Beer may have made a name for McMenamin’s, but I’ve found over the years that their many venues (almost 60) are home also to pretty reliably good food as well. Now the third restaurant in the rebuilt Sand Trap building overlooking historic Gearhart Golf Links, the McMenamin’s team has invested the money needed to make the dining rooms look elegant and cozy, stylish and welcoming.

Over the course of three visits, I sampled a good portion of the menu and observed the staff in times of professionalism and control, and unfortunately, in overwhelming times of peril. My first two visits were fine, punctuated by sure-footed service and above-average food. My final visit found the restaurant gravely understaffed and extremely busy as customers kept pouring in. Wait times were absolutely ridiculous, and our party went without water and our appetizers for nearly 30 minutes. At one point, a cook was helping to bus tables, which seemed odd, as the kitchen was more behind than the front-of-house staff.

The Sand Trap’s food is usually pretty good. A couple of dishes didn’t work for me, and a few were overcooked. The steamer clams ($11.60 for a pound) were done right. It’s a hard dish to screw up. Prepared traditionally with garlic, butter, herbs, white wine (Edgefield Pinot Gris) and toasted sourdough garlic bread on the side, it was quite satisfying, though hardly exceptional. I cannot recommend the Dungeness crab cakes ($10.50). Mushy and bready of texture and bland and ordinary of flavor, I enjoyed the fresh slaw on the plate much more than the cakes or their mustardy tartar sauce.

The Brewer’s Crab Fondue Pot ($8.25) fared slightly better, but prompted a certain degree of ambivalence. The ale came through, the “sharp” cheddar not as much. We looked past the Velveeta-like texture and decided to finish the dip before it became cold and rubbery. The rye bread for dipping was obviously cut from sandwich slices, and I prefer a larger cube and a more substantial, crusty textured bread.

The Brewer’s Salad ($8.25) was faultless. Mixed summer greens were tossed with marinated red onion, bleu cheese crumbles, toasted hazelnuts and raspberry-Ruby ale vinaigrette for just the right mixture of sweetness, acidity, richness and salt.

Not having had McMenamin’s pizza since a trip to Portland’s Baghdad Theater several years ago, I thought I’d sample the higher-end version here. The regular offerings looked OK, but the specials sheet had what I was looking for. Matt’s pizza ($9.25 for 8″, $28.50 for 16″) was a little more expensive than the static menu’s pizzas, but a good deal more exciting as well. Fresh mozzarella, roasted garlic, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, scallions and honey-and-stout-marinated prosciutto made for a wonderful flavor combination.

Sandwiches are solid. The grilled Ahi sandwich ($10.25) features sushi-grade fish and was cooked nice and rare as ordered. Wasabi mayo and a cucumber and pickled ginger salad worked well with the fish, along with the lettuce, tomato and red onion.

The herb-roasted turkey sandwich ($8.75) is another superior selection. Served on multi-grain bread with cranberry sauce and swiss cheese, the sandwich is successful largely due to the quality of the turkey, which is the good stuff, the day-after-Thanksgiving stuff.

And as much as I liked the flavor of the Captain Neon Burger ($8.75, and who knows why it’s called that?), the Sand Trap’s bacon and bleu burger, it was ordered medium-rare and arrived very much well-done.

Entrees aren’t as successful. Pan-fried oysters ($14.30) were oddly flat and wide and even a little tough. The green beans that accompanied were perfectly cooked al dente and bursting with flavor, the mashed potatoes unremarkable but decent.

Hogshead Whiskey-Glazed Wild Salmon ($13.75) was tasty but dry and cooked far too long, certainly not rare as I’d ordered it. This dish was also served with the beans and mashed potatoes.

The Rosemary Pork Chop ($12.75) was ordered medium-rare and arrived black and dry, the bone burned to crumbling coal. The raisin-fig reduction seemed redundant and I detected nary a note of rosemary anywhere in the desiccated chop. Again with the green beans and mashed potatoes.

McMenamin’s High Pasta ($10.20) was a barely satisfactory vegetarian dish. The slightly overcooked linguine was tossed with spinach, garlic, tomato concasse, and Parmesan cheese in a hazelnut brown butter sauce. Despite these many flavors, the pasta was surprisingly bereft of pizazz. With a little salt, the flavors started to come together. The crusty cheese garlic bread that accompanied on the side was really the best part of the dish.

I can recommend the pizza, sandwiches and burgers, but until the heavy-handed cooks can control their temperatures, I’d avoid the costlier items.

– The Mouth

mouth@coastweekend.com