There’s something utterly comfortable about Solstice from the moment you enter the Atlantic Hotel, the restaurant’s home. Is it the copy of The Professional Pastry Chef glimpsed through the back window of the kitchen? The airy white dining room, stripped of its latent Victoriana but not its warmth? The genuinely pleasant greeting from the restaurant staff? Or the large wooden table in the middle of the dining room set up for family dining? The answer, of course, is all of the above. But atmosphere is only part of what makes a good restaurant good, and the food, under the direction of chef/owner Salvatore “Nino” Mancari, is what makes Solstice very good indeed.

Mancari, a Bethany Beach native, learned to cook from his mother (“She’s my greatest influence,” he boasts) and took skills honed at her elbow to restaurants where he worked in California and Europe. Also the former chef at Sedona in Bethany Beach and Liquid Assets in North Ocean City, he stresses cooking “by the calendar, even by the weather,” which means you won’t be eating asparagus in November, and if scallops are on the menu, you know they were the catch of the day. Solstice’s menu changes daily based on what is available to the kitchen (though there are a few everyday standbys), and Mancari promises that the menu will never get boring.

He’s right so far. The menu is, however, just a little confusing. Solstice, which opened in February, has a bar as well as a restaurant, and the menu’s first courses fall under the heading “Snack Bar,” though they can be eaten in the dining room as well. Although our server explains (twice) that some of the Snack Bar items are larger than others and some are just small tapas bites, we’re still slightly puzzled about what is appropriate to order as an appetizer when other food will follow.

Nonetheless, we give in to our weakness for anchovies. The dish is deceivingly simple: Three meaty pickled white anchovies are wrapped around olives, sprinkled with lemon zest. Served on the ends of wooden skewers, the effect is post-modern minimalist, but the taste is nuanced and sublime—briny, meaty, and brightly fresh all in one bite.

The olives are only a nibble, however, and we decide to share the clambake. Smart decision. I begin to swoon as I catch the first scent of shallots and shellfish, and although everything we eat this evening is good, this will be the best. Fat, juicy, flavorful clams share space in a chubby black pot filled with spicy chorizo, roasted shallots, and a rich broth, garnished with crispy slices of house-made baguette. As delicious as the clambake is, this is definitely a dish to share, because you’ll want to save room for the rest of your meal.

Entrées (or Segundo, Second Course, as they’re called on the menu) this evening include comforting choices like pan-roasted scallops, fire-roasted king salmon, roasted chicken, and confit of duck leg and thigh. All tempting choices, but I have a craving for beef and steak frites. The meat comes medium rare to order and sliced on the grain with a knob of herb butter melting over it, while the “frites” are actually a mix of fingerling potatoes sliced lengthwise and pan fried. They’re not your usual matchstick potatoes, but they’re still quite tasty, especially with the restaurant’s homemade spicy catsup. The steak comes with a cream-laced haricot vert salad, as does the pan-roasted wild rockfish, our other entrée. The skin of the fish crackles like a potato chip, but the inside flesh is moist and flaky, and the fennel crème fraiche sauce picks up the flavor of the beans. A small mound of olivada prevents the overall dish from being too rich.

I’m in a quandary when it comes to desserts because there are so many I want to try. It doesn’t help that the dessert menu reads like comfort food gone wild. You can get cookies (served with blood orange and cantaloupe sorbet) or Aztec hot chocolate and marshmallows. Plus Solstice offers intriguing cheese plates with names such as “A Thing Called the Blues” with Cabrales (Spain), Point Reyes (California), and Roaring Forties (Tasmania). But before dinner, our server mentions that we could order chocolate soufflé, so we do, and I’m glad we did. The soufflé is the perfect balance of crispy crust and molten chocolate lava inside. Most people might want to share a soufflé, but not me, because our server has also mentioned the bacon ice cream. Yes, bacon ice cream (though on the menu it’s just called smoky ice cream). Mancari had the idea to steep the end rinds of pancetta in scalded milk before using the milk for ice cream (the pork is removed from the cream), and the result is an ice cream with a slight, rich smoky quality. The brilliance of this dessert is that it’s paired with a slice of battered French toast garnished with a crispy pancetta slice described as a tuile, normally a thin cookie. Some people might find it off-putting to have breakfast as dessert, but because breakfast is so often sweet like dessert, I didn’t find the dish odd at all (and for the record, I’d rather have my dessert tasting like breakfast rather than my breakfast tasting like dessert).

Solstice has a well-chosen wine list, and Mancari plans to put in beer taps, but that’s only one of the many projects scheduled for the future, including the conversion of a 4,000-square-foot warehouse on the property into the Solstice General Store, which will sell wine and other products used in the restaurant’s kitchen, from spice rubs to fresh duck legs. Mancari also hopes to offer cooking classes in conjunction with visits to the local farmers’ market.

Mancari has one last plan in the works. Just above his wrist is a tattoo in homage to Alice Waters, one of his cooking gurus, and eventually his whole arm will be an inked who’s who of American cooking, with the image of his mother at the pinnacle, on his shoulder. Solstice reflects the playful spirit of the tattoo: a chic but comfortable shrine to American cooking where both hipsters and their moms can enjoy fabulous food.

Mary K. Zajac writes from Baltimore.