The late Andrew Kopkind, who once wrote for this publication, among many, used to tell a story about his visit to Hanoi with Susan Sontag, early in the Vietnam War. They had to fly from Saigon in the United Nations " Control Commission " plane. The plane was an old DC-3, the pilots were from Canada, the mechanics from Poland, and the air crew from India. The plane arrived late on the runway, took off in a hurry, and smelled faintly of curry. Since the Control Commission had long since lost control of the situation, there was anti-aircraft fire on both takeoff and landing, and Andy was petrified. He made more and more nervous jokes; Sontag thought he was more and more casual under fire, and later described him as being enormously brave.

You won’t need flak jackets at the Independent, but it has something of a UN Control Commission feel about it. The servers are Irish, the chefs have Polish-American names, the musicians (at least on the background jazz tapes) are African-American. Since the menu is mostly French-inspired, with some Spanish and Italian dishes, this is a global operation, and more often than not, it’s under control. The emphasis is on seasonal produce, at some risk of blandness, but often with excellent results.

Things start simply and well with excellent virgin olive oil — a brand with a grassy, new-mown-hay aroma — which is served with fresh sourdough or French bread. The most successful appetizers on the spring menu, I think, involve soup. Sweet-pea soup ($7) is served in a wide, shallow bowl, but comes to the table hot, with an essential flavor of spring peas, and a few baby favas and peas for contrasting texture. In the center is dabbed a little island of crème fraîche and two morel mushrooms. Maine-crab-and-avocado salad ($9) is a larger island of seafood and avocado, in a yellow-tomato soup that is both tart and creamy. The salad is good, but the soup is a marvel. The accompanying sesame " crackers " are actually crumbly little pastries that do no harm.

I also liked the " grilled local squid, chickpea fries " ($8). The squid are soft and fresh tasting, though not plentiful (as though they are an expensive delicacy). They’re served with a salsa sauce of smoked tomatoes, salty and sweet, and garnished with caper berries, along with two rich and delectable " chickpea fries " — called " panisses " around the Mediterranean. Arugula salad ($8) features well-made asparagus, dried figs, and serrano ham cut as thin as prosciutto. Other than the figs and ham, nothing goes together, but all the ingredients are good. Salmon rillettes ($7) with " caesared green beans " and garlic toast also seem thrown together. The chunky salmon pâté and three pieces of toast are nice enough, and so are the slim green beans, served in a garlicky dressing with a single white anchovy on top. But why are they together? Since my favorite part of the dish was a little heap of halved yellow cherry tomatoes, maybe this would be a good appetizer for three people of small but specialized appetites.

A kitchen so devoted to produce is apt to shine with something like the token vegetarian entrée, " potato chard boucheron [cheese] empanada " with vegetable ragout ($15). The Independent’s ragout — which includes wonderful baby artichokes, asparagus, morels, chard, and carrots — does shine. But the empanadas are filled with dull sliced potatoes, chard, and not enough cheese. Although each turnover is topped with Lebanese zateh, this doesn’t add enough flavor to equal, say, a decent Greek spinach pie. A special on vermicelli ($16) on my second visit was well made, with generous shavings of truffle, plenty of morels, and English peas that were perhaps a little too crunchy.

My favorite entrée is seared scallops with a rock-shrimp-and-almond b’steeya ($23). There are only four large sea scallops, but they are wonderfully flavored and contrast well with sour greens and green olives. The b’steeya, which is traditionally a flat pigeon pie, is here a phyllo purse with almonds and shrimp filling, which I don’t think carries the Moroccan spices well. A roast halibut ($19) is simply salted and baked on chard and " cazuela potatoes " — thin-sliced and dull, like the ones in the empanada, and barely fried.

The Independent has the air of an Irish pub, so you can draw on 12 draft beers and ales. But the wine list is also decent and includes 14 wines by the glass. Kuentz-Bas Pinot Blanc 2000 ($8) is a lot like the old French chardonnays: dry, crisp, and perfect with food. Apparently, improved wine technology in Alsace means they can now make pinot blanc that tastes like Pouilly-Fuissé. Pouilly-Fuissé, which I never could afford, probably tastes like a big California chardonnay by now. On the red side, Mauro Veglio Barbera d’Alba 2000 ($7) — like " hearty Burgundy " with a black-cherry aroma — is a fine example of what Italian winemakers can still do with a secondary grape. For some reason, the reds are served in smaller glasses than the whites. The kitchen makes fine decaf coffee, but the bar turns out a very poor Shirley Temple.

Desserts may be the Independent’s weakest course, unless they involve ice cream. Crème fraîche pound cake with lemon-verbena ice cream ($7) is a small piece of rich cake, but the ice cream is perfectly flavored with the citronella-like essence of the herb. Raisin-bread pudding ($6) on an earlier menu was rather poor bread pudding (corn-bread-like cubes, with only a little custard at the bottom and no raisins), but the accompanying chocolate Earl Grey ice cream was again just that, and wonderful.

Chocolate pot de crème ($6) is very strong pudding under a vast cloud of bland whipped cream. The accompanying " chocolate cigar " is a non-chocolate rolled-tuile cookie. Good, but no cigar. A plate of cheeses ($7) has decent slices of two good cheeses, which our server could not identify. The soft one that tasted blue was almost certainly morbier, the other a strong, harder cheese. But the spiced pecans were too spicy, and the only fruit was a few slices of Granny Smith apple. Had anyone on staff ever eaten this?

Staff inexperience was also evident at Mother’s Day brunch. The brunch menu looked interesting. But this was the restaurant’s first Mother’s Day, and lingering guests did not enter into its calculations. We weren’t seated until almost an hour after our reserved time, and had a long wait for food. The burnt waffles served as " pancakes " were, of course, the order placed by my mother. In the end, the house volunteered to pay the check, and said something about a new chef. Dinner service on two visits was much better, although the waitress tended to disappear for long stretches of time toward the end of a weekday dinner.

The room is quite serviceable despite the small bar; the restaurant is arranged like an Irish pub with two sides, with the pub room placed in back. Café windows open onto increasingly pleasant Union Square, and the interior is decorated in olive and golden oak, with some red velvet, black-stained tables and chairs, and framed French-wine placards.

A commitment to seasonal produce never turns out badly, and it will be interesting to watch this kitchen progress through the seasons and the years. Although the location may not be ideal for expensive dining, the pub business should help, and there is already a youthful weekend crowd that appreciates a serious meal.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com