It's the Season

Paris -- It's the season. Sea bass, lobster, sole, herring, oysters, scallops, squid, and porgy are all at their peak of winter, cold-water freshness, so now is the time to reserve a table at your favorite fish and shellfish restaurant. Paris offers a grand variety of restaurants, including a newcomer and a classic spot with a change of ownership.

The newest spot is a sixth Francois Clerc bistro, this one devoted to fish and shellfish. Clerc started his first "good value" bistro in 1994, offering a fine varied menu at good prices along with a staggering array of exceptionally priced wines.

Les Bouchons de Francois Clerc Coté Mer is located right off the Champs-Elysees, in what was most recently the Androuet cheese restaurant. Decorated in butter yellow walls with linens a tone paler and bright blue, yellow and green upholstered chairs, the place is cozy and welcoming. The varied menu offers some fine choices, such as a an excellent grilled dorade (porgy) and a fine crayfish salad. But the real stars of the show are the wines and the prices: Didier Dagueneau's famed Loire Valley Pouilly Fume cuvee Silex, vintage 1999 for 273 francs; George Vernay's 1999 Condrieu from the Rhone Valley for 161 francs; and the delicious Roederer Brut champagne for only 159 francs.

The Place de la Madeleine landmark fish restaurant, known for years as Prunier, then Prunier-Goumard and now Goumard has had a series of owners over the years. The most recent owner is Philippe Dubois, and the food is better, fresher, and less expensive than it has been in years. Too bad the restaurant has all the energy and excitement of a drab hotel dining room and the sad-faced staff all but makes you want to turn around and walk out the door.

But the new Goumard offers some stunning dishes, including a classic sole meuniere (offered both bathed in butter and "seche," and filleted tableside); an extraordinarily fresh grilled bar; a brilliant fricassee of baby clams bathed in a mix of cream and fresh thyme, anointed with a touch of cherry-flavored kirsch; and some of the freshest scallops I have tasted in years, perfectly pan fried, making for a nutty, intense crust and a smooth, sweet interior.

The wine list here offers few bargains. A decent bet is a good value wine that loves fish and shellfish, the Saint Veran, Domaine des Deux Roches, vintage 1999, priced at 180 francs.

An all-time favorite Parisian fish spot remains the pleasant, personal, and discreet restaurant run by Paul and Sonya Canal. Here, amidst a bright blue and white décor and a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower, you can be assured of dishes that are inventive without being self-conscious. A case in point is Canal's fine first-course offering of fresh Brittany langoustines: They sweet, ultra-fresh shellfish are removed from their shell, very lighted breaded, and turned into an airy tempura. Teamed up with tempuras of pepper, eggplant, and zucchini, it's a sunny dish for a dark winter's day. The best main course items here remain the grilled sole and the whole sea bass cooked in a salt crust.



Les Bouchons de Francois Clerc Coté Mer
8 rue Arsene Houssaye
Paris 75008
Telephone 01 42 89 15 51
Fax : 01 42 89 28 67.
www.bouchonsdefrancoisclerc.com
Open daily. All major credit cards. 234-franc menu.


Goumard
9 rue Duphot
Paris 75001
Telephone : 01 42 60 36 07
fax : 01 42 60 04 54.
Open daily. All major credit cards: 25-franc lunch menu. A la carte, 350 to 450 francs including service but not wine.



Port Alma
10 avenue de New York
Paris 75016
Telephone 01 47 23 75 11
Fax: 01 47 20 42 92.
Closed Sunday and Monday. All major credit cards. 200-franc weekday lunch menu. A la carte, 300 to 440 francs, including service but not wine

Alain Dutournier's Carré des Feuillants

Paris -- Passion in life can take you a long way. As the talented chef Alain Dutournier proves year after year, meal after meal. He's one of the most well rounded chefs I know, not only embracing his love of food and all the products that go into creating a magnificent style of cuisine he has the right to call his one. Beyond food, he fires his passions for bullfights and rugby, for cigars and wine. If this was America we'd call him an "all-American" guy. Why does "all French" guy just not sound the same?

At the age of 51, this native of France's fertile southwest still has the enthusiasm of someone decades younger, and he is a man full of pride. For his country, for his native Landes region, for his own accomplishments.

A recent dinner at his warm and welcoming Carre des Feuillants suggests he does not miss a beat, offering up a truly harmonious cuisine full of maturity and complexity. Fare that has the ability to surprise yet is actually quite simple in its underpinnings.

While over the years his menu has stayed true to his native foundation - there will always be foie gras and corn bread, game and wild mushrooms, Pyrénées lamb and the famed beef from Chalosse. But he lets himself stretch beyond, dipping into Italy for exquisite white truffles from Alba, to Brittany for sweet and plump scallops and regal turbot, to the coast of Bordeaux for oysters tinged green from the rich beds of algae, to England for his own rich versions of fruit crumble, and to China for Sichuan pepper- flavored sauces.

It is rare for a diner to work up the same enthusiasm for every course, from first to middle to end, but Dutournier has that rare talent - and evenness - to get us just as excited about the gingerbread crumble (our last bite) as we were about the plump Gillardeau green-tinged Marennes oysters bathed in a sea water jelly and teamed up with tiny open-face sandwiches layered with a fine slice of foie gras (our first welcome bite).

A meal at Carre des Feuillants has the ability to move along like a fine piece of music, carrying us along on a fine rhythmical ride. Following the tease of the oysters, we submerge ourselves into a wild mushroom wonderland, a trio of cèpe preparations that include gently marinated mushrooms, another version that carefully pan-fried, all teamed up with Dutournier's trademark "petit pâté chaude," a warming cool weather pâté that is a complex and finely texture mélange of fresh cèpes , dried cèpes , shallots, parsley, eggs, butter, cream and walnut oil, all punctuated with a touch of nutmeg, and gently baked in a soothing bain marie.

Soup comes in the form of triple alliance of a rich pheasant stock enriched with sweet chestnuts. As a finish the chef floats bits of smooth poached pheasant breast, chunks of chestnuts and then gilding the lily in the finest of manners, a final layer of Italian white truffles.

But I guess I hold the softest spot for his true white truffle extravaganza, a beautifully composed, deftly seasoned "galette" a rather complex mixture of sliced raw scallops, arugula, artichokes, mushrooms and Parmesan all layered and bound with a hazelnut vinaigrette, then topped with a thick layer of fragrant white truffles. Finally for a brilliant juxtaposition, Dutournier tops the galette with a crispy sweet/salty cumin wafer. Bravo!

As if it could not get better, it does, in the name of whole roasted poularde, a plump, moist fatted hen from the Chalosse region, paired with a simple and sublime mix of varied wild mushrooms.

Dutournier knows his wines and shows how he can play the food-wine marriages with bravura: The oysters were delighted to be paired with a 1997 Riesling from the house of Kientzler, while the poularde was well escorted by the 1995 Chapelle de la Mission Haut Brion. And the gingerbread crumble could not have been in finer company that that of a 1991 vin de paille, the rare sweet wine from the Jura, this one from the house of P. Botin.

Carré des Feuillants
14 rue de Castiglione
Paris 75001
Tel: 01 42 86 82 82
Fax: 01 42 86 07 71.
Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and August. 320 franc lunch menu,750-franc tasting menu. A la carte, 550 to 700 francs including service but not wine.

Bruno Gendarmes' Bistrot de l'Etoile Niel

Paris -- The concept of the typical Parisian neighborhood bistro - a place you might find yourself two or three nights a week, always among friends - may appear to be a dinosaur, but not quite. One place that fits the bill in the most classic and contemporary sense is Bruno Gendarmes' Bistrot de l'Etoile Niel.

Gendarmes is a Guy Savoy acolyte, former partner in the Niel operation, and now full-time owner of this warm, cozy, intimate bistro that day after day, night after night, serves simple fare that bridges the gap between classic and modern bistro fare.

For the autumn, this 10 year old bistro is, in fact, replaying the "classics" of the last ten years. As a choice for the first course, you'll find everything from the traditional pork terrine served with a salad of lamb's lettuce and turnips, to the artichoke soup punctuated by bits of foie gras. But my favorites include both the creamy risotto studded with a variety of shellfish, surrounded with a brilliant emulsion of ginger and lime; and the pan-fried mix of wild mushrooms paired with tiny "petit gris" snails, parsley juice and irresistible dried garlic chips. Like just about everything that Gendarmes turns out, the food has flavor, depth, intensity and purpose. And I like the fact that he surprises us with tastes of ginger and lime, fresh coriander and a confit of lemon. Each, in its own way, suits us just fine on a cool autumn day.

