Destination: delicious

Osteria Pane e Salute Woodstock, Vt.

Co-owner Deirdre Heekin, a former dancer, greets you at the entrance to her 26-seat matchbox of a restaurant, and you know at once you're in good hands. You're best off telling her what kind of wine you like and asking her to pour you something (if you agree to drink two glasses from a bottle, she'll open anything). Osteria Pane e Salute ("bread and health tavern" in Italian) celebrates Italian cuisine, and during growing season in Vermont, that means as much local food as the little spot can get. Heekin and her husband, Caleb Barber, also a former modern dancer and the restaurant's chef, both trained as cooks in Italy, where everyone eats what grows nearby. The couple became locavores long before the eat-locally term was coined. This is a modern mom-and-pop tavern, with brown paper on the tables and water in wine bottles.

Barber makes the bread, which will knock you out with its crustiness, and also mixes dough for small crackerlike pizzas and simmers exquisite risotti and pastas. This time of year, the menu might feature pasta tossed with roasted zucchini slices, plum tart with pastry cream, fresh blackberries with whipped cream and lavender meringue. It all seems so simple, the most pared-down food you can imagine, made with the best ingredients in the Green Mountain state. That, their instinctive style, and an Italian sensibility. No luck going on here. It's all skill.

Osteria Pane e Salute, upstairs at 61 Central St., Woodstock, Vt., 802-457-4882. Open Thu-Mon 6-11 p.m. Entrees $18-$24, wines by the glass $6.50-$11. osteriapaneesalute.com

SHERYL JULIAN

The Dunaway at Strawberry Banke Portsmouth, N.H.

From its start in 2005, the Dunaway restaurant has drawn acclaim. Chef Mary Dumont has moved south to Harvest in Cambridge, but this barn-like restaurant set in an old store is ushering in a new era. Former sous chef Ben Hasty is now at the helm, and he has kept the seasonally changing menu stocked with classic New England dishes. But the 23-year-old is also making his own mark with unexpected pairings such as roasted cod with a crème Anglais-like vanilla beurre blanc and Peeky Toe crab salad with a creamy cinnamon-sherry vinaigrette.

The restaurant's design is a soothing mix of modern and rustic. Wooden beams crisscross above the room, and tables on a roomy balcony overlook the main dining area. Near the small central bar, a fireplace juts out at an angle, and as light fades candles are lit.

Hasty's food is subtly intoxicating. The Maine native's minimal use of salt and sugar might not appeal to all, but it allows the natural flavors to infuse into unexpected delights, like the rich, caramel flavor of the tagliatelle with black truffle and parmesan. He creates everything from scratch, including desserts. A melt-in-the-mouth clafouti was topped by an elegant strawberry ice cream made with a hint of rhubarb juice and less than the usual amount of sugar.

The Dunaway has that quintessential destination-dining ingredient: a chef who isn't afraid of a challenge and meets it admirably.

The Dunaway at Strawberry Banke, 86 Marcy St., Portsmouth, N.H. 603-373-6112. Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:30-9:30 p.m., Fri-Sat from 5-10 p.m., Sun 5-9 p.m. Dinner entrees $26-$36, wines by the glass $6-$12. dunawayrestaurant.com

LINDA LABAN

Sea Basket Restaurant Wiscasset, Maine

There are no views of the water, no lobster boats to photograph in the cove, and no seagulls. The lawn is mowed like a putting green, the shrubs trimmed until they look fake, and the window boxes jammed with pansies or geraniums. Walk into the air-conditioned dining room and it's as neat and spotlessly scrubbed clean as any Burger King. The Sea Basket Restaurant lacks the rugged coastal charm of its clam-shack and lobster-pound neighbors, but here's the thing -- the food is actually good. Really good.

Order from the prim high school girls at the counter and then sit at a booth. "It's not the biggest menu out there, but everything we have is a specialty," says owner Jimmy Asprogiannis. Of course there are lobster rolls and crab rolls and all kinds of chowder, but the Sea Basket is really all about the fried stuff. Golden brown and perfectly perfect Maine shrimp, fried clams, fried scallops, fried haddock, fried onion rings. . . .

