by C. Menegakos

Food Notes: Closed: Broome Doggs, 250 Broome St. Apparently the nabe’s only big enough for one gourmet European hipster hotdog stand.

eirloom is meant to be the centerpiece of celebuchef Matthew Kenney’s multi-borough meat-free empire. But like Mr. Kenney’s personal life – which has sprawled across the gossip pages recently – the elegant Orchard Street affair feels a bit directionless. Heirloom has yet to figure out just how healthy it wants to be, just how trendy it wants to be, and where, exactly, on the raw-food to Ovo-Lacto continuum it wants to dwell. Despite winning awards, it recently decided to change chefs.

Ignore the turmoil, because what comes out of the kitchen is still very, very good. The new Heirloom is a little fresher and a little lighter, but do not expect lentil laden hippie food: This is extraordinarily sophisticated stuff, mostly accomplished without the shortcuts provided by eggs, butter and meat. Everything here is blended, melded and often magically transformed within an inch of its life. Plantains, squash, tofu, coconut, nuts and mushrooms form the bases for many dishes, providing richness and heft.

The plantains are pounded into gnocchi smothered in black-bean sauce in one entr?e; they serve as empanada wrappers next to ricotta-like tofu moqueca in another. White grapes and lemon liven up a bowl of hominy and polenta that plays the grains off one another, while crisp fried mushrooms replace croutons atop a rich broccoli-raab pistou. King oyster mushrooms then appear again in another guise, lending their musky base to a custardy tofu topping, spiked with citrus oil.

Desserts, all vegan and largely raw, show off the kitchen’s transformative powers to best effect. I defy anyone to belittle the apricot “cheesecake” or the carrot “ice cream” that accompanies little wedges of spice cake (both rely heavily on a chilled puree of coconut and nuts). There’s also an excellent, if pricey, wine list, and a list of specialty cocktails that feels right at home on Orchard Street.

That might be part of the problem: Barhopping kids are likely to be discomfited by food this subtle, while earthy purists may shrink from the model-ish hostess and the loud music. Heirloom still needs to find its way. But with food this good, and one of the neighborhood’s best gardens opening soon, hope springs eternal.

Heirloom, 191 Orchard Street (Houston & Stanton), (212) 228-9888; dinner daily; credit cards; reservations; no delivery; full bar; appetizers $8-11; mains $16-19