Seasoned and seared tuna steak served with a black-eyed pea ragout, a melon salsa and chipotle crème fraiche is typical of the Southern-style fusion cuisine served daily at Corabelle.

CORABELLE Location: 222 S. Church St. Phone: 704-333-3848 Fax: 704-333-3847 Details: Late-night menu served after dinner Monday- Saturday, till 1 a.m. (2 a.m. on Panther home game days) Reservations accepted; separate bar area; late-night entertainment. Prices: Lunch: $6-$12. Dinner: $16-$23. Hours: Lunch: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner: Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5-11 p.m.

Corabelle has arrived in Uptown Charlotte. Holding fast to her Southern roots, she's settled in at the corner of Third and South Church streets. She's brought with her Southern fusion cuisine - that's food from the Old South - including grits, greens, black-eyed peas and the like, blended with a host of flavors from around the world.

The idea for a restaurant featuring fusion cuisine with a Southern twist came from Leslie Franklin, one of Corabelle's owners. She has fond memories of her childhood in nearby Concord, especially Sunday afternoon family dinners at her grandmother Cora Bell Coleman's house. Coleman cooked for a family of 14, and traditional Southern cuisine was her specialty.

Recalling the flavors, aromas and aura of her grandmother's kitchen, Franklin wanted to put together a restaurant where Southern roots could meet up with the flavors of the rest of the world. She partnered with Trevor Maguire, now the restaurant's general manager. Together they recruited chef Chad Rowland as a creative consultant and Michael Benson as executive chef. With sous chef Christian Garcia and a host of hard working kitchen personnel and waitstaff, Franklin's dream became a reality. The results are good - not four-star yet - but on the way. The restaurant has been open for almost two months, and while they are still working out some kinks, dinner or lunch at Corabelle is well worth your consideration.

The lunch menu features several appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and several entrées. If you are looking for something quick, easy and light on the pocketbook, there is also a tasty chef's luncheon buffet for $6 per person. The featured entrée varies daily and is served with a choice of two sides.

RATING SCALE Excellent, a must try. Above average, worth consideration. Average, but nothing spectacular. Just okay. Poor, not recommended.

Top picks for starters are the Gruyère grit cake topped with shrimp and tasso gravy or the pan-seared zucchini and carrot cake served with a tomato cream sauce. The grit cake is soft and cheesy, making it a perfect foil for the slightly spicy gravy made with tasso ham. The zucchini and carrot cakes come two to a plate and have a light, sweet taste, made all the richer dipped in tomato cream sauce. Both of these are featured as lunch and dinner appetizers and make for a great beginning to either meal.

Salads at Corabelle are fresh, crisp and crunchy. They run the gamut and provide a myriad of flavor. There is a basic green salad, a Southern Caesar, a cornbread panzanella or bread salad, mixed greens with apples, pecans and blue cheese and an arugula salad with ovenroasted tomatoes. Each is made with a unique, flavorful dressing. My advice? Ask for dressing served on the side. While the flavors are fine, the proportion of dressing to salad is generous and a bit overwhelming.

Lunchtime sandwiches are superb, particularly when served with a side of the sweet potato fries - the best I have ever tasted. Enjoy your fries with a grilled tuna sandwich, an applewood smoked bacon BLT wrapped in a flour tortilla, a fabulous venison burger, a great beef cheeseburger or, for the vegetarian crowd, an interesting black-eyed pea burger served with a chipotle sour cream. (The chipotle cream is also quite nice as a dipping sauce for those fabulous fries.)

Recommended entrées at lunch and dinner feature a rich and creamy fettucini tossed in a tasso maque choux (or fried corn salad) served with a grilled breast of chicken, a seasoned grilled tuna served with blackeyed pea ragout, melon salsa and chipotle crème fraiche, or rich spicy sour cream. Both are excellent and provide interesting combinations of flavor.

At dinner, meat lovers will enjoy the beef filet medallions served with grilled veggies, a sweet potato croquette and a peppered blackberry wine sauce or the farm-raised venison medallions grilled and served with sautéed arugula, julienned carrots, roasted new potatoes and a spicy brown mustard demi-glace. If your tastes run to real Southern seafood, try the pan-fried cornmeal crusted catfish, served with a Gruyère grit cake, grilled veggies and a tasso hollandaise - it got high marks from our group all around.

We found the lamb, on the other hand, while perfectly prepared to order, to be on the saltier side of our palates, as was the steamed dumpling appetizer. The lamb itself was grilled just fine, but it was bathed in a mushroom ragout sauce which was over seasoned and over powered the tender taste of the lamb. Same goes for the dumplings. Stuffed with a mix of collard greens, water chestnuts, corn, lemon grass and shrimp, we anticipated a real taste sensation. Unfortunately, too much soy sauce weighed down the delicate blend of flavors and left us asking our server for another glass of water.

That said, though, service at Corabelle is good, and waitstaff are friendly, efficient and obviously trying hard to please as the restaurant goes through the normal growing pains every new establishment faces. Take your server's recommendation as we did and order dessert - at least one for the table to share. Of the half dozen or so on the list, don't miss the chocolate pecan pie or the fried cheesecake with an accompanying fruit compote - flavors change daily.

A late-night menu makes Corabelle a fine place to stop after a performance at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. After dinner there is an abbreviated menu - mostly appetizers, soups and salads - and the bar is open till 1 a.m., with cocktails available till 2 a.m. on Panther home game days.

A Southern Caesar salad is a great way to start lunch or dinner at Corabelle.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "South Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@southcharlotteweekly.com.

SCW photos by Sean Busher.

This article first appeared in "South Charlotte Weekly" on October 30, 2003. "South Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in South Charlotte and Uptown.

Copyright 2003 by South Charlotte Weekly and WSOCTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.