Mediterranean Food with a Modern American Touch

There are no Picassos at the Picasso Grille. The name is meant to evoke the Mediterranean, though "grille" suggests a nod to Modern American, an impression that a menu with butternut-squash soup and French hangar steak does nothing to dispel.

Picasso shares an owner with the DC restaurant Matisse, named for another 20th-century artist, so clearly a motif is at play. The Grille is not quite as adventurous, but it's a place you can easily settle into. And that's no small thing, especially in restaurant-challenged Potomac. How convenient to have a snazzy dining room with French movie posters and chic bar with eclectic and well-priced by-the-glass and bottle wine choices--the soft, supple Primitivo A Mano from Puglia is a find, and the $12 bottle of Chandon Brut only a dollar or two more than you'd pay in a wine shop.

Food is compelling enough to elicit attention but not too tricked up. The kitchen, which had its troubles early on, is more focused these days--thanks in part to new manager Debbie Ciardo, a former cooking teacher who's lived in Italy--and the menu shorter, with daily food and rotating wine specials.

Small plates to look for include beautifully fried calamari with curls of fried spinach; an olive-oil-fragrant duo of eggplant caviar and olive tapenade; garlicky, tomato-flecked steamed mussels; and a salad of seasonal greens with manchego and walnuts. All are generous enough to share as a starter or serve as a light solo meal. End-of-summer's puréed sweet-corn soup with grilled shrimp has been replaced by the equally fine butternut squash with pancetta. A marvelous ribollita, the robust Tuscan bean-and-vegetable soup, is also a special sometimes.

Among the main courses, tender lamb shanks with intense roasted ratatouille and a special of seared sea scallops with short ribs are chef Matt Long's greatest triumphs. Long also gets mileage out of a pair of homey pasta dishes: gemelli with earthy sausage, spinach, and sautéed cherry tomatoes, and farfalle with baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and ricotta salata. Be on the lookout for other specials like veal piccata with its lemony glaze of capers and calves' liver with onion confit and bacon. Seared "rare" tuna with roasted peppers and Barolo wine sauce, and beefy slices of hangar steak with shallot demi-glace and celery-root purée are also deftly done. By contrast, the roast chicken Dijonnaise seems a bit dull, even with its heap of crispy shoestring fries. Potato-crusted salmon has been overcooked, as has the seafood in the paella, really more of a stew with a dab of rice at bottom. A shame considering the saffron-scented broth has some zip.

Desserts are not overly ambitious--they rely heavily on Ciao Bella's fabulous gelati and sorbets from New York. Best of the bunch is a house original: silky smooth maple mascarpone crema cotta with all the ebullience of Italy.

Picasso Grille

9812 Falls Rd., Potomac; 301-299-3000. Open daily for lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for brunch. Live jazz and a light menu on Wednesdays until midnight.

Atmosphere: Airy and well appointed with black marble tables and fresh flowers.

Food: Mediterranean with a Modern American sensibility.

Service: Competent though occasionally forgetful.

Price: Dinner main courses, $14.50 to $22.50. Dinner for two: about $80.

Value: Downtown prices, but Potomac residents don't seem to mind.

Wine list: Interesting with ample by-the-glass picks.

Bottom line: A welcoming neighborhood eatery with style and substance.