Lovely, cozy atmosphere, creative and satisfying food, nice service. What a great experience! Chef Porter has ascended way beyond the Tapino (which i always thought was pretty decent) fare here. We had the Moelle Boeuf (bone marrow) and the Tartar for starters. The marrow was lovely, done just right (a little red), with some thin sliced of toasted baguette that added rather than distracted from the rich, tasty marrow. The small fennel salad that comes with the marrow was dreamy - I could eat a plate of that. The tartar... now that was to die for. All one could ever hope from a tartar.\n\nBoth the husband and I had the duck confit with white bean cassolet for our entrees. The duck was nice, though a bit on the salty side for a confit, and the skin was on the soggy side. Served as it was in a bowl of white beans, it was also difficult to cut past the skin and extricate individual meat pieces without losing them in the white beans. The cassolet itself was rich and interesting with what appeared to be sausage hunks in it. So overall the duck dish was pretty good but didn't blow my socks off. \nThe wine by the glass selection is fairly small (boo) and mostly French (yeah!). The server suggested the Rhone, which was pleasing and paired well with the meal. The menu is small - entrees included one chicken, one duck, one fish, one pork, one beef - but all looked appealing. Everything is in the French style here, meaning rich, rich rich. Not a place for dieters or vegetarians. The steak frites both looked and smelled fantastic - I cannot wait to try.\n\nthe decor has been aptly described in other reviews. I particularly enjoyed the non-Phoenician feel of 1) the small size, 2) the low ceilings, and 3) the crowded elbow-to-elbow spacing. It really is more like a French bistro on the inside than anything place I've eaten west of NYC.
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