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Although it offers outside tables in warmer weather, we're counting on Le Pommier to be our respite from the cold months ahead.

The bistro-style, country French restaurant along busy East Carson Street on the South Side provides the warm glow and cozy surroundings that turn enjoying a bowl of soup with crusty bread into an event - especially if the weather outside turns frightful.

Le Pommier's small dining room is finished with burnished yellow and red walls and wooden plank floors. Each table is dressed with white linens, a petite oil lamp and a simple, cylindrical cobalt-blue vase filled with flowers.

The service here is some of the best we've had anywhere. Knowledgeable, gracious and accommodating, the waitstaff keeps the courses coming in a smooth rhythm - no long lapses between courses, no empty glasses, and no feeling of being rushed along to free up a table.

The restaurant's September-October menu features just enough variety to make choosing a meal difficult, without overwhelming with an overabundance.

For starters, we enjoyed Wild Mushroom Bisque ($5), a smooth, hearty and earthy soup that went well with the basket of fresh, warm bread, pot of silky whipped butter and bowl of kalamata olives that's served to each table. We also tried two of the three salads. The Poire ($6.50) is a bed of field greens graced with a fanned-out half of pear and a thick slice of bleu cheese, finished with walnuts and roasted shallot vinaigrette. The Vert ($4) is a simple green salad topped with currant tomatoes and herb vinaigrette.

Our favorite appetizer had to be Chips D'Autumn ($6) a most sophisticated take on chips and dip. It consisted of a plate of deep-fried potato, sweet potato, taro root and beet chips served with a warm, silken blue cheese-chardonnay dipping sauce presented in a pastry cup. We also enjoyed the Mer et Terre ($8.50), a serving of clams in the shell, each topped with a slice of spicy merguez sausage and surrounded by a white wine broth with tomato, shallot and arugula. Filling and decadent, the Crabe ($8.50) is a tart sized for two diners filled with large, plump bites of crabmeat with spinach and braised leeks, topped with a light but savory tarragon-dijon sauce.

Our favorite main course, by far, is the Socca Farcie ($18). It's a trio of chickpea crepes filled with savory boursin cheese and folded into triangles, layered on top of a wild mushroom ragout and red onion confit. The dish is topped with thin curls of fried potato and carrot. The variety of flavors and textures in this single dish is inspiring - they marry extremely well together if taken in one bite, but there is enough of each layer to also savor every part separately, enjoying its individual flavor. This is my single favorite dish I've tried all year.

Expertly prepared, the Filet de Bouef ($28) was thick and tender and a perfectly done medium. It's offered two ways - with a red wine demi-glace, which we tried and found to be a lovely complement to the beef; and with a bleu cheese glaze that we're eyeing for next time.

We also found the sauce on Le Pommier's duck offering, Canard a L'Orange ($26.50) to be the touch that made a good dish great. The sliced duck breast was served with an orange flower honey and Cointreau sauce that sweetened - but never threatened to overpower - the meat.

One of the most intriguing menu items was the Truit Farcie ($24) a grilled trout stuffed with bacon, apples, pecans, pearl onions and finished with a cream sauce. A hearty fall offering - and one we were eager to try, given our predisposition to enjoy any kind of inventive fish dish - we found it too rich and too strongly flavored for our palates.

All main courses, with the exception of the crepes, were served with potatoes or rice and a vegetable.

Desserts at Le Pommier are not to be missed.

Everything is made on premises, including the impossibly good vanilla bean ice cream that accompanies the Crepes Le Pommier ($6), a pair of crepes filled with warm apple, vanilla, Pernod and cinnamon compote topped with cinnamon-caramel cream sauce. We opted too, of course, to try the Creme Brulee ($5), which didn't disappoint in its crunchy caramel crust over smooth custard. Our favorite dessert was the luscious Gateau de Chocolat ($6), a chocolate layer cake with blackberry jam, Chambord ganache and chocolate buttercream, served alongside a swirled pool of blackberry and chocolate sauce.

The menu changes in November, house manager Jeremy Carlisle says, with the beef filets and escargot appetizers remaining constant, while other dishes - such as the duck, crepes, fish and chicken - will change to include different sauces and preparations. Le Pommier also is open Thanksgiving Day with a tantalizing menu that Carlisle says will be featured almost in its entirety through the holiday weekend.

If we weren't headed to Mom's, we'd already be making our reservations.

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