Our good friend and food correspondent Cloyd Burke is always asking bartenders and servers around town WHAT’S DELICIOUS? This month he’ll tell you about Table 31.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I fall in love with certain dishes more than I do a restaurant’s full menu.

There are exceptions, of course, but once I zero in on a menu item or two at a restaurant, I don’t venture beyond them very often. Creature of habit, as they say.

You’ll read all about them in these pages for as long as I can crank them out, but one I didn’t think I’d ever get to write about was an all-time favorite — the tuna poke appetizer at Alton’s, which closed up shop a couple of years ago. I still dream about it.

Well, the wife and I were out on a Saturday drive one day last year and came upon Table 31 up at the Langtree exit. I’d never been, and it was a little fancier than the cut-off shorts I was wearing, but we gave it a shot anyway.

We saddled up to the bar and ordered some drinks and, as always, asked the nice bartender, “What’s delicious?”

She recommended the house-smoked trout dip, but the missus is on the gluten-free train and can’t eat Saltines, so the kind lady recommended the house-made kettle chips on the side.

We sipped our wine, content to wait out the cold rain that was falling outside, and smiled when she dropped off our appetizer.

The trout was perfectly smoked and held together by a sauce that — I’m guessing, based on my culinary expertise — was a concoction of delicious.

The proverbial cherry on top wasn’t a cherry at all, it was her suggestion to put a little dab of green Tabasco on each bite. It was smoky and spicy and divine.

We all began chatting and somehow arrived at the discovery that the people behind Table 31 also owned Alton’s, and that a few of the old menu items had made their way north.

So I immediately asked for a menu, scrolled around, and by golly, there it was.

Tuna poke with fresh avocado and warm chips.

The rain had subsided and we had to hit the road so we overtipped on our tab and resolved to return later to investigate the tuna.

A week later, we went back to Table 31, where we ordered the tuna and held our collective breath. The same bartender dropped off our order and, at first glance, it looked promising.

On the plate was the perfect ratio of tuna to cucumber and avocado with a drizzle of a tangy spicy drizzly on top, and a bowl of some familiar-looking, perfectly salted tortilla chips.

We dove in. Chip, dip, chew and swallow. Smile. We were back in business.

Since that day, Table 31 has become part of our heavy rotation and we’ve returned multiple times, trying a few different menu items along the way.

The kettle chips with braised beef, parmesan and bleu cheese sauce will get your calorie count right at lunch and lead you down the path of a beautiful afternoon slumber.

The shrimp New Orleans harkens back to another of my favorite ol’ dishes — the buttery lemony spicy barbecuey shrimp at Cajun Queen in Charlotte.

But eventually we settled, like we always do, on two favorites. The trout dip and, of course, the tuna poke.

The restaurant interior is really nice but we much prefer the more laid-back feel of the Table 31 wine shop next door, which sends over food from the main kitchen.

It’s a little more cozy and usually less busy, and you pay retail price for wine to imbibe while you vibe.

Hey, don’t judge. We’re on a fixed income, so we’ll save an Abe Lincoln or two when we can, but never on the tip.

Check them out sometime, and if you do, tell them ol’ Cloyd sent you.