TABLES FOR TWO.

CREMA -- 111 W. 17th St. (212-691-4477)--Julieta Ballesteros made her name as the chef at Mexicana Mama, a tiny restaurant in the Village whose homey atmosphere belied the sophistication of the cooking. Her new spot, in Chelsea, is swankier, with adobelike walls painted a livid orange, and a bar and lounge in front where guests can sip expensive cocktails or tequilas. Banquettes thread up one side of the narrow room, facing an open kitchen, where Ballesteros, a diminutive figure of nunlike severity, marshals her small kitchen staff. Perhaps on a dare, two tables have been squeezed into a back garden the size of a fire escape.

Ballesteros promises to deliver refined Mexican cuisine, which essentially means nicely executed, fairly familiar dishes; Mexican cooking, although regionally diverse, centers on a few staple processes. The menu's corn-tortilla dishes are uniformly excellent--including long crispy flautas with shredded chicken and mini tostadas bearing sauteed scallops topped with a gorgeously balanced mix of aioli and mango salsa--although the chips that accompany an order of salsa or guacamole are oddly insipid. A few ingredients still unfamiliar to most ...