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Menu at The Mooring is tied securely to its Newport setting

09:41 AM EDT on Thursday, September 21, 2006

By Gail Ciampa
Journal Food Editor

The Harborview room, open to the air in the summer, gets its atmosphere from sea breezes, gull calls and the slap of lines against masts.

George’s Bank scallops are served with arugula and a vanilla- and orange-scented sauce at the Mooring, on Sayer’s Wharf in Newport.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Sweet lime custard layered with whipped cream and granola in the Key lime parfait brings a spectacular dinner to a fitting end.

One would be hard-pressed to find a more popular dinner spot on a late summer Saturday evening than the Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar.

With prime waterfront real estate on Sayer’s Wharf looking down on Newport Harbor, the views of sea, sky and sails are lovely. An eight-month winter renovation updated the décor and opened up space to better capitalize on the panoramic setting. With a menu full of fresh seafood, it’s the quintessential resort area restaurant.

But the Mooring is hardly a tourist trap. Nothing is run of the mill. From a wine list that boasts 985 bottles to the finely tweaked menu for a range of palates, the Mooring goes out of its way to insure the meal is equal to the setting.

Executive chef Brian Mansfield and Newport Harbor (parent company of the Mooring) corporate chef Casey Riley have given the menu a facelift true to the richness of the sea by adding classic sauces with modern flavors.

Yet it must be said that all this beauty and taste comes at a steep price. Having an appetizer, main course and dessert isn’t out of order here. The list of appetizers and the raw-bar selections are simply too tempting to pass on the way to the signature dishes. From chilled crab Napoleon to a Hereford Beef saté, there is something for every palate. The dessert list, too, with cool treats and creamy delights, is not to be abandoned to save calories or cash.

But with many desirable entrees in the high $20s and glasses of wine $9 to $10, the bill adds up fast. It’s so easy to be seduced by the sea breezes, not to mention the Key lime granola parfait, that one simply eats, drinks and feels merry.

Sitting in the new Harborview room is nearly as good as dining al fresco. It successfully captures both the views and sea. Large glass doors are open and create an airy environment. In fact, the person sitting next to me was indeed dining outside at a small table. We were only separated by a pane of glass as we both perused the menu.

Appetizers outside the box

For starters, a cup of classic clam chowder ($5) offers the right balance of creamy broth and fresh seafood and vegetables to satisfy any craving.

But ordering out of the box pays off handsomely here. A Bag of Doughnuts ($10) is just the perfect beginning for a meal. Not doughnuts at all, but deep-fried fritters that do, indeed, come in a brown bag. The bag is served on a dish, accompanied by the best little sauce this side of heaven. Shredded Lobster, crab and shrimp flavor a buttermilk dough in delightful bite-size chunks. They hold just the tiniest bit of oil but that adds to the flavor. It’s the accompanying sauce that brings this dish over the top. It’s a chipotle-maple aioli with a lightness about it and a sweet-spicy flavor blend that balances each to perfection.

So delicious was the chipotle sauce that I dipped my Jonah crab cakes ($12) into it. These perfectly pan-fried cakes, chock full of tasty crab, came with a fine tartar sauce. But how could I even consider it when a little pot of chipotle-maple was in front of me?

These are the kinds of unexpected surprises that delight a diner. But here’s what disconcerts this one.

I ordered a glass of Sancerre ($9.75), the Sauvignon Blanc from France. As soon as it was put in front of me, I could smell the oak. Then I saw the golden color more indicative of a Chardonnay than a light Sauvignon Blanc. A taste confirmed the mistake.

To his credit, the server took one look at the glass and agreed the wrong wine had been delivered. But it made me cringe, knowing the Mooring’s wine guru Len Panaggio, who has fashioned a list that earned two wine glasses and the Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence, the only one in Rhode Island. Panaggio’s list includes a wide variety of choices from around the globe, and a half bottle list including three vintages of Opus One, the joint venture of two first families of wine, the California Mondavis and France’s Rothschilds. He educates his staff on wine, but missteps happen on busy Saturday nights.

With no harm done, and food batting 1.000, the main courses arrived.

Ethereal sauces

The George’s Bank scallops ($24) were pan-seared and tender. With an accompaniment of arugula, the dish was elevated by a vanilla- and orange-scented sabayon. This ethereal dessert-like sauce was amazing with its sweetness and its foamy texture. The contrast from shellfish to seafoam was divine.

Equally fine was a Hawaiian Kajiki dish ($27) with a huge piece of Pacific blue marlin. Again, the sauce, a pineapple and coconut harrissa cream, was the defining ingredient. The usually spicy hot sauce was cooled with the flavors of fruit and a nice match for the mild fish.

As we ventured onto land, the Hereford beef short ribs ($22) were braised in Trinity Brewhouse’s IPA, and the meat was as tender as can be. The beefy flavor was beautifully paired with truffle-mashed celery root. As buttery as the side dish of Ultimate Mashed Potatoes ($5) ordered for the table was, I preferred the complex flavors of that celery root. A second side of roasted root vegetables ($5) was a nice addition to both the fish and meat dishes.

Happily, the Key lime parfait ($8) cleansed the palate with layers of sweet lime custard, whipped cream and crunchy granola. Also excellent was Dulce De Leche ($7), the Argentinean-style cheesecake with caramel, and the pots de crème, a trio of custards in vanilla, chocolate and raspberry.

These desserts lead to the conclusion that the Mooring is as good at the end of the meal as it is at the beginning. And you just can’t say that about every dining experience.

Bill of Fare

A dinner for two at the Mooring might look like this:

Jonah crab cakes … $12

Bag of Doughnuts … $10

Hawaiian Kajiki … $27

Georges Bank scallops… $24

Ultimate Butter Mashed Potatoes… $5

Roasted root vegetables … $5

Pots de crème … $7

Key lime parfait … $8

Glass Pascal Jolivet Sancerre … $9.75

Glass Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc … $10

Total food and drink … $117.75

Tax … $9.42

Tip … $23.40

Total … $150.57

The Mooring Restaurant,

Sayer’s Wharf, Newport,

(401) 846-2260, www.mooringrestaurant.com. Fine dining. Reservations. Handicapped accessible. Highchairs. Adjacent parking lot, charges mid-May to mid-Sept. with validation remaining months. AE. D, MC, V. Lunch and dinner served daily. Appetizers $7-$14; entrees $19-$44; desserts $7-$9. Wines by the glass $4.50 to $16, 30-page-plus wine list.