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The Brooklyn Paper / Daniel Krieger

See food: Chef Robert Weiner shows off one his classic French dishes.

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I like this place. We can be adults here,” said my sister, who has endured too many noisy, every-table’s-a-party places. She’s right; Le Petit Marche, a French bistro in Brooklyn Heights, is meant for a serene meal.

Husband-and-wife partners Daniella Silone and Igor Tsan’s classic boite, which opened in late December, possesses the lived-in appeal of a place that has been sating customers for years.

To give the long narrow room the patina of age, the couple painted the space a rich egg yolk, and set tables in an intimate row. There’s a wooden bar with a few seats, French prints adorn one wall at the end of the room and there’s a banquette covered in a soft red striped fabric. The setting provides a backdrop for a relaxed experience, but there’s a sparkle in the air too, that comes from the pleasure of easy conversation. Not to mention a kitchen with an executive chef who turns out lusty, soul-satisfying food.

The man at the stove is Robert Weiner, who has cooked at Maurice in Le Parker Meridien with the renowned Christian Delouvrier, at Les Celebrites at Nikko House and Restaurant Raphael. Weiner’s menu offers everything you’d expect from a classic French bistro: escargot, bouillabaisse, steak frites and dessert tarts. The “soupe a l’oignon gratinee” (French onion soup) makes you immediately think, “Ah, this is how it should be! This is why people love it so.”

That soup arrives in a deep ceramic crock with a thick crust of pungent, tangy Swiss cheese baked over the top, its edges singed black here and there. Breaking through the crisp crown releases a fragrance of thyme, rosemary, caramelized onions and veal so heady that my sister and I said, “Ahhhh…” at the same time.

“It’s good, yes?” asked our waiter.

“Better than good,” I said.

We loved the “jumbo lump crabmeat salad,” too, its lightly chilled ingredients a refreshing counterpoint to the bold soup. Weiner tops diced mango, crunchy red onion and a bit of jalapeno pepper with plump pieces of the crustacean. The bright chive oil dressing and the cinnamon-like quality of the fruit accentuate the saline freshness of the fish. Our waiter smiled when he cleared away the bare plate.

There’s one dish on the menu that lamb lovers shouldn’t miss. It’s a shank the size of a man’s forearm with that bit of gaminess and funky aroma that sheep aficionados swoon over. The outside is crusty and the flesh is soft with pockets of silky fat. Almost upstaging the shank was a pillow of white beans: Weiner cooks them in veal demi-glace, red wine and garlic, then mixes in Parmesan. They hold their shape but are creamy centered and perfumed with rosemary. I doubt there are better beans being served anywhere.

And there’s a showstopper of a bouillabaisse that is more than a collection of good-looking fish in a bowl. Pearly mussels in their shells, tender clams, silken sliced cod, sweet shrimp and plump sea scallops serve as a base for half of a lobster tail in its shell, the claw meat nestled beside it. The works are sauced lightly with a pink, saffron-tinged fish fume, accented with a touch of anise-flavored Pernod.

The satisfaction from a perfect meal comes through in dish after dish — until dessert, at least.

Alas, despite the impressive prelude, the desserts are disappointing. Apples in the “tarte Tatin” are richly spiced, but mushy; and the crust around an apricot tart filled with a lush almond cream is limp.

As we left, the room is abuzz with conversation. We walked down Henry Street in the cold, smiling, a little tipsy and too talked out to say more than, “Great meal.”

“Yeah, great meal,” my sister said.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper