Opus focus: Cooking up regional cuisine, Greece and Turkey highlight March menu

A change will do you good.

That’s the reasoning behind Roger Gelis’ decision to reinvent the menu each month at Opus.

“I looked at my menu and it was all over the place,” Gelis said on a recent morning in the dining room of his Bangor restaurant. “I had a Thai curry and then something with falafel. It was all very delicious, very nice, but there was no continuity to it.”

So he decided to focus on one region each month. Gelis, a 23-year restaurant veteran, came up with the idea when he was in culinary school. But he didn’t debut his gustatory world tour until March, when he brought diners on a voyage to Asia. This month’s dishes hail from Greece and Turkey. French cuisine and wines will take center stage in April, followed by food and creative martinis from Mexico and the American Southwest in May.

“It gets me under the gun, behind the eight ball,” he said.

It also keeps him – and the rest of the staff – on top of their game.

“It’s making me spend time researching stuff, which I haven’t done in a long time.” He said. “It’s making cooking more fun for the guys in the kitchen. It’s like a new job every month.”

In February, he stayed within his comfort zone with Asian fusion, which was all the rage when he worked in Seattle. But Greece has presented a challenge, in terms of finding appropriate ingredients and preparing them authentically – yet with a twist.

Among the highlights for March are salmon wrapped in grape leaves, barley risotto with lemon-roasted chicken and steamed mussels Constantinople with ouzo, feta and green peppers

For his less adventurous regulars, he has retained old favorites such as fried lobster tail; beef tenderloin; spinach salad with walnuts, apples, brie and cranberries; and ribeye steak, which he describes as a “huge, raging slab of beef.”

“Those things will always be there,” Gelis said. “I’ll always have lobster in another form or two in addition to the fried lobster tail. We are in Maine, after all.”

Some things will never change.

Opus is located at 193 Broad St. in Bangor. For information, visit www.opusme.com or call 945-5100.