Tour de France, under the watchful eye of Executive Chef Martin San Roman, offers informal yet elegant selections of nouvelle cuisine Françaisé in surroundings that delight all of one's senses. Located just two blocks from the diesel traffic of Boulevard Agua Caliente, the side street turns quiet on the corner of 16 de Septiembre and Gobernador Ibarra, within sight of the newly constructed Hotel Palacio Azteca. Our crew was greeted by impeccably dressed restaurant personnel in the parking lot and welcomed into the tile-roofed Southwest ranch house. This gem of a restaurant offers multi-level patio dining on faux marble and wrought iron furniture fronting a walled private garden, as well as more traditional indoor service. The al fresco seating looks out on dense botanicals, a bubbling fountain, flickering candlelight, and the sounds of birds and crickets. This environmentally friendly cocoon put the 14 at our combined tables at ease and set the mood for the evening.

II. THE SERVICE AND THE FOOD

Everything about the service we received showed attention to detail. The waiters were friendly, efficient, seamless, and unobtrusive. While there were only two servers attending to us, they seemed like legions. White china was dealt out, warm, flakey balons with a crisp crust and a dusting of white flour always filled the linen-wrapped bread baskets, alongside bowls of sweet and whipped garlic butter. Menus appeared, and drink orders taken. I was delighted that our waiter filled in "a la rochas" (on the rocks) for my sputtering margarita description and pantomime. This was a good omen. The margaritas were excellent and the $3.50 sangria preparada was delicious.

The tri-lingual (English, Spanish and French) menu offered a wide choice of interesting a la carte fare. Deciding what to order was a challenge. Every day there is a special prix fixé dinner menu for 100 Mexican Pesos ($12.50, U.S.), consisting of appetizer, soup or dinner salad, a fish or beef entreé, dessert and café Americano. This looked like both a good value and a chance to sample some of the dishes. Joel opted for the eggplant paté, the sopa de papa (potato soup), and grilled red snapper in a saffron sauce. Others tried the chayote (squash) ravioli baked in a flaked dough layer, with house salad and medallions of beef. For a la carte, Pat was strongly tempted to order the baked Brie appetizer, but opted for a more healthy alternative, the house salad, which was served in a crunchy bowl made of melted cheese. It was lovely and quite a novelty, but tasted a little too salty to allow for eating the bowl. The salad was fresh and crisp. For the main course, duck with raspberry sauce was ordered. It is also available with orange or peppercorn sauce, and arrived sliced in bite-sized pieces and arranged in a circle with a white area in the center and raspberry sauce on the plate. Much discussion ensued as to what was the white substance. Because of the Lilliputian quantity, about one and one-half tablespoons, many thought it had to be horseradish, which would have been a truly odd accompaniment to duck. It turned out to be mashed potatoes. The duck was tender and delicious and the raspberry sauce mildly sweet. It was cooked properly and not at all fatty, although there was a thin layer of fat at the margins of each piece, easily removed with a fork. The tiny light green circles adorning the plate turned out to be miniature zucchini slices. While adding to the overall composition of the entree, their flavor was somewhat raw and not very tasty. We would have preferred to pay less than the $18.00 for the duck, but the plate did contain a large amount of the bird, especially in comparison with the two small chicken strudel pieces on the neighboring plate. Others tried individual entreés, such as the chicken strudel in two molé sauce (one somewhat bland and the other spicy and having a very complex taste); chicken in champagne sauce and rack of lamb. Each offering was a stunning visual delight, a hallmark of haute cuisine service. The sauces were used to draw flowers and other designs on the plates, each one unique. There were miniature crackers, or vegetable garni, or sprigs of cilantro and other herbs decorating the careful arrangements. Portions were not large, and most of the dishes did not seem to have a high fat content, but the total meal was filling and very delicious. Joel's bill for the prix fixé dinner came to a very reasonable $20.00, including two drinks and tip.

Of special note was the muted background music, such a rarity in many of the restaurants we've experienced in Tijuana. All these factors combined to earn Tour de France a top rating of 90%, for exceptional service, decor, food preparation, and attention to detail. We could find no areas in need of improvement, except to note that the portions may be too small for some appetites, and to consider that when ordering. We look forward to a return visit.

III. THE DESSERTS

The desserts were tempting and delicious. Here we have one minor criticism and that is that the timing of the dessert servings was slightly off. One half of our group got served dessert immediately after dinner, while the rest had to wait 10 minutes or so for theirs to arrive. By the time the second half were served, the others had already finished. The problem may have had something to do with the fact that a soufflé, which required a 30-minute preparation time, was ordered at the time the dinner order was placed. The soufflé came in two flavors, Grand Mariner or chocolate. We thought it unfortunate that we didn't think of ordering a chocolate Grand Mariner soufflé. The waiter recommended the Grand Mariner. It was very light and fluffy, but the sweet tooth in our group found it to have a slightly bitter after taste and would have preferred something much sweeter. Especially enjoyable was the prix fixé dessert, in which only a single choice was offered, a chocolate mousse cake with an outside white crumb layer. Coffee drinkers in the group were very impressed with the brew, which was flavored with cinnamon, and possibly chicory or cocoa. Sweet & Low and Equal were both available. Everyone partaking seemed pleased. Portions were moderate to slightly meager, and one person mentioned that he could have eaten another main course. But, for the most part, no one left hungry. It was, without further qualification, an outstanding evening.