With its mixture of bare wooden floors and 1930's tiles, Art Deco style bistro chairs, chocolate-colored walls and and a fine sidewalk terrace, it's a fun, nice, easy kind of place where everyone seems to be there for a good time, and has it.

Main courses here are welcoming and varied. Fish lovers will rave over the filet of St Pierre (oops, a bit too salty on my last visit) served with deliciously decadent potatoes crushed with butter and herbs; while poultry mavens will love the chicken fricassée served with a delightful celery root purée enlivened by fresh coriander and gentle bits of lemon confit. Heartier fare here includes swoonable portions of crépinette de joues et pieds de porc (pork feet and cheeks wrapped in caul fat) teamed up with a ragout of penne pasta, all anointed with a rich sage-infused sauce.

And if none of this hits the spot, there are the Monday through Saturday daily specials, ranging from roast chicken to veal kidneys, salt cod purée or roast leg of lamb.

And for dessert, one need look no further than their famed warm chocolate cake, served with a rich and soothing vanilla ice cream.

Bistrot de l'Etoile Niel
75 Avenue Niel
75017 Paris
Tel: 01 42 27 88 44
Fax: 01 42 27 32 12.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 148 and 175 francs. A la carte, 220 to 300 francs, including service but not wine.

Hélène Darroze

Paris -- She is just a little wisp of a girl, a quiet blonde powerhouse from the Basque country of France. A year ago, Hélène Darroze set off a spark of excitement when she moved her southwestern French restaurant to the capital, making us all swoon over the white corn meal polenta from her native land, laced with hefty portions of Basque sheep's milk cheese and layered with raw as well as sautéed cèpes . We loved, as well, her creamy foie gras flan topped with grilled cepes, the cold white bean soup, and the crushed brandade spiced with Basque red peppers.

That was all upstairs, in the rather formal dining room that has since netted her a worthy Michelin star.

But now, I am talking about downstairs, the main floor dining room originally meant to serve as a table d'hôte, a casual spot where cassoulet or hefty southwestern plat du jours could be served at giant tables to be shared by one and all.

For both dining rooms, a frustrated hue and a cry went out over service, over slowness, over an overall question of just what was going on here. Hélène listened, and come this fall opened the new Salon d'Hélène to replace the old table d'hôte.

My advice is to walk, run, skip on over with a handful of hungry diners in tow. Let yourself go! Have a good time! I did and can't remember when I laughed as much or last had such an unusually casual good time at table in Paris .

First of all, the décor is smashing. Modern. Bright. Hip. Gorgeous black wood tables from the Left Bank shop Mondenature, and chairs in brilliant hues of rose, purple, orange. Music is modern and a bit too loud for my ears, but, hey, better this than a stodgy old joint.

And the food? Equally fun, modern, inventive, surprising. Good. Tapas you say? Yes!

Hélène has shown how modern and clever she can be at the ripe age of 33. Lots of lovely little bites: Cold tapas, warm tapas, cheese tapas, sweet tapas. Miam! Can't tell you which ones I loved the best. A great ceviche or marinated raw tuna touched with the spicy Basque red pepper from Espelette. Great creamy, ultra-nutty white beans - haricots mais - teamed up with equally nutty palourdes, or small and delicate clams. A favorite for sure were the warm fried "nehms" or Vietnamese-inspired spring rolls wrapped around a mixture of ginger-infused shellfish served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Or maybe it was the cannelloni, gratineed with Basque sheep's milk cheese and teamed up with the delicious southwestern ham from Pierre Oteiza. Oh, and don't forget the langoustines tempura, served with a red pepper chutney.

To my mind, each of these miniature creations, inspired by the Spanish custom of taking little bites of savory fare is brilliant and beautifully executed. I would not want to eat this way each and every day, but for a decadent lunch now and then, it's just the ticket.

The cheese tapas are equally delicious with the smooth, almost runny goat's cheese Cabécou de Rocamadour served with a hazelnut and raisin bread, as well as the famed Basque sheep's milk cheese paired with the traditional black cherry jam.

The lunch menu offers a quick and rapid fix, with a choice of a tapas of the day, a plat du jour (which may range from braised veal head cheese to roasted scallops with chestnuts and onions and on to roasted duck breast with an assortment of spices) and a glass of wine for 140 francs.

Tapas prices themselves range from 35 to 90 francs each, and I advise you go with at least three other people so you can sample a good range of Hélène's fare.

Salon d'Hélène
4 rue d'Assas
Paris 75006
Tel: 01 42 22 00 11.
Fax: 01 42 22 25 40.
Closed Saturday lunch and all day Sunday. Open noon to 2:30 P.M. and 7:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M. Tapas priced from 35 to 90 francs. Four-Tapas assortment, 85 francs. Plat du jour, 98 francs. Lunch formulas from 145 to 185 francs. Credit cards: Visa, American Express.

All Star Dinner: Lucas Carton

Paris -- So what would you cook for lunch if all 37 Michelin three-star chefs turned up on your doorstep?

Chef Alain Senderens (one of the illustrious 37) thought long and hard, and as is wont, he began with the wines as he planned an early October lunch to celebrate 100 years of the Michelin guide.

Let's see, what shall we pair with a 1998 Château Pape Clément white? The wine evokes a touch of citrus, a lot of white fruit, hmmm. Let's go for a very creamy mound of polenta, orange the color or an orange, colored by the brilliant red coral of lobster, seasoned with a good hit of lemon zest a touch of ginger, and one giant, moist, tender lobster claw to set it all of? Delicious? Silly, how could it not be.

Next challenge, a special cuvée of the illustrious champagne Gosset, the cuvée celebris 1990. Now it gets really interesting. Ok, we have the wine, but shall it be by the bottle or the magnum? Big difference. For Senderens, the master of pairing food with wine, the magnum called out for raw mushrooms, the bottle (which tasted older, more aged, because of its condensed size) seemed to beg for cooked mushrooms. So there we had it, a trio of the freshest, most moist wild cèpes, or meaty boletus mushrooms. Two versions went with the magnum: one cut into a fine julienne and seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil, another cut into thick slices and marinated. Another win. The third version, to go with the meatier champagne in the bottle, was stuffed with minced mushroom and cooked whole, to a tender, rich meatiness. Did someone say meat?

Now we move on to a red Bordeaux Graves, Château Pape Clément 1990 (yes, rich and meaty meaty). Well, pigeon of course, touched with a super-delicate, almost infinitesimal taste of licorice (reglisse) and teamed up with rounds of very very tender turnips. Zap! Another wine, another paring that makes your mouth and your palate happy to be, well, a mouth and a palate.

The cheese course was not a cinch but almost. A 1985 Rozes vintage port, rinsing the palate that has just devoured creamy bits of fourme d'Ambert, the rich and memorable cow's milk blue cheese from the Auvergne. Senderens sent us all swooning with his spicy brioche, spiked with cinnamon and dried fruits.

The lunch was a walk down memory lane for many. For Paul Bocuse (three Michelin stars in Lyon for 35 years) and Paul Troisgros ( three Michelin stars in Roanne for 33 years) there was talk of the day they met on this very spot, the restaurant Lucas Carton 50 years ago, when the luxurious Art Nouveau restaurant was a bastion of classic French cuisine. Both Bocuse and Troisgros were each 25 years old, and as they recall, here they were, cooking brand name Escoffier cuisine from the chef's bible of the time, Grignoire et Saulnier.

(Together, along with the Haeberlin family of the Auberge de l'Ill in Alsace, the three restaurants have 100 years of three stars.)

"There are not many here in this room who remember classical French cooking," mused Bocuse. "Does it matter that they don't? Not really," he declared, ever in a jovial, contented mood.

Around the room, each three-star chef and restaurateur had a chance to say a word. For restauranteur Jean-Claude Vrinat, who took over Paris 's Taillevent from his father, the decision to become a restaurateur came - you guessed it - while dining at Lucas Carton. Other chefs had passed through this kitchen, include Paris 's Pierre Gagnaire and Burgundy's Jacques Lameloise.

For Michel Guérard of France's southwest, the challenge of maintaining three stars is "like Michelin asking us to be Olympic champions every day." For Bernard Loiseau of Burgundy, "the toughest thing in life is to endure."

At the end of the day, Alain Senderens had the last word: "One can say that today, I am the only Michelin three-star chef who is working!"

While some items from the Michelin lunch may or may not show up on the menu at Lucas Carton, diners can always be assured of intelligent wine and food pairing, any season, any time of year.

