Pan-roasted lobster is one of the signature dishes at Jasper White’s Summer Shack, at Mohegan Sun.

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The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Restaurants in the two giant Connecticut casinos run the gamut from casual to formal, from inexpensive to expensive. Interestingly, one of the best restaurants of the bunch is both casual and expensive — Jasper White’s Summer Shack, at Mohegan Sun.

Jasper White is a much-celebrated Boston chef whose first restaurant, Jasper’s, in Boston, was a 12-year fine-dining mecca in the city. He closed it in 1995 and five years later surprised many people by opening the first of what are now four Summer Shack casual seafood restaurants: Cambridge, Boston, Logan Airport and Mohegan Sun.

With his Shack restaurants, White makes the point that food doesn’t have to be stuffy or haute to be satisfying and good. Like the three other restaurants in the chain, the Mohegan Shack is summer-by-the-shore casual. Tables are covered in brown paper, servers wear T-shirts, and bread is served in plastic baskets. Specials are chalked on a blackboard, and the kitchen is open to view, along with gargantuan steaming kettles for lobsters.

You can eat simply and well at the Summer Shack, and in fact the bill doesn’t have to be high if you stick to basics like a corn dog ($5), fish tacos ($14), or meatloaf ($15).

But why would you want to when fresh Maine lobster, Ipswich clams, Prince Edward Island oysters and Alaskan king crab legs sound so tempting?

We began a recent meal with eight perfectly served Malpeque oysters ($2.25 each), cold and fresh, accompanied by horseradish cocktail sauce and a just-right mignonette (vinegar and shallot) sauce. These went perfectly with our glasses of Tohu Sauvignon Blanc ($9.75). And this is what makes White’s not-your-average seafood joint: A crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a good French Chardonnay (Hob Nob, $9 by the glass) often are not easy to come by at summertime clam shacks. Yet the combination of fresh seafood and these wines is perfect.

I made sure to ask where the lobsters came from before ordering one of White’s signature dishes: pan-roasted lobster ($46 for a two-pounder). When the answer was unequivocally that the lobsters come from Maine, I ordered it. I make it a point to avoid eating any shellfish taken from south of Cape Cod: The water is just too warm, and the bottom that much muddier below that line, creating a texture and taste I don’t enjoy.

Sure enough, the lobster meat and its preparation were among the best I’ve ever eaten. The dish, which is one of White’s most famous, is essentially a lobster chunked into six pieces in the shell and roasted in a variation of a beurre blanc sauce: chervil, bourbon, white wine, butter and chives.

White’s menu makes it clear that the fried clams hail from Ipswich, and so we ordered an appetizer portion ($13) to share. The whole-belly clams were sweet inside a fry-batter that was not greasy, not too thick … perfect.

Our server, who was both friendly and professional, anticipated everything we wanted, including refills of the warm Parker House rolls and cornbread squares that arrived at our table almost as soon as we sat down. The clams arrived hot, straight from the fry kettle.

For dessert, we chose an apple tart ($6) and Bananas Foster ($8.50), the second highly praised by our waiter. The tart was fine, but the Bananas Foster was the best I’ve had in a restaurant: a big, delightful mélange of bananas sautéed in a brown sugar caramel syrup and served atop premium quality vanilla ice cream — pure comfort food.

One of the questions often put to me as a restaurant critic is, “Would you go there if you weren’t being paid to go?”

In the case of Jasper White’s Summer Shack, I most certainly would. If I didn’t want to go to Mohegan Sun, I’d drive to the Cambridge Summer Shack (149 Alewife Brook Parkway, just past the Fresh Pond Mall; 617-520-9500), or the one in Boston (50 Dalton St., in the Back Bay; 617-867-9955). Bill of fare

A dinner for two at the Summer Shack might look like this:

8 Malpeque oysters…$18.00

2 glasses Tohu Sauvignon Blanc…$19.50

Fried-clam appetizer…$13.00

Pan-roasted lobster…$46.00

Surf & Turf…$48.00

Apple tart…$6.00

Bananas Foster…$8.50

Total food and drink…$159.00

Tax (Conn. 6 percent)…$9.54

Tip…$32.00

Total…$200.54

Jasper White’s Summer Shack, Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville, Conn., (860) 862-9500, www.summershackrestaurant

.com. Casual. Valet/garage parking. No reservations for parties under 6. Handicapped accessible. Highchairs. AE, D, MC, V. Hours 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; Fri. and Sat. to 1:15 a.m.; Sun. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Breakfast Sat. and Sun. 8 to 11 a.m. Entrees $15 to $53; appetizers $7.50 to $12.50; desserts $6 to $8.50. Wines by the glass $5.75 to $9.50; bottles $20 to $170.

More, please! This restaurant’s menu, and recent reviews and menus: projo.com/food

kimbrie@projo.com