January 2004

The scent of prime rib wafts through this firelit dining room every Sunday night. Meat is carved to order and has a quickie date with the grill, so it's practically sizzling when it arrives at your table. But that's not the only reason to seek out this casually elegant restaurant; for much of the year, a panorama of the Chesapeake Bay is visible through the sweeping windows.

In recent months, the menu has gone broader and a bit simpler--more main-course pastas and grilled items--but many of the dishes that distinguished this Modern American kitchen from others along the Bay are still getting raves. A salad of wilted spinach with walnut-crusted brie medallions is as savory as ever. So are crunchy, panko-crusted tuna rolls, crabcakes with rémoulade, and bouillabaise.

New stars include caramelized-onion soup heady with with lavender flowers; port-roasted wild-mushroom cassoulet with a nugget of rare Black Angus filet mignon; crabmeat-stuffed roast cod; and portobello-mushroom Wellington with herbed goat cheese and sweet peppers poofed in house-made pastry dough.

A five-course game menu ($42) highlights such finds as free-range venison stuffed with chestnuts, and a fish menu ($40) offers the likes of tempura-style rockfish with black sticky rice. The wine roster has gotten a bit more expansive, and desserts have evolved as well. Pistachio-bittersweet-chocolate cake and the frozen soufflé of the day wrap things up with finesse. Here is one restaurant with a view that caters to the palate, too.