The restaurant has changed hands several times in the intervening years, but the food is still wonderful. Scott and Lisa Moss are the owners, and Scott is the chef. His menu is creative and varied, with both French and Asian influence, and a number of his dishes were sampled during my visits.

    The building is an antique sea captain's home, and the Mosses have transformed it into a bright and lovely beach house. The walls are lined with artwork of Cape Cod scenes, and the rooms are softly lit and comfortable. The tables are lined with white and copper linen, and the candle holders are filled with sand and sea shells. Dining is divided into several smaller rooms, and a large room in the front of the building, seating a total of 70 guests.

    We were greeted at the door by a friendly and cordial staff member. I'm a little more sensitive about this after a dismal experience at an upscale steak house a few weeks ago (see the Foxwoods Feast, Part II review). In fact, the staff on the floor was friendly and cordial, professional and helpful throughout our meals at the Arbor. Our server was prepared to be simply an order taker, if that seemed what we wanted; however, when engaged and questioned about the menu, she became a most suitable ambassador for the chef's food, recommending her own favorite dishes to us.

    The starters included a saffron mussel bisque, creamy and garnished with shrimp toast, and on the second visit, a daily special of roasted squash soup with crispy scallops. A lovely presentation of tuna tartare (raw, finely diced, sushi grade tuna ) was served in endive leaves (as spoons), with field greans, carrot and daikon spaghetti and an asian vinaigrette of sesame and soy.

    We especially liked two of the starters, both worth mentioning, and both recommended to you. The onion soup has richness and depth to the broth, with both fresh time and sherry. The sourdough crouton was covered in cheese and flashed in the oven to melt and for color. The Greeks and Romans considered the onion to be a potent aphrodisiac and made much use of it. I don't know about that, but its culinary value was put to good use by Moss in this very good soup.

    The duck confit was also an artistic presentation. Confit is a specialty of Gascony, France, and is derived from an ancient method of preserving meat (usually goose, duck and pork) whereby it is salted and slowly cooked in its own fat. The cooked meat is then placed in a crock and covered with its cooking fat, which acts as a seal and preservative. It can be stored in this way for up to 6 months.

    Moss's version was a whole leg, sitting on top of some rich demi glace with dried cherries, served with a tartlette of puff pastry topped with sliced pear that had been caramelized, and a spoonful of goat cheese. It was drizzled with a balsamic reduction and garnished with chopped scallion. The duck was crisp and wonderfully flavorful. This starter was also a keeper.

    Entrees showed, again, both a French and an Asian influence. Grilled shrimp were served with lemongrass and ginger risotto and a mix of steamed Chinese greens. The Asian swordfish (one of the dishes our server recommended) was marinated in an orange and fried ginger aioli, and was served with jasmine-coconut rice cakes and steamed oriental baby bok choy (a cabbage).

    A pork dish is worth mentioning here, too. Three generous medallions of pork were grilled, and served with garlic mashed potato, squash, and spaghetti squash. The demi glace sauce that accompanied it was rich but without being cloying, and very flavorful. The presentation was lovely, a square, concave, white plate with all these fall colors and flavors, garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary

    A menu addition on one visit was monkfish. I like monkfish. It's one of the ugliest fish in the ocean, and the only editable part is the tail, and then only after its membrane is removed. What's it taste like? Well, it's sometimes referred to as the “poor man's lobster.” That's probably more because of the tail's appearance, after it gets all cleaned up, although the texture, when properly cooked, is akin to a steamed lobster tail.

    This version was seared crispy and topped with a port wine and wild mushroom sauce that had finely diced red and yellow peppers. It was served with fried garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, which were topped with eggplant caviar. The fish was cooked just a little too much for my taste, but was nonetheless very good. It stood up quite well to the port wine reduction sauce.

    Eggplant caviar, by the way, is not really caviar: eggplant is roasted whole until the flesh is fully cooked; then, it's put into a blender with onions and garlic, lemon juice, sometimes tomatoes and olives, and always extra virgin olive oil. It's delicious, and in this instance, it contributed substantially to great flavors. I don't mean to suggest bad table manners, but this meal was truly appreciated when you had just a little bit of everything in your mouth at the same time . . the fish, the potato, the spinach, a little of the sauce and mushrooms, and some eggplant caviar . . . the layers of flavor making more out of the whole than its individual parts. This was a very good dish, and our server was right in recommending it.

    Desserts included an apple and cranberry crisp with vanilla ice cream, a crème brulee and a cheesecake. The crème brulee was a tasty custard, and the burnt sugar on top was both crisp and nicely browned. The cheesecake was a generous portion sitting in a little pool of raspberry puree and balsamic reduction. The desserts were good, but I have to say they were not quite up to the standard that had been set by everything we'd eaten up until then. Expectations are a funny thing, and sometimes it is better to work up gradually to excellence. This is not a criticism of the desserts so much as it is praise for the starters and entrees, though.

    The wine list is commensurate in offerings with the quality of the food, with some good domestics to choose from. We enjoyed an Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio to begin our meal, but to be honest, stopped at that when the food took over all of our attention. Prices on the wine list are comparable to neighboring upscale venues.

    The only distraction from the meal was the heavy-footed running of children in the living quarters above the restaurant where the owners live. It did not last long, but it was something of an intrusion into what was otherwise a most pleasant meal out.

    The Arbor was a very good food experience first time around, 26 years ago, and today's version, in chef Scott Moss's hands, is a delight. High quality raw ingredients are treated well and knowledgeably by talented hands, and the meals are presented with great artistry. Cape Dining Out recommends it highly to you, and, with a score of 44 out of 50, acknowledges it with a 3.5 Cods rating.

If you go . . . .

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