Turn right for finer dining

When you visit Ink & Elm, the new tavern-restaurant in Emory Village, you’ll have to make a choice. Will it be Ink or Elm?

Venture left and you’ll hit Ink, the lower-priced, more casual tavern bursting with brown spirits and craft beers. Head to the right and you’ll enter Elm, the restaurant’s take on fine dining with a focus on wine and cocktails.

Overall, Elm shows the most promise of the two. On one of my visits, I was lucky enough to get in on the tail-end of muscadine season and experienced chef Stephen Sharp’s beautifully charred brick-cooked chicken ($22). The warm grapes added little blitzes of sweet earthiness to the chicken, weeping with moisture.

If instead you find yourself at Ink, go for items like the pot-roasty ricotta gnocchi with braised beef cheeks ($18) and the St. Louis pork ribs ($12), enlivened with bits of peanut and green onion. Those or the burger with Velveeta tang ($12) would do the trick to fill your belly if you came to sample the spirits.

For now, I’m going with Elm.