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In the middle of Second Avenue's Irish pub-dominated stretch is a traditional Provençal restaurant that by all appearances resembles a European ski chalet, with wooden-beamed ceilings and white-stucco walls decorated with brass platters and simulated shuttered windows. But look out the windows and you'll find yourself gazing over pastoral scenes of fishing villages. While you eat, a pianist pounds out Gershwin, Cole Porter, and the occasional Billy Joel tune. Besides Provençal dishes, such as bouillabaisse, there are plenty of regional favorites: a crowd-pleasing veal ossobucco, and a popular cassoulet from southwest France, composed of lamb shoulder, white beans, garlic Toulouse sausage, and duck confit. And if you like veal, you've hit the jackpot: besides ossobucco there's veal sweetbreads, and veal kidneys in mustard sauce. If you want something lighter, there's an avocado stuffed with crabmeat and shrimp, plus moules frites, salad nicoise, filet of sole meuniére, and shrimps Provencale. — Alix Strauss

Sat.—Sun., 11:30 a.m—4 p.m.

Escargots bourguignon, $10; half avocado stuffed with crabmeat and shrimps in light Russian dressing, $17; veal ossobucco, $35