LA BELLE VIE

LA BELLE VIE

Twenty years ago my husband and I vacationed in Europe. We spent two days sightseeing in Paris, and after a whirlwind tour of the Louvre Museum we sat at a sidewalk cafe and enjoyed a delicious dinner that was prepared with fresh, seasonal ingrethents. A recent meal at La Belle Vie in downtown Nampa reminded me of the simple Parisian meal we still remember two decades later.

It's no wonder. The restaurant's co-owners have both spent time in France. Chef Julie Free lived there for several years with her husband, and Chef Cathy O'Connell has traveled around the country. Both were influenced by what they tasted.

"We like to call it French-inspired rather than strictly French cooking," said O'Connell.

The menu of casual fare changes monthly, allowing the seasons to influence the dishes served. This month you'll find ripe peaches atop whole grain waffles ($8) on the brunch menu and sweet grapes complementing champagne vinaigrette in the "Ooh La La" salad ($4.50) at lunch and dinner. The chefs also grind fresh flour from whole grain wheat to create delectable mini challah braids that are served with whipped honey butter.

My husband and I were joined for dinner by our friends, a restaurateur and his wife, an executive, on a recent Friday evening. By meal's end we all wished we lived a little closer to downtown Nampa.

On the C'est La Vie appetizer plate ($14), the blossoms on four finger-length zucchini were stuffed with ch�vre and .the tiny squashes were cooked to crisp tenderness. The fruity bouquet of a 2008 pinot grigio from Zonin vineyard in Italy <$15/bottle) complemented the goat cheese's distinctive tang. The appetizer plate also included crostini with tapenade and tortellini with pesto.

Dinner entrees came with the choice of soup du jour or salad. The executive swooned over a piping hot bowl of creamy corn soup gently accented with spicy Hungarian pepper. The rest of us enjoyed salads that were lively with ripe ingrethents.

The New York steak ($24) topped with garlicky chimichurri sauce beckoned the men and the executive dined on the night's special, a flavorful double stack of rosemary pork tenderloin ($18). My tender halibut ($24), with a sweet, anise-infused melon tarragon relish, was flawless.

Dreamy cr�me br�l�e ($6) gnd a vanilla "ice cream cake" ($6) made with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and Callebaut chocolate fudge sauce left us satisfied and thinking "la vie est belle," or, life is beautiful.

- Jennifer Hern�ndez is fond of fromage a la fleur.

Though downtown Nampa has come a long way in the last few years, nothing could've prepared me for La Belle Vie. The restaurant occupies a quaint bungalow on a side street near Flying M Coffeegarage. Pulling open the front door feels like walking into your good friend's housewarming party - it's warm and uncluttered; they've been expecting you. Though the spot bills itself as a French cafe, it doesn't wear the theme on its sleeve. You won't find wine bottles topped with dripping candlesticks or accordion music wafting through the air. La Belle Vie keeps it classy with heavy, dark wood tables and framed, patterned wallpaper. From my seat, I could see through the window in the kitchen door to a shelf stacked with teal, chocolate and moss green plates. It looked like a page torn straight from Martha Stewart Living. That deliberate minimalism, it turns out, is a palate cleanser for the culinary adventure ahead.

La Belle Vie's lunch, brunch and dinner menus change monthly, depending on what's local and seasonal. At the start of September, the dinner options were heavy on the summer squash, with bell peppers and ch�vre making a solid showing. Our appetizer, in fact, the chef's choice C'est La Vie sampler plate ($8), combined all three to great success. Fresh carrot, celery and red bell pepper crudites dunked in a house-made, creamy cucumber dill dip tempered the rich tang of goat cheese and mixed olive bruschett�. A bowl of lightly salted cayenne curry peanuts and raisins made way for the piece de resistance, two mini zucchini with still-attached, chevre-stuffed squash blossoms. Oh, sweet lord.

And it only got better from there. The soup of the day, a Southwestern corn chowder ($4.50 cup, $6 bowl), was at once delicate and hearty, with flecks of bell pepper and sweet corn swirled in a creamy broth so light and comforting it made me ache for my slippers. The ch�vre salad, too, was out of this world, with warm discs of pecan-crusted goat cheese hovering over bitter mixed greens and sweet dried cranberries. The salad, like everything we had tasted up to that point, was so thoughtfully seasoned and dressed it shrugged off the requisite shakes of salt and pepper.

Our entrees, dill butter salmon on basmati rice ($18) and herbed gnocchi ($14), both with summer veggies, were two of the lighter options on a list littered with steak and Cornish game hen. Though the salmon was a substitute entree for the halibut that evening, the execution was notably lacking. The white rice was an uninspired pairing with the salmon, and the thick slab of dill butter didn't do much to moisten the bone-dry, overcooked fish. Luckily the gnocchi - though not at all what I had pictured - was incredible. Made with the same light, eggy dough used for profiteroles (combined with savory spices and mustard) the gnocchi was unlike any of the glutinous Italian varieties I've tasted. Though it had the messy look of an egg scramble, it was nonetheless a delight washed down with a glass of the house red ($5 glass, $12 bottle).

Grinning as I cracked the delicate sugar layer on the cr�me br�l�e ($6), I sighed contentedly. Life, at that moment, was undeniably beautiful.

- Tara Morgan used to say gno to gnocchi, but gnot anymore.

LA BELLE VIE

220 14th Avenue South, Nampa, 208-466-0200

labellevienampa.com

Tue. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Wed. -Fri. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Closed Mon