From January 2004

Its cheerful yellow walls and eastern light make the dining room at Bistrot Lepic one of the prettiest in Washington. It's perfectly suited to chef/owner Bruno Fortin's cooking, an appealing mixture of regional French classics and modern innovations that has won it a devoted following in its upper Georgetown neighborhood.

Bistrot Lepic recently turned its former private dining room upstairs into a handsome wine bar, serving a menu of about a dozen small plates called "appeteasers." Sufficient for a light meal or a snack with drinks, this appealing assortment includes an onion tart, roasted peppers stuffed with brandade of salt cod and potatoes, a terrine of foie gras, and veal cheeks in puff pastry. It's also a haven for smokers, who, by reservation, can order from the full downstairs menu.

A recent fall lunch started with appetizers of creamy, mildly spiced rabbit rillettes and a delicious dish of pig's feet, boned and molded into a terrine, then sliced, breaded, and fried. Main courses included veal cheeks cooked to perfection and a quail half-boned and stuffed with foie gras. Anyone with any affection for French food will find it hard to go wrong at Bistrot Lepic.