When I mentioned this week’s review would bring me to New Town, the planned community in St. Charles, one colleague told me she’s always wanted to live there. Another asked, smirking, if New Town was supposed to look “European.” I’d never been to New Town, so I had no opinion of the place — though I was intrigued to learn the 3-month-old restaurant Pangea is located next to its beach-volleyball court.

Whatever you think of New Town, if you think of it at all, it isn’t the sort of place you just pass through or happen upon. Which is unfortunate because Pangea deserves a wider audience. Chef-owner Jessie Gilroy is a rising star of the St. Louis dining scene. She has cooked at Charlie Gitto’s, the Tavern Kitchen & Bar and the Tavern’s spinoff, Cucina Pazzo. Most recently, she was sous chef at Kevin Nashan’s great Sidney Street Cafe.

Her debut restaurant does indeed look out on New Town’s beach-volleyball court, which currently means it looks out on an idle, sandy plaza. With its high ceiling and a pastel-green paint scheme, the single dining room is airy and, by contemporary-restaurant standards, bright.

Pangea takes its name from the supercontinent of hundreds of millions of years ago. “I really like all foods from all different countries, and I feel like it can go together cohesively,” Gilroy told me in a phone interview when the restaurant opened in September. “You don’t need to put yourself in a box.”

Gilroy isn’t trying to reverse continental drift with her own brand of global-fusion cuisine, and when she draws on ingredients or recipes from traditional cuisines, she uses them not as the focal point of the dish, but to distinguish familiar fare. For the Jerk Fried Chicken ($18), she sous vides the chicken with jerk seasoning and then dredges it with flour mixed with more jerk seasoning and fries it to order. The result is incredibly juicy and rippingly spicy. Black beans in a cilantro-lime crema help cool the chile fire, and the jerk seasoning’s warming spices linger like woodsmoke over the whole dish.

The heat and verdant lemongrass note of a Thai red-curry paste spark the roast potatoes served with coffee-crusted pork ($20). Here, though, the pork (the cut changes based on availability) is the main attraction. The crunchy coffee crust deepens the meat’s sweetness and savor, and the kitchen doesn’t overcook the pork — an all-too-rare occurrence.

The Pangea name aside, what Gilroy and her staff excel at is straightforward contemporary-bistro cooking. Beef cheeks ($22) braised in wine and veal stock are spoon-tender and taste intensely of, well, beef — or like the roast beef you crave but can never find. They rest atop thin (maybe a touch too thin) polenta and braised greens, and a mustard cream sauce gives the whole dish a light zing.

The duck grilled cheese ($21) could become Pangea’s signature dish. I love how the melted blend of American, Gruyere and raclette cheeses further enriches the luscious duck confit, with the confit’s own crisp edges providing textural contrast, while peppery arugula and a tomato jam accent the rich meat-and-cheese duo. But the sandwich portion is modest for $21, and the accompanying fries are odd in a way I can’t quite figure. Not obviously under- or overcooked, but not crisp enough outside or pillowy enough inside.

Appetizers range from a classic French onion soup ($6), meaty and deeply sweet beneath its cap of melted Gruyere, to the ambitious bone-marrow tart ($12). This looks like a miniature quiche, though the texture of the bone-marrow filling inside the tart’s lightly flaky crust is closer to scrambled egg. I like the concept, but the surface of my tart needed a deeper browning to stand up to its heavily perfumed accents of rosemary and preserved lemon.

The New Town Skins ($9) would be a pretty good name for a team on the beach-volleyball court outside, but these are in fact roasted fingerling potatoes dressed with raclette cheese, sour cream, chopped scallion and pork with a slow-building but eventually searing chile heat.

Pangea is focused in a way many new restaurants aren’t. That isn’t entirely a positive — the beverage program is unremarkable: a few cocktails, a modest wine list and only canned and bottled beer — but Gilroy has built a solid foundation to showcase her ample talent and grow it even further.

She even managed to excite me about dessert. The Mexican-chocolate budino ($7) is one of only three available, but it’s all you need, a thick pudding topped with toasted meringue and laced with ancho chile and a dash of cayenne, a jolt as unexpected as this gem of a restaurant on New Town’s faux beachfront.

Where Pangea, 3245 Rue Royale, St. Charles • 2½ stars out of four • More info 636-757-3579; pangeaworldfusion.com • Menu Contemporary bistro fare with global accents • Hours Dinner daily, brunch Sunday (closed Tuesday)

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