Stepping up to more serious meals, there's a small list of pastas and a substantial list of appetizers and elaborate entrees. The inevitable fried calamari and mussels steamed with beer and garlic are just fine, though. I only wish its topping of grilled bananas were exchanged for less-sweet and firmer plantains. Thus, limp linguine can be ignored as you savor its marvelous head-on fresh shrimp and julienned vegetables, brightened by slivers of winy green olives. A huge soft-shell crab is fried so lightly and is so deliciously surrounded by a moat of corn ragout with crisped leeks that the mushy texture of the shellfish is hardly noticed.
Roast chicken is usually a good test of a restaurant.
But its New England clam chowder sauce with peas, carrots and corn is like something that belongs on chicken a la king. Ardeo's kitchen needs refining, which is no surprise for a new restaurant where a sous-chef is just coming into his own. What's unexpected is the sure hand evident in the desserts. Praline semifreddo is a soft yet dense sort of mascarpone ice cream, crunchy with bits of caramelized nut candy and layered with filmy crisp butter cookies. The ice cream might be a bit cloying without the sharpness of its strawberry balsamic sauce, an inspired addition.