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Chef/owner Didier Durand was born in Bergerac in southwest France, hence the reference to the tuber-nosed novelist of the same town. Durand has an impeccable resume: After graduating from the Lycee Hotelier cooking school in Bergerac, he spent two years at France's Michel Guerard restaurant, then came to the States in 1986. He was a principal in the kitchens of Carlos', Gordon, Le Perroquet and Yvette Wintergarden before opening Cyrano's in 1996. His hospitality in the front of the house and his lighter touch on authentic southwest French dishes attract customers from the North Shore, neighborhood professionals and ladies who lunch. "It's fun because we're casual and priced right," he says. The menu features game, unusual salads and appetizers, mussels, sweetbreads, omelettes, beef Wellington and rotisserie-cooked rabbit, duck and chicken. Durand's favorite dish is ostrich pate. An "express lunch" offers a four-course meal at a reasonable price. The wine list features French vintages. The daughter of Didier and his wife, Jamie Pellar, is honored by a house special, Simone's Cocktail. On the weekends, seating expands to the lower level (dubbed Cafe Simone); the menu here features more seafood options, plus half-sized entree options.

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