Jasper’s is what we like to call “Finediningstan,” a generically fancy place that feels as if it were fashioned in a lab where researchers are simply following a formula designed to create “an upscale dining experience”: grandiose space, lamps the size of small spaceships, abstract corporate art from a catalog, thumping music. Wines are flaunted in a glass vault like caged curiosities instead of fermented grape juice (a few are actually very fine fermented grape juices, but most are chosen for their prestige). The trumpeting message here is one of luxury, which hasn’t sat well with recession-bruised diners. The restaurant offers amends with $35 four-course tastings, and happy hour’s a good deal, if you like sugary-sweet ’tinis.

Billed as “gourmet backyard cuisine,” the menu is composed of familiar steakhouse items with mild reinvention (like chopping the classic wedge salad, which renders it soupy), and creative takes on Southwestern that remind us of Moonshine’s fare, right down to the corn-dog-style shrimp (which is much more successful here, by virtue of a tangy tomato jam). Fried green tomatoes are doused in ancho-thyme honey and peppery chèvre, allowing scant fresh acidity to show through. The greater successes here are the simplest: peach-glazed barbecued pork tenderloin with Bourbon-creamed corn, grilled high-grade steaks, and well-cooked fish. And, at least for now, it’s all priced surprisingly fair.