LUCAS CARTON
9, place de la Madeleine
Paris 75008
Tel: 01 42 65 22 90
Fax: 01 42 65 06 23
All major credit cards. Closed the first three weeks of August, Saturday lunch, all day Sunday, and Monday lunch. 395-franc lunch menu; A la carte, 750 to 1140 francs, including service but not wine.

The New Guy Savoy

Paris -- What a joy it is to follow a career, watch a chef constantly grow, evolve, excite, create, and recreate. Guy Savoy is not someone to settle. His passion for food, his huge appetite for art, his hunger for new wines all merge seamlessly in his newest recreation, a brand new décor, concept and cuisine at the flagship restaurant that bears his name.

Open since late August, the "new" Guy Savoy retains much of what we loved about the old: service that may well be the best in Paris, wine excitement that you seldom see in even the best of establishments, and a cuisine that is 100% HIS. And each dish signed with a touch of Guy's special shade of green: The green of a giant basil leaf, the green of a thick broccoli purée, the green of a baby leek, the green of a tender artichoke.

Why is it that the first thing you put in your mouth at the beginning of a meal is so often the taste you remember the longest and love the most? The first of a series of brilliant new dishes from his new menu was the best: Imagine a clear glass soup bowl aglow in bright reds and greens, offset by clear see-through jelly that carries with it the perfumes of the sea. Tiny fillets of Mediterranean rouget (little red mullet) and meaty lisette (baby mackerel), giant leaves of basil and lipstick-red rounds of tomatoes, seem to float about in a clear sea-scented jelly - cool and smooth and refreshing - and then, plop, the waiter adds a brilliant green touch, a bright seaweed-scented sorbet. I wanted to don a swimming suit and jump in: For me, it was like the last taste of summer that I'll remember all winter long. (And the dish itself shows clearly Guy Savoy's evolution, evoking his famous oyster dish that's teamed up with a sea-scented gelatin.)

Equally exciting but marred by a heavy hand with the salt cellar was his new trio of meaty, gorgeous langoustine - those lobster-like sea creatures that have the texture of a puffy cloud - on a creamy bed of broccoli purée with tiny, crunchy broccoli flowers.

The menu offered a lovely summer-fall transition, with first of season girolles (chanterelles), and a presentation that shows off Savoy's cleverness and ability to keep things simple and sublime at the same time. He posed a mound of the tiniest, most intensely flavored mushrooms in a puddle of wild mushroom juices, topped them with a paper-thin, lace-like potato cake, then a crispy, crunchy slice of the thinnest of grilled Spanish ham.

I would kill to be able to replicate his combination of rare duck breast and seared foie gras set on a bed of baby spinach. Team this with a tiny lace-like cookie, flavored with chocolate and black pepper, and sauce made with a trio of vinegars, and you have a marriage made in heaven. Here, color, texture, aromas blend to create a composition that could become a French classic. (The dish, alas, was marred by another overdose of salt.)

Dessert was a sheer and seamless as the rest of the meal, with a creation that again asks us to pay attention to textural pleasures, with great contrasts of smooth and crunchy: A lovely apple compote dotted with crunchy bits of chestnut, embellished with paper-think slices of dried apples.

The décor of the new room is sophisticated, harmonious, warm, and comfortable. Warm woods, cozy touches of leather, abbreviated use of stone come together to create what Savoy calls "an auberge for the 21st century."

Guy Savoy
18 rue Troyon
Paris 75017
Tel: 01 43 80 36 22
Fax: 01 46 22 43 09
reserve@guysavoy.com
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. All major credit cards. 980-franc menu. A la carte 800 francs, including service but not wine.

Savoring an Outdoor Meal in Paris Garden and Sidewalk Terraces Enrich the Last Days of Summer

I know few dining pleasures anywhere in the world as exquisite as an outdoor meal in Paris. On those rare occasions when the weather is right and you can secure a table, dining on a restaurant's terrace in this city cannot be surpassed.

I hit the jackpot a few weeks ago with four outdoor nights in a row - a record for me. My all-time favorite terrace in Paris is Laurent, the pastel-pink 19th-century hunting lodge in the gardens of the Champs-Elysees. Here, the talented chef Philippe Braun (with the consulting assistance of Joel Robuchon) has created a menu of sheer simplicity with a certain touch of genius. The frosting on the cake is the fabulous service provided by Philippe Bourguignon and Patrick Lair.

Opt for the Menu Pavillon - well-priced at 390 francs ($55). Begin with the veal-stuffed ravioli teamed with the most delicious artichokes, a marvelous dish that is made for light, summertime eating. The thinnest pasta encases veal knuckle that has been cooked to a melting tenderness. The flavorful juices from the roasting serve as a lean, exquisite sauce.

And what better to follow than a spit-roasted Bresse chicken, crisp pommes soufflees and a green salad filled with a tangle of herbs. The chicken is moist, the skin is crisp, the potatoes golden and irresistible.

Dessert awaits - a fine lemon macaroon paired with fraises des bois, tiny wild strawberries. Or order a sweet compote of fresh strawberries set off by a lactic, acidic sorbet au fromage blanc.

On the a la carte menu, my favorites included the delightful fresh Brittany langoustines wrapped in Moroccan feuille de brick pastry and expertly deep-fried, served in a rich basil sauce with a gentle green salad. I crave Braun's elegant roast turbot, simplicity at its best, served with earthy, baby potatoes and new onions.

Lair worked his magic one more time, suggesting two outstanding wines: a 1998 Condrieu from Francois Villard, an almost lavish wine with beautiful structure, and a rare, much sought after Coteaux du Languedoc, 1994 Clos Syrah Leone, a rich winner with tons of intense, berry fruitiness.


Laurent
41 Avenue Gabriel
Paris 75008
Tel: 01-42-25-00-39
Fax: 01-45-62-45-21.
Open daily. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 390 to 960 francs. A la carte, 700 to 800 francs.


Of all the modern bistros to open in the past few years, one of the best in terms of originality and spark is Dame Jeanne, in the Bastille area.

Service remains slow as molasses but that does not stop me from returning when I have a chance. The 120-franc ''fruit and vegetable'' menu is a dream, with such starters as a whole, peeled tomato stuffed with a mixed salad of steamed vegetables, including carrots, chives, broccoli and cauliflower tossed in a good vinaigrette.

Next comes a vegetable lasagne: featherlight, and paper-thin pasta layered with the most wonderful ratatouille - diced eggplant, zucchini and tomato - topped with the sheerest dose of cheese. The dish is served in an individual gratin dish, and comes with a green salad. A la carte offerings might include gazpacho served in a most original manner - from a glass beaker on a small white porcelain tray, with bits of parmesan, herbs and tomatoes as garnish.

A first-rate preparation of simple grilled lamb chops arrives with a rich potato puree. For wine, I opted for a 1998 Pic St. Loup, from the Languedoc, a 1998 Chateau de Cazeneuve ''Les Calcaires'' from Andree Leenhart. The wine appeared harsh at first, but with a little breathing rounded out the meal wonderfully.

Dame Jeanne
60 Rue de Charonne
Paris 75011
Tel: 01-47-00-37-40
Fax: 01-47-00-37-45.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Closed from the end of August to Sept. 12. Credit card: Visa. Menus at 110, 128 and 168 francs.


Move on to one of my favorite bistros, Au Bon Accueil, with its elbow-to-elbow-tiny sidewalk terrace, a fine menu and an attractive view of the Eiffel Tower.

Jacques Lacipiere, the owner, is clearly working to upgrade the level of food offered at this jam-packed restaurant and let's hope he succeeds. The food is becoming more sophisticated without losing any of its original charm. On the 175-franc ($24) menu you might find a rich and creamily delicious risotto flavored with tiny, woodsy girolles - chanterelles - a Parmesan cookie and plenty of minced chives, or roasted leg and shoulder of lamb from France's Pauillac region, served with a rich rosemary-infused juice.

Desserts include a fine grapefruit-enhanced creme br?lee and a heavenly moelleux au chocolat served with fresh raspberries and strawberries. A la carte offerings include a fabulous turbot steamed with an avalanche of herbs, accompanied by a warm rendition of the popular a la grecque vegetable preparation, including lightly pickled carrots, onions and mushrooms.

Au Bon Accueil
14 Rue de Monttessuy
Paris 75007
Tel: 01-47-05-46-11.
Closed Saturday and Sunday. Credit card: Visa. Menu at 175 francs. A la carte, 280 to 350 francs.

Illustrious Pic

VALENCE -- The first time we dined at the illustrious, longtime Michelin three-star restaurant Pic was in the 1970’s, all part of a gastronomic blitz about France. Pic was on the schedule for dinner, but that Sunday morning as we tried to start the engine on our leased Renault parked near a church in Lyon, flames began to fly from the engine.

