From January 2005 100 Very Best Restaurants

This attractive and dependable Cleveland Park bistro specializes in the robust, soul-satisfying cooking of Provence. Good starters include a delicious variation on the usual snails in garlic butter, here baked in eggplant. A very good charcuterie platter, listed under "salads" on the menu, includes a coarsely ground country pâté, a rich and smooth duck-liver terrine, smoked duck breast, garlic sausage, dry-cured ham, and a salad of green beans and walnuts. It's plenty for two to share as an appetizer.

Among the main courses, it's always tempting on a winter evening to go for the hearty stews--lamb with artichokes and tomatoes or a robust daube of beef. Another good bet is the pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. The dessert on a recent visit was a very good dish of fresh figs stewed in red wine and spices and served over vanilla ice cream.