Never much for forced-fusion menus, we nevertheless found some of the Pacific-Rim-meets-Middle-America offerings of interest at this restaurant’s old location. The purely American carrot and chocolate cakes were killer, too. Now that it’s become a “Bar & Grill,” the number of selections has shrunk, and some old favorites have been banished in favor of burgers (but with “Mongolian” sauce!) and sandwiches. As before, the décor remains largely non-committal, too, though this can be a blessing.

And there are some curses: damned if we didn’t fall into a trap we know better than to trip: we ordered “crab turnovers.” The quotation marks are appropriate, for this is really a rendition of the wretched crab Rangoon of low-rent Chinese restaurants: wonton wrappers, cream cheese, crab…Well, maybe not crab. We admit that these were large, delicate, pretty and way better than most; we claim that “crab” must have been whispered over the cream cheese in the manner of mentioning vermouth in the presence of gin for a martini.

More in the manner of the Korean cuisine that once dominated is an item nevertheless named “Samurai Rice Bowl”. The rice can be white or brown, it’s mixed with red and yellow bell peppers and chunks of rib eye marinated in soy-ginger, and the whole is topped with a sheet of “omelet” egg. It’s a more-than-okay dish, but we wouldn’t drive out of our way for it. An apparent clique of regulars might disagree, but maybe they’re saving room for cake.