“Incendie!” was the first word that came from our lips. As a Frenchmen walked out the church and came to our aid, the first thing he did was correct our French. This was not an “incendie” but a ‘petit feu.”

At any rate, we had a car to tow to the repair shop so did not make our lunch date at the then-renowned Pyramide in Vienne. Instead, we hopped a train to Valence to make sure we would be fed at dinner time.

I remember the meal at Pic as glorious but more important I remember the breakfast that morning in the dining room, the freshly cut rose in the silver vase, and our good bye. As we departed, intending to walk to the train station, chef Jacques Pic suggested the staff bring our car around. When he realized we had no car and were walking to the station, he grabbed a chef from the kitchen to drive us. As we drove off, Monsieur Pic raced after us on foot, with a bottle of champagne and a Relais & Château key chain as a souvenir. That memory of gentle kindness has stayed with me for decades as a reminder of just how generous the French can be. And we still use the key chain for the keys to our wine cellar.

Much has changed at Pic since then. Jacques Pic passed away, his son, Alain briefly took over the stoves, and now, after a family feud, 30-year-old daughter Anne-Sophie Pic her husband, David Sinapian, along with mother Suzanne are running the illustrious hotel-restaurant, which now has two Michelin stars. (Alain Pic can now be found in Grenoble, at the restaurant Les Mesanges-Alain Pic.)

I will admit to a bit of apprehension at returning to this, one of the most traditional of grand French restaurants. Sometimes the weight of tradition weighs just too much, and I did wonder what could this 30-year-old gal tell us about the all that has passed through these august kitchens.

I was delightfully surprised, for what I found was truly luscious fare, a menu that on paper appears overly ambitious but on the plate comes off as modern, light, ethereal, full of clean, clear flavors. In fact the hardest part of the meal is wading through the menu choices and names. But once you’ve made up your mind and placed your order, you are home free!

The tiny Anne-Sophie seems to work like a fireball, instilling new, revitalized ideas in a very classical house. While on paper many of the dishes seem to have a very Asian touch (as do the many clean-lined dishes on which she serves her very personal fare) the end result has its roots in classical French cuisine.

And so she will tease us with appetizers of moist chicken skewered on twigs of fragrant rosemary, or offer us tiny madeleines seasoned with bits of ham and Parmesan cheese, and rolls of smoked salmon served in tiny paper cups.

Vegetables get star billing here in almost every dish, as she pairs salads of lobster, crab, and langoustines with baby leaves of red-ribbed Swiss chard and arugula, with drizzles of a mayonnaise smooth and sheer as organdy.

Fresh langoustines appear on top of deliciously seasoned crab meat studded with lime zest, surrounded by all my favorite veggies: teepees of asparagus, fresh fava beans, and baby spinach leaves anointed, again with that sheer and airy mayonnaise.

A symphony of flavors abound in a simple serving of ceteaux – precious baby soles – delicately pan fried and paired with the tiniest of baby squid stuffed with pasta and a pistou-like sauce.

A main course of guinea hen – pintade – stuffed with olive leaves, rosemary, fennel, dried tomatoes and black olives – was a pure delight in flavor and presentation. The poultry was prepared in the most traditional of ways – en vessie – or wrapped in a pig’s bladder and poached in chicken stock, making for a moist, fragrant bird. The marriage of the tender guinea hen meat, the stuffing, all served with great buttery girolles (chanterelles) and tiny ratte potatoes was made in heaven.

The only disappointment of the meal was the bottle of Chapoutier’s famed white Hermitage, a 1997 Chante Alouette, a wine that seemed flat and uneventful, as it should not be when priced at 490 francs a bottle. We recovered, however, with a bottle of simple but sublime red Côtes du Rhône, a Château d’Hugues 1995 well-priced at 140 francs.


Pic
285 boulevard Victor Hugo
26000 Valence
Tel: 04 75 44 15 32
Fax: 04 75 40 96 03.
Closed two weeks in January, Sunday evening, Tuesday lunch, and Monday from November to March. Menus at 430 and 660 francs. A la carte, 490 to 660 francs, including service but not wine.

Staggeringly Simple, Extremely Well-Executed

CHÂTEAU ARNOUX, FRANCE- Many chefs talk about just-picked garden freshness and French regional pride but few attend to the task as eagerly and authentically as Arlette, Pierre, and Jany Gleize the inseparable family trio from the memorable hotel restaurant La Bonne Etape, here in the Alpes de Haute Provence.

I have known the family for at least 15 years and return each time as an old friend, a fellow warrior in the combat against the sameness and inauthenticity of so many regional menus. The first time I dined at this 18th-century relais de poste (stagecoach stop) flavors virtually leapt from the plate: Pierre Gleize's tender zucchini blossoms . picked from his garden outside the restaurant at sunset . stuffed with a vibrant mix of garlic, mint, and zucchini; his fragrant Sisteron lamb; or the pungent Banon goat. s milk cheese aged in dried chestnut leaves, all accompanied by aromatic sips of the red, white or rose Palette from Château Simone.

A recent return visit brought all that happiness back once more, following a sensory -heightened drive up and down Mont Ventoux and through the lavender-strewn fields along some of France's best back roads.

The food at La Bonne Etape is staggeringly simple, extremely well-executed. The son, Jany, is now at the stove, and, gratefully, brings no huge ego to the table: What. s on the plate is about the ingredients, pure and simple. He is one of the most creative chefs I know, yet the creativity is not shoved in your face. There is nothing complicated, nothing you have to strain your brain to understand. But don. t confuse simple with professional: This is food of the highest level, dishes glazed or teamed up with sauces you don't turn out of in a home kitchen in a matter of seconds.

More than a week later (with many restaurant meals and many memorable dishes consumed since that time) I can close my eyes and still see and taste the food.

Who could not love the purity of his soothing ravioli stuffed with a mixture of mushrooms, Swiss chard and spinach, bathed in a shiny red tomato sauce? The brilliant red, white and green transport you right across the border to Italy.

Joël Robuchon came to mind when I sampled Jany. s bed of meltingly soft onions and black truffles topped with a Tiddly Wink arrangement of perfect rounds of delicious potatoes, decorated with a crispy Parmesan tuile cookie.

Fresh tuna is cooked to a confit-like tenderness, topped with a layer of fresh, marinated anchovies, woven into perfect braid atop the fish. And lamb is seized as though the devil did it, sauced with a rich, original basil butter.

Service here is of the highest order, and the Relais & Chateaux group should be proud of the youthful, well-mannered staff. It must be a sign that I am getting old, but the fine female sommeliere did not look as though she was old enough to legally drink the wine she was pouring.

But I must thank her for introducing me to Henning Hoesch. s rich red Syrah, the 1996 Domaine Richeaume Côtes de Provence with appealing overtones of black and red currants.

And while I tend to agree more or less with the august Michelin travel guide on the their ratings, they are simply WRONG WRONG WRONG about their single star rating of La Bonne Etape. Over the years they have given stars and taken them away from the Gleize family for what I see as no justifiable reason.


La Bonne Etape
Chemin du lac
04160 Château-Arnoux-St Aubin.
Tel: 04 92 64 00 09.
Fax: 04 92 64 37 36.
Closed January 3 to February 12 and all day Monday, Tuesday at lunch from November to March. Credit cards: American Express, Diner. s Club, Visa. Menus at 310 and 540 francs. A la carte, 225 to 595 francs, including service but not wine.

Amazing Combinations, Remarkable Presentations, Flavorful Surprises

Paris -- The best restaurant in Paris today? For my palate it is the home of Pierre Gagnaire, the hyperactive, super creative, sometimes off the wall crazy chef who manages to woo us with amazing combinations, remarkable presentations, and most of all, flavorful surprises that please even the most jaded of palates.

I first ran into Gagnaire in the mid-1980. s, when he was a brash young chef working out of a playful skylit restaurant in the town of Saint Etienne in central France. I remember my first meal as though it was yesterday, especially the astonishingly rich chocolate soufflé, so creamy he called it a soup.

He was like a jumping bean, so full of ideas and challenges that just being within earshot of him you felt the energy, excitement, enthusiasm. Your senses went into instant overload.

Some 15 years later, after some not so happy days in another establishment in Saint Etienne, Gagnaire is still working his magic. Like most of us, maturity has brought a bit of sobriety (but not TOO much) and clearer focus on what he is after.

Many adjectives come to mind after a meal in his tranquil, enveloping grey and white Right Bank dining room: Exciting. Intelligent. Generous. Challenging. Audacious.

