Don’t be fooled by the name of the White Barn Inn. Yes, it is constructed from a boardinghouse built in 1820. It even has “rustic Yankee ambience,” as proprietor Laurence Bongiorno might say.

But the White Barn Inn of Kennebunkport is white-glove all the way. You can’t make enough space to list the honors this place has racked up over 25 years. Here are some highlights: Zagat Restaurant Survey ranked it one of the top three restaurants in New England; AAA gave it five diamonds; it’s the only Maine restaurant with the prestigious DiRona award.

Most recently, the White Barn Inn showed up in Conde Nast Traveler magazine as the readers’ choice for restaurants. Fifteen resorts scored better than 95 (out of 100), and the inn was one of only three in America. World travelers love it. Generally speaking, the White Barn Inn is considered the best restaurant in Maine, which, in this context, might be considered a suburb of Boston.

An evening out at this upscale restaurant begins before you leave the house. Guys, you’ve got to wear jackets and ties (although two men at our table slipped in without ties recently). Be sure to stuff lots of dollar bills into your pocket because you’ll need them for the valet and coatman. Women, just wear black. And be prepared to be treated like a lady. Contempo-chivalry is alive and well at the White Barn Inn.

After growing up in London, Chef Jonathan Cartwright began as sous-chef at the White Barn in 1994. Now he has graduated to executive chef and is deliciously carrying on a tradition of spectacular New England cuisine that is, nevertheless, influenced by his European apprenticeships. In this 120-seat restaurant, Cartwright’s hope is to “marry the fabulous products of Maine with my European roots.”

Thus, each week he develops a new menu for the four-course fixed price dinners ($62 per person) that are served each night. (Check out www.whitebarninn.com for information on special packages in the 25-room inn.)

Main courses might include roasted breast of free range chicken with truffle-scented whipped potato, roasted squash and Calvados-apple-chestnut sauce, or grilled lamb cutlet and fillet of veal on a bed of autumn forest mushrooms with a caramelized butternut squash timbale in a tomato and chardonnay sauce.

We can recommend the ornate halibut fillet wrapped in zucchini and filo pastry for its light texture and for the braising of leeks and champagne-osetra caviar sauce that adds magic to it.

And no fair hiding a dictionary under the table. This is complicated food with demanding vocabulary requirements. It’s a new trend in high-class mighty menus that take as many as 24 words to describe a dish we sometimes vulgarly refer to as “salad.”

At first we thought ordering a lobster was like getting vanilla ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, but Cartwright makes seriously luscious steamed lobster, moistly nestled on homemade fettucini with carrots, ginger, snow peas and a cognac coral butter sauce. Similarly, the tenderloin of beef “gratinated” in an artichoke crust had a spontaneity we don’t typically associate with a hearty slab of meat.

In addition to half a dozen main courses, the chef nightly offers a seafood course such as grilled salmon on a pancetta and lobster risotto, and a vegetarian menu such as lasagna with roasted butternut squash puree, forest mushrooms and ratatouille in a truffle-scented corn and Parmesan glaze.

Clearly, Chef Cartwright has a deft hand when it comes to picking out flavors that dance gracefully together — although sometimes a pas de deux is more like a corps de ballet. We liked that he greeted us — not in person but with a jazzy gift of tasty duck terrine. Each meal is also accompanied by an appetizer such as greens with goat cheese, a velvety mushroom soup “impersonating a cappuccino,” smoked salmon in a pomegranate marinade, and Aroostook County potato and eggplant tart. (Safe to say that last one didn’t originate up north.)

A cucumber sorbet showed up between the appetizers. And the visual magnificence of the desserts — pear tart, chocolate mousse tower, fresh fruit sorbets, creme brulee — was stunningly toylike. Watch for the pre-dessert goodie tray, too. But sadly, after such a bodacious meal, dessert is too much of a cherry on top. This final course is very, very sweet, so you may just want to admire it from afar.

The service is formal, so don’t be alarmed when the waiters put your napkin on your lap, escort you to the bathroom door, and then deliver a fresh napkin upon your return. If you’re not used to this type of uber-service, you might find it invasive. But relax and divert your attention with the show-windows full of decorative flowers or the smooth music coming from the piano bar.

By the end of the evening, which should last no fewer than three hours, you’ll be elaborately full. Expensive? Yes. Extravagant? Indeed. Worth it? Well, sure.