Eclectic Menu, Eclectic Results

On Georgia Avenue NW, a promising new restaurant's uneven food

* (out of four)

Meridian
5832 Georgia Ave. NW
202-722-8882
www.meridianrestaurant.com

SOUND CHECK: 80 (decibels) Extremely loud

IT'S EASY TO DRIVE right past Meridian. I know, because I've done it twice now. From the street, the youthful restaurant with the wraparound windows on the ground floor of the Lofts at Brightwood could pass for a high-end furniture showroom. Chic turquoise lights, as big and round as orchestra drums, tend to catch the eyes of passersby first. Movement -- hey, they're diners! -- comes into focus only upon closer inspection.

Step inside, and you'll find a few more surprises. One of them is a curved bar that would look at home in Georgetown. Another is an airy dining room whose palette helps lower your blood pressure; the blond of the chairs, the pale green of the banquette and the African American folk art are all easy on the eyes. Meridian's bread basket, filled with cheese biscuits and jalapeño-flecked muffins, looks promising, too.

News of a serious place to eat on this far uptown stretch of Georgia Avenue is a big deal. Anyone who has ever wished for a meal nearby that didn't involve lots of paper and held out the promise of a glass of wine to go with it knows what I'm talking about. Better yet, Meridian dangles before customers the prospect of flavors that Washingtonians don't encounter very often under the same roof: The menu combines both island and Southern accents, a union that makes sense when you learn that the chef, Michael Robertson, was born to Jamaican parents and previously worked as a sous-chef at Zola in Penn Quarter. Thus cod fritters and pecan pie both make appearances.

The hitch? Like a Tiffany gift box used to hold a Target purchase, the packaging at Meridian can distract visitors from the restaurant's flaws, most of which involve food. The contents of that bread basket might be dry and crumbly rather than moist and tender, as if the biscuits and muffins had been baked days ahead of your dinner.

The best beginnings tend to be things you can pick up to eat. Meridian's chicken wings, glazed with a trio of sassy sauces, crunch when you bite into them, revealing steamy, succulent meat. Be sure to get extra to share, and ask for the wings flavored with apricot and tamarind, my favorite. Peel-and-eat shrimp are similarly fun and messy. The seafood shows up warm, with lime wedges and a pink dip of Scotch bonnet peppers and tomato whose heat unfolds slowly, ultimately zinging the tongue.

Otherwise, stay out of the water. Fish and seafood are among the kitchen's weak links. Salmon patties -- one night's soul food special, now a brunch item -- are more about filler than fish, as are the craggy "stamp and go" cod fritters, which arrive hot and zesty, but also gummy. A sloppy main course of rockfish, slapped onto a plate with crawfish ravioli and turnip greens, looks as if it were plucked from a tumbler. A salmon entree proves achingly sweet. The culprit is a sauce of saffron and vanilla.

Inattention plagues the kitchen. One night, almost every dish is off by a note or two. Macaroni and cheese scattered with crawfish, a substantial first course, is so light on the cheese that the dish ought to be renamed crawfish pasta. The collard greens, a side dish, appear not to have been touched by any seasoning stronger than water, and even the blue cheese dip with a batch of the otherwise winning wings tastes thin. Overcooking can be a problem, too, as evinced by a pork chop that has surrendered all its moisture to the oven.

Meridian's short ribs give me hope. The slowly braised beef, shored up with a whip of sweet potatoes and crisp green beans, is infused with wine, vinegar and herbs. The assembly is a delightful Sunday supper, no matter the day. Also good are the rice and peas that accompany the pan-roasted chicken, which is moist one bite, arid another. The rice and peas (actually red kidney beans), a staple in Jamaica, place this diner firmly in the sand, surrounded by blue seas and bright sun. In other words, they're the genuine article.

I've never met a waiter I haven't liked at Meridian. Big smiles and effusive descriptions of the menu make a diner feel at home, and for those who care, the food comes out quickly. The plates might even be delivered by Rodney or Lynn English, who are among the owners and are frequent hosts of this convivial party of a business. "Running a restaurant is a lot of work!" Lynn says when she stops by my

table to check in on friends and me. Yet she makes the work look like a pleasure.

The half-dozen owners have done a terrific job of transforming the space, which old-timers might remember as a go-go club called Ibex, into a handsome place to eat. But diners might want to bring along earplugs. If it's the end of the week and the house tilts full -- and you can bet on a crowd on a Friday night at Meridian -- forget about having a meaningful dialogue with your tablemates. The same (bare) picture windows that practically place customers al fresco throw the sound around, and the uncovered concrete floors don't help. A tip: If you're part of a group, sit next to the person you like most, or need to pay attention to, because that person is apt to be the only one you can understand in the din.

There's light at the end of the tunnel, though, in the form of a slice of pecan pie. The dessert is generous with the nuts and light on the goo -- an easy recommendation. I only wish it kept better company.

Open: dinner Tuesday through Thursday 6 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 6 to 11 p.m.; Sunday brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Mondays. All major credit cards. No smoking. Free parking. Prices: appetizers $6 to $12, entrees $15 to $25.