving students.
Other than that, Paul and Kate will just keep on providing great food in a great place to make memories. “We pride ourselves on delivering a quality experience,” says Landry, “and Murray-Heutz helps us do that.”
