Menu coming into focus in magnificent space of Grace

Grace is a restaurant that took over an old dilapidated church, its owners renovating and redeeming a place no congregation could support financially. The interior is magnificent.

Our present-day adoration of dinner could see it through the next era of its existence. But first, it would be good for Grace to drop some of the more baroque contortions in the menu, focusing instead on what tastes good.

The kitchen already does that with the gnocchi, which is light and hides a payload of hot goat cheese. Ginger and tomato broth, fennel, hen of the woods mushrooms and basil enhance this entree with good flavors.

But a desiccated leaf of roasted kale oozing oil is a kind of garnish that detracts from perfectly cooked lamb shank. Crunch is a good contrasting texture to that tender meat, but would have been more welcome on the edges of the root vegetables – some of which were undercooked – mixed in the good, meaty gravy called palm nut sauce.

One serving of this entree included so few root vegetables that those too resembled a garnish, but on a second visit, the side of root vegetables was generous and satisfying.

White wines are poured into stemmed glasses and reds into stemless ones, mostly because of the number of stairs in the restaurant, according to Anne Verrill, an owner. "Also, we carry a lot of wines that are new world," Verrill said. "And stemless glasses are a continuing trend."

Good service is one dependable aspect of "the experience," as the business's Web site calls it, of eating here.

Tastes of two white wines – a sweetish S.A. Prum Essence Riesling ($8) from Germany and a full-bodied, satisfying Evolution 9th Edition Sokol Blosser ($10) from a brave new corner of Oregon – were offered and enjoyed. The Condes de Albarei Salneval Rias Baixas Albarino ($8) was boring.

Latitud 34 Malbec ($8) from Argentina was bitter and full-bodied, while Legado Munoz Tempranillo ($7) tasted better, balanced and lively.

The drinks list christens cocktails Original Sin, Salvation, Redemption and, acknowledging Letterman et. al., Heated Affair, a house-infused strawberry-jalapeno-pineapple tequila margarita.

From the appetizer list, baby octopus ($10) was perfectly seared, slightly chewy and scrumptious. Some creamy navy beans were interlaced with a skinny, green, jointed vegetable the menu calls sea beans. With dried cherry tomatoes, they worked here nicely. The black olives – I clung to the menu to navigate these plates – turned out to be negligible, dried-up specks sprinkled on top.

Salicornia is another name for those sea beans. It's a salt-tolerant plant that grows near the ocean and is also known as both samphire and chicken claws, which it resembles, according to "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" by Elizabeth Schneider.

The organic salad ($8) was too salty on one visit, but was a fine heap of fresh lettuce with mild buttermilk dressing on another, and the candied bacon seems like a bright idea, except when one big chunk of pork fat was stiff and cold.

Halibut ($24) had been nicely seared, its skin crisp, but the white flesh of the fish was slightly dry. No fear, presumably, with the long question mark of spinach anchovy sauce on the big white plate – although the presence of anchovy was exceedingly subtle. But even without it, this was a pleasant sauce resembling creamed spinach. "Smoked egg cream," a sticky, egg-yolk-sized and -colored circle of smoky egg yolk, didn't taste as good.

For dessert, corn custard ($7) is topped with lime and paprika granita, a sour-sweet shaved ice that jarred with custard, although one companion said she liked it.

Far better was good old panna cotta, a jellied cylinder of plain cream, with buttery roasted figs, roasted fig puree and orange sorbet. This time, the icy and creamy textures seemed to work together. The happiest touch on this giant swooping triangle of a plate was shards of almond brittle.

The peanut butter cup ($7) would have soared but for a lozenge of cream capping the chocolate mousse, which had been flavored with burned, bitter caramel. Once that was shoved off to the side, the chocolate macaroon under the mousse, the creamy peanut butter ice cream and the peanut brittle all played festively together inside our mouths.

N.L. English is a Portland freelance writer and the author of "Chow Maine: The Best Restaurants, Cafes, Lobster Shacks and Markets on the Coast." Visit English's Web site, www.chowmaineguide.com.

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