White Truffle Inn

Hunters of the rare and rich must stalk the White Truffle Inn, the first find of spring-summer. This delightful restaurant hosts fewer than 30 diners in a grand 19th-Century, Italianate residence.

And the elegant cuisine of chefs-owners Osvaldo and Nohemi Cuenca gives the place wonderful new life.

You're advised that the big white structure used to be a physician's house and that the main dining room once served as a hospital. Everyone stopping by these days clearly is feeling very good.

The rambling place is full of high ceilings, grand windows, much ambition.

Diners choose from the airy, white-wicker furnished dining area off the entrance, a warm and handsome main room with marble fireplace, or tables opposite the cozy bar.

But the selections that matter come from the eclectic kitchen. The Cuencas have an international approach, with a French accent.

The plump escargots in garlic butter are excellent, resting on a dimpled plate, ready to be plucked from their shells. The light but meaty crabcake, with a snappy sauce remoulade, also is a fine opener.

A gilded ricotta cake, tasting very much like a cheeseball from the southern Italian repertoire, arrives perfectly crisp outside, creamy and moist within, flanked by sauces tomato and basil. Fried oysters, crunchy and sweet, are perched on a bed of sauteed spinach.

The portobello mushroom Napoleon elevates the usually bland cap and benefits from an orange-tomato salsa. The house's cheese-showered Caesar salad has that elusive bite.

But the onion soup gratinee spends too much time under the heat, and the cheese bubbles beyond singed. The lobster bisque is better than most, but the shellfish flavor is reined in. Pistou, the French cousin of minestrone, needs more basil and garlic.

Lobster ravioli finished with a brothy, white-truffle sauce is light and right. For a cross-borders twist: Argentinian cannelloni, packed with Swiss chard, veal and ricotta, completed with tomato sauce and gratineed bechamel.

The lobster fra diavolo served on linguine rivals the version at your favorite red-sauce haunt and amplifies the theme with cuts of monkfish, scallops, shrimp, clams and mussels.

Parillada Argentina, a generous mixed grill, includes charred short ribs, lamb chops, a chicken paillard, fennel sausage, blood sausage and a meat-filled empanada, plus zesty chimichurri, the herb sauce. Blunt and satisfying.

Soloists, however, may prefer the broiled veal chop with roasted garlic and shallots; or the lamb chops spiked with garlic and thyme.

Beef tournedo, or tenderloin, turns into a high-rise entree, supporting a buttery lobster sandwich while set on collard greens. Hollandaise sauce enriches things even more. To continue the theme, there's the ample indulgence of seared foie gras: lots of lobes, with a Champagne vinaigrette, wilted arugula and figs.

Respectable steak au poivre is defined by a brandy cream sauce. Roast duck is moist itself, but short on the advertised orange-cranberry sauce. The wild rice griddle cake adds little.

Desserts are full of Gallic nostalgia. The floating island drifts professionally in its custard pool. The fragile Napoleon with berries crashes on cue. Crepes suzette: buttery and loaded with Grand Marnier. First-rate strawberries in cool zabaglione, too. The creme brulee, however, has a peel-off lid.

"Chocolate symphony" reaches high notes with a lush terrine, a chocolate-coated strawberry and a light- dark morsel that, of course, becomes a sweet white truffle.

For pleasures now and to come, the White Truffle Inn is worth the search.

-- Peter M. Gianotti