A Touch of France

There is little that compares to the sensory delights an inspired French meal evokes. It's not just the taste buds that revel in each artfully rendered course. The eyes and nose get their share, too.

Such transcendent meals happen every day at Bamboo Café in Naples, a bistro that may sound Asian but is unabashedly French, with a soupçon of northern African flair. (The bamboo appears in the form of menu covers and plants placed in strategic spots around the dining room.)

Atmospherically, there's no mistaking Bamboo Café's origins. From the tiny white lights strung across the front of its green-and-white awnings, to the heavy burgundy drapery, close-set tables and lively atmosphere, it's as authentic a French bistro as you're likely to find on this side of the pond.

The ample wine list includes many standards and an impressive array of standouts in a wide range of prices. We selected 2001 Nuits St. George from Domaine Robert Arnoux, a Burgundy with a lovely cherry hue, ripe berry and spice notes, and a good balance of fruit, tannins and acid.

From our banquette in a cozy corner, we watched the swift, confident staff maintain order amid a capacity crowd. And from the moment patrons walked in, they were made to feel welcome and pampered.

A generously stocked basket of bread was the first item to arrive at the table. Tucked inside we found traditional crusty French bread served with a smooth, creamy hummus.

Clearly management holds wine in as high esteem as food. Wine service was well executed, with the maitre d' lingering over each phase of presentation and taking obvious pleasure in customers' enjoyment.

Entrées, priced from $14.95 to $31.95, include many French comfort foods, such as boeuf bourguig­nonne, roasted duck, sole meunière, and La Bouillabaisse de Bamboo, about which we'll talk more later.

There's also Moroccan fare: slow-cooked tajines served in traditional pottery dishes with conical lids-lamb with prunes, Bell & Evans chicken with a currant-and-almond cream sauce, or grouper with preserved lemons and dates.

The meal started out on a high note with the seafood salad and la coquille. The salad held scallops, shrimp, chunks of salmon and grouper that had been gently sautéed in olive oil and shallots. They came with cool, fresh greens lightly dressed in raspberry vinaigrette, a nice pairing of contrasting tastes and textures. This dish comes in full and half-sized versions. A half was plenty for anyone planning to have an entrée, too.

La coquille married scallops and shrimp in béchamel sauce topped off by Gruyère cheese grilled lightly and served in a large scallop shell.

Chef and owner Philippe Boet's sauces are superb. The béchamel was so good we considered spooning it up once the seafood was gone. I'm not ashamed to confess that I dipped several pieces of bread into the sauce.

A special of the day, New York strip steak with blue-cheese crumbles, was pan sautéed with a port wine demi-glacé. Although the meat was succulent and richly flavored on its own, the cheese added depth, and the slightly sweet demi-glacé balanced it all out.

Then there was the bouillabaisse, a dish so perfectly rendered, all else paled in its presence. The server presented a large bowl with a lobster tail holding center court, surrounded by scallops, shrimp, clams and grouper bathed in a superbly flavored broth that was thick, smooth and expertly seasoned. Bamboo Café's bouillabaisse is among the finest I've experienced anywhere.

There was no drop in quality when it came to dessert, either. We indulged in a masterful crème brûlée and a light, you'd-swear-there's-flour-in-it flourless chocolate cake.

My companion and I spent our ride home trying to think of something that would improve the Bamboo Café. We couldn't conjure up a single thing.

Bamboo Café 755 12th Ave. S. at Crayton Cove in Old Naples; (239) 643-6177. Open nightly, 5:30-10 p.m. Reservations recommended. Street parking. Credit cards accepted. Wheelchair accessible.

It's been difficult of late to wend one's way back to India Palace. There's a huge remodeling project going on around it, an undertaking that will eventually transform the Dragon Plaza and its neighbors into the more upscale Avenue Shops.

But the restaurant keeps on cooking, serving up a varied and accomplished Indian menu.

The dining room has a serene, dignified air. As with most Indian establishments, it offers lots of options for vegetarians without ignoring carnivores. There are at least 30 items that contain no meat and many more that do.

