Charlie White's, Ponsonby

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

Otto, youngest maitre d' on the Ponsonby Strip, in the newest restaurant, steers customers to their table and comes back at the right moment, after the food's arrived and first tastes taken.

Not with that irritating, faux-interested routine of "Is everything okay with your meal, guys?". He pads quietly to the table, raises a quizzical eyebrow, the inquiry unspoken. Hearts melt.

Krishna, Mark, Pru, don't worry, Otto won't be taking your job at Prego or Rocco or Vinnies. He's the schnauzer who hangs out at Charlie White's, the bar and restaurant Richard Riddiford and Nikki Rhind have opened on the corner site occupied by the Anglesea Grill for the past eight years, and by Ivan's for 35 years before that.

Now there was a neighbourhood restaurant. Ivan Yelavich and his sister, Bozenka, began serving steaks and chips with a plate of white buttered bread on the side in 1960, and closed up in 1995. But they're not forgotten. This steak-driven brasserie's menu has a section headed "Retro" with just one entry so far - Grilled Ivan's scotch steak with skinny fries, onion rings and fried egg.

After the Grill's dark, fishing-lodge interior, a paint job, and windows framing the vista of roofs, ridges and towers down to the harbour have lightened the room, turned it into a relaxing place to be on a spring evening. Bar and tables are almost filled by seven on a Monday night, mostly middle-aged locals doing nothing for the Strip's reputation as home of the Bright Young Things.

Charlie White's owners say their food has been designed for the health-conscious, dine-out crowd, sympathetic to the low or no-carb diner which explains why we weren't offered bread to start. And those who have read earlier symphonies in the key of Duck Major and Potato Minor from this keyboard might suspect that there won't be much sympathy for the devils of Atkins or South Beach. True; if people want to try fad or money-making diets, I suggest that consenting adults do it in the privacy of their own kitchens and not when the rest of us are out to enjoy ourselves.

The menu is down to Jan Gardner, who ran the Moa Room in San Francisco's Mission District, returned to New Zealand and is publishing her first cookbook next year. Head chef is Neven Letica, moving across town after running VBG's kitchen in Parnell for the past four years. And they do have less puritan offerings: a cassoulet with the requisite amount of duck fat, and oodles of cream in a butterscotch pudding.

Ann's salad - roasted baby beetroot, rocket, red onion, soft goat's cheese, raspberry vinaigrette - was a gorgeous combination of light tastes. I know because the entree I'd ordered - tempura green beans in a sweet and sour mustard sauce - wasn't. Batter soggy, sauce gluggy.

Ann reckoned her New York cut, rubbed with spice before hitting the grill, served with a light marrow and zinfandel sauce, was "the best steak I've had in years," so she can do her own barbecuing this summer. My stronger slab of aged angus, traditionally featuring grilled blue kikorangi, portobello mushrooms and beans, was pan-seared half past the medium rare I'd asked for. The side dish was lumpy and undercooked. Serves me right for ordering spuds in a low-carb restaurant.

If Otto had still been around, I might have called him over for a quiet word in his ear. Perhaps the Roaring Meg pinot noir 03 ($52 bottle) had mellowed me. Riddiford's wine trade connections - he opened Tuatara and the Gypsy Tea Rooms in West Lynn - mean an above-average selection and everything's available by the glass.

So, there are rough edges to smooth over the next few weeks, but Charlie White's promises to match its owners' mission statement, and become a very pleasant place to spend summer evenings with a glass and a bite.

Oh, and who is Charlie White? Someone as important as Otto. He was a younger Nikki Rhind's much-loved horse.

Open: Mon-Fri 7am-1am, weekends 8am-1am (no reservations except weekday lunch)

Owners: Richard Riddiford, Nicola Rhind

Maitre d': Nicola Rhind

Head chef: Neven Letica

Food: Low-carb brasserie

On the menu:

Chilled prawn cocktail with guacamole and tomato chilli granita $14; grilled chipotle and pepper skirt steak, steamed asparagus and roasted anchovy tomatoes $12.50; roasted brined pork belly with Chinese black bean and ginger sauce, pea shoots $15

Vegetarian: Soups and salads

Wine: Some surprises, reasonable prices. All available by glass

Music: Louis Armstrong, Buena Vista

Parking: Ponsonby streets, but beware of upsetting the natives

Bottom line: Welcome to the neighbourhood. Richard Riddiford - he of Tuatara and Gypsy Tea Rooms - and Nikki Rhind take over the famous Ponsonby Rd-Anglesea St corner site and turn it into a friendly, bustling local bar and low-carb brasserie. When the opening kinks are sorted, it promises to be fun. Good.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, fashion and beauty in viva, part of your Herald print edition every Wednesday.