A while back I told Gagnaire that I thought he was the most intellectual of chefs, because it is hard to tear into a dish of his without thinking of all the elements there (why and how did he come up with the combination of fresh morels in curry powder, paired with frog. s legs with tarragon, écrevisses with vegetables in a chervil pesto) that just looking at the food makes your head spin and question. His response was . But we have all these incredible ingredients at hand, why not use them all?.

But of course you can look at his food both ways , take it at face value (it tastes great, I. ll have another bite), or plunge into the intellectual realm to try get into the mind of the slightly mad scientist.

While he has always dazzled us with his combination, I feel that today has in fact narrowed the focus of his food down to main ingredients, while that lost list of side bars are just that, side bars to uphold and shine light on the ingredient at hand. Thus a main-dish of Turbot paired with leeks and codfish and a juice of highbush cranberries, set off by tiny mackerel in anchovy sauce, is the end really all about that firm, white-fleshed star of the sea from Brittany.

But go, see and taste for yourself, and along the way sample some of the finest wines of the Languedoc, such as a white 1998 Château Estanilles or a hearty 1997 Saint Chinian, Canet Valette, Le Vin Meghani. And don. t forget to fasten your seat belt. It may well be a bumpy and memorable ride.

 

Pierre Gagnaire
6 rue Balzac
Paris 75008.
Telephone 01 44 35 18 25
Fax: 01 44 35 18 37.
Closed Saturday, Sunday lunch, holidays, and mid-July to mid-August. Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 5320 francs (lunch only), 960 and 1500 francs. A la carte, 800 to 1000 francs including service but not wine.

La Maison de l'Aubrac

Paris -- I don't know when I have laughed or smiled more in a Parisian restaurant. It was a Sunday night, right after a major French rugby game. France lost, but you would never have known it by all the revelry in the Auvergnat La Maison de l' Aubrac. There was a table of 30 or 40 locals, singing their hearts out, Auvergnat songs, funny songs, sexy songs, country songs that made you feel as though you were in heart of France and not just steps from the Champs Elysées.

I don' t know how they managed to keep singing AND eating as platter after platter of hearty Auvergnat fare was paraded to their tables, giant trays of whole sausages and sliced sausages, head cheese and rillettes, terrines and pâtés, all washed down with carafes of rustic red.

All around us, diners were eagerly tucking into huge platters of saucisse aligot, Auvergnat pork sausages paired with mashed potatoes laced with garlic and curds of fresh Cantal cheese; huge and gorgeous 2 pound ribs of beef (côte de boeuf), accompanied by either sauteed potatoes or aligot, potato gratin or green salad.

Sitting within earshot (one couldn' t get away from the singing if one had wanted to) we feasted on simple fare, most of it sublime. My favorite of the evening was their croustillant de Roquefort aux poires, salade d' endives aux noix: Brique pastry was filled with a mix of Roquefort cheese and cubed fresh pears, folded in four like a crepe, then pan fried. The crispy, warm croustillant accompanied a beautiful, fresh, and nicely dressed endive salad tossed with a touch of cubed tomato, tons of finely chopped fresh parsley and plenty of walnuts.

Equally fine was the cool lentil salad, served with lots of dressed greens and truly moist and delicious smoked fatted duck breast, or magret. Less interesting was the fresh but rather bland slice of leg of lamb from the Lozère, grilled and served with a duet of white beans, large and small, a dish that lacked a defined personality. My entrecôte, grilled to a perfect rareness, was good: chewy, fresh, meaty and fragrant. The accompanying green salad was ultrafresh.

This rustic style restaurant (with wooden booths, paper place mats, and stainless tableware) could easily be taken for a nondescript café, but it' s more than that. A true home away from home for the hordes of Auvergnats who visit or reside in Paris . But even for first-timers, service is friendly and efficient. The wine list is excellent, offering good choices from the Languedoc, Rhône, and the Southwest. We loved the ripe and virile Pic Saint Loup Château de Lascaux, Les Nobles Pierres, from the Hérault village of Vacquieres. The 1997 was honestly priced at 188 francs. , , Paris 8. Tel: 01.43.59.05.14.Fax: .

LA MAISON DE L' AUBRAC
37, rue Marbeuf
Paris 75008
Tel: 01.43.59.05.14
Fax: 01.42.89.66.09
Credit cards: Visa.


Topolobampo: Jumps from the Kitchen to the Plate

CHICAGO- I was once lucky enough to have a few precious hours between flights in this great town. There was no hesitation as to where it would be spent, in the care of restaurateurs Rick and Deann Bayless, owners of Chicago's unique Mexican restaurants, Topolobampo and its little next door brother, The Frontera Grill.

That was years ago and a 48 hour visit to the city late this spring allowed me yet another glimpse and sampling of the Bayliss magic. Rick and Deann have done more for the understanding of Mexican food in America than any two people I know. Their passion is exhaustive, with regular field trips to visit markets, study ingredients and cooking techniques, equipment, artwork and feasts. And they present a full package in their brightly colored, fun, art-filled settings.

Their enthusiasm for and knowledge of this land of hot peppers and cilantro, corn and smoky chilies, plantains and black beans literally jumps from the kitchen to the plate. This is not the sort of restaurant one can be ambivalent about, it gets under your skin, takes a swat at your palate, leaves you dreamy as you walk out the door, having just sipped their heavenly Elixir Tropical, a mixture of papayas and mango, raspberries and jicama (a crisp root vegetable with the texture of fresh water chestnuts) in a cool tropical broth.

But I am getting ahead of myself. An ideal late spring starter consisted of a seviche , a perfect palate opener, a finely acidic, highly spiced modern style preparation of raw baby scallops marinated in lime juice and seasoned with chipotle peppers, oregano vinegar and olive oil.

Then we moved to serious eating, sampling their classic Lenten dried shrimp cakes (Tortitas de Camarones); as well as very light Yucatecan enchiladas, prepared with homemade tortillas and bathed with a smooth and savory pumpkin seed sauce.

But one of my favorite dishes of the evening was the Sopa Azteca, a dreamy soup made up of a dark broth flavored with chile pasilla, garnished with grilled chicken, avocado, cheese, thick cream and that perfect touch of crunch, crisp tortilla strips.

Each dish is beautifully presented and though the food appears complex, a single main ingredient is always the star. As in the best dish of the evening aged Wisconsin Crawford Farm leg of lamb, served with an earthy corn mushroom sauce and teamed up with sweet roasted garlic and chile pasilla. Equally stunning is the rabbit loin set over a banana leaf braise of poblano chiles, carrots, garlic, and fingerling potatoes. The roasted Serrano salsa was the perfect foil for all these ultra-fresh ingredients.

Vegetarians would delight in the Tama Azteca, a monumental layered casserole of zucchini, corn, Swiss chard, poblanos and a delightfully smoky tomato sauce.

What to drink with all this? We had the rich red Spanish Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero region just north of Madrid. The fashionable wine from the pale and aromatic Rioja grape stands up perfectly to all of the Bayless fancy dancing with spice and pungency. Other good choices include a floral white Viognier from the Andrew Murray vineyards in Santa Barbara, California or a Napa Valley Riesling from Stony Hill.

TOPOLOBAMBO (and Frontera Grill)
445 North Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois
Tel: 312 661 1434
Closed All major credit cards. Five-course tasting menu at $55. A la carte, about $45, not including service or wine.
ON THE
Back Burner



Shaw's Crab House

It had been about 10 years since I had the pleasure of dining at Shaw’s Crab House, a rabbit warren of dining rooms decked out with lots of Americana as well as lots of the city’s inhabitants. The place was packed on that Friday night in spring, with hordes of happy hour revelers still tucking into that day’s oyster sampling (from Nova Scotia and Oregon, British Columbia, and Martha’s Vineyard no less), washing down the sweet and succulent bivalves with lots of malty beer or oyster friendly wines.

This place is amazing, though not the spot to be for a quick or quiet or romantic evening. Service can be uneven and slow, but trust me, if it is fresh fish and shellfish you want in Chicago, then it is worth the wait.

Along with the astonishing selection of fresh oysters, sweet Dungeness, Florida Stone Crab and soft-shell crabs in season, Shaw’s serves incredible crab cakes, and, on the evening we visited the most delicious, moist, pure-flavored Roasted Alaskan Halibut steak you can imagine, paired with roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus. The wine list is largely American, and the key lime pie, totally awesome: tangy, pert and the perfect way to end an evening.

Shaw’s Crab House & Blue Crab Lounge
21 East Hubbard Street
Chicago, Illinois
Tel: 312 527 2722.
Open daily. All major credit cards. About $35 per person, not including service or wine.

