The superb breads, all made in Meridiana's downstairs kitchen, are simple and unsurprising.
Blanquette de veau, in its creamy sauce with pearl onions, is as soothing as good chicken soup, and salmon rillettes are superb spread on bread (no bread plates, naturally).
This enhanced butter, which combines notions of controlled spoilage from the European and Southeast Asian canons, arrives on a plate with exquisitely flavored pretzel bread, superb Virginia ham and a pot of superfluous jam.
In addition to superb wood-fired breads, including a tongue-shaped lavash-like loaf served with whipped walnut-raisin butter, there is a selection of "roasts," including an exceptionally crusty cube of braised short rib, topped with horseradish and julienned beets.
The fish there is superb, as is the bread.
A thin but fudgy dark chocolate brownie ($2.50) is superb, as is chocolate bread pudding ($7).
In his superb documentary "Our Daily Bread" the Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter does exactly what Mr. Pollan proposes: he looks.
But anyone willing to travel more than 15 minutes from home can find a superb artisanal loaf of bread or a restaurant meal as good as anything in the French countryside.
Breads are superb and include unusual entries like makai ki roti ($4), an almost-crisp corn bread tasting of garlic and mustard, and paratha stuffed with cauliflower and potatoes ($6), both delicious with a sweet, nutty tamarind raita ($4).
The barbecue beef sandwich, served on white bread, ($3.75) is superb.
