Like many chefs in the Pacific Northwest, Anthony Demes took great advantage of the region’s distinctive bounty at his Portland, Ore., restaurant, Couvron, and quickly rose to the top of that small city’s culinary charts. Now, having moved the 9-year-old restaurant to Manhattan, he retains the earthy Northwestern style and dazzling technique that made Couvron such a hit.

The relocated restaurant, twice the size of the tiny original, has a new challenge to meet. In Portland, Couvron was recognized as one of the city’s best dining destinations; in New York, it competes with legions of other French eateries. Mr. Demes and his wife/co-owner, Maura Jarach, seem eminently able to distinguish Couvron from the horde through cooking alone. But with prices comparable to those of more upscale places, and ambiguously casual but stiff service and ambiance – portrait-hung yellow walls and damask upholstery combined with track lighting and exposed ducts give the room an unclear identity – the restaurant seems to fall between niches. Probably this is just a temporary symptom of transplanted-big-fish syndrome, but for now it can be unsettling.

The Oregon incarnation of the restaurant was known for its obligatory fixed-price tasting menus; here, everything is a la carte. The menu changes daily, but sticks to a circumscribed flavor palette typical of the Pacific Northwest: mushrooms, berries, nuts, game, and fish, all carefully chosen and of impressive quality. A bowl of luxurious chanterelle soup ($8), golden, frothy, and thick, and laced with numerous whole mushrooms, epitomizes the restaurant’s exacting ingredient-centric style, drawing out the chanterelles’ intense meaty, loamy flavor with no interfering complications. An Oregon quail appetizer ($12) develops the crisp-skinned, fresh-tasting bird’s distinctive delicate and savory taste with an understated approach; an accompaniment of buttery potato puree makes this an ample starter.

Big eye tuna tartare ($14), another hefty portion, arrives studded with potato chips, in a martini glass; the presentation may be slightly silly, but the fish is intensely flavorful, tinged with tangy mustard and capers, and even the chips have excellent substance. Truffled celery root puree ($10), served in the same chips-and-glass formation, is chilled and unctuous, though its refinement can turn to monotony by the end of the glass. As with the tuna, sharing is a good idea.

In addition to his sharply delimited flavor choices, Mr. Demes clearly has a predilection for round and stacked compositions. He slices rosy, full-flavored duck breast and fans it in a circle on top of a beautiful deep-green mound made from a soft veined leaf and surrounded by deep, winy sauce ($28). Cut into the tuffet, and out spill sweet chunks of walnut meat, thick, wheaty spaetzle, and shreds of chewy confit, creating a delightfully earthy base for the duck. The chef’s finesse shows again in a delicate snapper filet ($26) that has for its base a dense, faintly sweet cake of artichoke pieces. The mild tastes of the fish and the vegetable intertwine in a way that’s unflashy but finely calibrated.

The kitchen’s care isn’t quite as evident in its version of bouillabaisse ($23). Although the various shellfish clustered in the bowl are exquisite and blameless, the soup is loaded with arguably unnecessary cabbage and tinged with a high acidity that undercuts the hearty, soothing bearing it should have. Perfectly round and stacked atop a molded vermicelli cake, beef tenderloin ($28) complies nicely with the prevailing aesthetic. The meat, supernally tender and full of flavor, needs no help, though the flawless white asparagus on the plate certainly does no harm.

Although it may be difficult for wine novices to get a foothold here, with not many bottles under $40 and more than a few priced at four times that, Couvron can be a playground for interested drinkers. The sizeable list has fewer Northwestern bottles than one might hope (though there is an impressive library of pinots from Oregon’s Domaine Serene compiled especially for the restaurant), but it compensates with a broad French collection. The variety of wines by the glass (all $10) includes Kermit Lynch classic bright 2001 Cotes du Rhone, a layered Drylands sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, and a rich, golden Burklin-Wolf riesling.

Dessert ($10) exceeds expectations, from a napoleon layered with jasmine-scented creme brulee and topped with intense chocolate sorbet, to a layered chocolate genoise cake served with unearthly, barely sweet barley-malt ice cream, to a basic but impeccable apple crumble.

Couvron’s lively, nuanced food is worthy of New York’s best dining destinations. If the restaurant manages to find its niche, it may turn out to be one of them.

Couvron, 508 Greenwich St. (at Spring Street), 212-966-6225.