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The West Village yields to the Left Bank as soon as you step under the red awning of this Parisian-style bistro, with couples sitting side-by-side at tables, and lazing away the evening over a bottle of wine. Stained-glass ceiling ornamentation, cherry-wood wainscoting, antique mirrors, tiled floors, and brass rails lend a real-France feel to the place. The menu covers the classics: escargots in garlic butter, steak tartare, simply sautéed fish, veal stew, mustard-crusted lamb. It's certainly easy to linger over an onion tart with a demure goat cheese topping and stunningly light crust, or the house salad, a fresh assortment of baby arugula, beets, walnuts and a musky foume d'ambert cheese. Frites are flawlessly crispy. A duck breast with hints of raspberry comes with a tender round of confit topped with mushrooms. Among desserts are plump, crusty profiteroles, bursting with vanilla ice cream. The only better way to end to the evening is to stroll a few blocks west past a famously crowded Meatpacking bistro, where you can pat your full belly while chuckling at the mobs still waiting for tables. — Kathleen Squires

Magret de canard au cassis, $19; Tarte aux oignons et chevre, $9