Chez Es Saada, the beloved, stylish East Village lounge, won’t be forgotten in a hurry, but Ludo, which has replaced it in its dramatic subterranean space on First Street, does it better in at least one respect: food. Chez Es Saada’s Moroccan menu suited the mood, but eating was hardly the point of the romantic, exotic spot. Ludo, which opened in May, has yet to attract the fashionable crowd that thronged its predecessor, but the creative menu already has the potential to hold its own against neighboring foodie destinations like Prune and the Tasting Room.

Ludo retains a lot of the former occupant’s atmospheric charm, although without its sensuous stylistic vision. The discreet front door opens into a plain, living-room-like ground-floor bar from which an inviting spiral staircase leads down to the main space. Once strewn daily with rose petals, the stair now shimmers with watery blue light. The downstairs is divided into a dining room, lounge, and bar, although without direction from the host, it’s difficult to tell which of the similar-looking rooms, outfitted with modern, streamlined banquettes, serves which function. Thick walls and heavy doors give a cavernous feel to the space, but attractive design touches like light metalwork and sprays of fresh flowers soften the mood.

The ghost of Chez Es Saada lingers too in the cooking, which retains savory, spicy North African roots. But Einat Admony, an Israeli-born and trained woman who was executive chef at Odea, brings a fanciful, open-ended approach that brings in inspirations from all over. Her creations can be as clever as they are flavorful, like a version of prosciutto-and-melon salad ($8) in which savory, deep-fuchsia prosciutto furls around balls of cantaloupe gelato thickly encrusted with ground almonds, adding flavor and textural interest to a classic pairing. She wraps two succulent tiger shrimp ($8) in crunchy kataifi, the shredded phyllo dough most often seen in Middle Eastern desserts, then lightens the dish with a piquant creamy sauce of yogurt and wasabi-flavored tobiko caviar: sort of a Japanese taramasalata, but who’s tallying global influences at this point?

The prosciutto and the shrimp come from a list of small plates that can double as shareable starters or as late-night bar snacks. Proper starters are just a bit bigger and proportionately costlier. Mesclun salad in a bright hibiscus dressing ($9) gets visual and savory appeal from tiles of fresh watermelon and feta cheese arranged like low, inviting garden walls around a summery field of salad. The restaurant’s empanada ($10) trades the usual bready shell for a friable one made of yuca dough, with a rich tropical aroma. Fresh corn is the highlight of the soupy filling, although merguez sausage plays a role as well. A pair of lamb kebabs ($12) look like scrawny lamb chops, but the meat is ground with spices and pressed back onto the rib bones before grilling, for a juicy, well-seasoned, sausage-like result. A smoky babaganoush provides accent.

Lamb features in the best of the main courses too ($28), where chops are drenched in a smooth, creamy sauce whose sharp, nutty taste comes from sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes) and lime; alongside, grape leaves wrap a more traditionally flavored, and very delicious, piece of roasted tenderloin. The seasoning of a 10-spice steak ($22) blends beautifully, with no obvious regional affiliation. Bits of Gorgonzola cheese scattered on the tender slices of skirt steak give the dish additional richness.

Slices of a rare duck breast ($25) have crispy edges and deep flavor that hardly needs the underlying pool of smoky-spicy harissa-like sauce. A mound of quinoa studded with apricots and candied walnuts plays the role of couscous. The skin of an arctic char filet ($24) gets a peppery rub before crisping; the meat of the fish, which is a lighter relative of salmon, is marvelously fine and moist. The accompaniment, a heap of pickled onion shreds and mild mushroom pieces, lacks the intense flavor of most of the rest of the restaurant’s offerings.

A chocolate soup ($8) shows Ms. Admony’s disinclination to pander: The warm, thin soup, spiced with cinnamon and chiles, has no hint of sweetness except from a floating scoop of coconut ice cream. It’s a challenging, interesting dessert. Other creations are less confrontational but equally deft, like strips of date wrapped around rich labne (concentrated “yogurt cheese”) into which she spears mini-tuiles with the peppery, un-desserty flavor of nigella seeds; or a swirl of kataifi and chopped pistachios served with ice cream and rose-petal jam.

An eclectic, worldly selection of wines accents the creative cooking tastefully. The food-friendly list is white-heavy and nearly all Old World, with more Austrian whites than American reds. A majority of the bottles are under $100; there’s a full page of half-bottles as well. A dozen by-the-glass choices are rich and varied. The reds are potent to back up the menu’s spice, and include Chateau Pierre-Bise’s gamay ($11), full of exuberant fruit, and K. Vintners’ syrah blend “House Wine” ($14), along with a couple of rich Bordeaux. Dry rieslings hold up the white end. “The Celeidh,” a Rhonestyle dark rose from cult-favorite family winery Garretson, has a remarkable smooth berry flavor; a glass is $11.

A choice of fruity $12 cocktails includes an emerald-green blend of pineapple juice and intense basil puree; a vivid, refreshing “ricky” made with Hendricks gin, lime, and cucumber; and a sweety, fruity white sangria with nectarine.

The prices, and the glamorous, if understated, space, suit a dining destination rather than a neighborhood haunt; and indeed, a discreet eavesdrop on neighboring tables reveals excited talk about hints of fenugreek and Wachau wines. The restaurant isn’t as popular yet as it could be, but the people who come come for the dining, not for the rose petals and models-cum-waitstaff that defined Chez Es Saada.

Ludo, 42 E. 1st St., 212-777-5617.