By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Critic

BARRINGTON -- It's nice to discover that the ability to have a cocktail with your shrimp cocktail isn't the only reason to dine at Tyler Point Grille.

For a while, all the buzz about the place surrounded the fact that in 1994, it became the first and only restaurant in Barrington to secure a liquor license. But it's the nautical decor and setting, as well as the reliable food, that have Barrington and Bristol residents flocking to it, especially on weekend nights.

It closed in 1995, but reopened in 1997 under new owners Cheryl and Mario Micheletti. He honed his skills at Adesso in Providence; she at the short-lived Adesso Cafe. Today, the food from chef Ian Sullivan, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, may not be ground-breaking, but it is solid bistro and seafood fare, with many Italian and Mediterranean influences. Sullivan apprenticed at Windows of the World, the restaurant that was at the top of the World Trade Center, and worked at the Olympia Tea Room in Westerly prior to taking the kitchen reins at Tyler Point Grille.

This is a relaxed eatery that makes its mark with fast, efficient service and good food. It is a summertime restaurant -- no matter what time of year.

Sullivan has a talent for using the best of what is on hand to create nightly specials. On the night I visited, that meant a heavenly slice of halibut -- as white and flaky as snow and an inch-and-a-half thick, served over a saute of tomatoes and red onions in olive oil. A briny tapenade of olives gave a salty kick to the entire dish -- so much that it wouldn't have been the same without it.

Another nightly dish, pappa col pomodoro, is a classic Tuscan tomato soup, heartily thickened with bread. Like so many Italian dishes, there are about as many versions of this soup as there are cooks. Sullivan's makes a statement of its own -- bold, fresh tomato flavor laced with the bright, summery taste of basil.

Care has been taken with the menu, developed by Micheletti and Sullivan, to cover lots of culinary bases. First courses run the gamut from creative meal-sized salads to baked clams, or to a plate of fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers and proscuitto drizzled with olive oil.

And pasta makes a big play: everything from a simple peasant's dish of aglio e oili to gemelli (short-stranded, twirled pasta) with veal sausage, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.

And while the pre-dine buzz was to be sure to try a pasta dish, nothing could have prepared me for the lasagna -- a classic version of lasagna al forno made with bechamel sauce instead of cheeses. It also featured ground beef, veal and pork.

Sullivan's version (from a recipe of Micheletti's) is quite possibly the most delightfully sinful thing I have ever eaten. I felt guilty eating it not only because of its astronomical calorie count but because I wasn't sharing it with the rest of the world.

Too bad for them -- not only is it luxuriant layered with the buttery bechamel (a white sauce made from a butter-flour roux and cream), it is covered in a tomato cream sauce so rich I fear it doesn't even need to be ingested to harden arteries and cause weight gain. Just a sniff is enough to do both.

There's no need to have a diet blowout, though. There are a couple of salads on the menu designed to satisfy, too. One -- soft, buttery bibb lettuce tossed with a plucky sherry-mustard vinaigrette, pimento-like roasted red peppers and walnuts -- would have been even better if it hadn't been inundated with green beans. The green beans were a nice crunchy touch -- there were simply too many of them.

I've come to regard crab cakes with as much scrutiny as I do fried calamari -- they seem to be on menus just as often these days. That's probably because they seem simple enough to make, and most people like them. The problem is that they are deceptively simple, and chefs often make the mistake of leaving out the most important ingredient: crab meat.

Sullivan doesn't fall victim to this -- he fills his pan-seared patties with lots of feathery lump crab and just a hint of zesty seasonings. They don't even need the accompanying remoulade sauce (it tastes a little too much like watered-down Russian dressing anyway).

Many of the desserts are purchased from Pastry Arts, which is the next best thing to having them made in-house. For instance, turtle cheesecake is a creamy indulgence swirled with bits of caramel and chocolate that couldn't have been any better if someone's Italian grandmother had made it.

As for Tyler Point's dessert efforts, the creme caramel jiggles with eggy sweetness and oozes with a deep-flavored syrup of caramel.

A perfect end to a very nice meal, cocktails and all.

Tyler Point Grille, 32 Barton Ave., Barrington, 247-0017. Casual. Reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessible. Open seven nights for dinner only. Smoking at the bar only. Ample parking. V, MC, AM, DIS. Highchairs and children's menu available.

Appetizers, including large salads and soups, are $2.50 to $11.95. Pasta selections are $8.95 to $19.95. Entrees are $7.95 to $20.95. Desserts are $4.95.