Eric Ripert's Blue and Periwinkle - Grand Cayman Ritz-Carlton

There is a lot of fanfare surrounding the opening of the new Grand Cayman Ritz-Carlton. In my opinion, the hotel's restaurants deserve their own celebration. Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin is now introducing his amazing talents with seafood to a whole new audience. (Incidentally, Le Bernardin has just been voted New York's best restaurant.)

The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman features three restaurants: Blue, a sophisticated poolside prix-fixe affair, Periwinkle, a casual, open-air room festooned with mobiles, and Seven, a steakhouse. (My companion and I dined at the first two. Our other nights were spent at Ragazzi and Bamboo, with one regrettable experience at Decker's.)

Periwinkle and Blue both share a fun mix-and-match concept. The diner can choose one of five meats or fish (at Periwinkle, they are tuna, shrimp, chicken, skirt steak and swordfish; at Blue, the choices are wahoo, swordfish, tuna, lamb and N.Y. Strip). One of five sauces and sides are recommended for each dish, but you can experiment with your own selections. (I put my faith in the chef's recommendations, but my companion decided to be more adventurous.)

If you like swordfish but are often disappointed in its preparation, you'll experience a revelation at Blue and Periwinkle. My companion ordered the swordfish at Periwinkle, and I was so amazed by it that I later ordered it at Blue. It was as delicate, moist and tender as if it had been poached, arriving in two delicious slabs, faintly marked with browned grill crosshatches. I think I'm now spoiled for life.

Periwinkle is truly a restaurant the whole family can enjoy; we saw several children happily enjoying grilled pizzas, mini-burgers and Cubanos. I ordered the soupe de poisson, which was poured into my bowl while I admired the accompanying crostini, flask of saffron aioli and small bowl of grated Gruyere. You can make the light, saffron-scented broth as rich as you want; I think I went overboard with the aromatic aioli.

Next up was my medium-rare grilled tuna with a refreshing endive arugula salad and tangy mango mustard. My companion chose to accompany the swordfish with the recommended sides for the chicken breast - warm toasted fregula (a semolina pasta shaped like tiny lentils) in a pine nutty, spinach-flecked Moroccan preparation, and vibrant green pesto. (The recommended sides for the swordfish were herbed vinaigrette and grilled asparagus.)

While we enjoyed all of this, we kept going back to our basket of hot fresh rolls. So we were quite stuffed when the dessert menu came around. But with selections like yuzu parfait and mango cheesecake, how could we resist? We ended up with an imported cheese plate - pungent Stilton, goat cheese and a syrupy soft washed-rind French cow's milk cheese served with sweet-poached shallots, kumquats and figs, and an unbearably delicious warm dark chocolate tart covered in melted whipped cream.

You might wonder how we managed to tackle Blue's prix fixe a couple nights later, but the appetite is a miraculous thing. So, we soon found ourselves sipping Seghesio Zinfandel while pondering Blue's five-course and the three-course menus. The helpful waiter advised us that Blue's five-course prix fixe offers uncommonly large portions, with 5 oz. of meat or fish on average per course. We were a bit intimidated by that and decided on the three-course, which included appetizer, entree and (the all-important) dessert.

While we waited for our appetizers, we admired the dimly lit, blue-accented room. Our white-clothed table was decorated with blue flower petals and chic Michael Aram tableware. A tuna tartare amuse-bouche arrived on an attractive aqua leaf-shaped plate.

We noticed that Ripert had looked to Caribbean cuisine for some of his inspiration. The entree menu included a West Indian curried chicken and a baked yellowtail with plantains. There was even a salad with breadfruit croutons; ever since reading Robinson Crusoe, I had wondered about the taste of this intriguingly-named food. The black-truffle-dressed salad of baby greens and parsley surrounded several thin slices of thyme-seared yellowfin tuna, each slice a deep rose bordered by two stripes of light pink. And the breadfruit? There were a couple small cubes of it; my companion and I thought it tasted like potato. My companion was floored by the lobster in a chilled ginger coconut soup accented with diced avocado and mango. Red, yellow and green, the bowl was a tasty tableau.

For dinner, I chose the aforementioned swordfish; Blue's version included a luscious, thick passionfruit Bearnaise sauce ("Say when," said the waiter as he spooned it onto my plate) and a heap of spinach topped with coconut and cashews. My companion's choice was the yellowfin tuna with baby bok choy. The bok choy was perfectly tender, soft, and devoid of extra moisture.

We'd again made the mistake of overly indulging in bread, but this time, dessert was a mandatory course! The waiter recommended both the cider doughnuts/cinnamon beignets and the coffee-infused chocolate ganache tart; I went with the latter suggestion. Although I appreciated its drizzle of dulce de leche, I preferred the chocolate-through-and-through tart at Periwinkle; Blue's tart held a liquidy mixture of chocolate and caramel. (My companion enjoyed the millefeuille layered with banana cream.)

Our last bite of the heavenly Blue was a housemade pistachio-chocolate truffle.

Blue and Periwinkle: The Ritz-Carlton, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. (345) 943-9000.