Refashioned from its former Victorian attire, engaging but with no particularly dynamic features to set it apart, the restaurant is a study in demure pleasantness. Maximize the experience on a balmy tropical evening and dine al fresco on a patio embraced by white-light-wrapped trees and lush foliage. It's the perfect spot to sip something from the well-thought-out wine list ($24-$60) featuring wines from Napa, Sonoma and Washington State and some imported selections.

First out from this kitchen: an excellent duck quesadilla ($8.95) — but not the usual flat interpretation. Bulging with caramelized onions, roasted corn, scallions, Monterey jack cheese and a punchy Mexican adobo sauce, it's wrapped, cooked to crisp goodness, cut angularly and placed upright. It garnered presentation accolades from our group along with good-to-the-last-mouthful appreciation for outstanding flavors.

Who would expect fried green tomatoes on trendy Las Olas? At $8.95 these are cornmeal-dusted, nicely sauteed, then stacked with jumbo lump crabmeat that somehow never outclasses the partnership. This delightful union of old South with elegance from the sea takes on a playful note with trimmings of chow-chow — a pickled vegetable concoction every self-respecting Southern housewife has in her fridge.

Another too-good-to-pass-up opener is crunchy phyllo packets filled with goat cheese, basil and pine nuts, designed for dipping into mango chutney ($7.95). Shrimp stuffed with buffalo mozzarella, wound with prosciutto, flanked with pomodoro sauce and light basil cream ($8.50) rated slightly lower at our table because the shrimp was a little too chewy.

Salad lovers can dive happily into a granny smith apple and walnut salad ($7.95) — blending field greens with walnuts, red onion and crumbled gorgonzola in sherry vinaigrette with just the right touch of sweetness from thinly sliced apples. Even that ubiquitous offering, the grilled portobello ($7.95), came off better than usual when paired with some absolutely heavenly, melt-on-the-tongue buffalo mozzarella.

The signature walnut crusted mahi mahi ($19.95) is a sizeable fillet, coated in plenty of finely chopped nuts, expertly cooked, topped with caramelized onions and Granny Smith apples, resting on a creamy mashed potato oasis.

Spinach and pine nut ravioli ($16.95) wears a pomodoro sauce of uncommon richness and a drizzle of yummy basil cream, but if I had to pick just one pasta from the menu, I'd make it Cajun shrimp ($19.95) — seven moist-cooked beauties wearing enough blackening to provide an incendiary coating to perk the senses. They're placed over bowtie pasta, tumbled with leeks, red peppers, artichoke hearts and cilantro.

A double center cut grilled pork chop ($21.95) might sound like something to order when you want simplicity, but a sun-dried cherry sauce and perfect cooking launches it into new realms. Another fundamental offering, chicken capriccio ($17.95), is a lightly breaded, sauteed to juicy boneless breast plated with a balsamic-based combination of red onions and tomatoes.

Since the kitchen takes the trouble to do all their own desserts, so should you. A warm chocolate souffle is flourless and worth an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill; intricately spiced carrot cake with fabulous caramel sauce merits your attention, and coconut creme brulee is a true tropical delight. They're each $6.95.

Success, it seems, doesn't necessarily hinge on a new color scheme or decorator touches. The Las Olas Café, I'm happy to report, is better than ever.