It rises from the rooftop like a massive inverted funnel, a magnificent chimney of sorts, that served as a smokestack for the coal-burning power plant that was housed in this building nearly a century ago. They don't build smokestacks (or buildings) like this anymore, and it's a miracle that this magnificent piece of history has survived the urban wrecking ball. It is now the home of Powerhouse restaurant.

Powerhouse restaurant works on a certain level. As lovingly as the building was restored, the idea of a swank and spacious restaurant (the bar area alone is bigger than many restaurants) in this building has me scratching my head. If it had been done in a style of rustic urban chic, I could see it in this setting, but there is not one thread of rusticity here. In fact, Powerhouse is shockingly plush.

This is a restaurant where the service staff speaks in hushed tones (or maybe they just felt a little unsure). It's a restaurant where slightly raised voices cause heads to turn. And, because of this "hush and plush" the prices here are sky high. I paid $13 for a spinach salad. An 18-ounce prime rib goes for $44 (Yikes!). A filet of cod swims in at $29. This is high-end fine dining and then some.

The quality of the food and the creative pairings of flavors are excellent. Executive chef John Peters, formerly of Naha, Trio and Alinea, knows how to put it all together. This would be a good choice -- new, nice, low noise level -- if you're celebrating an anniversary or popping the question. And, if you will excuse the pun, Powerhouse is the ideal place for a power lunch, because those huge booths lining the walls offer a cocoon of privacy. And the lunch fare is fairly priced.

The menu, contemporary American in concept, has been tweaked and pared down more than a few times since Powerhouse opened in late November. Some of the dishes I dined on might not be available.

A couple of dishes that seem to be hanging in there (and for good reason, because both were excellent) are the heirloom squash soup and the pulled pork sandwich. The soup was creamy, richly endowed with flavor and substance (tendrils of Swiss chard) that got an extra push of goodness from the toasted pumpkin seeds and a hint of nutmeg.

The pork, spicy, smoky and quite delicious, was piled high on the bun and made higher still with the crunchy cabbage slaw riding on top. A fine-tasting potato salad laced with Pommery mustard kept the sandwich in good stead throughout.

The dinner menu rambles along at a nice pace with stops at interesting appetizers such as Kurobuta pork belly, a chunky, crispy slab of pork rimmed with fat (nice flavor) that got an escort of roasted apple slices and toasted barley.

Entrees include three choices each of game and seafood and four on the beef side. The double-cut Iowa pork chop is listed under "Game," so maybe in Iowa they shoot the pig. Nevertheless, this was one mighty hunk of pork. Perfectly cooked to the new temperature of pork (a tint of pink), so the flavor was in full bloom. A sprinkle of mustard spaetzel on top of the chop, a bed of braised red cabbage underneath and two wedges of persimmon quince (a nice fruit-and-pork pairing) rounded out a fine dish.

Equally good was the Atlantic cod. The cod itself could not have been fresher tasting or cooked more perfectly, but it was the terrific flavor accompaniments -- parsnips, chanterelle mushrooms, melted leeks and a delicious Meyer lemon oyster cream sauce that made this dish positively dynamite.

A dessert not to miss is the chocolate pecan pie. Not a pie as we know it, but a sweet and delicious arrangement of pecans and chocolates served in a cast-iron crock, with an oval of chicory ice cream alongside. A fine dessert.

Interesting but not a favorite was the spiced bread butternut squash panna cotta. The spicy flavor was pleasant, but the consistency, thick to the point of being puddinglike, didn't do it for me.

Pat Bruno is a free-lance writer, critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com.

Have you recently dined at Powerhouse? Let us know what you thought. E-mail weekendplus@suntimes.com with a 50-word review of your dining experience.