By Debbi Snook, The Plain Dealer

Follow Share Email Print Enlarge Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer Roasted tomato vinaigrette tops the cedar-planked salmon, accompanied by sugar snap peas and blistered asparagus at the Burntwood Tavern in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010. (Peggy Turbett/ The Plain Dealer) Burntwood Tavern in Chagrin Falls gallery (8 photos) Santa showed up during our lunchtime visit to Burntwood Tavern in Chagrin Falls.

Whoops, this might not be the right time to judge performance. All that cheering and ho-ho-ho-ing in the rustic front lounge could throw an antler into the staff's timing.

But things cruised along uninterrupted in the main dining areas. A couple of dads even broke loose from the Clausathon to come back early and finish their meals. Either they were very hungry or very naughty.

Santa would understand. This place can satisfy a belly that is like a bowl full of jelly.

That's because Burntwood is a fresh take on the tavern concept, blending profiles old and new. The principals, with experience at Brio, Bravo and Bar Louie -- give a nod to tradition with plenty of hearty fare. The moderate prices are right, with many sandwiches under $10 and many dinners under $19.

But there's something else going on: a fine-tuned understanding of what cooking techniques make a dish more than the sum of its parts.

Check out the Steak and Fries ($22), a New York strip that isn't so much large as it is thickly cut, giving the kitchen a chance to contain the most juices on what can be a touchy, easily overdone cut. Or the Wood-Roasted Half Chicken ($15), everything you'd imagine you'd get from a veritable royal kitchen in merry old England -- woodsy aroma, crisp skin, falling-off-the-bone tender and well-seasoned meat. Bestow knighthood to the creator of that one.

Even the fries are amped up in style, arriving in a paper-bag pouch with a sprinkle of big-crystal salt. They were slightly soggy on our first visit, but rapturously crisp on our second; so were the sweet-potato fries.

The kitchen let the pork chops ($18) sit a few moments too long on the grill. They were astonishingly smoky, slightly sweet and a reasonably tender chew. But the meat was a shade dry, even if improved by peach and jalapeno preserves.

Fish dishes took our meter readings back to swoon levels again. A succulent cedar-planked salmon ($18) came flanked by blistered asparagus spears and plump sugar snap peas, with a mellow tomato vinaigrette on the side. It was refreshing to have two vegetables and no starch on this one, just as it would have been good to have at least a token entree that could be ordered by a vegetarian.

A beer-battered cod sandwich ($9) with jalapeno tartar sauce hit the spot in me that hasn't been hit in a long time, with truly crisp, nongreasy breading and a pouf of flaky snow-white fish inside. Calamari appetizer ($9) followed suit in a crisp preparation. The Angus burger ($10) had both good flavor and that open, hand-patted texture that lets you savor every morsel.

The house makes its own salad dressings. It's worth trying the house salad ($5) of fresh greens, gorgonzola cheese, bacon, red onion and tomato. The smartly simple, lightly peppered wash brought out the voluptuousness of everything. A field-greens salad ($5) was mostly romaine lettuce. Both can be turned into a dinner salad for an extra $4.

For desserts ($5), cream is the word except for a cookie plate, with the rest being cheesecake, a black raspberry ice cream sandwich with cocoa waffles, and a hot apple crostada in a small bowl that melted the rich vanilla ice cream pretty quickly. For some, not a terrible thing.

It's hard to consider the food here without acknowledging the setting. Burntwood is lined with replaned barn wood, giving off an airy but woodsy feeling -- and aroma. It's refreshingly underdecorated, as if the whole point is the food and the companionship you bring to it. That tavern concept is timeless.

TASTE BITES
Burntwood Tavern
Where: 504 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls.
Call: 440-318-1560.
Online: burntwoodtavern.com
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Bar open until midnight; happy hour, 3-5 p.m. Closed Sunday.
Prices: Most sandwiches, under $10; most dinners, $18 or under; desserts, $5.
Reservations: Recommended.
Credit cards: Most major cards.
Kid-friendliness: $5 kids menu with beverage.
Bar service: Full.
Accessibility: Full.
Grade: * * *

Ratings: One star means fair; 2 stars, good; 3 stars, very good; 4 stars, exceptional. (Zero stars: not recom mended.) Plain Dealer reviewers make at least two anonymous visits to each restaurant and do not accept compli mentary meals. Read past reviews at cleveland.com/dining