The last claw has been cracked at Miss Katie's Crab Shack, with owner Katie Marron relaunching the Fitzroy crab boil destination as wine bar Suzi Cheek's.

"When I opened [Miss Katie's] in 2013, crab was $8 a kilo," she says. "Now it's over $30." What started as a cheapish, messy feast turned into a more pricey occasion.

"People were telling me they can't afford to go out on a Monday night, to spend $100 at a newspaper-laden table drinking a beer. I was at a crossroads," she says.

Her solution, Suzi Cheek's, is a 40-seat drop-in bistro that Marron hopes will suit the tastes and budgets of local diners. "I want it to feel like someone's living room and for people to feel the amount of love I've put into this."

This particular living room is something of a gallery, decked out with lavish photography by Gerard O'Connor and stylist Marc Wasiak, whose Queens of the Pub series has driven the rich, feminine interior.

The seasonal, informal menu picks up on dishes Marron has cooked during a long career in Melbourne restaurants.

A lasagne vincisgrassi ($30), layered with beef cheek ragu and chicken livers, pays homage to a similar dish at The Grand in Richmond. "I wouldn't call it delicate but it's more about the pasta and the ragu than the bechamel and the cheese," says Marron.

The orzo pasta dish kritharaki ($28) is a riff on something Marron cooked when she was sous chef to Matt Germanchis (now at the Lorne Hotel) at Pandora's Box.

And a Waldorf salad ($16) is pure retro play, with red witlof used for scooping blue-cheese-dressed apple and candied walnut.

Marron admits to nervousness at letting go of the crabby concept that made her name and was an ode to her mother's heritage in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. But the new restaurant honours her mum, too.

"Suzi Cheek is my mum's maiden name," says Marron. "It's fun and playful but it also has a lot of meaning."

Open Thu-Sun 5pm-late. No bookings.

325 Smith Street, Fitzroy, 0466 406 214, suzicheeks.com