Seven years ago the kitchen upgraded from standard fryers to Pitco super-turbo whatever. Asprogiannis says that the new convection-style cookers can hold the canola oil at a constant temperature no matter how much seafood they throw at them -- and that's what keeps the breading so crispy. "Think of it like a blowtorch instead of a Bic lighter," he says.

The Sea Basket is open from March until late November and deals almost exclusively with local clam diggers and fishermen. Asprogiannis says, "It's a lot of phone calls, but we always have the freshest stuff." Bring your own beer or wine and eat a whoopie pie for dessert.

Sea Basket Restaurant, US Route 1, Wiscasset, Maine. 207-882-6581. Open Tues-Sat 11 a.m.-8 pm. Entrees $5.99-$12.50. www.seabasket.com

JONATHAN LEVITT

Finely J.P.'s Wellfleet

For 15 years, Finely J.P.'s specialized in defying expectations. Opened in 1991, it was a fancy Outer Cape restaurant tucked inside what looked like a trailer home, a boxy little building a customer once described as a "two-bedroom ranch with a refrigerator in the living room." The setting was comically downscale. But the food -- warm spinach and scallop salad dressed in balsamic vinegar, sauteed pork loin medallions layered with Granny Smith apples and chevre, roast duckling in cranberry-orange sauce -- was breathtakingly good.

Two winters ago, plagued by a failing roof and other troubles, Finely J.P.'s underwent the facelift of all facelifts. It was rebuilt from scratch during a six-month renovation, and the spectacular new space, which re-opened last summer, is finally worthy of chef-owner John Pontius's excellent contemporary American cooking.

Outside, the minimalist landscaping is reminiscent of a Japanese garden. Inside, a funky split-level dining room, vaulted ceilings, exposed steel beams, cedar walls, and banks of windows create the aura of a modernist Alpine lodge. A quirky fish-shaped bar and intimate roof deck complete the package.

Despite the costly project, prices have increased only a notch. And the menu, from garlicky baked oysters Bienville to blackened swordfish in roasted shallot-lime butter to Wellfleet paella with saffron rice, remains largely the same. Even the 55-gallon fish tank is back -- all in a place that once looked just right for a Budweiser, Buffalo wings, and Bruins game.

Finely J.P.'s, 554 Route 6, Wellfleet. 508-349-7500. Open nightly from 5 to 10. Entrees $15-$26, wines by the glass $5.75-$8. capecodchefs.com/clients/FinelyJPs

SACHA PFEIFFER

The Bayside Restaurant Westport

I used to pray for sunshine when I lived in New Bedford. If there was even a glimmer of sun in the sky, I would make the 20-minute trip to Westport to have lunch on the patio at the Bayside Restaurant. They were the best Sunday afternoons I've ever spent, and even now, as a car-less Bostonian, I routinely gather friends for a road trip to this seaside community.

A casual and cozy spot with views of the ocean, the Bayside is what the locals call a hidden gem. The poor out-of-towners rarely find it, often heading to the Back Eddy as a prelude to a day at Horseneck Beach. Keep driving, though, and you'll eventually come to a stop sign. Turn left toward a vast panorama of sea, sun, and summer rentals until the road leads you to the Bayside's parking lot of crushed seashells.

No matter how good the salads or burgers sound (and they are quite tasty), you want the seafood here, especially the chunky, juicy lobster rolls that nearly collapse under their own weight. Most important: Save room for the homemade pies. To this day, these three words set me daydreaming: Toll House pie. It's a dense cookie concoction as gooey and good as its name implies.

On your way back, drop by Gooseberry Island, really more a peninsula connected by a long breakwater that's perfect for a post-lunch stroll. It all adds up to the perfect day trip -- rain or shine.

The Bayside Restaurant, 1253 Horseneck Road, Westport. 508-636-5882. Open Mon-Fri 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat-Sun 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (breakfast served Sat-Sun until 11:30 a.m.). Entrees $10.99-$21.99, wines by the glass: $6-$8. thewestportbayside .com

JAMES REED