An array of options at Sand Bay Inn

CLAYTON — Halfway between Clayton and Cape Vincent on Route 12, a very attractive gold leaf sign on the left catches your eye.

It lets you know you've arrived at Sand Bay Inn, a good-sized year-round restaurant serving an extensive menu that includes something for everyone.

If you're a meat eater, there's chicken, veal, duck, ribs, prime rib and charbroiled steaks. If you prefer seafood, choose from shrimp, scallops, lobster, haddock and perch. Italian-inspired pasta dishes include stuffed shells, capellini with peppers and mushrooms, ravioli and seafood or chicken Alfredo.

Joe and Kathy Hughes have owned the restaurant for 10 years. Locals will remember it as the Haff-Way Chalet before Joe and Kathy took over. It's a clean and well-maintained rambling old building with a dated nautical feel — painted-over paneling with occasional fish nets and fake fish.

There are two sizable dining rooms and a large lounge separated from the dining areas by a glass wall. A menu of casual fare — pizzas, burgers and wings — is also offered.

A full page of appetizers is split evenly between standard deep-fried stuff like mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers and onion rings and more interesting things like bruschetta, clams and baby back ribs.

Stuffed portobello mushroom ($9.95) featured a seafood stuffing. While it was very tasty, a disproportionate amount of cheese smothered the barely visible crabmeat.

Clams casino ($7.95) was the traditional preparation, six good-sized clams on the half shell stuffed with minced bacon and breadcrumbs. Lots of bacon tended to overwhelm them, also making them a little greasy. Cocktail sauce accompanied.

We thought flavor was lacking in the Maryland crabcakes ($6.95), but the portion was generous — two tennis ball-sized cakes served with a bland yellowish sauce with green flecks, possibly intended to be tartar sauce.

We've never seen deep-fired artichoke hearts ($7.95) on a menu, so we just had to try them.

Made in-house, the kitchen crew quartered tender artichoke hearts, making them bite-sized, coated them in a light batter and gently deep-fried them. They were a treat all by themselves, but were enhanced by a zesty lemon cream sauce for dipping.

Entrées come with choice of soup or salad. We all went with salad. The ingredients and dressing were all standard fare, fresh, crisp and enjoyable, served on chilled glass plates. Of particular note was the Italian dressing, simple oil and vinegar and good crumbly blue cheese.

There's nothing like a great charbroiled steak, and the steak Montreal ($16.95) was just that. A 12-ounce ribeye was perfectly grilled to our request of medium, juicy and full of charcoal flavor, topped with plenty of sautéed onions and mushrooms. It was surrounded by a marvelous red wine demi glace (they call it a brown sauce, probably so none of their customers will get scared away).

Veal Francais ($15.95) was also impressive, tender, thinly pounded veal floured and dipped in egg, then sautéed in butter, lemon and white wine. A ladle of lemon cream sauce (the same that came with the artichokes) was a little heavy-handed for the otherwise right-sized portion.

Casini Combo ($16.70) was described as "scallops and shrimp baked with garlic, white wine and butter, topped with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and baked to a golden brown."

What was delivered to the table did not necessarily match the menu description. It was heavy on melted butter and garlic with little wine detected to cut the greasiness. The breadcrumb topping was sparse, almost nonexistent. We couldn't really taste any Parm. The portion was a little sparse, too.

Tortellini Formaggio (13.95) was our favorite, tricolor tortellini (small ring-shaped cheese-filled pasta) in an absolutely fabulous tomato basil cream sauce, rich and velvety creamy and totally flavorful.

It was a gigantic bowlful, way more than one human being could consume in one sitting. Our waitress told us that everyone who orders the tortellini or the linguini Alfredo ends up taking much of it home for the next day.

We did — and it was great the next day too, cold or gently warmed.

For dessert, we sampled four sweets from their restaurant supplier, priced $4.95 each.

The Boston crème pie's cake layer was very light in texture, but the cream was not as rich as expected and the chocolate icing was a bit on the sugary side

Apple in puff pastry featured tasty apple filling with caramel, but the pastry was too thick and doughy, more like a pie crust. The pastry failed to puff. A small ball of vanilla ice cream was a nice touch.

Brownie a la mode consisted of a good-sized chewy brownie with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Cheesecake with blueberries was a large piece of sugary cheesecake that lacked cheesiness, served on its side, finished with blueberry topping.

Service was friendly and knowledgeable. We found ourselves borrowing silverware from the next table toward latter courses due to the roulette of dishes we were rifling through. Coffee was fresh, but it had splashed all over the saucer while being delivered to the table. Not a problem; we soaked it up with a napkin.

It was good to see owner Kathy working the dining room, chatting with guests and busing tables when necessary.

Dinner for four came to $129 before tip. Two cocktails and a round of wine added $30 to the tab. We agreed the prices on both food and drink were quite reasonable.

Sand Bay Inn is open year-round seven days a week for dinner and libation beginning at 4 p.m.

TIDBITS

There's a hidden treasure at 525 Mill St. in Watertown.

It's Mr. Rick's Bakery, in the parking lot behind Key Bank. Paul Alberry, along with his wife and son and a staff of 12, crank out a huge volume of breads, cakes, doughnuts, pies and pastries daily.

They supply dozens of restaurants, hotels and hospitals in the north country with their fine products.

You can enjoy their superior baked goods and a cup of coffee every morning at their bakery café. We recommend their yummy cinnamon buns, the best we've had in some time.

Mr. Rick's Bakery's Web site is under construction:

www.mrricksbakery.com

You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Sand Bay Inn Restaurant and Lounge

Route 12E and St. Lawrence Road

Clayton, NY

654-3790

A year-round restaurant serving an extensive menu including chicken and veal, steaks and ribs, seafood and pasta and more casual food like pizzas, burgers and wings.

HOURS: 4 to 9 p.m. weekdays

4 to 10 p.m. weekends

APPETIZER PICK: Battered and deep-fried artichoke hearts

ENTRÉE PICKS: Montreal steak, tortellini formaggio

DESSERT PICK: Brownie a la mode

RATING: 3 and one-half forks