Balthazar Restaurant (80 Spring Street) is not your grandmother's French bistro. It is true that you can find an authentically prepared Duck Confit—cooked in the "traditional" fried-in-its-own-fat manner, or a steak au poivre with pomme frites that taste as if they came right out of the oven at L'Epopee, one of the best-kept secrets in Paris until now (it's located at 89 avenue Emile Zola).

In Balthazar, we are talking about an ornate-yet-warm-and-comfortable bar where you can order a dozen Malpeque oysters ($14 per 1/2 dozen), Little Neck clams, a gigantic shrimp cocktail ($13.50) and sip on the best Ramos Fizz (gin, lemon and lime juice, milk and egg white) on God's green earth.

The freshest raw bar in New York City?

Yep, it's at Balthazar; there's little doubt that most diners at this "bistro" order a dozen oysters or a 1/2 lobster to get the meal ticking along quite nicely. But it would be unfair to focus exclusively on lunch and dinner when the simple hardboiled fact is that the brunch is nothing short of a religious experience.

Brunch (10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday)

Besides serving hot-out-of-the-oven croissant and other pastries, the chefs at Balthazar specialize in gourmet egg dishes. My personal favorites include scrambled egg in a puff pastry that's light as air, served with wild mushrooms and asparagus ($16); Eggs Meurette, which are poached eggs cooked in a red wine sauce with mushrooms and bacon ($13.50); and Eggs Bella Donna—poached eggs with polenta, pancetta and tomato ($15.50) that taste so good it should classified as a controlled substance.

Also of note are the Steak Frites with Maitre d' Butter ($24), Apple Cinnamon pancakes with pure maple syrup ($13) and the Brioche French Toast with smoked bacon ($14.50).

Lunch (Monday-Friday, noon to 3 p.m.) and
Dinner (Monday-Saturday, 6 p.m.-midnight; Sunday, 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.)

The two menus are quite similar, but at lunch you can sample three of the most interesting sandwiches on any menu in NYC—roast lamb with grilled vegetables, arugula and harissa mayonnaise ($14); a toasted French ham and gruyere ($13) on country bread that's as good as any croque monsieur a paris; and a grilled portobello and parmesan on freshly-baked rosemary ciabatta bread ($12) that goes particularly well with a simple green salad and a chilled glass of white wine such as the Sancere G Millet ‘02.

The dinner menu offers the typical "French Bistro Basics" such as braised lamb shoulder, grilled pork tenderloin and a Nicoise salad with seared tuna that's killer. In my book, the best nights to sample the daily specials (both a bargain at $26) are Wednesday for the "Dover Sole Meuniere," prepared in the Julia Child tradition of lightly cooking the sole to keep it moist, and Friday for a Bouillabaisse that would knock Julia Child's socks off with its mind-blowing array of shellfish.

Finish off the lunch or dinner with the Assiette de Fromages ($13) and a glass of Fonseca port and your day in NYC will be one for the books.

Balthazar, 80 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012; Tel.: 212-965-1785; fax: 212-966-2502. On the Web at www.balthazarny.com

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