Table 219 has your number for brunch and upscale comfort food

New name, same brunch. Different decor, same brunch. New dinner menu, new chef, more wine, full bar, same brunch, same brunch, same brunch.

Yes, the old El Greco on Capitol Hill has made some changes, but there's no need to panic. On Saturdays, Sundays and even Fridays, you can still get the same eggs Benedict with the same tomato mushroom sauce and the same crack-dipped French toast. The owners of the Capitol Hill mainstay would never dream of abandoning the neighborhood in its hungover hour of need.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, can we talk about what's different?

El Greco has been El Greco since the early 1990s. Six years ago, Gary Snyder and Stacey Hettinger (of Geraldine's Counter in Columbia City) bought the restaurant from Thomas Soukakos and didn't change a whole lot of anything. Their impeccable brunch reached legendary status, but dinners always languished in the back seat.

Then last September, the duo hired chef Jeffrey Wilson, fresh from New York City where his resume included the venerable Gramercy 24 and midtown's 21 Club. Wilson says the owners and he decided that a revamp was due -- to make the restaurant more social, elevate the dinner scene and break from the restaurant's old identity. So early this month, Table 219 was born.

What that means is a slightly different look. The cheery, Mediterranean blue walls have given way to a warm crimson. They added tall tables, stools and an elevated banquette to the front area to give it a more social, open feel. There's new lighting and an expanded bar, serving specialty cocktails ($8) like the Creamsicle (Absolut Mandarin and Tuaca with OJ, half-and-half and simple syrup), a spiced pear martini with fresh ginger and the French 219 (Plymouth gin, champagne and lemon juice).

The fresh dinner menu has some holdovers from the past -- favorites like bread salad (grilled bread with greens, mozzarella and oven-dried tomato vinaigrette, $7) and the drool-inducing lamb burger, served with tzatziki and sweet potato fries ($13). The sauteed gnocchi with duck, arugula and cranberry balsamic glaze ($13) still reigns supreme.

New items are of the small, sharable variety, and go for an upscale twist on comfort food. There's a rustic mushroom dill tart with horseradish sour cream ($9), chicken andouille sausage corn dogs ($8) and a trio of sloppy joe sliders served with slices of ginger pickled cucumber ($12) that beg to be slapped underneath the housemade bun. Vegetarians will dig the entree-size crispy penne with eggplant, kalamata olives, caper sauce and sheep's milk feta ($14) or the mushroom mac 'n' cheese with truffle oil ($9).

For a little more comfort to cap it all off, there's the 219 s'more: a chocolate pot du creme with homemade graham cracker and marshmallow. The award for most understated menu item of the year goes to the donut a la mode: a housemade donut topped not just with vanilla ice cream, but caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, icing and pecans. The (dis)honor of most unfortunately named dessert goes to a milky cocktail made with Starbucks creme, coffee liqueur, Absolut Vanilla, white creme de cacao and coconut rum: the pearl necklace. Yikes.

The new vibe is a bit awkward -- for all that comfort food, there's hardly a comfortable chair to sit on and despite the lush red hues, the old cheery blue still carried more warmth. You'd think a place with a 15-year history would feel less sterile. But although dinner is still on the quiet side, it's nevertheless a nice escape from the madness of the Hill -- and who can complain about a well executed meal? Besides, you never liked waiting an hour for brunch anyway.

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