An uptown look for downtown

The design of this storefront eatery is the visual equivalent of a lick of cool jazz, with a hint of Sinatra styling. Shades of aquamarine, baby blue, tan, and black predominate, the glass tables have eye-catching glass candle holders and vases, and the chairs’ upholstery echoes the color theme. A block glass partition separates a bar from the dinning area, and an open-air kitchen can be glimpsed in the back of the room.

But what’s this: No exposed red bricks? Can this be Lowell?

Even without the mill city’s signature motif, this nearly two-year-old restaurant adds to Lowell’s growing collection of dining destinations with small, intimate settings. Centro has outside seating for warm weather, and the restaurant frequently hosts live music and receptions for the artists whose work is featured on the walls on a rotating basis.

Maybe the look and feel of Centro is Daddy-O cool, but this is a place to fill the belly as well as soothe the eyes. Even cool cats like comfort food.

For dinner, we got down to business with an appetizer of the Caribbean beef kebob ($8) with juicy fried plantains and coriander lime sour cream. The chunks of well-flavored beef were artistically presented beside a scarlet swirl of beet oil. We also tried the sweet potato sampler ($7.50), which dresses up this lowly vegetable for a night on the town. The sweet potato and mascarpone-filled crespelle (or crepe) came with a sweet potato fritter with walnut cream sauce; it was all quite rich and sweet, almost like starting with dessert. You can also start with duck confit spring rolls ($8.50), or the risotto of the day (prices vary).

For an entrée, we ordered the ultimate in comfort food: the mac ’n’ cheese with grilled spicy steak tips ($20), designed to satisfy any Wonder Bread-raised inner child. This was not, however, your mother’s macaroni and cheese; first of all, there’s no macaroni. Centro’s version, made with orecchiette pasta and a blend of cheeses, came out piping hot with a crusty top. The steak tips were chewy and rich; the more they soaked in the accompanying Thai spicy oil, the greater the punch — a nice counterweight to the blander mac ’n’ cheese. (Because, let’s face it, should mac ’n’ cheese be made any other way? We didn’t think so.)

The plate of sautéed scallops and shrimp with wild mushrooms ($22) was accented with heaps of thick, chewy noodles, and plentiful bits of morels, shiitakes, porcinis, and portobellos in the Madeira sauce added a touch of the forest to the seabed. The sautéed chicken breast with cheese ravioli ($18) was almost an overload of richness. The dough of the cheese raviolis nearly matched the filling in creamy texture and it all blended well with the sauce’s green olives and the dots of roasted butternut squash (a surprising but flavorful accent) that enhanced the chicken.

We were stuffed, but on the dessert recommendation of our waitress we ordered the tiramisu ($7), a special creation of chef/owner Patricia Stella. The concoction was fluffy, rich, and, above all, comforting — yet surprisingly not as heavy you might anticipate and certainly not as heavy as the sweet potato appetizer. For spring, Stella will introduce a new dessert, a brûlée butterscotch pudding ($7).

Be aware that Chef Stella changes Centro’s menu seasonally, and the dishes described above will be changing ingredients slightly with the advent of warm weather. But always, Centro offers a prime rib special on Sunday nights ($21). Cool digs without hearty chow would be cold comfort, indeed.