A few nights ago, we ate at Currents, the fine dining restaurant at the River Inn of Harbor Town. I reviewed Tug’s, the casual restaurant there, on January 25.

Currents is quiet and sedate. White tablecloths gleam; tall chairs are covered with red velvet; dim lighting comes from traditional shaded sconces; service is formal. In fact, the place is so decorous that people, even waiters, tend to whisper.

Let’s get one issue out of the way right now: Currents can be expensive. Appetizers ($7 to $15), steaks ($29 and $30) and desserts ($6 to $10) aren’t so bad, considering the market and the competition, but entrees cost $25 to $39. The wine list, which offers some wonderful choices, is commensurate with those prices; we enjoyed immensely the Hendry Cellars Pinot Noir 2005, Napa Valley ($78).

We started dinner with escargots, snails in shells, stuffed with a wild mushroom-bacon duxelle (finely chopped mushrooms cooked in butter with shallots and wine), caramelized shallots and garlic butter; those were some rich little gastropods. Duck confit risotto with butternut squash, a sage and roasted pumpkin seed vinaigrette and balsamic vinegar syrup was delicious though the rice was rather underdone.

A trio of pork preparations made a spectacular-looking presentation. The least interesting of the three was the lightly smoked pork loin with French beans and natural jus, cooking juice. Richer and more bracing were the cheek, so darkly glazed that it looked lacquered, served atop mustard greens with a curry-honey vinaigrette, and the pork belly drizzled with 30-year-old basalmic vinegar.

Grilled filet of beef served with horseradish-potato puree, chanterelle mushrooms, wilted greens and a whole-grain mustard-veal reduction was good, but most fine dining restaurants offer beef filet, and this example did not stand out from the stampede. At $37, one wants a bit of perfection.

By this time we were reeling from carnivore’s overload, so we settled for one dessert, the enticing chocolate chunk pecan tart with sweet potato bourbon ice cream; you can’t beat that for touching on all the food groups.

Currents is at 50 Harbor Town Square. The restaurant is open for breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., daily; for dinner from 5 to 10 every night, and for brunch on Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 260-3333.