When PR powerhouse Martha Sullivan recently pitched me on a recipe-cum-interview with Charlie Redd, the new chef at Coda Bar and Kitchen in the South End, I said OK. I gave the place a ho-hum critique when it opened in 2007 - and never went back.

But when I spoke on the phone with Redd, former sous chef at Harvest, he was so passionate about sourcing local ingredients and cooking seasonally, it piqued my interest. Perhaps I should check out Coda again. Perhaps things were better with a new person behind the stove.

They are. The food (which I described two years ago as vacillating between “austere and overwrought”) has improved. With more New England influences. Redd hasn’t entirely gutted the original Coda menu - you will still find such (same old) Hub bistro staples as steamed mussels, mac ’n’ cheese and steak frites. But you will also find items that reflect Redd’s locavoraciousness.

Velvety, butterscotch-colored sugar-pumpkin soup ($5), drizzled with brown butter and garnished with croutons and a fried sage leaf. Beer and zucchini fritters ($5) - their mushy, soaked-bread consistency and intense beery flavor is oddly comforting and delicious.

It seems you can’t be a young chef in Boston these days without making your own charcuterie. Redd, 33, is no exception.

His “housemade” charcuterie plate ($10) boasts Jack Daniels-marinated chicken liver and cardamom-cumin country pork pates and a mound of unctuously fatty duck rillettes. With homemade pickles - Southern bread and butter cukes, spicy-sweet red and green bell peppers and corn piccalilli - grainy mustard and toasts.

A local lettuce salad ($6) of greens, slivered apples and radishes in sherry vinaigrette couldn’t be more autumnal, or simple.

It’s when Redd strays from simplicity that his cooking falters. Grilled local wild bluefish ($16) is excellent on a bed of rosemary-seasoned Anson Mills polenta with garlicky green beans. The plate doesn’t need the superfluous olive tapenade sauce - it’s an unnecessary distraction.

Roast loin pork ($16) could have been juicier. We couldn’t discern apples or lemon in the accompanying “braised pork with apples and lemoney (sic) white beans.” That’s not to say the beans studded with nubbins of braised pork weren’t tasty - but I believe in truth in advertising.

Redd’s New England seafood chowder ($16) is splendid. Clams, mussels, haddock, fingerlings and bacon in briny, cream-enriched broth. The only things missing are oyster crackers and promised oysters.

Herb-crusted haddock ($16) is another autumnal treat, and pretty to boot. The moist fish is excellent with sauteed chard, beets, pecans and a decorative drizzle of applesauce. It’s a dish designed for shorter days and colder nights.

Coda’s affordably priced wine list is small but smart. With the bluefish and pork we enjoyed a dry 2008 Espelt Corali Garnacha Rose ($29). A green-appletart 2007 Lois Gruner Veltliner ($28) complement the chowder and haddock nicely.

Roasted local apple ($6) with cinnamon creme Anglais is a satisfyingly fine dessert. As is a wedge of tangy (Vermont-made) Blue Ledge Lake’s Edge goat cheese ($8) with olive oil tossed watermelon, gooseberries and Thaibasil. But why weren’t we told of the gooseberries-for-ground-cherries substitution? And how do you run out of chocolate mint Bavarian?

Once the home of Tim’s Tavern, a legendary, down-at-the-heels burger joint, Coda is now a thoroughly gentrified haven of brick and polished wood. (Shhh: It’s not on the menu but you can still order a burger.) Service is spot-on.

“How about these prices?” marveled my dinner guest Jim. “Nothing over $20. At this quality? In the South End?”

No wonder there’s a bench on the sidewalk out front for hungry diners waiting for a table.