The menu at Five Fifty-Five is pretty intense. It’s worth reading, even if you don’t plan on eating there, because the careful descriptions and self-conscious wordplay just might convince you to make a reservation for that evening. And then, you will eat a fine meal, drink some fine wine, receive fine service, and have some more-than-fine desserts. It’s that enticing.

Michelle and Steve Corry (owners, manager and chef, husband and wife, tenants of the apartment above the dining room) have thrown their all into making their first restaurant seem like they’ve owned one for years, and their considerable efforts, not to mention top-notch training, have plunked them right on track to establish themselves quickly. When you cut your teeth in this industry by working at places like the French Laundry, Arrow’s Restaurant, Domain Chandon, the White Barn Inn, you set yourself up for success. And then you work your ass off to achieve it.

Even after having been open for three months, there’s still that "new restaurant" buzz in the dining room, that excitement and energy that exudes from both the kitchen and the waitstaff. While there have not been many structural changes from it’s well known predecessor, Aubergine, touches like copper sheets along the walls and drink nooks on the second floor make Five Fifty-Five seem a little more industrial and a little more hip. There’s still the open kitchen, shining like a starched and gleaming world of stainless steel and flame among the soft earth-tones of the tables and chairs . . . and if that’s too flowery for you, it’s pretty cool to watch cooks work.

Especially, I might add, when they’re preparing near-flawless dishes like "Greens and Apples," a slight twist on a classic with brandied local Cortland apples, blue cheese, cider vinaigrette on field greens, garnished with toasted almonds. The greens were beautifully and lightly dressed, allowing the cheese and apples to alternate between earthy and spicy-sweet on the tongue. Jackie opted for the "Johnny Cakes," which were, interestingly, not the traditional flat cornmeal cakes native to Rhode Island (this writer’s home state) but fried salmon and scallop cakes served with a pepper aioli and sprinkled with salmon caviar. I’m not a fish-cake lover by any means, but these were boldly flavored with lemon and absolutely delicious. Shows a bit of kitchen smarts as well: Any scraps left over from trimming the salmon and scallop entrees get turned into mouthwatering appetizers.

For our entrees, both Jackie and I chose meat dishes. I asked for the "Steak and Potatoes," because the evening’s cut of beef was that super-trendy but wicked-yummy hanger steak. It was served beautifully prepared medium-rare with thyme-shallot jus, maple-balsamic glazed carrots, and "Anna’s Potatoes," which was a wedge of thinly sliced and layered potatoes, baked until crisp. It also had a particular smoky flavor, which I could not lay my finger on, but made that particular side the star of the plate.

Jackie feasted on the perfect-for-the-cold-snap pork loin, with cobb-smoked bacon and Kentucky wonder-bean succotash that mixed with the cheesy grits as the meal progressed. Top all of that off with a sweet butter sauce, and you have the very definition of comfort food. For transcendence, the pork loin might have been a touch rarer, but its moistness was not greatly affected. I spent much of this course sighing in satisfaction.

We chose two desserts from the rather gifted young pastry chef; both Jackie’s "Hazelnut Pancake" (crepes stuffed with English cream) and my custard and poached figs ("Fig Newton") belied professional experience. Turns out she used to be the pastry assistant at Arrows, underneath the incomparable Lucia Velasco Evans, and it showed.

Along with the food menu, a sizable seasonal drink menu was also presented to us upon our seating. This is something I had never seen before, and while we ultimately chose wine and beer with our meals, the bar seemed to be a great place to step in from the cold and enjoy a chocolate martini on some fashionable winter evening. The wine list is not broken down into big lists of reds and whites, but rather into grape varietals and sub-sectioned into "New World" (Australia, California, New Zealand, etc.) and "Old World" (France, Italy, etc.) wines for those who have allegiances to either. I had a big California cabernet from Castle Hill with my steak, and that worked out just fine. Jackie polished off a seasonal brew made with apple juice and coriander, and its fine carbonation likened it more to champagne than beer.

We were also impressed by their varied cheese list, something that has pretty much caught on in many of the higher-end establishments in America. Michelle and Steve describe their cheese like they describe their meals, and the result is education as well as satisfaction. For example, you could get the practically pedigreed "Capricious," from Eureka, California, which is "raw goat’s milk in a tomme, a tangy, firm cheese which won ‘best in show’ at its first appearance in the American Cheese Society."

Frankly, you need that kind of resume to fit the Five Fifty-Five menu.

Andy King can be reached at snandis@yahoo.com