Give This Cafe a Big Bizou for Reasonable French Fare

When l’addition (French for “the bill”) shows up at the new Cafe Bizou in Sherman Oaks, you may feel inspired to give someone a bizou or “kiss”: Dinner for four, including appetizer, soup or salad, entree and dessert for under $75? Sacre bleu!

Chef Neil Rogers and maitre d’ Philippe Gris, who virtually ran the show for the past six years at Cafe Katsu (renamed Cafe Neil in June), have gone out on their own at this storefront cafe and are determined to offer good French cooking at bargain prices.

The hard-working young partners have obviously opened the modest 45-seat restaurant on a shoestring. But they haven’t stinted a bit on the warm, considerate service or the heartfelt cooking.

Habitues of Cafe Katsu should be happy to find Rogers’ signature dishes on the other side of the hill at much lower prices.

Start with his stuffed mushrooms in balsamic sauce or the rich lobster and salmon ravioli. Order any entree--sauteed sesame-seed salmon with potato pancakes and mushrooms, roasted monkfish with shrimp and saffron risotto or cracked black pepper steak with veal jus and mashed potatoes--and a dollar more buys either soup or salad. He also has been offering an occasional special; whole Maine lobster with black linguine has sold out every night--small wonder at $15.95.

Wine lovers take note: The cafe has as yet no wine and beer license, which means the only way to drink wine is to bring your own. You’ll have to open it yourself and pour it yourself--but there’s no corkage fee, a policy the partners intend to continue once they do get their license. Time to dust off a few of those bottles tucked away in your closet or under the bed.

* Cafe Bizou, 14418 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks , (818) 788-3536. Open seven nights a week for dinner, Monday through Saturday for lunch. Major credit cards accepted. Parking on the street. No alcohol served. Appetizers $4-$7.75; entrees $9.95-$14.95; lunch items $6.50-$7.95.