Bar Boulud.(Restaurant review)

An affectionate homage to the cuisine of Daniel Boulud's native Lyons, Bar Boulud presents the earthy glories of French terroir in a setting reminiscent of a SoHo store or--with its long bar and swooping, swanlike decanters--a laboratory. The Lyons influence is apparent in the wine list, which focusses on the two adjacent regions (Burgundy to the north, the Rhone Valley to the south), and in the spectacular range of charcuterie. Few New York chefs venture farther into the latter than the predictable foie-gras terrine, but Boulud took the task seriously enough to bring a charcutier, Sylvain Gasdon, over from Paris. (Gasdon is a protege of Gilles Verot, who comes from a line of charcutiers near Lyons and now operates two high-end stores in Paris.) "Is pate really that hard to make?" a skeptical diner asked recently, but the restaurant's diligence is repaid with a firm, rich head cheese, a boudin blanc (a sausage of pork and cream) that breaks apart in your mouth with feathery delicacy, and a torte of sweetbreads, foie gras, and morels sealed in pastry crust. Served in cross-section, it looks like edible marquetry.

Charcuterie aside, Boulud has made the canny decision to limit ambition for the sake of consistency. The menu takes in Lyonnaise bouchon specialties like coq au vin and chicken-liver salad and a roster ...