While Fusion Grill offers traditional “Chinese food” on the order of lunch specials like shrimp with lobster sauce served with rice, egg roll, and soup, the full menu of entrees and appetizers that puts the well-known next to the never-thought-of, is what makes this restaurant interesting. After a few lunches and dinners, I have learned that risking the unusual can be rewarding, while some classics retain their power at the former Szechuan House at 515 8th Street, SE. And, at a restaurant where you can get a meal for two from $25 to $75 depending on your choices, learning the ropes can be a good thing.

I started my adventures with the crab rangoon, which years ago was my first take-out order from a Chinese restaurant. Honestly, I judge all such restaurants on the quality of that dish and decided to try that at this self-proclaimed fusion restaurant as well. The result was the best crab rangoon I have ever tasted. Crisp wonton wrappers surround meat-rich insides, and somehow the perfectly fried exterior is just hot while the filling is warm and creamy. Most of the cream cheese was reserved for the tart dipping sauce, one I would have dipped anything into. This particular dish was so good that I indulged more than once even during my “review” meals.

Trotting along the appetizer menu brought some of the most memorable dishes out of this kitchen. A portion of Thai-style steamed mussels was large enough to share and came with a pleasant curry flavor upfront and left a warm heat after each bite. The accompanying pita triangles, while unusual, were an excellent way to soak up the peppery broth. Two avocado dishes, the eel and avocado and the avocado and jicama salad, offered balanced textures and flavors with the fatty fruit. The tart, crunchy green apple and jicama, coupled with bitter greens, in the salad were refreshing on a too-warm fall evening, and the sweet eel countered by the creamy avocado is a fine start to a meal regardless of weather.

Not all beginnings were flawless at Fusion Grill. The summer rolls came with too many vegetables for my taste, and though each bit of the filling was carefully, beautifully prepared and assembled, that skill didn’t make up for the tasteless crunch of carrot overwhelming the softness of noodles and the meatiness of shrimp. This standard offering in Southeast Asian restaurants in the U.S. is often a stand-by for me, but these summer rolls were not much worth standing up for. Their sauce, however, was so good I would have dipped white bread into it just to finish it up.

The soups on offer here were surprisingly and consistently good. The spicy corn and crab chowder hid all its fire in the bottom of the bowl, below the creaminess of sweet corn and lumps of sweet crabmeat. The miso soup with asparagus is a nice twist on a classic, as the bitterness of asparagus changed my perception of miso soup. And isn’t that what fusion food is supposed to do -- change our understanding of traditional ingredients and dishes?

There are drink specials on offer each evening. The standard mojito here is excellent and non-traditional, with an extra hint of sweetness brought by a splash of lemon-lime soda. Many of the other cocktails are worth a taste, but I also ventured onto the wine list to find a delightful shiraz from Barossa Valley, a welcome surprise after some disappointing glasses of both red and white from Argentina.

The entrees also show the creative “fusion” of the restaurant’s name. My dining companion is a huge fan of lamb. He tried the lamb chops in raspberry and hoisin sauce, wondering if the fruity sweetness would be cloying. This meeting of flavors, however, was not too sweet, not too spicy. The rich, dark sauce was balanced; the meat juicy and tender. No hint of honey ham or apple-glazed pork here. The crown of chops arrived with lovely vegetables that he polished off before even touching the meat, a testament to their flavor and preparation.

I shared his fear of sweetness with the sea bass with lychee sauce. This small tropical fruit often reminds me of a too sweet pear, and the ripe, halved fruit on top of an accompanying salad kept all of its concentrated flavor, but the “sauce” for the fish, which was really more like a chopped lychee and herb mix, was, again, remarkably balanced. Eating the fruit pieces and greens with this was a nice flavor match, but the cellophane lo mien brought a bit too much salty soy for the other elements.

The duck linguine, like many of the dishes at Fusion Grill, offered well-treated protein and crispy vegetables and didn’t suffer from a texture or flavor imbalance either. Perhaps it suffered from too much balance, as my dining companion found it satisfying but not as interesting as such a dish could have been from this kitchen. He wanted spice or flavor contrast, something that so many of its fellow menu items do so well. A little tweaking might be in order to make this creative dish more adventurous.

One entrée that was certainly better off on my plate and in my mouth was the “Mandarin Madness.” Available with several protein options, the description of this dish on the menu sounded sweet and almost candied, but the actual offering is a fiery version of the classic orange chicken. I asked for the textured soy protein, which is not tofu here. It has the texture of chicken and stands up nicely to the quick fry and coating of sticky sauce. The beautifully shaped tower of white rice that accompanied it was perfectly cooked as well as nice to look at. Even the next day, the pristinely packed leftovers were a treat.

A couple of fine finishers to meal are to be found on the dessert menu. My personal favorites were the green tea ice cream, smooth and creamy and a little bitter, just as it should be.  This familiar flavor was just what I expected it to be. On the wilder side is “Hairy Ginger,” a dessert our server explained as a ginger-touched flan topped with spun sugar. That hair was a crystalline cotton candy arching across a tart custard that was worth every calorie. I even ate the surrounding berries, which were juicy and ripe and almost made up for the sinful-seeming dessert.