You know Rialto is going to be a special experience once you drive into the parking garage (“So clean, so modern, so well-lit,” murmurs a member of our party). And on the dramatic staircase of the Charles Hotel where Rialto is located. And from the warm welcome at the door. Fancy, well-dressed people who look vaguely familiar glide past to the tasteful dining room. But there are plenty of seats in the L-shaped lounge and bar where no reservation is needed and the full menu is available, along with cheaper bar offerings.

The unfussy creativity of the food dazzles us from the first small plates. Braised endive with honey and raisins is warm, complex, and inviting. In another, crisp fried shells of small, almond-shaped arancini enclose a surprisingly light puff of creaminess. A third offers the sweetness of perfectly prepared Nantucket Bay scallops, amplified by the tang of the red wine and blood orange sauce drizzled on the plate. Even a clear and simple heirloom bean soup with a tangle of chard contrasts strikingly with the salty funk of a tomato-anchovy crouton.

Entrees continue the same balance of flash and homeyness. Slow-roasted Long Island duck with braised escarole is falling-apart tender under miraculously still-crisp mahogany skin. Salty Sicilian olives and fingerling potatoes complete the dish. A single oversize duck raviolo is smothered with a game and black truffle ragu that’s both earthy and luxurious, the pasta so thin you can almost see the runny duck egg it encloses. Cacciuco is a subtly flavorful clear fish broth with lobster, clam, and mussels, made brinier by a disk of salt cod at the bottom. Tuscan steak, available in both small and large portions on the bar menu, is more conventional, elevated by a topping of shaved pecorino.

Desserts at even the best restaurants can feel sweetly familiar and safe (chocolate lava cake, I’m looking at you) but at Rialto they show just as much creativity as what came before. A light chocolate-chestnut cream puff is accompanied by crunchy almond-cocoa sorbet and a caramelized pear. Trifle in a parfait glass, layered with beautifully contrasting pink grapefruit and mango, and rose prosecco cream, is topped by a crisp cartaletta cookie. The walnut-apple bread pudding puts other, heavier versions to shame, with its glazed crab apple nestling beside the warm pudding, and a dice of jewel-colored dried fruit. From start to finish, chef Jody Adams’s kitchen delivers real artistry, never forgetting that its first job is to be simply delicious. Rialto will serve a three-course fixed price menu for $95 on its Valentine’s menu.

Across the river and a world away, Teranga shows that creativity can burn brightly at a modestly priced neighborhood restaurant. Chef Marie-Claude Mendy prepares the food of her native Senegal with passion and precision, combining bold flavors that are by turns familiar and surprising. Teranga is a cozy room and the friendly greeting and West African music warms us before we even sit down. We order drinks as we explore the menu. There’s a moderately priced list that includes several good African wines and Kenya’s Tusker beer. Of the nonalcoholic offerings, house-made juices are all terrific, including a sweet and sour Bissap juice made with sorrel, pineapple, and a sweet-spicy ginger-pineapple juice. Both are scented with vanilla sugar. Our server brings a basket of warm bread with a dipping vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic, and 25 spices. This is an accidental creation of Mendy’s, she says later on the phone, invented when she tried to replicate a departed chef’s sauce. We taste cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cumin, and ginger before we give up.

Appetizers bring an explosion of flavor. Crisp flounder croquettes come with an addictive cilantro-garlic sauce, and light puffy fritters made with black-eyed pea flower are just right for dipping in the tangy tomato salsa. Plump brochettes of shrimp are perfectly grilled and served with a snappy sriracha sauce.