Urban Chic

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Many dishes that don't try to blend global flavors also proved successful. A warm mushroom salad with spinach, bacon, long threads of raw beet, and smoked sea salt, lightly dressed with truffle vinaigrette, provided a wonderful change from many restaurants' mundane greens choices. Tuna as an entree, this time with an Italian flair that included a Parmesan crust, pesto risotto, olive salad, and a balsamic reduction, did both the fish and the country proud, though the prosciutto chip seemed a bit gratuitous. And beef short ribs, accented with Asian flavors and braised until meat and seasonings became one, were savory and succulent.

Perhaps one reason the dishes aren't equally successful is the sheer size of the menu--too many ingredients and too many dishes for the kitchen to track and execute well. (In addition to the extensive regular menu, there is also a page of sushi, which we didn't try.) Scoozie--flatbread filled with blue cheese and fried--is vaguely cheesy but not as pungently cheesy as the name might suggest. "Chicken osso bucco"--wings advertised as cooked Szechuan, or spicy, style--were merely okay, as was another appetizer of sauteed tofu and vegetables scooped up in lettuce cups. Raw tuna floating in a ginger-ponzu sauce, seared at the table on a heated river rock, also fell flat, neither marinade nor dipping sauce providing sufficient interest.