Old-Fashioned Fare in a New Restaurant

Dale’s Bistro serves exactly what you don’t expect to eat in a new restaurant: old-fashioned stuff like steak Diane, boeuf bourguignon , duck rillettes. There’s even escargot , though they are served in trendy won tons.

Prices are unexpected, too. The most expensive entree is $12.50, and most of the wines are less than $20.

You might call it nouveau nostalgia. The rillettes , instead of being classically fatty, smack of ginger and could almost pass for a spa dish. The onion soup has three different types of cheese--including goat cheese--on top of a good, deeply flavored broth. Chicken is roasted with herbes de Provence and grainy mustard.

This is the food of Dale Payne. He’s cooked at Michael’s, Spago, Bistango, Les Anges and a lot of other places around town. He still holds the position of executive chef at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Payne spends his nights at the Bistro; between courses he emerges from the kitchen to chat with customers. It’s exactly what you expect from a chef who’s cooked everywhere and finally has his own restaurant.

Dale’s Bistro, 361 N. La Cienega Blvd., (213) 659-3996.