By PAULA M. BODAH

Outside, the night air is bitter. Inside 1200 Ocean Grill, it feels like summer, thanks to the seafoam green walls, the spacious, airy setup and the double garage doors waiting to open up to the summer breezes still too many months away. You’d hardly guess from the spare, retro-hip decor – bare walls, aluminum chairs in a sort of space-age design reminiscent of the ’70s, and simple cone-shaped lampshades extending from the high ceilings on long rods – that the place used to be a clam shack. There’s nothing rough-hewn or salty about it. But somehow the air still holds the comfortably casual vibe of a clam shack.

As confidently cool as the atmosphere is, the menu is bold, colorful and warm, with a number of international influences: sea scallops come with an orange habañero beurre blanc, bluefin tuna is marinated in ginger and molasses and served with wasabi mashed potatoes. There’s lots of fresh seafood, as you’d expect from an oceanfront restaurant, some in simple form, such as stuffed sole or cornmeal-encrusted flounder, others more ambitious like the bluefin tuna, a special tonight. But there are seasonally hearty dishes, too, like pork tenderloin with brandy demi glace and green apples, and roast duck with black currant sauce. Eight or ten pasta dishes round out the menu. You’d be hard pressed not to find something that appeals.

While we’re making our choices, we overindulge in the satisfying, slightly coarse peasant-style bread and the tiny bowl of briny black olives that are set down soon after we’re seated. Our waitress, Stephanie, starts off on the right foot when she gives us seconds on the olives.

In our constant search for fried squid that breaks the mold, we order the crispy fried calamari with hot peppers and marinara. This is a good rendition, dredged lightly in a fine-grained, spicy corn-flour mixture instead of the usual clumpy, greasy batter and served with a tangy, fresh tomato sauce. Even better is the littlenecks and bruschetta appetizer. The clams are nice and small, and the broth the clams sit in is so robust, so packed with slivers of garlic and slices of soft onion, it could stand on its own as a soup. The bruschetta, slabs of that peasant-style bread hatch-marked from the grill, are divinely simple eaten plain or dunked into that wonderful broth.

The dressing on the salad of greens, walnuts, pears, bleu cheese and pancetta starts with a flavorful, fruity olive oil. The pears could be a little riper and I’d love a little more cheese, but overall, it’s a good salad.

The vivacious and accommodating Stephanie may not know enough about wine to help us choose, but she’s savvy enough to let us sip several from the limited but adequate wine list before we make any commitments to full glasses.

The aforementioned sea scallops are so huge, I’m suspicious. Can a scallop so big still be tender in texture and delicate in taste? Yes, it turns out. These are just right, and the orange habañero beurre blanc is light and lovely, with barely the suggestion of citrus and only a hint of pepper. It’s a pretty dish, too, with its molded mound of multi-colored couscous and a few bright blossoms of broccoli on the side.

The bluefin tuna is a big, thick chunk cooked rare and sweetened slightly by the molasses and ginger marinade. The chef’s been a little heavy-handed with the wasabi in the mashed potatoes, so that what should complement the sweetness of the marinade ends up overpowering it.

The pork tenderloin is plentiful and tender, and the brandy demi glace with apples is a good cold-weather topper, thick and almost syrupy. Roasted duck is crispy skinned, but I find the meat just a little tougher than it should be. The black currant sauce is deeply sweet, almost pruny tasting, and, thanks to a good turn of the pepper mill, stops just short of cloying.

Some of the desserts are homemade, including a perfect, classic apple crisp with a crunchy topping. It’s sweet and gooey, but not to a fault; the tart taste of the apples is given plenty of opportunity to shine through.

A blondie – a brown-sugar brownie with chocolate chips – is a nice throwback to childhood, warmed up and topped with vanilla ice cream.

We don’t really need a third dessert, but the tiramisu, an import from the Bindi dessert company, is too good to pass up. There’s no point in making it in-house when the mass-produced stuff is as good as this one.

1200 Ocean Grill would be a natural enough destination in summer, situated close enough to the ocean to smell the salt and hear the surf. But do yourself a favor. Don’t wait.