There are some restaurants whose names create an unavoidable “When in Rome…” factor. If you’re going to the Peking Duck House in Chinatown, it’s only natural to order the Peking duck. And even if you’re only stopping at the Cupcake Cafe to order a birthday cake, are you really going to leave without grabbing a cupcake?

So the natural inclination at Bouillabaisse 126 – the latest outpost of longtime restaurateur Neil Ganic – is to order the bouillabaisse.

My advice is to resist that impulse. While the bouillabaisse isn’t bad, there’s a similar dish that’s miles better, and the menu features other options that outshine the signature fish stew. When in Rome, sometimes it’s better to speak Dutch. Or something like that.

Some quick history: Mr. Ganic has been involved with numerous restaurants over the years, most notably the tiny Brooklyn bistro La Bouillabaisse, which was a rare outpost of fine dining on Atlantic Avenue in the 1990s, when the thoroughfare was known primarily for its no-frills Middle Eastern joints (one of which, the still-wonderful Yemen Cafe, was always my fallback option if La Bouillabaisse was too packed for me to get a table).

After an uncharacteristically awful meal at La Bouillabaisse in 2002, I learned that Mr. Ganic had sold the bistro after a failed attempt to buy the building. The restaurant and its new owners vanished soon thereafter. But last fall, word began circulating that Mr. Ganic was reviving the La Bouillabaisse concept at a new site. This is Bouillabaisse 126 (named after its address, 126 Union St., on the northwestern edge of Carroll Gardens), which opened in December.

Fans of the original La Bouillabaisse will find lots of familiar touches in the new space, including the whole poached pear with goat cheese appetizer ($6), which is as wonderful as ever. A similar blend of acidic and rich can be found in the roasted peppers served with gorgonzola ($6).

Even better is the spectacular corn chowder – a ridiculous bargain at $5 – a wonderfully coarse-textured brew studded with bits of scallops and shrimp. It’s the best single dish I’ve eaten so far in the new year. On a second visit, it had been replaced by a hearty seafood chowder featuring noodles ($5) – very nice, but not in the life-altering category. Here’s hoping Mr. Ganic sticks with the corn chowder.

A beet salad ($6) is lovely, although some might not find it substantial enough to ward off the February chill. The large crab cake ($8) is a better option – or it would be, if the crabmeat hadn’t been shredded so finely that it resembled a paste. This is the only misstep I encountered among the starters.

Now then, about that bouillabaisse ($19): Loaded with lobster, mussels, shrimp, gorgeously meaty scallops, and hunks of cod, it’s a fine dish. But the unassertive saffron cream sauce is a bit of a bore, frankly, especially compared to the deceptively simple-monikered seafood combo ($19), which features all the same fish except the cod, awash in a spicy, peppery tomato broth – it’s essentially shellfish fra diavolo. Not very French, but very, very good.

The rest of the entree listing consists of reasonably priced comfort food. A splendid lamb shank ($13) is suitably fall-apart tender, as is the fine coq au vin ($13), whose excellent sauce features delectable bacon lardons. Roast duck ($14) is topped with an excellent berry sauce that, thankfully, avoids the cloyingly sweet route taken by so many duck accompaniments. And pan-seared monkfish ($16) is served in meaty hunks that stand up to the dish’s hearty cream sauce.

The only dud is the filet mignon ($18). If you’re only going to offer one beef dish, why make it the blandest, most tasteless cut of them all? The more traditional bistro onglet (a hanger steak) would have been a better option. The fact that most of the entrees come with the same ho-hum sides – potatoes, carrots, and green beans – doesn’t help the situation.

Desserts (all $6) are headed by an excellent molten chocolate cake that’s good enough to make you forget that a few jillion restaurants around town are serving the same thing. From there it’s mostly diminishing returns, from the creme brulee (not eggy enough) and tarte tatin (not caramelized enough), to the rice pudding (not sweet enough). One good wild-card option: If you haven’t already had the poached pear appetizer, have it for dessert.

One quibble regarding logistics: Because the menu changes a bit each day, Mr. Ganic has retained his old custom of writing the offerings on a chalkboard, which has to be brought from table to table by the wait staff. On one particularly busy night two weeks ago, a friend and I were seated and then waited a good 10 minutes, maybe more, while another table perused the board. Would it really be so hard to have more than one board to go around? Or to hang the board on a wall, where it would be visible to all? Or, in this digital age, to just print out a new paper menu each night?

On the brighter side, the staff is unfailingly gracious and professional, and the generally low prices are even better values than usual at the moment, because Bouillabaisse 126 hasn’t yet secured its liquor license. You’re welcome to bring your own and avoid the usual restaurant markup. If you and a friend were to pick up a $10 bottle of wine on your way to the restaurant and then sit down for a three-course meal, you’d be hard-pressed to push the evening’s total tariff above $85.

Although the desserts and sides need work, Mr. Ganic’s track record suggests that he’ll whip them into shape soon enough. And based on a quick visit he made to our table one evening, it’s clear that he’s thrilled to be cooking again. “I couldn’t stay away,” he said. Neither should you.

Bouillabaisse 126, 126 Union St., Brooklyn; 718-855-4405.