When I first heard about owner Greggory Hockenberry’s plan for Varietal, it sounded like a birthday party where the child insisted on three separate performers, all going at once in one little room. In a whirlwind of stimuli, the Chelsea restaurant brings together a well-known executive chef and a well-known pastry chef, along with an unusually expansive wine list. So I wasn’t surprised to hear reports from early diners there that the act was somewhat uncoordinated. The show has improved in the two months it’s been open, but complication is still the watchword.

The two chefs work in very different idioms. Ed Witt, who was executive chef at Il Buco, is known for his devotion to high-grade artisanal ingredients, and traditional preparations that highlight them. Here, though, he seems to take some tricky cues from pastry chef Jordan Kahn, who, coming to Varietal from Chicago’s avant-garde Alinea, juxtaposes elements such as beer and chrysanthemum in dramatic desserts that evoke abstract paintings. As if that duo in the kitchen weren’t drama enough, Mr. Hockenberry’s very impressive wine service, with 80 poured by the glass, provides an ostensible theme for the restaurant, which is reflected in its name and in the extremely spare space’s only ornamentation: a pair of wine-glass light fixtures, and loving close-up photos of grapes on the vine.

One of Mr. Witt’s tricks is to spotlight an ingredient by preparing it in two complementary ways, side by side on one plate. He sears one of a pair of superlative scallops ($14), with a cumin crust and a wash of squash purée; the other is served raw, diced and reassembled with some pomegranate seeds among the dice. A preparation of rabbit, from the $75 tasting menu, pairs intense wine-braised shreds of meat with a couple of lighter, richer pieces prepared separately. It’s an effective technique, especially when brought to bear on such fine raw materials. Other dishes, though, sacrifice such good sense for a playfulness that’s enjoyable but distracting. A tortuous, aimless starter the menu titles “Chickpea” ($12) contains exactly four specimens of the namesake ingredient, joined by crunchy slices of green papaya, dried Meyer lemon wedges, and a long roseate tube of hearty lamb mousse with a light, pasty texture.

The mushrooms in a hen-of-the-woods mushroom main dish ($26) take center stage, at least — two ripply oyster-colored hedgerows trisecting the plate — but their tops are crisped with a bacony taste that obscures the fungus’s lovely natural flavor. A quasi-Asian accompaniment of crunchy lotus-root rounds steeped in sake adds worthwhile contrast, but a line of grayish puréed avocado does nothing for the dish. Tobacco in the recipe for braised pork belly ($31) gives it an interesting spicy tone that tingles on the palate long after the plate has been cleared away. The fatty meat itself tastes cleanly of pork and of the South, complemented by collards, sweet roast pork loin, and a shatteringly crisp piece of crackling.

Mr. Kahn’s desserts intentionally evoke modern art, with sculptural arcs and twists, expressionistic drizzles and dollops, and names like Celery Root Abstract and White Chocolate Cubism. Each one contains a savory curiosity ingredient, but the flavors are balanced enough that the unconventional element adds weight and grounding rather than conflict. Eggplant complements grape, we learn; flax suits chocolate. The celery root in the Abstract ($12) appears just as a background taste anointing a central cube of genoise, while other elements — tuile, toffee spiced with sweet fenugreek, and ice cream made with wood-smoked cream — occupy the center of the palate’s attention. Tall sheaves of dried, candied shiitakes stand erect in a “chocolate gel” ($13); vivid pear sorbet and a jelly capsule of pear purée loiter alongside. The strong-flavored mushroom does clash a bit, if only because its dirty-woodsy taste lasts in the mouth much longer than the sweet flavors do.

In an effort to keep the restaurant’s foci separate, Varietal pours its 80 glasses of wine only at the front wine bar (where the full dinner menu is offered). Diners in the dining room are restricted to a sublist of half that length — or to some 150 bottles, most of off-the-beaten-track provenance. The pricing, and the hovering servers, encourage exploration: It’s unusual to see so many bottles under $60 (and so many of them outstanding) at a restaurant where so many dishes push $40, although the list has its splurge bottles, to be sure. In the dining room, the $45 pairings that accompany the tasting menu are an excellent starting point. After the meal, diners can retire to the wine bar, which offers an array of engaging flights, including one that’s free of charge to drinkers who can identify its three pours.

With three sets of fireworks competing in a near-colorless space, the restaurant faces a struggle to work holistically, but it’s trying. Service, a rough spot on my first early visit, has been greatly streamlined. True, no streamlining could make these culinary curiosities appeal to those who favor plain deliciousness over intellectual stimulation, but jaded diners hungry for something unusual will find plenty to dote on here. There’s a lot going on.

Varietal (138 W. 25th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-633-1800).