Philippe Delgrange is the unofficial mayor of East 63rd Street. By 7 p.m., he has cuddled four babies, kissed two dozen cheeks, consoled a weeping beauty, found someone a job, and given 11 men that particularly energetic type of full-body embrace that only a Frenchmen can get away with. At 53, Delgrange has owned and operated the brightly lit hotspot, Le Bilboquet, on the Upper East Side, for two decades, and in that time he has seen many changes in the neighborhood and its people. The reason they keep coming back to him week after week, night after night, is not only for Bilboquet's food, which is consistently excellent, but also for the warm and welcoming Bilboquet community.

Bilboquet has evolved from a neighborhood phenomenon into a New York institution. The atmosphere is animated and bright, and after 8:30 p.m., a bit night-clubby. The music is fun and hip, but never so loud that it inhibits conversation. The crowd is handsome but not uniformly young; patrons' ages range from the teens to the 80s. When customers arrive, tables are pushed even closer together to make room. Still, by 8 p.m., groups of people linger outside, waiting an hour or more to be seated. It's a testament to the popularity of the restaurant - but also to its intimate size. After all, Bilboquet is only 450 square feet, including the bathroom. "I built it with my own hands," says Delgrange. "At the time, I only had $10,000 in the bank. But I had worked in restaurants all my life."

Delgrange, who was born on the border of France and Belgium, got his start in the restaurant business at the tender age of 14. He worked at a French restaurant called Henri Quatre, putting in 14-hour days chopping onions and scrubbing pots and pans. All that for 75 cents a week - the meager compensation of an apprentice. Later he worked at some of the finest restaurants in Europe, including the infamous Bord du Lac in Zurich, Switzerland. "I worked for the biggest chefs in the world," he says. "Of course I learned a lot about cooking, but what I also learned is that in this business, it is all about how decently you treat people and how you value your friends. Without your friends, you have nothing."

Delgrange moved to New York, got married, and managed some of the city's top restaurants, but he dreamed of opening his own place, a restaurant that offered French bistro fare with a New York twist.

And now for the food - classic dishes include Steak au Poivre, Carpaccio de Boeuf, Moules Mariniere, and Escalope de Veau aux Champignons. The menu is deceptively simple. "That gives me the freedom to adapt the dish to seasonal produce and new ingredients," says chef Eric Delalande, who has been with Delgrange almost from the beginning. "When the food arrives at your table, it is more than you anticipated."

That element of surprise is especially important with a New York clientele. "This is French cuisine, New York-style," Delgrange says. "You need to excite people or surprise them, even if you don't tell them, with some new, fresh, seasonal ingredient, or a unique bouquet of spices." Chicken is a quotidian offering in most American restaurants. But the French are not afraid to treat it as much more than that. At Bilboquet, it is grilled to perfection in Cajun spices.

Filet de Monkfish is equally distinctive. The warm scent of saffron arrives at the table before the fish, which is buttery and tender, accompanied by a puree of butternut squash. Steak au Poivre is another satisfying option. Many New York restaurants gussy up this classic dish with creamy sauces, which seem intended to mask an inferior cut of meat. At Bilboquet, the cut of steak is of superior quality: thick and well-marbled. The flavor is enhanced rather than masked with the application of pepper.

In Japan, they say if you want to know how good the chef is, taste the Tomago - the square of egg traditionally served alongside sushi which most people think of as a throwaway. In a French restaurant, you can judge the chef by the Terrine du Maison. At Bilboquet, the rich, silky slice of top-quality fois gras imported from France will delight diners. It is served one day with pistachio, another day with cracked pepper, adding a twist but preserving the purity of the product.

Mopping up the perfect sauce with your French fry is everything in this restaurant. In fact, Le Bilboquet is probably the only restaurant in New York's Upper East Side where you could probably take your French fry and dab it into the sauce of the stranger sitting next to you! He or she won't remain a stranger for long. People come here when their hearts are broken; they find love across the room. They come for comfort when they lose their job and end up getting a job offer from the guy at the next table. They come when they feel lonely and find friends. They come for a taste of New York glamour and rub shoulders with celebrities like Tom Hanks, Eric Clapton, Julia Roberts, and Demi Moore.

They come for the same reasons you did: to celebrate "bon cuisine," "la vie," and "les amies."

(212) 751-3036
25 E 63rd St, New York 10021