The setting and drinks are right, whether you get a natural wine or such smart cocktail as the Carolina Cold Brew, which has a warming bourbon kick and chicory twang. The menu, though, was uneven, with a startling lemon sourness in the chicken and (pasty) dumplings soup, too little smoke on the sous-vide ribs, and a dry whoopie pie with too many flourishes (peanut butter icing and bananas Foster sauce) that was less than the sum of its parts. But for every hiccup, Modine produced a gem, such as the hush puppies Jersey-fied with local scallops, or the creamy Anson Mills grits bowl with greens and plancha-crisped snapper fillets. Modine’s ace draw, however, was one of the best things I ate in Asbury Park: a whole chicken that’s smoked, brined in buttermilk pickle juice, then fried to a juicy crisp with a side of chile-spiced honey and some of the flakiest biscuits north of Dixie. A reservation-worthy chicken if there ever was one. Modine, 601 Mattison Ave, Asbury Park, 732-893-5300; modineasbury.com