I was a bit slow getting to Sister Sorel, the bar next door to Tremont 647, because the word was that it’s mostly a way to sneak into a fancy Tremont 647 meal without a reservation. And in fact, the servers at the Sister Sorel bar will hand you the big menu from next door, and make a good effort to get those giant plates onto the little café tables and narrow bar for you. But the big flavors developed by chef Andy Husbands actually work better for me in the more modest portions (at half the neighboring establishment’s prices) on the six-item " Dinner@Sister Sorel " menu.

Husbands was part of the early days at the East Coast Grill, and he works a lot with smoke, chili peppers, and tropical world-beat condiments — sometimes all at once. You can get overwhelmed by his spit-roasted half-chicken ($18) at Tremont 647, but the spit-roasted quarter-chicken ($9.50) at Sister Sorel is just right. We picked the leg quarter, and it was plump and juicy, with a distinct flavor of smoke (basted with bacon grease?), a peppery breading, and a bit of homemade ranch dressing on top. The garnish was a fried triangle of grits/polenta flavored with andouille sausage — more smoke, more pepper, a good touch of grease. It also came with a little salad of fresh pea tendrils. Now that’s a lot of action for under $10; certainly a light supper, but one that leaves room for dessert or drinks. Or it may just leave room for the bread basket, which recently featured a marvelous onion focaccia, each slice like the best bite of a remembered bialy. With a large, onion-seed cracker bread and a salty, soft rosemary loaf, this bread basket turns any small plate into a European-style dinner.

The " burger daddy " ($9) is big enough to deserve the name: the excellent beef again has a hint of smoke flavor and spice, entirely apart from the chipotle mustard on the side or the jalapeño cheese on top. It’s served on an ideal bun with grilled sweet onions and most of a potato cut into long steak fries (with added garlic).

Vegetarians will dote on the " tempura fried vegetable board " ($8). Fried vegetables are presented like sashimi, on a wooden tray with wasabi, pickled ginger, and both a traditional soy dip and a hot-sweet dip more typical of Southeast Asia. Ours didn’t arrive crispy, but the frying was light and greaseless enough. A recent selection was three spears of asparagus, two large chips of red bell pepper, and two substantial slices of sweet potato. The menu calls the shrimp scampi ($11.50) " as traditional as it gets, " but I’ve never had scampi like this. The medium-size shrimp are kept soft and plump, and they’re sautéed with yet another hint of smoke, emphasizing the meaty flavors of shrimp and garlic. The underlying linguine is nicely made and dressed with chunks of tomato.

Roast-chicken chili ($9) is quite spicy, with plenty of cumin as well as chili, and some tomato in the sauce. The chicken nuggets were savory enough to pick out, which I found myself doing because the beans were still almost crunchy. The garnishes were fried tortilla chips, which take on the qualities of flaky pastry, sour cream, and shredded scallions. As for the Asian salt-and-pepper-fried skirt steak ($12), I actually recommend paying for the Tremont 647 version ($24) because that comes with Husbands’s giant tater tots, two truly surreal monuments to the comfort-food idea. Some other temptations of the Tremont 647 menu, from this perspective, are the momos ($7); Tibetan beef dumplings; anything with barbecue or gumbo in the name; and the corn-crusted oysters ($10) or Woodbury clams ($9) — servings include only three of either, but they’re incredibly succulent. The oysters are fried and topped with caviar, while the clams are steamed with a little pepper broth and accompanied by pastry-like tortilla triangles.

Drinks are likewise choice in most dimensions, although I think Boston tap water with ice actually tastes better than Italian Panna still mineral water ($4.50). The wine list is world-beat, too, with a range of prices that permits three Alsatian gewürztraminers ($38–$83). By the glass, you can’t beat the 2000 Boeckel pinot blanc ($7.50 glass/$28 bottle), with the structure of a fat-year Chablis. On the red side, the ’99 Tatachilla merlot ($7/$20) from Australia is just a bowl of black cherries — that is, in the wine sense of black-cherry bouquet. A 1999 KWV pinotage ($7.50/$28) from South Africa is much softer and more generally berry-scented.

If you want dessert (or an appetizer or larger entrée), you must resort to the Tremont 647 menu, where you can find something like the impeccable crème brûlée ($7), served with a couple of homemade biscotti. Or the elegant and rich banana-caramel bread pudding ($7) on a pool of pastry cream. Or the recent " blood-orange trio " ($7): sherbet in a tuile cup, a ramekin of rich sour-orange cream, and sections of the wine-dark orange on a coconut wafer. I do not approve of the blueberry crème brûlée ($7) or the Boston cream pie ($7).

Sister Sorel is intended to be a neighborhood bar, and the atmosphere that has evolved in this trendy locale has the background music and youthful appearance of the TV show Ally McBeal. A really notable feature is that the servers are not only young and attractive, but exceptionally able and helpful with the large plates and tiny tables. The room is not much more than the sum of bare brick, candles, and dark paint, but that seems to be all we need with lively food and people who also dress in dark colors.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com