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In 1992, Michael Smith left an upscale restaurant in downtown Manhattan to run the kitchen of a quiet country inn on Prince Edward Island. Before long, the Inn at Bay Fortune was on Top 10 lists of Canadian restaurants. Since leaving the inn a decade ago, but staying in PEI, Smith has written three cookbooks and starred in several cooking shows. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, he will also be the official host of Fall Flavours Prince Edward Island (http://www.fallflavours.ca), which will present 130 culinary and cultural events.

This interview is part of an ongoing series on people inspired by place, and their insights on where they come from.

How did you end up on PEI?

It was 100 per cent because of food. I am Canadian, but 17 years ago I was working in New York at Bouley, with chef David Bouley, and I wasn't feeling the passion.

I was in the canyons of New York, and I started to want to get out in the country, meet a farmer, plant my own garden, meet a fisherman, and an opportunity opened up at the Inn at Bay Fortune.

PEI is the kind of place... you visit it once, and you never want to leave.

Today, where do you turn for

inspiration, or send visitors?

First, the Charlottetown Farmers' Market, on Saturday mornings. It's very much the spiritual centre of the PEI food scene. Anybody visiting PEI can go there and meet all kinds of great producers, both farmers and cooks.

Kim Dormaar is making superb smoked salmon. He's totally welcoming, and will show you just how he does it (522 Parker Cross Rd., Ebenezer; 1-888-448-3001; http://www.smokedsalmon.isn.net). What about food for those of us who like it to arrive prepared and on a plate?

Down the street from me is Warren Barr, the chef at Inn at Bay Fortune (Kings Byway Drive, Route 310, Bay Fortune; 888-687-3745; http://www.innatbayfortune.com), where I was the chef. Warren built himself a smokehouse behind his kitchen. There's a beautiful garden.

But it's not just about fine dining. The Merchantman Pub in Charlottetown (23 Queen St.; 902-892-9150;

merchantmanpub.com) is very straightforward: Chef Shirleen Peardon has one of the best locally influenced menus on the island. She makes great fish and chips, and local fish prepared with local organic vegetables. I visited PEI this spring, and it made me think of 1950s England: quiet glens, pristine fields, quaint farmhouses. Is there one place a visitor can get the quintessential PEI farm experience?

Right in my neighbourhood, we have Fortune Organics (74 Highway 308, Fortune). Becky Townsend is a fourth-generation farmer on PEI. She's now in her third season, and brings a box of fresh organic produce to my house every week. Becky's part of my family, really. But anyone can visit. They've got a farm stand by the road where you can buy veggies if you like, or you can walk into the field, say hi to Becky, and she'll show you around. Biodiversity is a big part of being an organic farmer, so she's got hundreds of things growing.

Is there a quintessential

fish-related experience?

North Lake is the hub of the bluefin tuna fishery on PEI. It's fascinating to see a 1,000-pound bluefin brought in from the open ocean to the harbour, and then see it go through the auction process. A buzz spreads through the crowd. People can go out to the end of "the run," where jetties protect a passageway that's maybe 50 feet wide. You see a boat come slowly, with the fish in the water. The fish gets hoisted at the harbour, hung in the air, lowered onto the scales.

How about actually eating

seafood? Where do you

suggest a visitor go for a lobster pig-out?

One of the church suppers. You'll get chowder, salad, fresh home-baked bread plus a

giant lobster. You'll have the option of getting it freshly steamed or cold. In fact, most islanders, myself included, like it chilled.

How about landing a perfect

potato?

If I had to pick my favourite PEI potatoes, those would be new potatoes, which we harvest in late June and in July. That's when they're tender, small and beautiful.Do you favour russets, as did Anne of Green Gables, or

do you eschew them, as did Matthew Cuthbert?

If you're into the perfect

baked potato, you want a

russet Burbank.

Do you have a local haunt for chowing down?

Colville Bay is the home of Johnny Flynn's oysters (83 Lower Rollo Bay Rd., Souris; 902-687-3640; colvillebayoysterco.ca), the best oysters on the East Coast. The estuary where Johnny raises them has the perfect blend of salt water and fresh water.

They're sweet, and because of the tide there, they spend about a third of their day out of the water, which gives them a meatiness.

You can drive up to his shop and five minutes later you'll be old friends. Five minutes after that, you'll be slurping away with Johnny. Stick around longer and chances are you'll be sipping moonshine with the boys. The first few oysters are free. After that, you can buy some to take with you, or Johnny will have them shipped home to you. What do you do in your time out of the kitchen?

My family loves the beach, and PEI is one giant beach. Most locals can trundle down a local dirt road and find a long, sandy beach. After dinner, my son and I rush to the car, drive straight to the beach, and we're in the water three minutes after we leave the house.

Among the tourist beaches, Basin Head (off Route 16 east of Souris; 902-652-8950) is a really fun one, largely because there are great old fishery buildings, and to get to the actual beach you have to cross a bridge over one of those runs.

It's a rite of passage to jump off that bridge. You jump in, and the tide will either rush you out into the ocean and you'll swim out and come back in, or it'll push you

inland.

Any PEI customs or insider tips for visitors?

First, the Paderno factory outlet (North River Causeway, Charlottetown; 902-629-2217). They have a great seconds shop, plus first-run stuff at great prices.

Beyond that, you've got to seek out a ceilidh, the traditional parties held in community halls all over the island. They're concentrated in the summer months, but all through Fall Flavours we have ceilidhs going on. Even in the winter, you can go to a local ice rink and somebody will end up slapping up a stage, and the next thing you know you're dancing away to a local band.

*****

Michael Smith's PEI

Smith's TV series include Chef at Large, now seen in more than 60 countries. In his series Chef Abroad, premiering this month on the Food Network, he'll check out kitchens from South Africa to Jordan to the Canadian Arctic.

THE FOOD

Gordon Bailey's Lot 30 151 Kent St., Charlottetown; 902-629-3030. "Gordon was previously the chef at Inn at Bay Fortune. He's passionate about local producers, but offers a full-blown, big-city dining experience. The place itself is sleek and modern, but with touches of quintessential PEI. Go for the tasting menu."

THE NIGHTLIFE

Prince Edward Distillery 9984 Route 16, Souris; 902-687-2586; http://www.princeedwarddistillery.com. "The vast majority of the world's vodka is made from grain spirits, but traditionally it was made with potatoes. Here it's made in the artisan way. It's got an aromatic earthiness."

THE SOUVENIR

A JAR OF BEACH SAND

"Put that in your kitchen and it'll remind you of us."