When it comes to their brand of cooking, husband and wife chefs Evan and Sarah Rich have a knack for throwing you for a loop — in the best of ways.

Think you’re getting potato chips at their flagship, 14-year-old Rich Table in San Francisco? You are — but ones uncannily threaded with whole sardines.

Expecting a whole roasted cauliflower at their two RT Rotisserie locations in San Francisco? You might want to don sunglasses when it arrives blanketed in technicolor fuchsia from a dazzling red beet tahini sauce.

Hankering for shrimp Louie at their newest restaurant, RT Bistro, which just opened in January? The chilled shrimp in a creamy sauce will arrive not on a mound of lettuce, but on disks of fried eggplant that are crisp on the outside and creamy within.

The Riches call their food “New American.” In truth, it’s what Sarah and Evan most like to eat — familiar sounding dishes with deepened flavors that get playfully and imaginatively tweaked without losing any focus.

It’s proved to be a winning formula for them and General Manager-Partner Jonny Gilbert.

Last week, I finally had a chance to check out RT Bistro, which is actually located in the same building that houses Rich Table, with its entrance just around the corner from it.

A couple menu items are holdovers from Rich Table, but the majority are new. You can order individually or share everything family-style, which is what we did. Although we paid our tab, the kitchen did send out a couple of dishes on the house for us to try.

The dining room is a snug space with all of 36 seats at close-set tables. There’s parklet seating outside, too, which adds another 12 seats.

Personal touches abound — from the carved redwood relief map on the wall of Kirkwood Mountain, their favorite ski destination to the unisex restrooms labeled “New York” and “San Francisco” for the two cities where Evan, Sarah, and Jonny have made their professional mark.

Bar Director Marissa Miller has come up with some fun, market-inspired drinks such as the Ruby “SHOA” with smoky mezcal, amaro, pomelo, hibiscus, and a lime-rosemary tincture ($18) in a salt-rimmed glass. The non-alcoholic Bees Teas ($17) is a bright blend of yuzu-cinnamon verjus, lemon and rooibos chai.

Barley tea adds a toasty taste to a milk-washed, gin-based cocktail with basil eau de vie, strawberry and citrus. I couldn’t resist ordering this one not only because of the shiso in it, but because of its name: Shiso Fine ($18). Yes, just try ordering that aloud without a smile and a giggle forming.

Speaking of shiso, the purple variety garnished that dish of shrimp Louie ($16) that was lightly dressed and got more of an Asian-inflected boost from makrut lime.

Bread is made in-house and definitely worth ordering ($7). You get two thick slabs of house sourdough that are chewy, hearty, and infused with wild fennel for a subtle anise taste. It’s served with a crock of house cultured butter.

Among the “bites” that can be ordered by the piece are the aged beef dumplings ($5.25 each). At Rich Table, they are finished with a spicy Asian chili sauce, but here they get a French onion vinaigrette. So beefy and so juicy, these are dumplings that make you sit up and take notice from the first bite. I had one; I could have easily had a half dozen and called it a night.

Had I done that, though, I wouldn’t have had room for everything else, including the dried porcini doughnuts. These are a Rich Table staple, where they’re served there with melty raclette for $13. At RT Bistro, they’re made a little smaller and meant to be dragged through a gussied up plate of white sturgeon caviar, chopped egg, and ranch sauce imbued with douglas fir and chive with the stepped-up price of $40. The doughnuts are light, airy and crispy, and dusted with umami powder to add such savoriness. They make for a fanciful riff on the usual blinis.

The kanpachi crudo ($21) punches up the buttery raw fish with citrusy, spicy Taiwanese-style sauce and the bright sweetness of strawberries.

Your favorite candied walnut sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving get a refresh here, cut into chunks that are tempura-fried ($17) and served with aioli that gets its hue and warmth from saffron. It’s like Chinese honey walnut shrimp — but with sweet potatoes instead.

Who says a Caesar salad has to be made with romaine? Not here, where the creamy, zingy dressing instead finishes smashed cucumbers arranged with leaves of New Zealand spinach, crouton shards made from that fantastic house bread, and a snowy shower of Grana Padano ($21). It’s crunchy and quenching, salty and nutty. In an age when Caesar salads are so ubiquitous that they border on boring, this one shows you the possibilities they still have.

The fabulous one-layer lasagna ($27) is a year-round dish whose ingredients will change with the seasons. Being summer, this one featured a thin, supple sheet of pasta layered with corn kernels, shishito peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and melty Point Reyes Tomarashi, a buttery cow’s milk cheese made with Japanese spice mix known as shichimi togarashi. It’s as if Mexican street corn took a side trip to Japan before ending up in Italy.

For a spell, Rich Table offered a burger at its bar. But it never really had a permanent home there. Now, it does at RT Bistro, where every other table seemed to be ordering it the night I was there. Who can blame them when this RT Bistro Burger ($30) is so satisfying. It’s a sloppy burger to be sure — juicy, saucy, and will start to fall apart on its airy milk bread bun that compacts as you bite, leaving the patty itself in its starring role without too much bread interfering or distracting. The burger (a special blend of short rib, brisket, chuck and dry-aged rib cap), gets garnished with dill-pickled onions, creamy bistro sauce, and Fiscalini cheddar mixed in-house with aged Parmesan for a sharp umami bomb.

As mesmerizing as the burger is, what really stole the show for me were the fries. They are triple-fried — in beef tallow — then dusted with umami powder. They are thick like steak fries but with a texture so much different. On the outside, they are shattering crisp as pomme soufflees. But unlike that French specialty that’s airy and almost hollow inside, these have a creamy interior like the best baked potato. They are outrageous.

The duck confit ($40) boasts perfectly crispy skin and incredibly succulent flesh. With slices of fresh plum and honey, the taste is reminiscent of Chinese sweet-and-sour pork, but fresher and not cloying. It’s served with a duck-fat koshihikari rice whose grains turn wonderfully crispy on the bottom of the pot.

For dessert, Sarah does a deconstructed version of the old-school icebox pie she grew up with. Instead of a wedge of pie, this one is a layered parfait of yellow peaches, graham cracker crumbles, and chantilly cream ($15). It’s just sweet enough and so nostalgic.

The slab of fudgy chocolate cake ($16) gets drenched with chocolate sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. I loved the crunchy chocolate-covered cacao nibs sprinkled over. It’s almost like a brownie sundae. Very rich. Very decadent. Very everything.

The Cali Cheesecake Brulee ($15) is a real surprise. It’s billed as a cheesecake, but looks like creme brulee in a shallow dish with its requisite hard, caramelized sugar top that you have to break through. The custard is made with fromage blanc, the soft, mild cheese with the gentle tang. The Riches love using Douglas fir, and here it flavors buttery shortbread cookies that are served with the cheesecake to add a distinct sweet woody pine flavor, a whoosh of freshness that lifted the cheesecake to new heights.

The kitchen also sent out crunchy honeycomb candy covered in dark chocolate that definitely hit the spot.

Restaurants are always a risky endeavor. But Gilbert and the Riches seem to have found the magic touch with not one, not two, but now three triumphant concepts.

More: Dining at Rich Table

And: A Visit to RT Rotisserie

Plus: A Recipe for Rich Table’s Spaghetti with Peas, Lime, Goat Cheese, and Duck Fat