Review: Atlas in St. Louis

When Zeus punished Atlas for fomenting a revolt, he levied a far more dire punishment on unknown thousands of sculptors. Atlas, one of the Titans, was forced to spend eternity standing in northwest Africa, among what are now the Atlas Mountains, holding the sky upon his shoulders. That was difficult enough, but sculptors wishing to honor the fallen Titan found themselves unable to construct a sky. So they substituted the Earth, and statues of Atlas, from the great one in Rockefeller Center on down, have followed that erroneous path, with Atlas holding the wrong stuff.

But enough about mythology. It's time for reality, as in dinner.

And in recent weeks, the Guru has enjoyed some fine dinners at the West End restaurant named for the legendary strong man. The bistro-style spot, in a store front decorated with photos of Paris, is the comfortable creation of Michael Roberts and Jean Donnelly (he's the chef in the minuscule kitchen; she runs the front of the small house), who met and married in San Francisco before returning to her home town to start a business.

Because of limited seating capacity, reservations are a good idea (actually, it's always advisable to make dinner reservations) and those who like to watch the chef at work can view much of the kitchen action from seats at the bar. Service is brisk and knowledgeable, and the atmosphere extremely pleasant.

The cooking style is bistro French, simple and hearty, and Chef Roberts produced a classic dish in a grilled chicken breast that will match any the Guru has eaten on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. The breast, with part of the wing still attached, had been grilled to absolute perfection, the skin charred a little but the meat still juicy and tender in the middle, with lots of chicken taste. Grilled chicken is ubiquitous, and rarely distinguished, but the Atlas version was stunning in every respect. It was served with what the menu calls "savory bread pudding," but was really a chunk of bread-based stuffing, nicely spiced and also tender and juicy. A generous hand with tarragon helped both. Some grilled asparagus came alongside, and while crunchy, chewy vegetables are quite popular, these were too underdone for my taste.

The modest menu includes four appetizers, a pair of soups, four salads and nine main courses, plus a couple of specials here and there. A pair of vegetarian dishes, goat cheese and herb flan with spring vegetables and baked pasta with asparagus, fontina and ricotta lead the way. In addition, there's salmon with a horseradish-celery root crust and a fish of the day with fennel and mashed potatoes; pan-roasted duck breast; grilled pork chop with apples and turnips; grilled leg of lamb with red wine-olive sauce; a strip steak with red wine-shallot sauce and frites, or French fries; and that glorious chicken.

We sampled a number of dishes, including awarding the pork chop a second chance after the first one was not up to par. The re-visit was excellent, with a flavorful, tender chop that managed, like the chicken breast, to be juicy and tender, cooked just to the right point and not a millisecond longer. It was accompanied by apples and turnips. Yes, together.

The first round they were a boring mush; the second visit yielded the mellow sweetness of the turnips and the tang of the apples, cooked until they were soft but still intact, an unusual but eminently satisfactory partner to the pork. Mashed potatoes were first rate, and tasty enough to show they'd been made in the kitchen and did not come from a box or a bag. A touch of some pan juice from the chops made them especially good.

Lamb was pink, showed a nice closeness to some rosemary and a pleasingly tart sauce. Fries, a substitute for the potato gratin, were satisfactory. Duck, on the other hand, was not pink, a definite shortcoming, and a little on the tough side, though the flavor of the fowl prevailed.

Lentils were good, better when the peppercorn sauce did its work. Appetizers were consistent winners, especially the house-made gravlax, which is cured, rather than smoked. It had a wonderful, silky texture and outstanding, slightly cured flavor, though the piece of puff pastry on top was inadequate to accompany the fish. Something a little firmer -- not necessarily as firm as a bagel -- would have been more pleasing.

The warm chicken liver flan, with a big chicken flavor and a tender, custard-like texture, was a delight, and the duck confit, a leg cooked slowly and long enough to practically fall from the bone, was filled with rich, dark flavors. The other appetizer, piccolo frito, or fried vegetables, looked crisp and dry on a nearby plate, worth a try on another visit. A mixed lettuce salad, taste and color heightened by some sharp radishes and topped with a delightfully flavorful creamy tarragon vinaigrette dressing, was splendid.

The wine list is modest in length and in price, offering nine whites, eight reds and a couple of bubblies, with a third of them also available by the glass. An Italian prosecco was a fine pre-dinner drink, with a pleasant sparkle. A syrah from southern France was a successful choice to accompany the lamb.

Desserts are very good, led by a tangerine cake of elegant flavor and texture, and a slightly different tang of citrus that tingled on the tongue.

There also were outstanding profiteroles, with a superior choux pastry that had not spent the day in the freezer already carrying their with ice cream. These obviously had been filled after we ordered them; the ice cream was excellent and the dark chocolate sauce a winner.

And speaking of desserts, Atlas is open until midnight for dessert service on Fridays and Saturdays. Years ago, the Guru frequented a New York theater district restaurant where a diner could eat appetizer and entree, then order dessert for after-theater. Always a good idea, especially when warm thoughts of excellent dessert serve to keep one awake during a boring piece of theater. Of course, there are those who say that falling asleep is its own form of criticism, but that's a discussion for another day.