But whatever the dish, it's sure to have a signature aroma that soothes the soul even as the flavors tease the taste buds. There are the scents of garlic and onions, as well as spices that speak of exotic temptation: cumin and coriander, fennel and ginger, a hint of cinnamon, a whiff of nutmeg. Whatever the mix, they often blend so harmoniously that no single seasoning stands out from the rest.

For those who shy away from Indian food thinking it's all too spicy, rest assured that the chef here seasons the dishes to each customer's liking. Yogurt-based lassi beverages as well as various condiments help soothe the palate, too.

Appetizers range from $1 to $9.95, while entrées run $9.95 to $16.95.

The India Palace special variety tray affords two or three people tastes of eight appetizers. The platter contained cheese, chicken and potato pakoras, crisp samosas stuffed with minced meat or potato and peas, onion bhaji (a vegetable fritter), a bit of minced lamb on a skewer and crunchy papadam (thin crackers made from beans). For dipping, there was tamarind chutney, which is sweet with a touch of sour, and onion chutney, which looks docile, but packs some lip-tingling bite as well.

The only seafood items on the menu contain shrimp, but it's possible to substitute fish in any of the dishes except for the tandoori. We tried rogan josh (curry) with red snapper, a classic chicken tandoori and an order of bhindi, an okra dish.

The fish was cut into chunks and mixed into a yogurt-based curry sauce with tomatoes, onion, garlic and a blend of spices. Ordered medium, it packed some heat, but not so much as to mask the aromatic spices.

The tandoori consisted of four pieces of orange-hued chicken that had been marinated in a mix of spices, garlic and ginger, then baked in a clay oven called a tandoor. It was served on a super-hot platter on which strips of onion and green pepper sizzled beneath the chicken, which was moist and seasoned well beyond its surface.

India Palace does a superb job with okra. Those who object to the sliminess of okra should try its

bhindi because the kitchen manages to cook the temperamental vegetable so that it's soft but not mushy. The okra is in good company, blended as it is with tomatoes, ginger and spices.

The restaurant's bread is not to be missed. We were quite pleased with an order of Kashmiri naan, a leavened bread with raisins, almonds, cashews and bits of fruit. It arrived steamy hot and lightly buttered. The bread's slight sweetness served as a good counterpoint to the lively entrées. We also mellowed things out with raita, a mild yogurt-based concoction made with bits of cucumber, as well as tamarind chutney and mango chutney.

A broader wine list, accompanied by a more polished presentation and ice buckets for white wines, would have enhanced the meal. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a bottle of Trimbach Riesling, a crisp, citrusy wine acidic enough to stand up to the food's spicy flavors.

Desserts here are good, too. I'm particularly partial to the gulab jamun, sweet balls of fried pastry that are soaked in rosewater-and-honey syrup. The kulfi, an ice cream with nuts and rosewater, deserves consideration as well.

I left feeling as I always do after a good Indian meal: tranquil and at one with my universe.

Most of the time there aren't a lot of people eating at once, owing perhaps to the impression that the place is not accessible during construction. Rest assured that it is open and is well worth making the effort to reach.

India Palace 11605 Cleveland Ave., Suite 20, Fort Myers; (239) 939-2323. Open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Wheelchair accessible. Credit cards accepted.

On the Grapevine

New doors continue to open nearly every week at Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay, and they are not limited to upscale retail. Last month BRIO Tuscan Grille opened its fourth Florida restaurant. The Naples version includes indoor and outdoor seating as well as three private party rooms for its Tuscan cuisine that includes entrées such as mushroom ravioli al forno, Tuscan-grilled pork chops and chicken "under the brick." The restaurant will also serve a bellini brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. BRIO is located at 5505 Tamiami Trial N.

Also opening at Waterside Shops, Bricktop's will begin serving classic American fare in mid-May on the east side of the mall, facing U.S. 41. Chefs will fire up the wood-burning rotisserie and grill for chicken, steaks and chops, served alongside crab cakes, homemade ice cream and fresh fish. The Nashville company that is opening Bricktop says it chose Naples as the launching site and plans to open a second in its headquarter city.