Despite all the new touches, dinner at Picholine still unfolds in a refreshingly old-fashioned way. In a town filled with barn-size dining rooms, the space is still small enough to be intimate but just large enough to be grand, and on opera evenings, it’s a pleasure to see one or two ladies enjoying their dinner in frilly, wide-brimmed hats. Dessert retains a special place in this stately ritual, but at Picholine, it’s invariably overshadowed by the cheese. McCalman still trundles his cheese cart among the tables, and to simplify the selection process, there are now $18 cheese plates available, each arranged by country. You can complement these with a variety of new desserts, the best of which tend to be traditionalist items formulated, again, with a slightly modern twist. I liked the caramel apple brioche, molded into the shape of a little bread loaf. My mother liked the chocolate soufflé, which comes with a racy scoop of fennel ice cream. “Mmmm,” she said, dipping her spoon, ever so delicately, into the dark, fluffy chocolate. “They do this just right.”

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