Luscious 19th-century fare is just a Whispers Away

By Cody Kendall

THREE and a HALF STARS:  The Shore the way it used to be is easy to conjure at Whispers, artfully set in the 19th-century- vintage Hewitt Wellington Hotel.

with its rambling porches and lake view, the hotel seems to stop the clock in a more leisurely era.  But Whispers serves up-to-date food; just  the thing for those who crave a touch of modern culinary elegance while they relax.

The bulk of the menu is seafood, made with both imagination and vitality.

Pan-seared skate filet ($21), his specialty, was never so tenderly resplendent until he enhanced its smooth white flesh with browned butter, and sprinkled it with iced pineapple for a small dose of piquancy.  Lobster-whipped Yukon gold potatoes add the perfect touch to this blissful entree.

Snowy halibut ($22), nicely crusted with coarse Japanese bread crumbs (panko) and pan-seared, was nearly upstaged by a sassy pancake made of purple potato and avocado - making for an extremely mellow combinations.

Crabmeat stars as the central ingredient in a quesadilla appetizer ($9).  This sandwich of flour tortillas is smoothed with Brie, through the horseradish dipping sauce seemed overkill to me, drowning the delicate flavors of the crab and cheese.

There was no flaw, however, in the "Panache of Appetizers,"  ($11) a combo including a strapping Maryland crab cake, perfect medium-sized grilled shrimp and a spirited salad of wild mushrooms.  Grilling shrimp can be a tricky business; there's a tendency to overdo, which results in dry crustaceans.  These, however, were models of there kind, with an exterior just blackened enough to show that they had met the fire.

Despite his affinity for fish, the chef does not neglect carnivores.  His signature appetizer is satiny French fois gras ($14) served over Asian pears and sundried cranberries to add a welcome element of tartness.  The creation is balanced and polished with a duck demi-glace.

The simplest dish produced in Whispers' kitchen is the towering black Angus filet mignon ($28), with roasted garlic, whipped Yukon gold potatoes and green asparagus.  It's a good amount of meat, a prime steak rather than the supermarket cuts too many restaurants try to foist off on their patrons.

The only other meat among the entrees is a polenta-crusted roasted rack o lamb ($24), though grilled ostrich ($10) is offered as a starter.

Deserts by pastry chef, are appropriately light, given the season.  The champagne blueberry sorbet ($7) dressed with mint is an outstanding refresher.  Ice creams ($*( made in-house are creamy but not overly rich.

A duo of crème brulee ($9), bourbon vanilla and the palest raspberry, was topped with the airiest of sugar crusts, while a "Napoleon" ($8) had no part of the traditional pastry layers.  Rather, vanilla ice cream was layered between two paper-thin crisp almond wafers, served with fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, as well as heavenly cream Anglaise.

Patrons can dress up here without feeling out of place, though jackets are not required for men.  Servers are generally in step with the refined atmosphere, though we were taken aback when one asked if we wanted ice for the merlot we brought.

During the season, don't count on getting a table if you make a spur of the moment decision to visit Whispers.  Weekends generally are booked days in advance.  And check the hours if you go in the fall, when the restaurant is no longer open seven days a week.

Whispers offers another good reason to visit the peaceful town known as the Irish Riviera, a magnet for Irish immigrants who had made it big during the last century.  After a dinner at Whispers, you too, can feel like a well-fed tycoon. .