French comfort food to bring you in from the cold

Can there really be an inexpensive French ""diner"" where food is cooked and served short-order style and the TV is often tuned to a Spanish-language station? Yes, Chez Brigitte fits that description. And in fact, many critics would call tiny Chez Brigitte the most serious of culinary insults — not authentic.

But the joke's on them.

Don't come to Chez Brigitte for delicate sauces, steak-frites, or foie gras: Haute cuisine it's not. Just as cutting-edge ""New American"" cuisine is distinguished from food like your mother made, French haute cuisine (literally ""high food"") is quite different from what France is calling ""grandmother cuisine,"" or la cuisine grand-mere.

The term might accurately be applied to the food at Chez Brigitte: comfort food in the best sense of the word, authentic ""home cooking"" with a French accent.

""Cheap French food"" has become an oxymoron in New York as elsewhere around the country. Our mistake is that we associate ""French food"" with the temples of high cuisine on the Upper East Side — high prices, elaborate preparations and lengthy wine lists.

Founded in 1958 by Brigitte Catapano, a Marseilles, France native who settled in New York in the 1950s, the West Village cafe passed into the hands of its current owner, Rosa Santos, about 15 years ago.

The near-nonexistent decor of Chez Brigitte continues the comfort theme with faded wallpaper printed with drawings of flour and eggs and a ""recipe"" for crepes suzette.

Eleven vinyl swivel stools provide seating at two back-to-back, diner-style counters. One counter faces the stove, allowing you to keep an eye on your food; the other faces the mirrored back wall.

Admittedly not very exciting, Chez Brigitte has made a name for itself serving comfort food at low prices to solo diners. In fact, nearly all its customers are older men eating alone, munching wordlessly as they read the New York Times or watch TV.

The effect is the feeling that you're eating in someone's kitchen, complete with a TV in the corner tuned to the news. Aside from the draft that elicits groans from patrons when anyone comes in or leaves, nothing could be cozier on a cold, rainy night.

Cheap Cuisine

The food is served by countermen who treat every customer like a regular (and many are). After a long day of traipsing around Manhattan, all I want is a steaming plate of boeuf bourgignon ($8).

While it cooks, customers are encouraged (though not really expected) to pick at the rather forlorn ""salad"" — a few slices of tomato and carrot on lettuce that has seen better days, along with some oil and vinegar from cruets on the counter — that comes with the entree.

The main dish of boeuf bourgignon arrives quickly, however, the meat is slow-cooked in a giant pot until fork-tender, its thick red wine sauce swimming with onions and carrots. It's served with sides of pasta shells in sauce, roasted potatoes and, best of all, a handful of peas cooked with a whole clove of garlic. Make use of the basket of soft French bread served alongside to mop up stray sauce.

It's not surprising that meats fare well in the short-order setting: ragout de veau (veal stewed in red wine sauce, $8) is another good choice for a rainy evening, though poulet roti (roast chicken with thick gravy, 7.50) is popular, too.

The menu's vegetarian options are limited to omelets (five ways, with bread and potatoes, $4.50) and the generous assiette de legumes (plate of roasted vegetables, $7).

Sandwiches ($4.50-$6) are an even better deal than regular entrees, if you don't mind missing out on sides; fillings like ragout de boeuf (beef stew with carrots) and sweet Italian sausage in meat sauce are ladled generously onto soft baguettes sliced horizontally. Or choose the generally well-executed daily special: Monday's gigot d'agneau (leg of lamb, $8.50), Wednesday's pork chops (in a wine and apple sauce, $8.50), and the Friday blanquette de veau (veal stew with white wine, $8.50) are some of the avowed specialties de maison.

If, however, you're in the mood for something lighter, do as many regular patrons do and drop in for a bowl of split pea soup ($3), another specialty. I prefer the chicken noodle ($3), with chicken cooked so long it separates into soft fibers and infuses the noodles and broth with fragrance.

Carrot, seemingly a popular ingredient at Chez Brigitte, makes another appearance in the soup as well in the form of dense, sweet chunks that sink to the bottom of the bowl. Though a soup and salad combination might sound tempting, however, it's best to skip the pedestrian tuna salad ($8), made with canned tuna.

Room for Dessert?

Most main courses are so hearty, a meal could begin and end with them. If you've still got room for dessert, however, you're out of luck at Chez Brigitte.

Skip the just-okay cr'me caramel ($2.50) and the cakes languishing next to bowls of eggs and cans of soda and tonic water in a refrigerated glass-front case.

Instead, continue in the comfort food vein with a quick detour to nearby Magnolia Bakery, a few blocks west. Here, round out your dinner with a cup of the justly famous banana pudding ($3.50), a colorfully frosted cupcake ($1.50) or my favorite, a giant slice of suffocatingly rich coconut layer cake ($4.25).

Despite its shortcomings in the realm of desserts, Chez Brigitte has become something of a West Village institution attracting people from the area. The restaurant only accepts cash and offers free delivery or take-out.

Chez Brigitte, 77 Greenwich Ave. near 11th St., (212) 929-6736

Magnolia Bakery, 401 Bleecker St. at 11th St., (212) 462-257254