Any questions about why Knicks star Earl “The Pearl” Monroe put his new restaurant in Riverbank State Park are quickly dispelled by the view. Through the vast windows, one can see a long view of the Hudson, including the dramatically lit George Washington Bridge. When the sun returns to setting at a sane hour, dinner at Earl Monroe’s Restaurant will include lovely sunset vistas as well.

The kitchen, under the guidance of chef Christopher Faulker, plays freely with cuisines of the South, from Maryland to Louisiana, incorporating contributions from West Indian Creole cooking and beyond. The appetizer list is a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast, from dumpling-like miniature Trinidadian beef roti ($9) to tamales filled with barbecue-style pulled pork ($9). The beef dumplings stand out, their vividly curried fillings accented by sweet pineapple chutney. Caribbean cod fritters ($12) are doughy and well browned, with pickled green beans for a bed; but the tamales are merely satisfactory, offering the best of neither of the worlds they combine. Another starter, a calamari salad ($9), gives a bad impression of a good restaurant. Its components – battered squid rings, mango, cress, and cilantro – should be a rapture of contrast, but instead they all have the same oily texture and tepid temperature.

Faithful to their Southern roots, main courses are substantially portioned, and in general have a better free throw average than the starters. The one prominent exception is the candied pork ($21). The name leaps off the menu, conjuring visions of sweet, fatty succulence – it could only sound more appealing if they threw in “crispy” somewhere. But the dish tastes like it’s been through the wars: a stringy, dry chunk of pork with a dark coating that’s nothing like candy. A pool of thin gravy contains tasty vegetables and wan prunes.

Leagues better is the “bronzed duck” ($24), ruddy inside, edged with fat, and encased in a superb crisp skin whose glaze contains hints of chocolate and spice.Almost outstripping the duck are its accompaniments of savory, vinegary collards and sweet-potato pudding, a smooth pureed affair in which the orange vegetable is doctored with liberal doses of sugar and butter.

In fact, most dishes here are well accessorized. A swath of sweet paprika gives an excellent skirt steak ($19) complex flavor; it’s served on a giant cake of mofongo,a yucca mash rich with garlic and herb. A thick piece of striped bass ($21), cooked slightly rare so it’s more firm than flaky, wears a peppery cornmeal breading incorporating long strips of okra. A snarl of cooked watercress and sweetly spiced black-eyed peas add panache, but a handful of rock-like roasted plantain nuggets is just confusing.

A “Chesapeake-style” seafood boil ($34) seems lonely with no crab, but three whole shrimps, three huge scallops, and a lobster tail and claw, plus roasted potatoes and spinach, add up to plenty of food.The seasoning is mild at best, but a lush buttery dipping sauce bathes all comers in rich deliciousness.

The restaurant’s twist on red velvet cake (all desserts cost $7) is perhaps more clever than successful: instead of dying a chocolate cake red, the chef makes an individual vanilla cake and fills it with hot chocolate sauce; the result is fine but unspectacular, and cream-cheese ice cream makes a poor substitute for cream cheese frosting.The blueberry-mottled bread pudding is much better, its smooth butteriness increased by chunks of melted white chocolate throughout.

A reasonably priced 50-bottle wine list covers a lot of ground, much of it familiar. A plethora of American reds includes Cline’s raisiny “Ancient Vines” zinfandel ($9/$35); Domaine Serge Laloue’s white sancerre ($46) drinks marvelously with the seafood options.

Interestingly, sparkling wines make up almost a quarter of the list. The restaurant carves itself a niche as a special occasion destination, despite prices that would be called moderate downtown. With its dramatic view and food, it inhabits that niche comfortably.

The restaurant fails, however, to make the most of its unusual space.The dining room, a 150-foot-long glass-and-steel hangar, is awkward at best. Instead of embracing the industrial aesthetic, the design tries to offset it with faux marble and pastel upholstery. Unlike some sports-celebrity restaurants, it is devoid of framed jerseys and the like: Apart from the name, there’s not much sign of the basketball connection.

For non locals, getting to the restaurant is a two-block walk from the 1 train’s 145th Street stop, a ride on the M11 bus, or a drive up the Henry Hudson Parkway culminating in that rarest of Manhattan luxuries, valet parking.

Earl Monroe’s Restaurant, 750 W. 145th St., in Riverbank State Park, 212-491-1500.