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"Darling, this is one of the best meals you've ever fixed for me."

Praise from my wife is always appreciated, and I enjoy cooking for her. In this case, I wish I could have taken all the credit. Everything on the table, however, consisted of leftovers from Bert's.

Reviewing Bert's represents a particularly difficult task for me. This is one of my absolute favorite restaurants, and although my professional eating schedule prevents me from dining here as often as I would otherwise like, I am almost certain to be recognized whenever I arrive. When I realized I had gone undetected one evening recently, I decided to take advantage of the situation and develop a new, full review.

As you enter, note the care devoted to landscaping. Such attention to detail is typical here. Inside, colorful metal fish sculptures swoop down from the ceilings. A section in the rear has been partitioned off to create a third dining area, lending a sense of cozy, easy-going ambience. Patio seating is especially attractive.

Walls bear multiple certificates from not only The Wine Spectator but also The Wine Enthusiast, recognizing the quality and value of wine offerings. This is one of the few restaurants where you cannot get a bad wine or pay an unfair price. Small tasting flights are available in addition to dozens of by-the-glass selections. Beers go well with some of this food, too, and an appropriate range of alternatives allows for attractive pairings. The staff is well-versed in both food and wine.

One member of our party began an evening with Mediterranean Seafood Soup ($2.95/cup, $5/bowl), grouper, salmon, garbanzo beans, potatoes, celery, and a little pasta, plus black olives in a rich tomato and clam broth, with lumps of tomato - hearty and immensely flavorful. Blackened Oyster Salad ($8.50) featured large oysters presented over mixed greens with grape tomatoes, accented with a peppery Cajun remoulade.

We caught the smell of fresh crab before the Hot Crab Dip ($8.95) actually arrived on the table. After we allowed it to cool, each bite exuded the natural taste of crab from large lumps, undergirded by cream cheese and mild onions. Pita chips had been toasted crisp. A Crab Cake ($8.95) bore an excellent light, crisp crust, bursting with rich crab flavor from large lumps. Southern-style tartar sauce is the standard accompaniment.

Entrees come with either two or three vegetables, depending on what is specifically matched with main ingredients. Choices include a petite salad (dressings are homemade; in particular, try the black olive vinaigrette), Dauphinoise potatoes, cheddar cheese grits, collard greens, cole slaw, honey glazed carrots, mixed vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, squash, and carrots), and ratatouille (zucchini, onions, and tomatoes). All are fresh and all taste great, prepared in a Southern style.

French fries are made from fresh-cut potatoes (not frozen). Sweet Potato Fries occupy prominent space on my essential items to pack when I'm going to be stranded on a deserted island.

Main ingredients honor Southern traditions. Bert's food will not surprise anyone in conception, although the range of offerings and the level of execution garner praise. Shrimp and Cheddar Grits ($16.95) hosted tender, deveined jumbos, along with sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes and onions. Anna, an unindicted co-conspirator, judged Salmon Cakes ($19.95) the best she'd ever had. They were uniquely crisp, from panko bread crumbs, and herbed with dill, an excellent complement to the salmon flavor.

Tuna Singapore ($19.95) had been coated with black sesame seeds, joined by peppercorns and soy-ginger vinaigrette, laced with a sweetish wasabi sauce and intense Chinese hot mustard. I had to scrape some of the mustard off, but after I did, the flavors of all the other ingredients shone through. This was presented over a small salad of organic mixed greens.

Coquilles St. Jacques ($22.95) is rich, complex and wonderful. Tender, medium-sized scallops are simmered in chicken stock with fresh fennel and shallots, then combined with a tarragon reduction and béchamel (cream and egg yolks).

I wish Atlantic Salmon with Crab Imperial ($20.95) - a topping of lump crabmeat, mayonnaise, basil, and red onions - had used wild salmon, but I couldn't quarrel with the flavors.

Although seafoods are the restaurant's specialty, the kitchen's expertise comes through in other dishes, too. The menu says "Calf's Liver" ($14.95), but the actual ingredient is Provimi veal liver - a better meat. The flavor is mild but immensely enjoyable, extended with bacon, sautéed onions and sliced Granny Smith apples, served over mashed potatoes. Bert's Burger ($6.95) on a Kaiser roll is one of the highest rated in our area.

Although I am trying to watch my weight, I could not pass up at least one dessert at Bert's. White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding ($6), accompanied by butterscotch semifreddo (almost a gelato), is rich enough to make Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's current difficulties seem benign.

Bert's kitchen executes the basics with admirable polish and consistency. Soups are steaming; other food that is supposed to be hot arrives hot at the table on well-heated plates. Cucumbers have been cored and seeded and peeled. Nothing is over-salted. The flavors of main ingredients are well-complemented, but their qualities are allowed to speak for themselves, without excessive fussiness.

Such expertise is a function of knowledge and experience. I have admired the work of owners Drew and Mary Lacklen since the early stages of our respective careers. Both are accomplished chefs: he cooked at some of the Triad's best restaurants before they owned their own establishment; her background includes an internship at the famed Charlie Trotter's in Chicago. Brad Hendrix is chef de cuisine; he worked with Drew at Bentley's and Madison's, a professional relationship that goes back 23 years.

Regular readers are aware that I am in a gradual process of "re-norming" my rating scale, since this column now focuses only on the higher end of the spectrum, not addressing more casual establishments (now well-served by Angie DeCola in the Cheap Eats column which runs on alternating Thursdays). Restaurants that have received high ratings and remain just as good as ever are subject to losing a star or so in new reviews, in order to bring ratings in line with the revised concept.

Bert's, however, occupies a special status. The concept is unique. No other restaurant offers as wide a range of seafoods. An occasional, individual item elsewhere might compare favorably with what you get at Bert's, but probably not, even when an effort has been made to create something more upscale or sophisticated.

What they do at Bert's they do better than anyone else, and I really like what they do. Value ranks high, relative to other Triad restaurants, and by the time this review appears, additional, even lower-priced selections will have been added to the menu. So Bert's keeps the four-star rating that I first assigned about five years ago.

John Batchelor is a freelance contributor who has been reviewing restaurants for more than 20 years. You can reach him at P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro, NC 27420 or e-mail jbatchelor@excite.com.