Elemental Next Door offers same food, less attitude than its older sibling, Elemental@Gasworks

Five years ago, Phred Westfall and Laurie Reideman opened Elemental@Gasworks. The fooderati flocked, as enchanted by Reideman's culinary creativity as they were bemused by the eccentricities of this quixotic restaurant, which has 16 seats, takes no reservations and offers a set menu paired with wines chosen by Westfall, who likes to make you guess what you're drinking.

Last January, the couple created an alternate universe called Elemental Next Door, promising the same food with less attitude. E.N.D shares Elemental's upmarket DIY aesthetic, but has twice as many seats, mostly at tall tables constructed by Westfall from salvaged wood and steel beams.

Initially, the restaurants had separate menus and separate kitchens. But this month, E.N.D.'s ad hoc kitchen (four propane burners and two toaster ovens) was dismantled. Now all the cooking is done at Elemental and, more significantly, Elemental's prix fixe menu is now available a la carte at E.N.D. "It's what people expect," said Reideman, when asked why the change.

This shift doesn't erase the key difference in the two dining experiences: Elemental is all about submission; at E.N.D. the customer is in charge. You are handed a glass of crisp sparkling wine on arrival, but after that all the choices are up to you.

E.N.D is not without quirks. A spool of unfurled butcher paper hanging from a shelf near the front door is the only written menu. It's brief but short on details. Ordering requires some discussion with the well-informed and accommodating waiter, generally followed by negotiation with fellow diners.

Thus new arrivals tend to cluster around the scroll, Champagne flutes in hand, like guests at a party, discussing what to eat before wandering off to browse the "drinks list:" 100 or so bottles of wine plus several dozen beers displayed on shelves that stretch the full length of the room.

Take your pick. Beers range in price from $5-$9, but all the wines, a mostly European and American collection, are $30 a bottle, $15 for a half bottle, $8 by the glass. Prices include tax and tip, and they will open anything, even if you only want a glass. Menu prices are equally moderate and also inclusive of tax and tip, part of E.N.D's user-friendly philosophy.

Snacks top the frequently tweaked menu. They range from a heaping bowl of peppery truffled popcorn to warm piquillo peppers oozing manchego cheese. Platters might hold soft smoked sturgeon rillettes or rustic, hazelnut-studded wild boar pâté, both garnished with exotically spiced, pickled red grapes.

Those dishes are rewarding; others edge toward brilliant. Beet tartare mimics steak tartare, turning that ruby-red vegetable into a fine brunoise and adding a touch of Tabasco and Worcestershire; a raw egg yolk on top supplies a rich glossy finish. Deconstructed clam "chowder" served in an iron skillet pours plump steamed clams and their bacon-flecked broth over potato gratin.

Huckleberries vividly accent an earthy sauté of kale and chanterelles. Paired with a salty slab of baked haloumi cheese, it's a robust and satisfying vegetarian option, one of several.

Contrasting textures elevate several dishes. Soft petals of scallop ceviche surrounded crisp pickled fennel laced with pomegranate seed. Panzanella salad combined spinach, grilled bread chunks and tiny chanterelles that were tossed with chestnut vinaigrette and crowned with excellent Roquefort. For dessert, salt, smoke and delicate crunch memorably enhance chocolate when truffles are rolled in finely diced bacon.

There are lapses. A surfeit of cream sauce buried eggplant ravioli. A glut of cured black olives trampled the delicate nuttiness of wild rice "risotto." Sweet potato gnocchi were gummy.

But overall, you will eat and drink well for the money at E.N.D. — if you can find it. Elemental's unheralded presence on the ground floor of a North Lake Union apartment complex has always added to its mystique. It also leads to mistakes: My dinner guests waited half an hour for me to show up, only to discover they were at Elemental, not "Next Door." It's door number two, on the right. Give it a try.

Providence Cicero: providencecicero@aol.com