Cheap Eats

Neighborhood gem to savor

(Aram boghosian for the boston globe)

Every neighborhood should have a Bon Savor. You're greeted warmly, tempting kitchen aromas waft into the dining room, and diners at other tables - which are quite close - are having interesting discussions (you can't help but eavesdrop).

Oleg Konovalov and Ibonne Zabala, co-owners of the charming 19-seat storefront, are Russian and Colombian, respectively. So his grandmother's crepes are on the menu filled with creamy dulce de leche ($6.50). The cuisine is a mixture of French and South American, cooked by Colombian chef Alba Aranda, who spent seven years at the US Embassy in Bogota making that combination of food.

The owners are often asked about the name. Bon is French for good, savor is an English word. They decided to use both, says Zabala, because "we want to say how much we love French food." But the restaurant is "in America for Americans." So they mix it up and pronounce savor with a French accent.

It's the only affectation. Everything is cooked to order, so you may have to wait. But there's wine and beer, and anyway, what's your hurry? Lemony chickpea soup ($6), one of six vegetarian or vegan items, is a brimming, pleasing bowl of celery, onion, lots of lemon, and the legumes. Shrimp ceviche ($9) is full of citrus juices, packed into a wine glass with a quenelle of avocado.

We start admiring the chef when we taste flat-iron steak with a garlicky chimichurri ($18), the famous Argentine vinaigrette with lots of parsley and cilantro. The grilled meat, a favorite because it has a little chew, is perfectly rare. Veggie crepe ($14) is a pudgy packet of spinach, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomatoes with a light cheese sauce. Port chicken ($16), a nicely made dish, comes with a delicious dark red-grape sauce (the orbs look like cherries from a distance).

A winey whole-grain mustard sauce on grilled chicken breast ($17) makes us decide that since there's no Bon Savor close to where we live, we'll come back as often as we can. Beautiful mashed potatoes sit on a ruffle of spinach, garnished with one potato waffle. This is food you could be spending much more money for. But then you'd have room around the tables, you wouldn't have the coziness, and the charm would be gone.