Over the years, I have eaten many bowls of pasta with clams that have been rewired by a chef who was trying to stand out. But I had not come across one that made as much sense to me as the big, sloshing platters you get at old-line Italian-American clam bars like Randazzo’s until tripping into a new Greenwich Village restaurant called Babs this summer.

Mind you, virtually the only Italian thing about the tagliatelle with clams at Babs was the tagliatelle. The sauce was a mustard beurre blanc, one of those French sauces that all culinary-school students are supposed to be able to make in their sleep. Mustard beurre blanc is often found providing a decorous yellow veil over a chicken breast or salmon fillet. It is not normally poured over noodles. But, tossed with salty French ham and Manila clams smaller than a thumbprint, it made a strangely exciting bowl of pasta that was much more coherent than it sounds.

Once I got to know Babs better, I understood that strange excitement is what it does best. Its chef, Efrén Hernández, has talked about Babs as a European grill, and many of the dishes are seared over hot charcoal, but he has a wider frame of reference than that. He was raised in Southern California by immigrants from Mexico, and Mexican cuisine runs through his menu like an underground stream that sometimes gurgles up to the surface. Mr. Hernández is not particularly interested in fusion, though; as far as I can tell, he likes rubbing cultures together to see what color the sparks will be.