For weeks before it opened, Whym’s front window was papered over in zebra-patterned contact paper, prompting questions about the interior design as well as the food. But in the end, the exotic hints were all proven to be red herrings–Whym’s dining room is sleek, dark, and tame, and thankfully, the menu leaves out any trace of safari animals.

Instead, Whym concentrates on pepped-up remixes of hearty traditional dishes–playing with classics the way their logo toys with form (it reads the same even when it’s flipped). Take for example the chopped salad, which here features asparagus, bosc pear, beet cubes, crumbled feta, and a basil vinaigrette. The best thing about the dish though is that it works and is delicious: this is not a reinvention for originality’s sake, it is an exploration with real purpose. My own best clue that real thought was at work here was the temperature of the beets–they alone were ice-cold in the salad, offering a lively contrast to the room temperature feta and lettuces. This is not your local diner’s chopped salad, but it is still recognizable and a lot more interesting.

Nor is the calamari precisely what you might predict: served very lightly battered and dredged with a sweet chili sauce and a touch of harissa, it imports elements of Chinese and Middle Eastern cuisines in equal measure. The result is a genuine winner of a dish. Our only quibble was that the sauce soaked through the crunchy coating on the calamari, which meant that in order to enjoy the texture contrasts, we had to eat this quickly. No great demand for us, but if you’re someone who lingers over appetizers, you might request some of the sauce on the side.

Between courses, HungryMan and I overheard a group of animated patrons at a nearby booth discussing the differences between Whym and its sister restaurant Eatery. One remarked, “Well, I think your pork chop speaks for itself.” Both of us craned our necks to see what this meant, but unable to catch a glimpse, we instead double-checked with the server to make sure we had ordered one of these revelatory cutlets. We had. While neither of us is really sure what our fellow diner intended by his comment, we got the gist once our entrées arrived. First, the stuffed chop was hefty and rich-looking, even ignoring the vein of smoked mozzarella that ran through it. Additionally, it was very well-cooked– something that is tricky to get right with stuffed meats. But the real star here was the polenta. HungryMan and I spent at least five minutes doing nothing but tasting very small amounts of it and discussing the transformative power of the mellow, smoky roasted shallots. I’m nominating this for a place on the menu of its own, either as an appetizer or a side dish–it was superb.

If the pork chop spoke for itself, the wasabi pea crusted tuna might have had a few words of its own to say. It certainly wasn’t a dish I would describe as shy–the coating surrounding the two substantial pieces of seared tuna contained not only wasabi, but a good dose of peppery heat. This preparation would work in many other contexts and with a variety of side-dish pairings. We both thought that the braised bok choi here was a good idea in theory, but its green leaves became too sweet in the dark, molasses-thick reduction. The stalks, on the other hand, were still very juicy and gave the dish a much-needed crunch. Tweaking the sweetness of the sauce should be a top priority to take this entrée from very good to excellent– it clearly has that potential.

The Lodi Petite Sirah we drank during dinner was another big hit: unusually fruity for a petite sirah, it was sturdy enough to match up with the calamari without overwhelming the chopped salad appetizer. It is also available by the glass, as are several of the wines on the short but well-considered wine list, which we expect will expand a bit when the restaurant begins serving lunch and weekend brunches in February. Our server alerted us to the upcoming schedule additions by telling us that Whym will soon be “the new hot spot for brunch,” and if our visit is any indication, we have no trouble believing this prediction will come true.

Whym, 889 Ninth Avenue (between 57th and 58th Streets), 212-315-0088