LITTLE FRENCH RESTAURANTS

What ever happened to the little French restaurant? Quiche and coq au vin may be passe, but Gallic good taste never goes out of style. If you’re hungry for a little taste of Paris, these recently reviewed restaurants may do the trick. Bon appetit!

CAFE CARAVELLE (514 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (213) 393-8682). This modest restaurant, run by French chef Charles Van Doan and his Vietnamese wife, May, is very much a family affair. Even the decor is a bricolage , a mix of this and that. So is the food. Some of the dishes, however, are really fine. Among them: garlic soup, really a garlic soup gratinee , which is spectacular, rich with Provencal herbs. Fresh, large sauteed shrimp with herbs and mushrooms were buttery and choice. A filet mignon a la Caravelle, flambeed at the table with Grand Marnier, embodies the meaning of melt-in-your-mouth. Dishes to avoid include a pedestrian filet of sole with mushrooms. Open Tue.-Sun. for lunch and dinner. MC, V. Street parking. Dinner for two: $15-$30.

CHEZ HELENE (267 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 276-1558). Chez Helene is very pretty and very French with a peaked roof, wooden shutters, daisies and a white picket fence. It has two rooms inside--one luminous, the other dark and cool. In the chicken department, there’s a hot poulet with tiny Nicoise olives, yellow peppers, peeled tomatoes and herbes de Provence , served with beautifully cooked, pearly rice. The cold chicken salad didn’t fare as well. A sauteed, satiny trout covered with toasted almonds is a treat, but the slices of French bread served with it (and all meals) is dry and ordinary. Chez Helene excels with desserts: Chomeur au caramel (caramel upside-down cake), poire Belle Helene (a giant dish of firm-fleshed pears with vanilla ice cream, real whipped cream and fudge) and a mocha torte are worth making the trip for. Open for lunch Tue.-Sat., for dinner Tue.-Sun. All major credit cards. Dinner for two: $30-$60.

COLETTE (Beverly Pavilion Hotel, 9360 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (213) 273-1151). This cozy coral-pink dining room is a Mecca for foodies, who know that chef E. Patrick Healy cooks with restrained confidence. Rather than stretch for the grandeur of the starred places, he has given Colette the feel of a good restaurant in a small hotel in France. New York steak is served rare in a sauce of red wine and shiitake mushrooms and garnished with seductively scalloped potatoes. A “salad rustique,” greens topped with marinated quail, strips of smoked duck and little cubes of goat cheese, is also one of those improbably wonderful combinations. Rabbit roasted in bacon and served in a mustard sauce is one of the finest dishes in town. For a real measure of the chef’s talent, let him simply choose a meal for you. Open for all meals daily. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $44-$76.

LE BORDEAUX (333 Washington St., Marina del Rey, (213) 821-2200). The room is slightly post-modern with geometrical cutouts and a long, handsome black bar; the food is post-classic, too. Baby asparagus came tied like a sheaf of wheat on a plate painted with an exceptional pink vinaigrette. A green salad is soaked with terrific and fruity olive oil. A toothsome puff pastry was surrounded by a festive handful of beautifully cut vegetables. Entrees are exceptional--veal medallions, sea bass and the pork medallions served with two sauces. The ecstasy continues right into the desserts: The white chocolate mousse charlotte made with homemade lady fingers and joined with raspberry coulis is exquisite. Open for dinner Mon.-Sat. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $40-$75.

LE COU COU (829 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 854-0088). This is a snazzy yet casual little place all done up in cool West Hollywood shades of gray. A place for peaceful conversation, the restaurant sports an ambitious and modern menu. This is the kind of menu that increases your appetite instead of confounding it: fettuccine with golden caviar, goat cheese crepe with sweet onion sauce, salmon sashimi, calves liver Bercy, carrot soup, mussels escabeche . . . it goes on and on. Some real knockouts are grape-vine smoked goat cheese salad and giant scallops in meuniere sauce. Open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. All major credit cards. Full bar. Dinner for two: $40-$65.

PIERRE’S FRENCH CUISINE (34862 Coast Highway, Capistrano Beach, (714) 493-6605). This quaint rustic hideaway is located on a fairly quiet stretch of PCH in the Capistrano Country Bay Inn. It has two smallish rooms--a pink formal dining room and an enclosed garden room. There’s not much to puzzle over on this menu--it’s the old-fashioned French menu that was universal 15 years ago, with some continental touches thrown in for good measure. The pates are very good, with a light, almost crumbly texture. Cream sauces abound, even in appetizers such as duck livers. There is beefsteak, a couple of chicken breast dishes, the obligatory duck in sweet fruit sauce and usually a fish special of the night. For desserts, there’s fudge cakes and ice cream with fruit. Possibly the most old-fashioned thing about this place is that the portions are a bit larger than at more fashionable places. Open for lunch and dinner Wed.-Sun. and Sun. brunch. All major credit cards. Dinner for two: $50.

PIGALLE (119 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 930-1883). Pigalle may remind you of an earlier vintage of French restaurants--the menu is posted outside, there is understated decoration, latticework and soft pink walls, definitely a throwback in these high-concept times. Launch a meal with truffle soup with a puff pastry crown or duck terrine. While the greater portion of the meal is a la carte, there is also a $13.95 Bistro Menu (a choice of four entrees plus soup or salad and creme car a mel , chocolate mousse or lemon tart) and a $15.95 Prix-Fixe menu (choice of six entrees plus soup or salad and any of these three desserts). The prawns are delicately prepared, as was the roasted duck and the tournedos Pigalle. At dessert, hot apple tart, a light puff pastry and an Amaretto souffle are all irresistible. Open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Fri., dinner only Sat. Bistro Menu served at dinner only. All major credit cards. Parking lot and street parking. Dinner for two: $28-$60.