In 2002, when the restaurant Craftbar was new and small, I used to go there again and again for chef Marco Canora’s hot pressed sandwich of duck ham, Taleggio cheese, and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Since those days, Mr. Canora has moved on to success with his own Italian restaurants, Hearth and Insieme; and Craftbar, part of the Craft empire, has evolved into a fancier destination and spawned a chain of ‘wichcraft sandwich shops, none of which serve the duck ham.

I was very happy to be reunited with the sandwich at Mr. Canora’s latest spot, a wine bar named Terroir. That’s the culinary equivalent of going to see a favorite musician, one who’s been around for years, and unexpectedly getting to hear your favorite obscure song included in the performance. The sandwich comes on crusty rustic bread, tightly pressed until the mildly pungent cheese begins to ooze. The ham is gamy and salty, with an earthy richness replacing the sweet tanginess of pork ham; the chewy mushrooms, named for their poultry-esque flavor, accentuate that earthiness ($9).

Terroir, true to its name, seems snugly integrated into the East Village despite its recent vintage. The fact that Hearth, its parent restaurant, stands just a few doors down no doubt helps the child hold its playful stance with confidence. The design is modern — plywood counters and aluminum stools — and the bill of fare can be found in graffitied three-ring binders scattered around. Fast-food-style, patrons help themselves from pitchers of ice water, sheaves of paper napkins, and stands of knives and forks stationed on the counters.

The food mostly comes in snack sizes. What I’d call main courses are relegated to the bottom of the menu in a section called “Other Cool Stuff That You Must Eat.” There’s a nice selection of cheeses and charcuterie, for casual nibbling with a glass of wine. But it’s the cooked food, simple as it is, that excites me. Juicy, rosy-centered lengths of lamb sausage are fried till their skins, seasoned with fresh sage, have a fine breaded crunch ($7); they come without fuss, heaped in a bowl. So do little arancini ($7), golf-sized rice balls whose crisp amber surfaces split to show the shocking pink of beet-spiked risotto. A dab of blue cheese in the middle gives each ball a little kick.

Charred toast drenched with buttery olive oil forms the foundation for half a dozen bruschetta options. One comes heaped with a fluffy, savory salad of chiffonaded Tuscan black cabbage mixed with crumbles of mild pork sausage ($7); for another, naked toast is accompanied with a shot glass of superb chicken liver pâté, flavorful and not excessively rich, which the eater can spread to discretionary thickness.

With no disrespect to the duck ham sandwich, the best dish on the menu might be a giant fatty pork steak ($15) made from the remarkable pigs of activist “holistic” farmer Bev Eggleston. The rich meat needs nearly nothing; it’s just lavished with salt — I think I tasted some sage too — broiled briefly, and served luxuriating in its own juices. The meat is absurdly full of flavor. Three billiard-sized veal-ricotta meatballs ($15) are very light, as though they’re made from equal volumes of the two ingredients. The thin tomato sauce that covers them doesn’t penetrate the meat.

Co-proprietor and wine coordinator Paul Grieco’s wine list is well-priced and written to amuse, with clip art and irreverent paeans to obscure bottles, a few of which get their own pages. Chris Cannon of Alto guest-recommends a Campanian Falanghina and Gramercy Tavern’s Juliette Pope picks a Jura chardonnay.

Some 30 wines are poured by the glass or 3-ounce half-glass. Half a dozen of the glasses are $5 at happy hour and $8 thereafter; the rest fall in an experimentation-friendly range from $10-$25. I dropped the latter sum on a 1998 gran reserva Rioja that, for all its enchanting fragrance, still tasted young and brittle. But the $5 Cinsault is worth twice the price.

Terroir does what it does simply and very well. It’s like having my old haunt back, but with an added friendliness that Craftbar never had.

Terroir (413 E. 12th St., between First Avenue and Avenue A, 646-602-1300).