Its too bad that about a quarter of the way into our meal, the lights in Clink were abruptly and drastically dimmed. Before the ambiance turned subterranean, the dining room was a pleasant mix of clean, minimalist furniture and tableware and warm New England touches. We'd entered through the dignified gray stone facade of the Liberty Hotel, a former prison whose dark past remains only in iron bars on windows and a Panopticonal layout; we'd been impressed by the lobby's combination of old-fashioned red brick and modern, earth-toned furniture and fixtures. The décor shares its blend of classic and contemporary with the fresh, earthy menu items, of which some of the most intriguing ended up on the Restaurant Week menu.My friends were content with their choices of dishes, but I'm positive that I came out on top with each course. The Bluebird Grain Farms-Clink wants you to know the provenance of its dishes' ingredients- farro soup with black cumin yogurt was pleasantly tangy, its combination of flavors slightly foreign to the tongue, although it benefited from an added dash of pepper. The roasted beet and mozzarella salad with arugula and white balsamic vinegar was a standard dish with exceptionally fresh ingredients.

My slow-poached duck egg with red lentils and brioche toast was irresistibly rich, though. At first bite, the lentils were too salty, but the combination of perfectly poached egg, lentils and sweet brioche toast cut the brininess in favor of a complex meld of flavors. The brioche and the rather sweet bottle of Tupari sauvignon blanc we shared salvaged the lentils, leaving only indulgent bliss.

The classy, hearty character of the starters carried through to the main courses: Two members of our party ordered red wine-braised short ribs with Anson Mills polenta and horseradish gremolata that they said compared favorably to short ribs eaten two days earlier, and the wild striped bass with heirloom beans and sofrito was satisfying, if unremarkably spiced. But the housemade corn pasta with wild mushrooms and truffled breadcrumbs that I, along with the other three vegetarians in our party, ordered was the superior dish. The tender pasta was studded with lemony greens, and although the truffled breadcrumbs also suffered from an excess of salt-a surprisingly amateur mistake-they were an apt topping.

Tucking into our desserts revived us from the torpor of an hour of dining in the dimly lit room; from my green apple, rhubarb and raisin cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream, an updated and less-sweet version of cloying rhubarb confections, to the tangy candied citrus and ginger compote that topped a friend's key lime panna cotta, the desserts rounded out the modernized Americana of the main courses and appetizers.

Clink was very good, and it was one of the better Restaurant Week menus offered this season, but neglect of several details caused it to fall short of greatness. Lazy presentation of the short ribs, a chilly and dim dining room and a heavy hand with the salt could be easily rectified; luckily, the sheer goodness of the ingredients and balanced complexity of the meal meant that we did not have to sweat the small stuff.