What most defines a dive bar?  Is it a place of mean streets where you can drink and dine (I use that word reservedly) with patrons prone to drinking too much too early?  Or where you risk getting hepatitis from questionable food practices?  Or where all the premium liquors are nothing better than the well at finer places?

Enter Tom Minervino, where Sangillo’s—a bonafide dive bar—once stood. He is the steward of Tomaso’s Canteen, the new householder of this legendary space where there were allegedly more gun shots than Jell-O shots.

Contemporary, fairly upscale look at Tomaso’s Canteen

Nowadays dive bars can have a cult following first before morphing into havens for hipsters.  I’m not sure if that will happen to Tomasso’s, though the clean lines of gun-metal gray tabletops and bright, shiny bar stools give the look of a big order from Design Within Reach.

Essentially, it is a neighborhood bar and grill that’s been cleaned up quite well.  This one even has a real kitchen out back with an exhaust system and fryolater.  What happens, however, with the food that comes out of it is another story.

Comfortable tables for businessmen to huddle and plenty of bar seats at which to drink and eat

Sam Minervino has a long history as a restaurateur of the bar-and-grill ilk. His famous Harbor Lunch on the Portland waterfront decades back; Sully’s after that and Samuel’s Bar and Grill all had/ have his mark.  The latter has hugged Morrills Corner for years as the ultimate neighborhood bar: a place where you can throw darts, feed your beer belly, belt back shots, stuff yourself with terrific chicken wings and overdo it on burgers, pizzas and booze.  Even son Tom dipped his hand into Portland’s food scene during his tenure as editor of Eater Maine where his frothy commentary was so effective. And he had a hard act to follow on the footsteps of the site’s original editor, Susan Axelrod, whose cutting wit and sharp eye kept those pages hopping.

Even the outside has been cleaned up

I went to Tomaso’s for lunch earlier this week and was planning to try it for dinner, too.  But after my one meal there I pretty much got the picture.  A friend who works nearby joined me, and by 12:30 the place was quite busy  (it’s been open for just a week) with a mix of locals trading barbs with the pinstripe habitués from nearby offices.

Star of the show: wings

Lunch at Tomasso’s has nothing to do with the area’s hot spots on Middle Street.  The menu is short-order cooking all the way, though the kitchen was quite slow when we were there.   It’s also not staffed by a salty crew  typical of dive bars.  Instead family members hold sway very nicely, serving a menu similar to the Forest Avenue Sam’s.

We started off with a basket of garlic parmesan wings. These were coated in a garlicky Parmesan dressing and deep fried.  Delicious?  You bet.

Deep fried haddock tips were a good choice for a main course, too, and I can only imagine that a larger serving of the house fish and chips would be just as fine.  The coating batter was not greasy at all and the fish was fresh tasting.

A side order of onion rings was less successful.  My foodie friend  ventured that they were coated with a Parmesan filler that’s made to look as though freshly grated cheese had been put on them.  It merely masked the greasiness.

The meat in my burger was from Fresh Approach, and my order of medium rare came out many degrees less than that.  The beef was good, though,   and was served on a big grilled roll that held up.  But the French fries were limp.  They looked good all dark and well cooked.  And they were made from freshly cut potatoes.  But the goodness ended there.  Soggy and greasy, these fries barely tasted as good as they appeared. Crispy fries are achieved by being blanched first in oil and then immersed into a hot deep fryer to get the finishing crispness.

Clockwise: onion rings, burger with fries and haddock tips

Even so, I like Tomaso’s Canteen for what it is: a congenial corner bar with decent food and mixed patronage sure to amuse; its well-stocked bar has all the usual premium liquors, beers and wine. Ultimately it’s also a tad too spiffy to appeal to the inglorious crew who came here previously.  And if the kitchen improves on its fries, the hipsters are sure to follow.

Tomaso’s Canteen, 18 Hampshire St., Portland, ME 207-536-1285 www.tomasoscanteen.com

Rating: 2 3/4 stars for decent bar food, especially the wings and burger; 4 stars for ambiance and cool

Service: very attentive

Ambiance: corner bar vibes

Tables: 2- and 4-tops; bar seating

Parking: street

$$$: very inexpensive for food ($6 plain burger); cocktails: $6+