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This small French bistro, intimate, local and confidently understated, offers cuisine a cut above the ordinary Paris facsimile with classic decor. Eschewing most of the predictable adornments—no pressed tin ceiling or brass bar—Pascalou opts for a pleasantly sunny canary-yellow interior in both the airy downstairs and in the low-ceilinged second floor. Most of its menu consists of modest variations on familiar Gallic themes, with unlikely, New World pairings like avocado or black beans garnishing chicken and roasted salmon blanketed with creamy bearnaise or hollandaise. Restraint gives way to passion, however, with dessert: Pascalou offers an unusually extensive variety of rich chocolate mousses, berry tarts, and fruit sorbets, as well as a few good port wines and muscadets as digestifs. Despite its summer-in-the-Hamptons regulars, Pascalou still manages an unpretentious, if well-groomed, air. It's unlikely many patrons will visit from afar, but if you're aching to prolong the feeling of France after a day at the Met with Van Gogh and Monet, it's a comfortable place to linger. — David S. Hirschman

Daily, 5 p.m.—6:30 p.m., three-courses, $19.95-$24.95

Lobster, lump crab meat and avocado, $23.95; grilled filet mignon béarnaise, $25.95