Tasteful and Tasty, With No Attitude

What a pleasure to dine in a restaurant with no attitude, no Let's Cook International menu, just good French food in good surroundings with service that is sincere, efficient and from the heart.

That's what I found on a recent evening at the six-month-old Restaurant Baptiste, where the chef Denis Croset and his associate, Jean-Baptiste Gay, are doing what the French do best, running a compact bistro where one might easily become a neighborhood regular.

Situated in the bourgeois neighborhood near Parc Monceau, the restaurant is a tasteful and simple restoration of a 1930s bistro, where the best parts - such as the colorful Art Deco tile floor - have been saved and modern touches, including comfortable upholstered chairs and fine linens, have been added.

The well-priced menu is contemporary and to the point, with such unfussy fare as a tossed green salad (thank you, chef) and such daily specials as a potato and codfish (cabillaud) salad. Main courses vary from a masterfully grilled rump of veal (quasi de veau) served with the tiniest of French green beans and fresh green asparagus, to a delicious grilled veal chop, set atop a mix of vegetables, all cooked to a tender confit. For dessert, classic crepes filled with cubed warm apples and raisins are in order.

The compact wine list includes a full, fruity, pleasing red Faugeres, Chateau Chenaie 1996, at 185 francs (about $26), as well as an ever satisfying red Saumur-Champigny, vieilles vignes, from Domaine de la Perruche, the 1997 priced at 130 francs.

Restaurant Baptiste
51 Rue Jouffroy d'Abbans
Paris 75017
Tel: 01-42-27-20-18
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Two-course menu at 148 francs and three-course menu at 180 francs. Credit cards: Visa, American Express.


Starck's Eatery Disappoints

PARIS - With a great deal of fanfare and more grand plans for the future, the omnipresent designer Philippe Starck opened his first restaurant, Bon, on the first day of spring in Paris's 16th arrondissement.

Situated in a huge, 700-square-meter (7,500-square-foot) space along Rue de la Pompe, Bon personifies everything that is wrong with internationally aimed restaurants today.

For starters, the multipurpose space is uncomfortable, the place is so dark and the type on the menu so small that you cannot even read what you might want to eat. The food has a proper organic-vegetarian approach, but fails miserably in flavor, presentation and satisfaction. And on a given night one risks total asphyxiation as this bio-healthy-wholesome crowd smokes up a veritable storm.

I admire Starck's energy and commitment to a healthy lifestyle, but I wish he had stuck to toothbrushes, chairs, buildings and sofas and stayed clear of creating menus for the restaurant world.

Along with his partner, Laurent Taieb (of Lo Sushi fame), Starck has attempted to put together a restaurant for everyone at all times. Bon is designed to fill the needs of a single person for breakfast - organic sweets from Laduree can be grabbed from the revolving belt that serves to deliver your sushi at lunch and dinner; a single for lunch - who can join one of the several table d'hote in the first dining room; a romantic couple for dinner - there's an intimate dining room in one section of the restaurant, or a group meeting-dinner in the video room fully equipped with the latest technology.

There is, as well, a large room decorated with giant white sofas, the idea being that people can feel as though they are dining at home. And there is a brasserie-style area for those who like being elbow-to-elbow.

The place has many brilliant Starck touches - the giant marble-top table d'hote that is lighted from underneath and topped with candelabras, and a lovely outdoor space decorated with ''walls'' of thyme set in giant picture frames. There is also a small boutique where you can purchase Bon's tableware; kitschy objects such as a faux-mink cover for your soft-boiled egg; Laduree's macaroons prepared with organic ingredients, and the designer's own line of organic products, from spaghetti sauce to champagne.

The menu, alas, is just plain silly, and about the only edible things our group of four diners found were a few meager pieces of sushi thrown into the ''menu dietetique,'' which included an unsavory compilation of sushi, miso soup, a mishmash of vegetables and a naked chunk of iceberg lettuce. What could Starck be thinking? The food was served TV-dinner style: all at the same time on an awkward platter.

Everything at Bon is not good for you. One small section of the menu is entitled ''I Am Bad,'' and featured steak and potato chips that, on our visit, emitted an odd flavor, like rancid oil.

The Paris Bon is the first of a chain, with plans for others in New York, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Madrid and London. Heaven help us.


Bon
25 Rue de la Pompe
Paris 75016
Tel: 01-40-72-70-00
Fax: 01-40-72-68-30.
Open daily 8 A.M. to 2 A.M. About 150 francs ($22) a person, including service. All major credit cards.

Slim and Fit, Behind the Golden Door

ESCONDIDO, California There is one thing in life that I truly regret. When I was growing up in the American Middle West in the 1950s, girls did not sweat. We couldn't even dream of being jocks or playing on a team. Girls could swim and they could ice skate. There were no other options.

In high school, ''gym'' happened about once a week and was limited to wimpy calisthenics, a trampoline or volley ball, all supervised by ill-tempered, unattractive, overweight women. So much for role models.

But around 1968, at the urging of a male friend who had just returned from a life-changing Outward Bound program, I bought a pair of high-top boy's basketball shoes (no Reeboks, no Nikes back then) and began to jog. Over the years I ran a few mini marathons, working my way up to an easy, hourlong run several times a week. Most of the time, I loved every minute of it. (During one difficult period in my life I truly believed that if I ran five miles before 9 in the morning, nothing bad could happen to me the rest of the day. And it usually didn't.)

But as happens with age, what worked for me in my twenties, thirties and forties did not work in my fifties. It was as if the hour-long runs counted not at all. I tried running longer and more often, but the numbers on the scale went up and my spirits went down.

Then a friend suggested a group birthday present for a friend who has everything. A week at the legendary Golden Door north of San Diego, known for transforming bodies of the stars and putting the words ''spa cuisine'' into our mouths. And since we didn't want the birthday girl to go alone, three of us would join her.

For most of my life the very idea of a spa (remember when we called them fat farms and weight-loss clinics?) appealed to me about as much as a root canal. I am not into fluff and pampering, wasn't interested in looking at two naked carrots on my plate for lunch, surrounded by snotty people who all looked like Cindy Crawford in spandex. I've never been into massages, body wraps, facials or, God forbid, aerobics classes.

But there was one detail that did appeal: For seven full days no chef would present me a well-meaning glass of champagne, an ''extra'' tasting of foie gras, a third or fourth chocolate dessert, another pour of bubbly, a final sip of eau-de-vie.

Those naked carrots were beginning to look good. the reality As it turns out, there were no Cindy Crawfords, just 40 women, ranging in age from 23 to 80, lawyers and corporate presidents, mothers and daughters, a chef, a New York agent, a mom whose kids asked if she was going to have all her fat taken out of her and, yes, a dentist who specializes in root canals.

In a given day at the Japanese-garden-filled spa, I spent a good six hours exercising, beginning with strenuous sunrise mountain hikes, followed by private tennis, swimming and jogging lessons, multiple meetings with Mike, my personal trainer and new best friend, grueling workouts on every kind of machine designed to strengthen every body part, stretch classes and back care and posture classes, strength training and aqua dumbbells, body sculpting and toning. After that, the gal who used to turn her nose up at massages, now craved her daily hourlong rubdown, soothing facials, hair treatments, manicures, pedicures and, the best of all, an almond oil-sea salt ''glow.''

Fitted with a heart-beat monitor to see how hard I was working and how hard I had to work to be truly fit, I quickly learned what most women discover. We women think we work harder than we really do. So all those hourlong runs were just not strenuous enough, long enough or frequent enough to offset the extra portions of foie gras, chocolate cake and champagne.

So Mike took me aside and set up a personal program, with realistic goals and endless encouragement for getting and staying as fit and healthy as possible. On my return to Paris, a treadmill was in order (to fill in on all those rainy days when jogging is simply not a reality), as well as a gym membership, for twice-weekly stretch sessions to balance the cardio-training on the track and the machine. (Now, I suddenly have two personal trainers, one in each country, one in each language.)

Back at the Door, when our bodies weren't in constant motion, we were eating. At snack, lunch and dinner time, sheeplike behavior took over, and we lunged for the gloriously arranged bowls of fresh fruits and vegetables set before us. (When you check into the Golden Door you meet with a fitness instructor and together determine how intensely you want to work out and how much or little you want to eat. I voted for a lot of workout and a little bit of food.)

