Le Bouchon du Grove, born in the mid-'90s, the mon cheri of three French partners and the playground of a fun-loving French staff, has the very feel of the old Grove. Wide open doors. Busy, crowded tables. Happy noise, free-flowing wine. OK, $25 entrees, a gesture more to the expensive real estate than it is to any sort of gouge, for the place has a feeling of value, not pretense, and plenty of food for the money and then some.

The cramped, 45-seat dining room fronts Main Highway -- talk about drive-through dining; you could do it here, almost. Not a spot of wall space is available, for all the war helmets, road signs, auto parts, art posters and postcards. It's as if your eccentric French aunt were holding a permanent yard sale, really, but the feeling is more friendly than cluttered. Bring with you patience, for the kitchen is understaffed against demand, and you will enjoy the hearty, classic French cooking here.

There is some pressure to ``lighten'' French food, to de-emphasize the butter and cream and other disheartening things. At Le Bouchon you can, indeed, eat healthfully, but why would one want to? For the love of de Gaulle, it is French, and the preferred method is to indulge, drinking wine while doing so. The same doctors who waggle the finger at cholesterol recommend a splash of wine to help offset it, so the score is even, we say.

GOLDEN BEGINNING

And especially so, should you order the soup du jour, vegetable ($5). What an array of vegetables go into this silken purée: leeks, potatoes, carrots, onion and much calabaza, or pumpkin, imbuing the stuff with a Halloween color, lightened admittedly with a dot each of butter and cream at the end. The soup is richly flavored and light, none of the individual vegetables discernible, but the mix most delicious, simply seasoned with pepper and salt.

A salad of Belgian endive with Roquefort and walnuts ($9.50) has a bit of an unbalanced ratio. There is much chopped and whole endive, crunchy and fresh, and there must be two handfuls of the flavorful cheese in the salad, which serves at least two. But we counted but five walnuts, not enough to make a statement. Dressing, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and walnut oil, helped in that regard, though.

A fancier appetizer had its ups and downs. Four grilled jumbo shrimp were clustered in the center of a ``carpaccio'' platter ($12.50), not carpaccio of beef or salmon but of tomatoes, red and yellow. Shrimps were delicious, and the red plum tomatoes, paper-thin, were terrific. Yellows, though, were mealy; it's hard to find these in excellent form, but they deserve credit for trying and for creating an attractive plate. Balsamic vinegar and homemade basil oil, flecked with rosemary and thyme, made for good flavor.

A special appetizer excelled, and oh, how French. Terrine with leek and salmon ($10.50) is a kind of loaf of poached leek pressed with smoked salmon, natural, not jellied or laden with a heavy sauce, just tender leek and salmon. On top is a noticeable snip of fresh tarragon, the licorice taste in sharp relief against the dullish leek and salty fish. Mesclun on the plate has a sturdy homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

A special entree was a wonder. Rack of baby veal chops ($24.50) offered five tender, juicy chops, seasoned with fresh rosemary and thyme and roasted, then served on top of a creamy risotto with onion garlic, button mushroom, white wine, veal stock and a bit of cream and shredded Parmesan to add heft. There's a Parmesan-crusted biscuit, as well, to play with textures. Good stuff.

From the menu, a filet mignon ($23.95) is rolled in crushed Madagascar green peppercorns and grilled, simply done. It's served with a brown stock cut with cognac, plus bright green haricot vert, and then the Hindenburg: a massive, quart dish of potatoes gratin, a dish so classically French you wish to twirl your mustache; potatoes adrift in milk, cream and sweet cheese, cooked in the oven and browned at the end. We dare you to finish it.

SEA OF DELIGHTS

The Mediterranean way gets a tryout with a pan-seared Chilean sea bass ($23.95), tossed with quartered red bliss potatoes, artichoke hearts and a homemade sundried tomato confit. Sauce is simple, a bit of butter and the juices from tomato and artichoke; fish is perfectly done and full-flavored, not slimy, as sea bass can be.

Another fish, pan-seared tuna steak ($21.50), is cooked to order; we chose medium rare, and it was good and red, a thick, flavorful cut accompanied by an interesting but heavy sauce of cream, white wine and green peppercorns. Haricot vert completed the picture.

Desserts are big, including tarte Tatin ($7) about 6 inches square of apples, seasoned with butter and sugar and then slow-cooked 2 1/2 hours to caramelize the apples, with puff pastry added on the top toward the end. The treat is inverted in a pool of heavy cream; not overly sweet but it is, of course, fattening. The Grove changes; the French don't.