It was a real Block Island day -- by which I mean that the sky was a clear, hard blue, even early in the morning. Not much wind, so the ferry ride over would be smooth. And it was a Wednesday, so the ferry ride back would be, too. (The summer party crowd that typically takes the last ferry out of the island on weekend nights has lately caused some rough crossings for everyone.)

Plus, my friend Charlie and I had some business to tend to on the island, a meeting along the south coast Mohegan Trail. It should take just an hour or so in the afternoon, and then we would be free for dinner.

I had heard that the Hotel Manisses dining room was having a good year, so we made our reservation there for 6 p.m., giving us just enough time to dine and then be off on the last ferry at 8.

Charlie and I left his house in Providence at 1:45 p.m., were in Galilee in plenty of time for the 3 p.m. boat, and an hour later were rolling our bikes down the gangplank onto the island. It's amazing how much can be packed into just a couple of hours on Block Island. It's so compact that you can shop a bit in Old Harbor, have a little adventure biking around the south shore, and be back in town in time to sit down at your table on the Manisses' flower-bordered outdoor patio with the fountain splashing in the center.

It was, quite frankly, an idyllic scene, with the late-afternoon sun slanting across the garden onto our white tablecloth set with white china. As Charlie and I sank into our chairs and quickly ordered martinis to celebrate what had been an interesting day, we felt charmed.

Native and Victorian

The Hotel Manisses, which takes its name from the Native Americans who once inhabited Block Island, was built in the 1870s, the Victorian heyday of the island. Like many of the old hotels, it had sunk into disrepair until in the late 1970s it was rescued by the innkeeping Abrams family.

The hotel is built into a hillside, with the dining room on the ground level, so it and the patio that extends from it are below the Spring Street entrance to the lobby.

The indoor dining area includes a stone-walled pub bar, very cozy for a cool fall evening, and opens in back to a light-filled gazebo and a view of Justin Abrams' farm of exotic animals -- a children's favorite on the island. It's not from every dining room that you can spot a camel, an emu or a kangaroo.

Chef Ross Audino returned to the Manisses this summer after a two-year stint at the Franklin Cafe in Boston's Back Bay. Before that, he had been sous chef at the Manisses for several years, so it was both a homecoming and a chance to put his own stamp on the menu.

Where the Manisses of recent years had a classical French accent, now Audino has made it more regionally inspired and eclectic, with an emphasis on fish from nearby Point Judith and fresh produce from right out back in the Abrams' garden.

Flavors of sea and sky

We began with a dramatically different pair of appetizers: tuna tartare ($11) and duck confit ($9).

The tuna -- described on the menu as served with a ginger aioli -- was perhaps a bit more gingery than we'd expected, but in a good way. A three-inch molded disk of chopped raw tuna was bathed in a smooth golden sauce (the aioli) and served with a trio of crostinis on which to spread the tartare.

With its sharply sweet ginger flavor, the tartare was what an appetizer is supposed to be: a kick-start to the meal. (It followed an amuse bouche -- the chef's appetizer -- of a paper-thin slice of sea bass ceviche atop a cucumber slice.)

The confit proved different than what is usually meant by that word, which describes a specific process for slow-cooking duck legs in duck fat to create a soft, almost jam-like -- and very rich -- consistency.

Rather than a traditional confit, this duck leg appeared to be roasted, resulting in a somewhat dry texture. It had been described as crispy on the menu, but we'd assumed that meant the outside. It was served on a mound of savory cabbage salad -- like a sophisticated cole slaw.

Grits in their glory

At our waitress's recommendation, we selected as our entrees Citrus Crusted Mahi-Mahi ($35) and pan-roasted chicken with Southern grits ($21). A couple of glasses of chilled Sincerely Sauvignon Blanc, a modestly priced South African wine, would go nicely with both.

The Manisses has an extensive list of wines by the bottle, most ranging from about $24 to $75, and offers seven white and nine reds by the glass.

The chicken -- a leg and part of the breast -- was tender and moist, served in a brown reduction sauce that was full of concentrated flavor. But the star of the plate was the mound of grits, flavored with some secret ingredient that the waitress refused to divulge, but that might have been something as simple as a lot of butter.

The mahi-mahi was good, but but could have used more flavor. We could not detect much citrus in the panko crumb crust, and more would have been welcome.

On this plate, the clear hit was an innovative combination of lobster and mashed potatoes. Big chunks of lobster meat, and some lobster juices, performed a makeover on ordinary mashed potatoes so successful that we wondered: Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

For dessert, we followed our waitress's recommendation for Fresh Blueberries in Tahitian Vanilla-Bean Crema ($8) and Ricotta Cake with Fresh Strawberries ($7). (She had been understanding from the start about our need to be on that 8 p.m. ferry.)

Both were perfect endings for the meal, the blueberries simply covered in a rich smooth cream that Audino later explained he simmers with the vanilla bean to thicken, and then layers with Maine blueberries in a stemmed glass. We dipped down with our spoons to get to an underlayer of syrupy brown sugar, a nice touch.

The ricotta cake was lovely both to look at and to eat -- layered like a shortcake with a ricotta whipped cream and slices of strawberries that tasted as sweet as June's. Audino said the recipe is his mother's, but she has yet to taste his version -- "She's my toughest critic."

We cleaned our plates just in time to streak on our bikes a few hundred feet to board the last ferry out. It was a quiet trip home, the sea glassy smooth and everyone aboard seemingly sun-tired and happy.

It had been a perfect Block Island day.

DETAILS:

Hotel Manisses, Spring St., Block Island. (401) 466-2421. Open for dinner daily, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Reservations recommended. MC, V, AE. Wheelchair access difficult. Entrees $21 to $35. About 75 wines, $24 to $200, and 18 by the glass, $6 to $15.

kimbrie@projo.com / (401) 277-7630