Even with the lightest food allotment, I felt I was eating all day long. Upon return from our hikes, breakfast appeared on a lovely tray delivered to our spacious private rooms. Overlooking a bubbling Japanese fountain, I feasted (on various days) on a single poached egg with a thin slice of whole wheat toast, mixed fruit with low-fat cottage cheese sprinkled with almond granola and raisins, a sprouted bagel boat filled with pineapple-ricotta cheese.

And there was fruit, fruit, fruit. I think in one week I ate more raw fruit than I had in the previous year, and I rediscovered the perfect fast food, the banana. - EACH day we were allowed to choose from two or three entrees for lunch and dinner and were amazed by the Belgian chef Michel Stroot's ability to transform healthy and wholesome ingredients into dishes that were beautiful, delicious and, most of all, satisfying. From the Golden Door's organic vegetable garden and surrounding groves of kiwis, avocados, oranges and lemons, we were served food that was pure, unfussy and nourishing to body and soul.

At appetizer time, we had Stroot's ingenious baked pita chips dipped into a spicy, lightened hummus spread. Marvelous frittatas were filled with an appealing mixture of spinach and artichokes, potatoes and basil, tomatoes and feta cheese. Chicken breasts were baked and sauced with a tangy mustard sauce, paired with garden-fresh green beans and garlic mashed potatoes.

Even welcome slices of duck breast arrived in a fine raspberry sauce. I also found that the Golden Door becomes addictive. One woman had been there 35 times. Mothers and daughters make it an annual family outing. Another woman, defeated by her doctors' inability to find a cause for her sore legs, checked in for three weeks and somehow solved the problem with lots of exercise and the healthy diet. But not everyone comes to lose weight. Many of the women were already perfectly fit, and

Others came for the spiritual side of the program. Some, recovering from cancer or from a death in the family, found solace in meditation and thoughtful walks through the Golden Door's labyrinth. There were many things I did not do, like tai chi and yoga, cardio box and Thai box, country dancing, belly-dancing, fencing, dumbbells, fitball and meditation. But I'm signed up for a repeat visit, now that I am six kilograms lighter and counting.

The Golden Door
P.O. Box 463077
Escondido, California, 92046-3077
tel: (1-800) 424-0777 or (1-760) 744-5777
fax: (1-760) 471-2393.
All-inclusive weekly fee is $5,375. The Golden Door was created by women and for women, but occasional men's and co-ed weeks are offered.

A Love Ballad To Black Truffles

PARIS — At least once a month someone asks me what I would choose for my last meal on earth. If you asked me today, it would be the sublime meal I had recently at one of my long-time favorite restaurants, Guy Savoy.

Perfect simplicity in food is difficult to achieve, but the talented Savoy gets it right in his culinary love poem to the fresh black truffle, now winding down its season.

His vegetable millefeuille included paper-thin slices of vermilion-red beet chips interlayered with crunchy slices of earthy, fresh black truffle. A quartet of the season’s first green Provencal asparagus lay in a pool of magnificently balanced vinaigrette. An avalanche of textures, flashes of bright and solid colors, touches of brilliance — it’s a palate pleaser all the way.

A signature as ever, the meal was augmented by Savoy’s famed artichoke soup, adorned with slices of truffle and shavings of moist Parmesan.

The rich, toasted miniature brioche slathered with truffle butter was perfect.

Spring in France means Easter lamb, and Savoy’s creative juices turned to a dish that offered three textures and flavors.

The fragrant main course included choice morsels of lamb from a tender and meaty roasted saddle, chewy braised shoulder and the rarely seen panoufle, those fatty, muscle-filled little belly flaps from the saddle. The tasty panoufles were seasoned with herbs and grilled to perfection.

Dessert was as discreet, colorful, and original as the rest of the meal, with a trio of blood- orange flavors: The pastry chef offered a sunset-toned sorbet with a sweet blood-orange confiture folded into the cooling delicacy, decorated with crispy, paper-thin dried slices of my preferred winter citrus.

Wine choices here are luxurious, so ask the sommelier, Eric Mancio, to guide you along the route.


Guy Savoy
18 Rue Troyon
Paris 75017.
Tel: 01-43-80-40-61
Fax: 01-46-22-43-09.
E-mail: reserv(AT)guysavoy.com; Web site: www.guysavoy.com.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday, and from July 16 to Aug. 21. Tasting menu: 980 francs. A la carte, 800 to 1,000 francs. All major credit cards

A Tour of France's Flavors

Regional Fare

The restaurateur and former journalist Philippe Lemoine had a great idea: Open a restaurant in Paris that features a constantly revolving taste of regional news and regional French cuisine, serving Nicoise fare one week under the guise of Nice Matin and specialties from the Auvergne and L'Auvergnat de Paris another.

Under the skillful direction of Thierry Enderlin, Le Kiosque offers sane, sensible, well-considered food. Everything is prepared with the finest ingredients (beautiful grain-fed chicken, farm-fresh pork and lamb, artisanal charcuterie, excellent baguettes from Boulangerie Bechu, and cheese from one of the best in Paris, Alleosse).

In addition to the week's regional offerings, the regular menu now features an original salad of spicy octopus paired with artichokes in a black olive vinaigrette, and a warming roast chicken served with a delicious tarragon-flecked potato puree.

The 1998 Brouilly from Domaine Sanvers et Cotton is easy to swallow, as is the well-priced 149-franc menu. Service is efficient, youthful and friendly.

Le Kiosque
1 Place de Mexico Paris 75016.
Tel: 01.47.27.96.98.
Open daily. Menus at 149 and 179 francs. Children's menu at 79 francs. Sunday brunch, 149 francs. Credit cards: American Express, Visa.


Beaujolais Boredom It should be so easy to get it right. A great Left Bank location, a giant rotisserie and a full list of what may well be the world's best known wine. But a meal the other evening at the popular La Rotisserie du Beaujolais proved to be a total bore.

Corner cafes have more charm and personality than this worn-down affair, where waiters bicker, service is lackadaisical and disorganized, and the food simply monotonous, with undistinguished roast duck, a truly tasteless grilled onglet (flank steak) and endless portions of pearly white potato puree.

Even rivers of George Duboeuf's cheery Saint-Amour couldn't make me love the place.

La Rotisserie du Beaujolais
19 Quai de la Tournelle
Paris 75005.
Tel: 01-43-54-17-47
fax: 01-56-24-43-71.
Closed Monday. A la carte, 250 francs, including service but not wine. Credit cards: Eurocard, Visa.


BOOKS More Truffles With black truffles ever on my mind, there was no way my eye could not catch the title of Gustaf Sobin's ''The Fly-Truffler: A Novel.'' While most people know that the earthy tubers can be hunted with pigs and dogs, most probably do not know that true aficionados identify the truffle's hiding spot by painstakingly following the flight of tiny flies that hover above the earth that envelops the black diamonds. Sobin, an American who has lived in France for 35 years, weaves a sad, sensuous love story with fly-truffling in Provence as the obsession. Now that the time for truffle harvesting wanes, read this to extend the season.

Thai Cravings

When will Paris get a truly wonderful and special Thai restaurant?

Not yet. The much touted Le Livingstone - with its dark colonial decor, leopard-skin banquettes, hunting trophies and stuffed animal heads - nets a big zero in the flavor category. A nonclassic beef and lemon-grass salad featured about half a head of lettuce, almost no dressing, a few strips of meat and nary a hint of lemon grass.

Equally watered down and wimpy was the green curry chicken, swimming in a thoroughly flavorless broth.

The music is nice, prices reasonable, service efficient and friendly, but I do not think I'll be back.

Le Livingstone
106 Rue Saint Honore
Paris 75001.
Tel: 01-53-40-80-50
fax: 01-53-40-80-51.

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. About 150 francs ($22) a person, including service but not beverages. All major credit cards.


A Paris Family Bistro Offers Winter Cheer

PARIS - As dining at all levels becomes more international, less national, personal and unique, the more we welcome and embrace such family bistros as the several-month-old L'Equitable, on a little street at the southern edge of the fifth arrondissement.

Yves Mutin, who spent time at the Jules Verne, has taken over the former Ferme du Perigord, one of those small family bistros that have that carefree 1950s air, with broad dark-beamed ceilings and just enough space to make you feel cozy.

From the second you walk in the door, the welcome and the ambience make you feel you've been here before and know you'll be back. There's a lovely naivete and charm about it all. You almost can't believe that this is a new restaurant, and that it is 2000.

Small and perfect Mutin's small but well-conceived bargain-price menu is full of delights. From the unusual poached eggs in a mushroom cream sauce teamed up with toast fingers spread with a delightful foie gras, to the ultrafresh, meaty scallops in their shells on a bed of a creamy julienne of Belgian endive, the chef gets it right all along the way.

