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This corner bistro has managed to create a Parisian vibe that doesn’t feel manufactured and cheesy. Low lighting, black-and-white photographs that border on the erotic, crushed-velvet curtains, and carnation bunches at every table lend a little je ne sais quoi. Chef Michel Pombet, formally of Jolie, does just as nice a job with the classical French cooking. Starters like snails in garlic butter and steak tartare taste as they should. A more creative dish of avocado and crab arrives with chives, shallots, a heap of avocado, and tomato garnish. The beet salad, which taps the same garnishes—chives and shallots—feels a bit too similar, but is also just as bright in flavor. The French-accented waitress likes to say that “all the girls love the scallops.” Her logic comes from a dish simultaneously light from the shellfish and rich with a buttery white-wine sauce and sliced lemon for acidic counterbalance. The duck, sautéed in duck fat and topped with mandarin-orange slices and diced carrots, is heavier, with sides of snow-white whipped potatoes and cinnamon-spiced spinach. And yes, the thin French fries are quite good, too. As is the warm apple tart, served à la mode, of course. — Randi Eichenbaum

A two-course prix fixe dinner is offered daily for $16; with glass of house wine it's $19

Brunch
Sa–Su (11–5).

Scallops Provençal, $24; Roasted Duck à l’Orange, $22