Middle Eastern food has a bad reputation. Some of this is easy to trace back to a Midtown full of greasy fast-food falafel carts and grimy storefronts hawking greyish gyros, no doubt. But some of it also boils down to an imprecise and inaccurate culinary calculus that we, as American eaters, are guilty of performing. Its central axiom: if chickpeas, then downmarket.

Hummus Kitchen, a new Israeli café in Hell’s Kitchen, has found a gentle way of shifting thinking about Middle Eastern food. The first line of attack is through décor–with exposed brick walls, comfy pillows and a shop-long lacquered banquette, as well as flooring that melds Art Nouveau-esque squiggles and traditional patterns, the restaurant feels extremely well put-together. While we do not generally place much emphasis on design–for us, food is the eternal sine qua non–the fact that Hummus Kitchen has paid such careful attention to its interior gives a little insight into the breadth of its subtle reputation rehab project.

Thankfully, the kitchen pays the same obvious attention to detail. In our several visits to the restaurant, we have eaten or drunk nothing that was not at least solidly good, along with several items that were truly wonderful. Among these is the mint-lemon granita lemonana (pictured left, $2.50)–a cooling, sinus-clearing drink that might be a bit out of season right now, but will be the first thing we order when the sun comes back to town. The restaurant’s eponymous dish (pictured below left, $3.95) was certainly worth naming the restaurant for, especially its texture, which is smooth yet substantial, and just garlicky enough to give a little lilt to the chickpeas. Interestingly, the hummus is served not only with a palm-sized round of perfect pita, but also with a green hot sauce that we suspect to be the kitchen’s version of skhug Temani, a zippy purée of coriander, peppers, garlic and vinegar–an unusual and very welcome addition to a plate of hummus.

Among the Mazze (small plates, all $3.95, no Frankie Beverly), we are big fans of the toothsome roasted cauliflower with green tahini, as well as the super-simple, super-savory feta and beet salad. The mixed platter of six or more mazze is the best way to taste several of the items, none of which disappoints. We also favor the ‘Super-Healthy Salad’ (pictured on Flickr, $6.95), and while we won’t make any claims about the health benefits of a quinoa and dried fruit salad, we can say that the textural contrast between soft butternut squash wedges and creamy, yogurt-slathered quinoa is pretty special. In the few months since Hummus Kitchen opened, this has become our new favorite lunch.

Among the house-made desserts, the traditional orange-infused knaffe and the crisp-tender baklava (pronounced by the staff as bach-LAU-ah) are our favorites (all three pictured on Flickr, all $4.50), especially eaten with a cup of very hot mint tea. Sure, all of this sounds like classic Middle Eastern fare, and indeed, it is. But what is truly different, and even a little transgressive, about Hummus Kitchen is the panache with which every meal is executed. Everything about the experience feels like a tremendous upgrade from other Levantine restaurants serving similar food at this price point. If the staff keep this up, both in Hell’s Kitchen and at the forthcoming Upper East Side location, they might just be able to pull off one of the best–and most well-deserved–reputation makeovers of the decade.

Hummus Kitchen, 768 Ninth Avenue (between 51st and 52nd Streets), 212-333-3009.