"Behold the wondrous beauty!" I cried, sweeping my arm from West Elm to Coach to Muvico.

"This is precisely what’s wrong with America," Tom said.

We stared at each other. How could this be? The insatiable consumerist stimuli that elicited semi-religious ecstasy in me left Tom depressed. Like many couples who have stood at the same gates, we forged ahead with some trepidation.

I hooked my hand around his elbow. "I’ll come back with my girlfriends," I offered.

"There is a God," Tom said, exhaling. We might not always get religion the same way, but all was not lost.

We decided to see if we could agree on the heavenly aspects of a meal at Blue Water Bistro, the newest in a series of restaurant ventures by Skip Quillen, owner of the Culinary Concepts restaurants Chops City Grill, Yabba Island Grill and Pazzo Italian Café.

A great deal of money appears to have been spent on the setting of Blue Water Bistro. A huge, curved bar serves patrons both indoors and outdoors, and the curves are amplified in the art and décor. Enormous, whimsical fishes sculpted out of brushed metal swim around pale blue walls and under high ceilings.

Our handsome young waiter, Bob McCormack, greeted us warmly. A native of New Jersey, McCormack brought us up to speed on the menu, a large rectangular document that flips to display 42 options swimming in Blue Water’s "School of Fish." The glossary spans Arctic char to yellowtail snapper, stopping along the way at points pedestrian and exotic alike. We learned that nairagi is the "best eating of all marlin species," and that diners who order hapu’upu’u can expect a "sweet, mild buttery flavor" and "high oil content."

"Can we order any and all of these fishes?" Tom asked.

"Not really," Bob said. "The chef gets the best of what’s available fresh any given week. It changes every six to eight days."

We sent Bob for the white version of the City Chowda, a very buttery concoction with two mussels in-shell ($5.70 a bowl, and $7.90 for a "Bigger Bowl"). We learned right away that the chef is just as emphatic about his flavoring as he is about the freshness of his fish. If butter, cheese or a spice features as a component in a dish, you get it full measure.

The three-crab California roll ($8.90) came with a flourish on a large white dish, the three crabs in question being king, blue and stone. Most impressive of all was the large white ice-filled boat known as the Ultimate, a seafood sampler with king crab, snow crab, shrimp, oysters, clams, stone crab claws and mussels served with citrus and sauces. A Half Mortgage will run you $24.90, while a Full House costs $48.90. We enjoyed the array, but wished for better flesh-liberating paraphernalia. Have you ever tried to eat a stone crab claw without a mallet or a nutcracker? Another cautionary word for those considering the Ultimate for a first date: We both visited the restrooms for quick sponge baths in the arty glass sink basins.

When we returned to the table, Tom asked Bob, "What should we be drinking?"

"Our owner thinks tequila is the next big thing."

"Why don’t you bring us a Desperado?" Tom said. At $7.90, the Desperado promised "Half the sour and twice the alcohol."

The drink menu at Blue Water Bistro features a number of mixed drinks with names like Granny Gin Fizz ($7.90) and Mango-Rita ($8.90), surrounded by Technicolor bubbles, and then a very long and grown-up wine list offering a glass of Beringer white zinfandel ($4.90), Chateauneuf-du-Pape Domaine de la Charbonniere ’03 ($88 a bottle), and several others topping out at $123 per bottle for a "dramatic" Italian wine listed as Amarone Classico Tommasi Verona ’01.

While Tom had his Desperado, I sipped my reisling Deinhard Piesporter ’04 ($7.70 glass) and said, "Mine tastes like candy. I like candy."

While the grandly named grilled hapu’upu’u ($29.30) left us somewhat indifferent, we both enjoyed the Mahi Mac ($17.80), a sautéed macadamia nut and panko-encrusted mahi mahi with a black rum butter sauce and island rice.

"I think I may be developing a modus operandi," I said.

Tom said, "Put anything in a sweet rum butter sauce, and you’re there."

At the risk of committing a sort of seafood blasphemy, our favorite Blue Water dishes were landlubber delights. The fresh vegetable plate ($14.90) allowed us to sample seven sides from a list of 14: the pineapple sticky rice, coconut sticky rice, "famous" bistro onion rings with chipotle barbeque, roasted butternut squash with brown sugar and coconut, "ugly" tomatoes with sweet basil and extra virgin olive oil, the baked sweet potato with cinnamon butter and Yukon mashed potatoes.

"I could be a vegetarian!" I said.

"Don’t say that until you try this," he said, extending a heavy forkful of orange chicken ($15.90). The spicy dish was even better when we reheated it for lunch the following day.

Finally, we attempted the white chocolate peanut butter pie ($5.90), a decadent personal pan pie that thrilled my crust-loving heart and put a nice finish on our evening at Blue Water Bistro.