Meridian 54 is the new restaurant in that crossroads building where Red Fish used to be. A succession of owners never could set Red Fish right after the departure of Ted Stelzenmuller, its founding chef, now executive chef and co-owner of Jack's Bistro.
Part of the problem might have been that the posh azure-and-snow decor of Red Fish almost demanded a menu with culinary ambition, even when there wasn't a new chef around to refresh or maintain it, or maybe even an audience looking for it.
In its relatively short run, Meridian 54 has also lost its original chef, Russell Braitsch, who moved on to open Diablita Cantina. The good news is that Meridian 54 seems to have made a rapid recovery.
It could be that losing a chef and then moving away from fine dining could be the best thing that happened to Meridian 54. A big ingredient in success is figuring out what you do best - and what makes you happy - and you get the feeling that the cheerful and good-natured owners understand that their strong suit for winning over customers might never have been exciting cuisine.
Mostly what you feel here is that the balance of energy has tipped away from the dining room toward the bar area, which was crowded, fun and lively when we visited on a Thursday night. The bar area, which includes several tall tables, fared much better in the redesign.
The new dining room has the blandly handsome look of a hotel lobby, and leaving the bar to go sit in it would have felt like punishment. Probably the best way to approach Meridian 54 is at happy hour, when generously portioned $5 plates of things like buffalo meatballs, chicken satay and sliders are perfectly satisfying, and sometimes more. A pair of surf-and-turf sliders, one with blackened tuna, the other beef, were spot on in every way.
The menu is a little unconvincing, a little incoherent. It amounts to a decade-spanning list of tavern hits, starting with favorites such as lamb lollipops, sashimi tuna and Asian pear salad, and moving on to rich standards of yesteryear like shrimp scampi, chicken tetrazzini and veal piccata.
Nothing about the menu really draws you in. It's poorly laid out, and it feels as if it's waiting for someone to make some hard decisions about it.
As it turned out, the execution is too often haphazard or half-hearted. There are mostly content problems, very noticeable in things like a Francaise sauce (one of five classic sauces that can be applied to either shrimp, chicken or veal), which had little lemon flavor and none at all of cream or butter; in the zipless marinara sauce that accompanied very bland calamari; and in the crazily salty lump crab gnocchi served in an Alfredo sauce.
Even at its worst, though, the food never looks foolish, and somehow you don't end up bearing it a grudge. You just move on.
A "Baltimore schnitzel" entree (sauted crab meat over fried veal medallions) came off much better, but still missing some luxury.
The best thing by far was an espresso-rubbed London broil sandwich, topped with crispy onions and served with terrific fries. There are other sandwiches and burgers on the menu, and next time I'd be much more likely to order one of them.
We were well treated here and had a very good time at the bar. Meridian 54 was one of those places that made a point of staying open throughout the recent snowstorms. People will remember that long after they forget the best Francaise sauce in the world.
On the menu •Tzatziki lollipop - $12
•Surf-and-turf sliders - $12
•Calamari fritte - $8
•Baltimore schnitzel - $23
•Shrimp Francaise - $18
•London broil "cheesesteak" - $23
•Crab gnocchi - $15
•Barbecue chicken pizza - $8
•Chocolate souffle cake - $8
•Carrot cake - $7
Meridian 54 Where: 845 Montford Ave., Canton
Call: 410-522-0541
Open: 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Monday-Friday and 10:30 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday
Credit cards: MC, Visa, AMEX
Appetizers: $8-$13
Entrees: $12-$26
Food: ** 1/2
Service: ***
Atmosphere: ***
[Outstanding: **** Good: *** Fair or uneven: ** Poor: *]