A Review of Thirty Acres, in Jersey City TAKING RISKS The menu at Thirty Acres offers dishes that challenge convention, and the décor is authentically Jersey City. JUST when I thought I had experienced almost everything the restaurant scene had to offer, I walked into a renovated pizzeria in Jersey City and ordered a spicy barbecued squid salad. The pickled pearl onions, jalapeño peppers and fresh, bright cilantro seemed to pop in my mouth, to set off intensifying waves of flavor. Here was a kind of cuisine I had never tasted in New Jersey. Thirty Acres is the source of the squid salad and other innovative dishes prepared by Kevin Pemoulie, who opened the restaurant with his wife, Alex, in April. During the previous 10 years, he had worked with the masters. From Akhtar Nawab at Craftbar, he learned to rely on seasonal and mostly local ingredients, he explained during a telephone interview after my visits. From David Chang at Momofuku Noodle Bar, where Mr. Pemoulie was chef de cuisine for almost five years, he learned to be daring. Instead of merely sautéing his greens in olive oil, he mixes them with mustard seeds he pickles and tops them with sweet and crispy onions, a remarkable ingredient he gets in plastic bags from the Pakistani grocer around the block. The results are rousing. I could eat bowlfuls of these greens. His other vegetable combinations are even more brazen. Broccoli, crisp and juicy from having been charred, raw, on the griddle top, arrives with hon shimeji mushrooms and - surprisingly - chicken livers puréed with cognac. They turned this simple dish into a deeply satisfying one. Now I want chicken livers with all my vegetables. The atmosphere inside Thirty Acres is as lively as the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood around it, and the décor is as authentically Jersey City. The base of the bar, for example, is constructed of wooden beams from an old local brownstone. It's an exciting room to be in, alive with the energy of an enterprise that is young but already knows it is going to be successful. Even the ever-changing menu at Thirty Acres is unconventional. Instead of the usual appetizer, salad and entree categories, it features - in various sizes - platters of cooked and raw ingredients, with a heavy emphasis on vegetables and fish. Two of the raw fish dishes on the menu surpassed even the pleasures of sushi. The Arctic char features slices of lightly cured fish mixed with trout roe, jewel-like cubes of pickles and sesame seeds pulverized with bits of Balthazar rye bread, all served beside a purée of beets and goat cheese. Such a hodgepodge, yet the ingredients only intensify, rather than detract from, the fish, which is rich, slightly salty and luxurious. The other great raw appetizer is the sea scallop marinated in lime vinaigrette and Cholula, a commercial hot sauce. Before you taste the tiny flecks of gold illuminating the scallop, you're likely to mistake them for some kind of roe. They are bits of country ham, shipped from Tennessee, dried overnight in an oven and then grated over the scallop. They give the dish a haunting, slightly smoky flavor. And what a novelty - a plate of raw fish that doesn't contain soy sauce. The only species of pasta served is cavatelli, and it is perfect: soft and buttery and, because of its density, more fun to eat than other kinds of pasta. I especially liked it with grilled asparagus and floppy, slippery oyster mushrooms. Another, heartier dish is Mr. Pemoulie's beautiful roasted trout, its interior filled with lemon slices and whole fronds of lemon thyme. The fish is fine on its own, but it is irresistible paired with lardons of bacon; we dug for them among the glazed baby turnips and onions as if they were diamonds. The poussin, roasted so that the skin is crispy and the meat is juicy, offers other treasures: fingerling potatoes cooked in duck fat and hearty hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Mr. Pemoulie mixes ingredients and takes chances, but sometimes his playfulness backfires. A bowl of fingerling potatoes meant to evoke the experience of eating a chili dog at a baseball game misses the vital ingredient - the excitement of the game. Without it, the dish is just chili. And although I love his perfectly cooked sweetbreads, which are crisp and creamy, the purée of white Spanish anchovies meant to dress them up overwhelms them. All I tasted was anchovy. "There's something a little dictatorial about offering just that one dessert," my friend Alice said at the end of our visit. I disagree. The lemony zing of the lone dessert, "Kevin's mom's lemon bars," with their rich and buttery crust, is the perfect note on which to end a meal that includes so many explosively exciting dishes. The only more appropriate ending to a meal at Thirty Acres would be fireworks. Thirty Acres 500 Jersey Avenue Jersey City (201) 435-3100 thirtyacres.tumblr.com THE SPACE Light and airy, cleverly renovated former pizzeria with exposed brick walls and church pews repurposed as benches. The restaurant seats 32 at the tables and 8 at the bar. One small step at the entrance; ample space between tables. THE CROWD Neighborhood types, casually dressed, mostly on the young side. Servers, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, are hip and attentive. THE BAR While the restaurant awaits its liquor license, customers may bring their own beer or wine. THE BILL Smaller dishes, $7 to $13; pastas, $14; larger platters, $16 to $22 (the more expensive ones are large enough for two to share). Dessert, $4. American Express, Visa, MasterCard and Discover accepted. WHAT WE LIKED Barbecued squid salad; sautéed greens; broccoli salad with chicken liver; grilled asparagus with carrot purée; Arctic char; sea scallop; cavatelli; roasted trout; poussin; lemon bars. IF YOU GO Dinner: Monday to Thursday, 6 to 10 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday brunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations are taken only for parties of five to eight; larger parties should call the owners. Street parking available.