Royal Ritz

The decor is eclectic Belle Époque, with tall flower arrangements, romantic paintings, a cabinet that displays china at one end of the room and an English sideboard that is actually used by the staff in another area. Paneled walls with mirrors and torchère sconces illuminate tables that are double cloaked in ecru linen over gold damask. Louis XVI arm chairs glide softly on a floral carpet and over in the corner, a musician plays a piano. Everything is soft, subdued and carefully supported with European luxury.

Chef de cuisine Arnaud Berthelier's menu is mostly French. The right side of the fancy script document presents three fixed price options, including a three-course dinner ($68) and one you compose of four courses at $75. Five courses cost $80. But there are many exceptions and alternatives.. For example, if you choose the partridge or the baked Maine diver scallops, add another $15. And the cheese course doesn't seem to be included in the packages. But how nice to see a cheese course! The fixed price menu is actually just an estimate of what your bill will be, since it doesn't include beverages, and that's where the serious escalation occurs.

On the left side of the menu is the degustation or tasting menu. The food is $65. Add sommelier Bill Harris' wine (and there's every reason to do this) and you're up to $110. And for the culinary thrill seeker, there's the eight-course blind tasting menu at $85 ($150 with the surprise wine). A degustation experience is an enjoyable way to gauge the depth and breadth of the kitchen's creativity and skill. It's better if all the diners in your party choose this option, because he timing involved in presenting many small courses can create an annoying counterpoint to the rhythm of the more conventional meals at the table. if all the diners don't participate in this kind of culinary concert. But if you've never done degustation, this would be the time and place.

Eminently worth ordering for an appetizer is the pan-seared foie gras with dates and pine nuts or the poached oysters with caviar. The delicate poaching leaves the shellfish mostly raw, which was fine with us. As an entrée, the veal sweetbread studded with truffle, stuffed leeks and heart of palm would be difficult to top, although our table also admired the partridge (perdreaux on the menu) and the veal shank prepared with honey and caraway.

Poached cod and pan-seared skate wing are the two seafoods. The venison with juniper berries and preserved lemon is probably the heaviest of the entrées. But all of the portions are of Continental proportions, which means they are civilized and satisfying, not American-big. If you want a hungry-man meal of beef with substantial sides, you'll be happier at The Grill next door. There's no vegetarian entrée listed on the menu, but the kitchen can compose a custom plate with ease and élan.

You can read the menu in five minutes and make your decision quickly, since the selections are few. But you could spend all night with the 32-page wine list, an oenophile's delight. And it's not static. Sommelier Harris told us he's currently expanding and upgrading the German portion of the cellar. There are plenty of wines by the half bottle and by the glass.

It's certainly impressive to see an 1890 Château Lafite-Rothschild at $12,000 or a 1900 Château Margaux priced at $18,000. But it's the French Bordeaux premier cru bottles that are the current stars on the list. Some are in the $3,000-a-bottle range. How often do diners order a bottle (or more) of these Bordeaux beauties? Every single night, says Harris.

Desserts are the domain of Chef Frederic Monti, who has an artist's eye and a pastry chef's sweet tooth. The extra-bitter chocolate soufflé is rich and deep, soul satisfying and sublime. We also found bliss in the apricot and nougat purse accompanied with pomegranate molasses and Tahitian vanilla ice cream. (Tahiti grows exemplary vanilla beans, you know.) We requested crème fraîche in lieu of ice cream for one of the desserts, and it materialized in moments.

The coffee or tea course is another indication of the kind of detailing that attends every aspect of the meal. With the coffee comes silver bowls of cinnamon sticks, lump brown sugar, lump white and ordinary granules as well as cream. It's a whole ritual and makes something as simple as drinking a cup of coffee a special ceremony. This is the hallmark of any Ritz-Carlton dining experience, from Sunday brunch to a late meal in The Grill. It's all about attention to exquisite details and exemplary service. At this Ritz-Carlton restaurant, it's not so much that you're treated as an esteemed guest, it's that you're treated like visiting royalty. That pampering extends to the motherly hostess, Marylka George, who presents you with a little package of pastel-hued macaroon cookies on your way out the door. A grand meal and an elegantly edible souvenir, too.

The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Naples

280 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Naples. 598-6644. Dinner: Tuesday through Saturday from 6-10 p.m. Credit cards. .Reservations. Coats required for gentlemen. Valet parking.

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A sprawling, moderately priced Naples restaurant that opened five years ago with the gastronomic mission to be all things to all guests has apparently succeeded. The Watermark Grille, which seats 250 and turns over its tables several times a night, is so popular it doesn't take reservations. Receive your vibrating beeper with the blinking red light and wait inside or out for the thrill of the throb. The menu is impressively wide-ranging, both ethnically and in its balance of meats to seafood, and includes an extensive kiddie bill of fare, making this relaxed restaurant an optimum choice for grandparents hosting a dinner for a visiting family of all ages. There's even a magician, Keith Raygor, who performs tableside with sleight-of-hand tricks that genuinely are amazing.

The restaurant is owned by four brothers of Albanian descent. (A fifth brother and his brother-in-law own Pier 41 in Tin City in Naples.) All the sons grew up working in their immigrant father's restaurant in Chicago and went on to own eateries in that city and in Naples, including The Palm and Pacific 41.The Watermark Grille is the first restaurant that the quartet designed and had built from scratch. They traveled all over Florida looking for exactly the right architecture to convey what they knew from experience diners desire-big windows with a view as well as booths and banquettes.

But they found design inspiration right here in Naples in the form of the Northern Trust Bank. "We liked the curving shape and all that glass," remembers Sol Malo, one of the foursome on duty every night at Watermark. Jimmy Malo, at age 40, is the youngest brother and the chef. "We all can cook and we all do get in there and help every night," continues Sol, "but Jimmy, he's probably the best cook and anyway, he's the baby and we made him do it." Did they agree on the Watermark concept from the outset? "Absolutely, " claims Sol. "We stopped trying to beat each other up 15 years ago. We're too old for that stuff. Now we sit down to discuss, and actually, we all wanted the exact same thing from this restaurant."

Since the brothers determined to build on Tamiami Trail and get maximum drive-by exposure, they had to give up what tourists and locals prize when dining near a big window: a water view. Then they got busy creating some aquatic atmosphere of their own. Everywhere you look at the Watermark Grille, there's water or a reference to it-from the malachite waterfall wall behind the bar to the tropical murals to the night-lit outdoor fountains and palm trees. At night, all those water elements help blot out the sights and sounds of Tamiami traffic.

The menu is vast, everything from duck with orange sauce, lasagna, orange roughy, baked stuffed shrimp, spareribs, twin lobster tails, pork chops, pasta dishes, beef, fried or broiled seafood platters, salmon and grouper, even Alaskan king crab legs. Although some of the shellfish entrées can be pricey, the average entrée is under $20. You get a hefty portion of meat or seafood and a side of rice or potatoes, plus a vegetable mélange of the day.

Desserts (some served in giant martini glasses) are brought around on a tray, and you select your calorie overload from cheesecake, Key lime pie, chocolate cake, Snickers pie, ice cream fantasies and such. Watermark Grille offers a full-service bar where mixed drinks are a specialty, although the wine list is more than adequate and keeps up with the menu's variety. You can easily find bottles in the $20-$30 range. offered.. Two house specialties are worth sampling if it's your first visit.. You can have the chicken livers as an appetizer or entrée. They are first-rate, with a slightly crispy exterior and crumbly inside. The livers are lightly dredged in seasoned flour and sautéed quickly in a hot pan of butter and chopped onions. If you like chicken livers, these will satisfy.