Pigalle702-704 N. Second St., 215-627-7772 Dinner, Tue.-Thu., Sun., 5-10:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 5-11 p.m. Appetizers $5-$12; entrees $13-$22. Wheelchair accessible. Smoking at the bar and outdoor seating. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards.

Pigalle is a versatile restaurant. On a warm evening, the French windows are flung open beneath the sculpted iron facade, and although all you can see is North Second Street, it still feels Parisian. When it is cold, the restaurant closes in upon itself, and you can admire the rust-and-mauve, slightly Burne-Jones fabric on the walls and banquettes, the miniscule bar to the left of the entrance, the discreet lighting creating a decidedly romantic ambience. There is a photo on the wall and on the menu cover of a dark, enigmatic beauty, perhaps representing one of the denizens of Place Pigalle, that notorious Paris street in the ninth arrondissement, filled with rough characters and ladies of the night. The contents of the menu are much better fare than you would find in that tawdry location.

We order the house special wine, Luc Pirlet ($22), an unassuming Merlot, and also a Macon-Villages ($28). The list is small, mostly unfamiliar, but one of the most expensive reds, a Margaux, is a mere $51.

Crisp baguettes arrive with whipped butter, and we dig into appetizers. Gone are the escargots with raviolis stuffed with Comté; gone is the wild mushroom tart. In their place is beautiful asparagus in a truffle vinaigrette -- spring has come to Pigalle, and Michael Satterfield, the general manager and our host one recent evening, is eager to explain the new menu to us. The spicy grilled-lamb sausage remains. It is bedded with polenta, roasted pepper salad and a chunk of Gorgonzola cheese. We love the fresh-tasting chickpea, tomato and herbal green salad that comes with shaved Parmesan and crostini smeared with black olive paste that also has survived the change. So have haricots verts, tossed with a sprightly Dijon vinaigrette and set afloat on a garnet raft of thinly sliced beets and some crispy sauteed chèvre. (I have eaten more beets this year than I have in my entire life.) We order the plat Pigalle (certainly enough for two), which consists of creamy chicken liver paté, slices of game sausage and samples of Camembert, chèvre and blue cheese. The entire plate bears the French details of toasts, cornichons, whole-grain mustard, homemade orange jam and marinated olives, and it's a wonderful appetizer.

Stacey DiPlacido, the executive chef, whom I remember fondly from Caribou Café, has made sure that every dish has balance. Salty, sweet, smooth textures, rough textures, spicy, mild -- all are put to play. The herb-crusted cod with lentils has been replaced by that harbinger of spring: halibut. Lightly roasted, the white, firm flesh is only lightly doused with a shrimp vinaigrette and wears a corn flan like a jaunty hat beside it. A light and tender crepe filled with summer squash, spinach and goat cheese is a delicious vegetarian idea, flavored as it is with a three-vinegar sauce. But a tender and juicy pork chop needs only a crown of crispy onion rings and some watercress. The irresistible onion rings can be had as a side order with a spicy dipping sauce. The duck confit is one of the best in town -- just the right amount of fat clings to the crispy skin and a couscous made with preserved oranges and toasted almonds is inspired. There's a circle of orange syrup around it, and some wilted arugula besides that. Here's that play of sweet and bitter again. A pan-seared dry-aged rib eye bursts with juices and flavors, like a bit of green peppercorn dribbled over it, and a mound of crackling french fries.

Desserts are not the strongest suit here as yet. An apricot-mango sorbet is sweet and appealing. The crèpe filled with very tart lemon curd and decorated with raspberries is really lovely, provided, of course, that you didn't have the entree crèpe for dinner. But if profiteroles filled with chocolate-mint ice cream and blanketed with hot fudge are a sign of things to come, then I'm sure desserts will be getting better and better.

DiPlacido used all the winter vegetables, the parsnips and Swiss chard, the butternut squash and porcini, to their best advantage in the winter, and now we are enjoying the spring bounty. I look forward to seeing what she does with the fruits of summer. She has the French sensibility for respecting the seasons that we are seeing more and more among the young chefs.

An evening at Pigalle can be a delight. The service staff is young, like Michelle Rosen, our server, and tries very hard to please. The prices are not too painful, and I love that the chef uses her head and provides different vegetables with every main course. From my seat, I could see the replica of the Statue of Liberty that has stood outside Liberties restaurant across the street for many years. If I squint, I can pretend it's the same statue that stands at a bend in the Seine, and dream that I am, of course, in Paris.