Don’t let the cleverly redecorated setting — a former apothecary — fool you; Rx serves seriously good food.

4443 Spruce St., 215-222-9590
Tue.-Thu., 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri., 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat., 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Wheelchair accessible. Reservations for 6 or more. Visa/MC. BYOB.

Here’s a prescription for chasing away the winter blahs: Hike up to Spruce Hill, the corner of 45th and Spruce to be exact, to the old apothecary. It’s no longer a drugstore, but a witty little restaurant/takeout spot, fittingly named Rx. It’s the realization of a dream for the owner, Greg Salisbury, and from the looks of the traffic in and out one recent evening, it’s the answer to the dream of a great many locals.

But this is no "let’s put on a show in the barn" kind of operation; there are serious professionals behind the bright yellow walls. Salisbury has a long background in food, and the chef, Ross Essner, came from Bleu and has worked at a number of other venues.

In the front dining room, they’ve used not only sunny colors, but the antique artifacts of an apothecary — scales, dark wooden shelves holding mysterious jars, silk draperies to soften the otherwise barren ceiling. In the rear are two showcases — one holding a formidable display of takeout foods (chicken pot pies, ribs, mac and cheese, etc.), the other showing off the wildly caloric selection of homemade desserts and cakes.

But we came to have a meal, so the waitress recited the evening’s menu (it changes every few days), and we sipped the wine we brought and nibbled the Metropolitan pain de levain, which is reminiscent of Poilâne in Paris — it’s that good. The staff is small and eager to please, and Salisbury is right in the middle of the whole thing — greeting people, checking on takeout orders, helping to serve. It’s a very casual operation, but don’t expect terribly casual food.

The escargots ( $6), for example, are a huge serving of plump snails and shiitake mushrooms, lightly touched with cream and served in a puff pastry triangle. They are delicious, but almost impossible to finish, as are the mussels ($7), a great bowlful bathed in a coconut milk Thai curry broth that is spicy, but not too much so, with mussels that are large and tender. Roasted tomato soup ($5) is full of fresh tomato flavor, again touched lightly with a little cream and with floating shards of parmesan cheese in its rosy depths.

When we move onto the entrees, we again observe a happy dichotomy. In a restaurant dedicated to free-range chickens, organic vegetables and not a few vegetarian specialities, they do not hesitate to drop a bit of cream into their sauces, or to use Plugra butter ("It makes all the difference," says Salisbury). And truly, when we taste the mashed potatoes that accompany a fine piece of hanger steak ($16), we are blown away. A little Plugra goes a long way — a drop of it or cream to finish a sauce carries the sauce that much further and is ultimately more satisfying. The brown and rose steak, the creamy potatoes, the shocking green of garlicky spinach — a pretty picture, that. We love, too, the perfectly undercooked salmon ($16) that perches on a bed of cheesy, gutsy polenta and gets an anise-y kick from grilled fennel. The vegetarian special ($12) is interesting in that it wraps cubes of carrots, zucchini and eggplant in spring roll wrappers, then tips them over into attractive triangles and serves them up with an earthy quinoa salad. This dish, however, could have benefited from some of the cream that they were tossing around — to me it was bland beside all the other richly flavored dishes.

Of course we couldn’t refuse dessert, because Salisbury always has something new and different up his sleeve. This time, it’s Chilly Philly ice cream ($3) — two flavors of it that are made in Mount Airy. We choose vanilla with malt chips and find it very creamy and subtly touched with malt, which I have adored since I first had it at the soda fountain near high school. The chocolate pot de crème ($5) is another large portion of a deeply chocolate cross between a pudding and a mousse, and it’s crowned with whipped cream. Pineapple upside-down cake ($6), riding the crest of the comfort-food wave, is a good, moist, grandmotherly cake, just right for stirring up memories. We do note, but cannot manage, the Jewish apple cake, made by Essner’s mother, and the mile-high lemon cake from the outside source who also did the pineapple cake, and for whom Salisbury vouches. Another surprise comes with the citron tea ($2.50), which Salisbury says he discovered in a Korean restaurant, then found in a Korean grocery. It is a piping hot, restorative liquid that one companion thinks tastes a little like a "tart Orangina," and I can see its place on a snowy winter day, or even iced in summer.

Rx is fun. You can’t say that about too many places, but here there’s such a good feeling of discovery, of experimentation, of wishes fulfilled, that you can’t help but join in. And the fact that the food is very good, and very well priced, doesn’t hurt a bit. Look for an outdoor cafe in the summer — that should really reach hangout status.