A romantic hideaway ; With all its charm, Place Pigalle is easy to love

------------------------- RESTAURANT REVIEW

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Place Pigalle

81 Pike St., Pike Place Market, Seattle

($$$)

Reservations: 206-624-1756

Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday. Dinner: 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday. Bar remains open throughout the day with a limited menu available during restaurant off-hours.

Prices: Lunch: starters, $3.50-$6.50, entrees, $7.25-$13.75; dinner: starters, $3.50-$10.50, entrees, $15.25-$22.75 (specials may run higher)

Full bar

Major credit cards

Obstacles to access: stairs, restrooms

Parking: Free with validation after 5 p.m. at Pike Place Market (skybridge) garage. Valet parking in Pike Place Market after 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday ($5 with validation)

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Business is slow at Place Pigalle. What a sin. What a shame. What an opportunity to return to this Pike Place Market hideaway and remember what it's like to fall in love. With a restaurant.

Since 1982, this charming bistro has been a romantic destination for diners and drinkers savvy enough to find it. Entered from an unmarked walkway between Don & Joe's butcher shop and the big-mouthed flying-fishmongers, Place Pigalle offers a taste of the Northwest, the scent of world spice, a Gallic wink, and a chance to thumb your nose at every groovy new restaurant in town.

The comfortably lived-in atmosphere is decidedly French, notable for its black-and-white checkerboard flooring and tall, west-facing, Elliott Bay-view windows. Small tables, set with fresh flowers, are linen-draped and candlelit at night. In warm weather, five more share patio space, where one might sip a glass of Viognier, spoon into a Gruyere-encrusted onion soup, then see what the daily take on salmon might bring.

Integral to Place Pigalle is its visual centerpiece: a raised bar adjacent to the tiny kitchen. An imbiber's paradise, it's stocked with an astounding number of potent potions. These are mixed to great effect most nights by a fellow with intimate knowledge of all he purveys. No surprise, considering he's been tending this bar for nearly a dozen years: tenure matched by a host who, like every server encountered here, is well-schooled in food and drink.

Must-orders

I wouldn't think of showing up at lunch, dinner, or hours in between, without ordering a Champs-Elysees cocktail and the Mussels Pigalle. The former, an icy cure-all whose flavors evoke a hot toddy, is composed of brandy, lemon, sugar and yellow chartreuse. The latter combines bacon and balsamic vinegar, lending a sweet and smoky note to mussels nestled upright in their shells. This appealing presentation guarantees that each tender morsel makes it to your mouth bathed in its aromatic sauce.

Purists might start with oysters on the half-shell. Tourist purists should opt for half a Dungeness crab, served chilled and cracked with tools for extracting the sweet meat. At $18 (market price), locals used to paying that much for a whole crab might find it an all-too-expensive pleasure.

Specials of the sea

Listen carefully to the day's specials, stop rolling your eyes at the lengthy list of ingredients and pay particular attention where finfish is involved. You may be well rewarded, as I was, with a rich, melt-in-the-mouth chunk of seared sablefish over pearls of Israeli couscous. Or a meaty fillet of expertly pan-seared Columbia River sturgeon ($25), whose simple saucing, a reduction of sliced kumquats, cilantro and rice vinegar, tantalized the taste buds like a first kiss.

On a busy weekend night, it seemed that half the room was indulging their carnivorous inclinations, taking knives or fingers to double-cut lamb chops. Those luscious chops come with a scarlet-colored, green peppercorn-flavored demiglace and an excellent curried eggplant ($22.75). Throughout the years, and through numerous chef-shuffles, lamb has been featured among a list of "seasonal selections" known for inspired renderings of rabbit, chicken, duck and pork. No less inspired is the melange of unadorned fresh vegetables that accompanies these and many of the seafood selections.

This season, duck goes Asian. Its beefy breast wears a luxe layer of edible fat and Oriental spices working in harmony with hoisin ($18.75). Flawlessly pan-seared to pink-centered perfection, the bird had it all over the pork pruneau ($17.25), an overcooked not-so-tenderloin whose tarragon jus failed to arouse even a flicker of interest.

That could never be said of owner Bill Frank's wine cellar, which lies three flights below and is managed with an unerring eye for quality and value. Though there are many intriguing and affordable offerings on the standard wine list, ask to see the reserve list, with more than 250 labels, if only for curiosity's sake. Then treat yourself to an after-meal luxury, perhaps a very old Madeira, a powerful eau de vie, a creamy creme brulee or a heavenly chocolate pot de creme. Each offers reason enough to fall in love - again or for the first time - with Place Pigalle.

Nancy Leson's phone number is 206-464-8838. Her e-mail is nleson@seattletimes.com.