One daily special - fresh morsels of monkfish paired with a warm vinaigrette and a touch of sun-dried tomatoes (yes, they're back but here used judiciously and deliciously) - was the perfect winter starter, accompanied by a delicate fennel mousse and a tiny tangle of greens.

Main courses were equally pleasing, including moist portions of roasted chicken with black olives and a vibrant Swiss chard and a warming pot au feu of veal (with a few tough and fibrous bits of meat hidden in the moist and tender ones) swimming in a finely seasoned chervil cream. A fine roast veal was the special of the day.

Highlights on the 168-franc ($25) dinner menu included such starters as oxtail with wild girolles; a fricassee of snails with a potato mousseline, and a cold rabbit terrine. Other main course selections varied from roast kidneys with mustard to a rack of lamb with sage risotto.

There is a good selection of wines priced under 200 francs, including Marc Bredif's 1998 Chinon at 125 francs.

Bravo, Mr. Mutin. Thanks for working to keep Paris the Paris we love. And as the name suggests, a place that is fair, just and equitable.

L'Equitable
1 Rue Fosses-Saint- Marcel
Paris 75005.
Tel: 01-43-31-69-20
fax: 01-43-37-85-52.

Closed for Saturday lunch; open Sunday lunch, and closed Sunday night and all day Monday. 135-franc weekday lunch menu; 168-franc dinner menu. All major credit cards.

Las Vegas Serves Up the World on a Silver Platter

LAS VEGAS - For decades, Las Vegas simply meant gambling, interspersed with 24-hour all-you-can eat buffets, tacky wedding chapels, outlandish floor shows and cheap motel rooms. Words like tawdry, sleazy, garish seemed to have been created just for this neon-glazed town.

Like many Americans who wanted to stay as far away as possible from such a substanceless place, I spent 53 happy years of my life having never set foot in the state of Nevada.

Then everything began to change. Familiar faces in the American food world - Charlie Trotter, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Louis Palladin, Emeril Lagasse - were heading for Vegas, making deals that would alter the face of this desert town forever.

Stephen Wynn, the head of Mirage Resorts and the figure credited with sanitizing Las Vegas, is a man of ''serial passions,'' and one of his latest passions is food. It did not take long before chefs, sous-chefs, sommeliers and waiters, as well as eager diners, were flocking to this Disneyland for adults.

Today Las Vegas is creating a cultural revolution in America, a new set of values for leisure, and one that quite naturally has an international impact. Once a nickel-and-dime gambling joint, the city is now a true family vacation destination with a European feel.

With Americans more sophisticated and moneyed than ever, the city plays right into their hands, and foreign visitors are enjoying it, too. Want entertainment? At the Bellagio, you have the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil production with its international cast of synchronized swimmers, divers and acrobats. Want pampering? At the Venetian there is the Canyon Ranch SpaClub, a mini version of the famous spa in Tucson, Arizona, where you can sample the famous unsinfully delicious 125-calorie chocolate cake. Want to go to Europe without purchasing a trans-Atlantic ticket? Then ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower in the 2,900-room Paris hotel or take a gondola ride on the faux canals at the 3,000-room Venetian hotel. And almost everything is available 24 hours a day, with the hum of slot machines ever present in the background.

Wynn, also creator of the Bellagio, says that his goal is to have the best Broadway show not on Broadway, the best French restaurant not in France, and the best world-class art not in a world-class museum.

He is not far from it. His Cirque du Soleil can easily compete with anything on Broadway. His art gallery is filled with works by Cezanne, Degas, Matisse and Picasso. And after four days of sampling the awe-inspiring variety of restaurants with chefs from all over America and the world, I would say that Las Vegas qualifies as a food lover's destination of the first order.

A FINE SMORGASBORD The city now serves as a smorgasbord of some of the country's finest restaurants. At the Bellagio alone, the lineup includes Sirio Maccioni's Le Cirque from New York; Olives from Boston; Jean-Georges Vongerichten of New York changing gears with a simple steak house called Prime; and great seafood from San Francisco in the name of Aqua.

The Bellagio's own staff includes Julian Serrano from San Francisco for Picasso and Grant MacPherson, longtime executive chef at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

And don't forget the Bellagio's Jasmine (refined Chinese with a chef from Hong Kong), Shintaro (a sushi bar), Noodles (specialties from Thailand, Japan, China and Vietnam), Cafe Bellagio, Sam's American from New York, and The Petrossian Bar from Paris and New York. Not to mention that all the artisanal bread in the house comes from the famed La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles.

At the newly opened Venetian hotel, restaurants have been created at a cost of $3 million to $9 million each. They include Eberhard Muller's Lutece from New York; Piero Selvaggio's Valentino from Los Angeles; Stephen Pyles's Star Canyon from Houston; Joachim Splichal's Pinot Brasserie from Los Angeles; Kevin Wu's Royal Star, featuring master chefs from Hong Kong; Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse from New Orleans, and Puck's Postrio from San Francisco.

Elsewhere, there is Palladin's Napa at the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino; an excellent outpost of New York and London's Nobu in the Hard Rock Hotel, and the only offshoot of Charlie Palmer's New York Aureole, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

The end result of most of these new showcase restaurants is stylish, sophisticated, elegant and fun. Certainly the prime dining experience of the moment can be found at the Bellagio's Picasso, a place with a clear lesson on how it pays to pay attention to detail.

In the 116-seat dining room at the edge of the Bellagio's eight-acre lake, one sits beneath a changing gallery of Wynn's collection of Picasso paintings, offset by a large display of colorful Picasso ceramics. The carpet and the furniture were designed by Picasso's son Claude. Indoors one has a spectacular view of the hotel's water show, astonishing for its choreography, complexity and scale with about 1,000 fountains rising as high as 240 feet (73 meters), dancing to the music of Pavarotti and Sinatra.

The food - a Mediterranean mix of specialties from France and Spain - includes the biggest scallops I have ever seen, Maine day-boat scallops roasted to perfection, topping a potato mousseline in a pool of flavorful jus de veau. It would be hard to choose between chef Serrano's sublime wild Atlantic turbot teamed up with a confit of leeks, or the rich aged roasted lamb chops served with tender rosemary potatoes. The wine list is a veritable tome, including treasures from the entire world of wine.

At Aureole, I was prepared not to like the gimmicky wine wall, a four-story glass wine tower housing a $2 million collection of wine.

To retrieve a selection from the 10,000 bottles stored there, a lean and sexy wine server wearing a harness and a cat suit scales the tower to snare the bottle. Once I was face to face with this modern wonder, I loved it. It is pure Las Vegas: glitzy and glamorous and fun.

I was less taken with the food there, despite excellent service and a chic and elegant dining room. It was simply boring, from tasteless and textureless cardboard lobster to a filet mignon without a personality and a much touted Oregon pinot noir that lost its punch long before we were able to finish the bottle.

We fared better at Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grand Hotel, where spice is the order of the day. Best bets included a tempura-fried spicy salmon roll served with an infused soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger; and his rich cornmeal-fried Louisiana oysters served with marvelous addictive grits dotted with smoked gouda cheese. Only the pan-fried Louisiana crab cakes disappointed, as I searched for the crab bits hidden among the breading.

Near the tour's end, a simple dinner at Nobu made up of a gargantuan platter of sushi and sashimi, washed down with a flinty white French sancerre, left me planning a return trip, soon.


  • Picasso, Bellagio
    3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South
    Las Vegas.
    Tel: (702) 693-7223.
    Fax: (702) 693-8563.
    Open for dinner only, Thursday to Tuesday. $75 prix fixe, $85 tasting menu.

  • Noodles, Bellagio
    3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South
    Las Vegas.
    Tel: (702) 693-7223.
    Fax: (702) 693-8563.
    Open daily. Dishes priced from $4.50 to $24.75.

  • Emeril's New Orleans Fish House, MGM Grand Hotel
    3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
    Las Vegas.
    Tel: (702) 891-7777.
    Open daily. Main dishes priced from $19 to $36, $65 tasting menu.

  • Aureole, Mandalay Bay
    3950 Las Vegas Boulevard South
    Las Vegas.
    Tel: (702) 632-7401.
    Fax: (702) 632-7425.
    Open daily for dinner only. $95 tasting menu (with optional $45 wine pairing), $75 prix fixe.

  • Nobu, The Hard Rock Hotel, 4455 Paradise Road
    Las Vegas.
    Tel: (702) 693-5000.
    Fax: (702) 693 5010.
    Open daily for dinner, and for lunch Friday to Sunday. About $50 for dinner, not including wine, $70 tasting menu.