Modern Food & Spirits

With a "depression-sensitive" price structure, you might almost forget what you paid for the gas to get out to Modern. Run by veteran restaurateurs, this is a comfortable eatery where working stiffs can afford the high-quality, sophisticated cuisine. Decorated with amusing mid-century-modern furnishings, the small room can accommodate about 75 at tables and 20 at the handsome bar. Dinners, which include unusually generous portions of far-more-than-perfunctory soups or salads, average around $18 with none, except for daily specials, breaking the $20 barrier. Nine or so entrées are all attractively presented, often with inventive accoutrements, and diners will find a mastery of fish dishes as well as an accomplished New York strip. Vegetarians will have to construct their dinners from the generous appetizers, soups and salads, which should not be much of a challenge. Well-selected wine list; affordable beers; great desserts. Though the bare tables and laid-back ambience suggest informality, the servers are highly skilled professionals. Alas, if only the view of Cass Lake across the road were more prominent.