Here's the meal that makes me think Cleveland-Heath is going to do much better on Main Street in Edwardsville than its predecessor, Fond.

We opened with a small bowl of chile-lime mixed nuts ($4) and cheddar ham sliders ($7). Lowly bar nuts reached a higher plane with a little cayenne, a lot of cumin and a hint of lime on roasted almonds, peanuts and hazelnuts, while the sliders were three tall cheese biscuits with craggy exteriors wrapped around chopped prosciutto and a dollop of cherry jam, with more jam served on the side. Not only was it a notable start, but with one of the biscuits and half the nuts going home with us, we were pretty sure we could have been satisfied with a single appetizer.

We moved on to "street tacos" ($9), gnocchi carbonara ($13) and a side order of blue-cheese slaw ($4). The tacos were the weak point of the evening, although that just reflected the overall quality of the meal. Three freshly toasted flour tortillas were wrapped around chicken, two colors of cabbage and cilantro with a piquant enhanced mayo, served with lime wedges for a sprinkling of citrus. The chicken, however, was small cubes of white meat, which got lost among what should have been the supporting ingredients.

The potato gnocchi were in the sweet spot between too firm and too puffy, adhering well to a creamy sauce dotted with peas, bits of bacon and shreds of Parmesan. The slaw had been an afterthought but ended up as a welcome surprise. Visually, purple cabbage shreds poked out from an orange-tinted sauce, with little sparks of green from tiny rings of chive. The blue cheese flavor was mild, but a second or two after the creamy sauce coated our tongues, it was apparent that a fire had been hidden within — as it turned out, Sriracha sauce and cayenne had been mixed into the housemade mayonnaise.

We complemented the meal with a $15 Domaine de Bachellery pinot noir from France's Pays d'Oc which, although it was the lowest-price choice from a relatively long and diverse list, was far from boring.

And we finished with bread pudding ($6), two large wedges that were infused with chocolate and had a chocolate sauce below and a caramel sauce down one side.

The complete meal, with tax and tip and a fully loaded doggie bag, was $72, and we got to enjoy it with excellent service in the same lovely interior initially renovated as Fond, where meals easily ran twice that much.

But Cleveland-Heath owners Jennifer Cleveland and Eric Heath — now you understand why an Edwardsville restaurant's name sounds like an Ohio hospital with a typographical error — list such elite American restaurants as the French Laundry on their résumés, and they easily slide into higher, but not too high, prices elsewhere on the menu.

Our other meal included a "pork porterhouse" ($22) and "lamb T-bone" ($29). The pork was a large pork chop from Rensing's Pork and Beef, a rancher about 25 miles away in New Douglas. The pork was well-trimmed of fat but still extremely moist, topped with a fried egg and served with seared green beans on one side and a savory jalapeño bread pudding on the other to catch any stray juices.

Like the pork, the lamb stole a steak's name, this time to describe two chops about ¾-inch thick, topped with vivid green chimichurri, an herb sauce spiked with garlic and hot pepper. It came with a feta risotto that wasn't rice at all, but rather barley dotted with diced carrot.

Cleveland-Heath does have a few flaws, one of which is a result of its own popularity. The insufficient waiting area is along the length of the bar, just inside the front entry, and on both of our visits would-be patrons wrapped well into the dining area, in some cases even surrounding occupied tables. At the time of our visits the restaurant didn't take reservations, but perhaps it should start, at least on weekends.

The back entry also has a design issue, in this case the lack of an air curtain or some other means to prevent icy air from hitting half of the back-room tables every time the door is opened.

One waiter also suggested we keep our forks after our appetizers, a corner-cutting that doesn't suit a restaurant with several entrees topping $20.

Amy Zupanci probably reached too high when she opened Fond a few years ago, and she couldn't have anticipated the duration of the poor economy. But she left behind a lovely space along a quintessential American Main Street. Cleveland and Heath have filled it with a destination that should draw fans from well beyond the Edwardsville city limits.

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Cleveland-Heath

Two and a half stars (out of four) • Where 106 Main Street, Edwardsville • More info 618-307-4830, clevelandheath.com • Menu Relying on, but not limited to, local ingredients and ranging from innovative bar food to $20+ steaks and chops • Hours Lunch and dinner, Monday-Saturday

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