So why not just call the place Belltown Baguette and be done with it? The original name was Biofournil, which made me think the haz-mat squad might show up at any moment. In fact, it was the first US venture of the most successful organic bakery in France, based in Seattle's French sister city of Nantes. And with that combination of innocence, arrogance and stubborn confidence that characterizes entrepreneurs of all nationalities, Biofounil shipped its French bread ovens, French bakers, even a supply of its own sourdough starter to Belltown.

True, they'd picked a residential building, the Centennial, with no parking for customers and no loading dock for deliveries. And the original configuration had room for barely ten seats not really enough to make it a lunch spot. It took almost six years, but owner Jean-Yves Fouchˇ finally agreed to remodel and to rename the place.

It's now called Boulangerie Nantaise and it seats 24. It has new graphics, new colors, and new packaging, too. They'll do sandwiches, pastries, coffee, and soups, just like every other lunch spot in town. So what's the point, you ask? Ah well, it's the bread after all their signature baguette, $3. It's a terrific loaf, with crunchy crust and a chewy, slightly sour taste. It's got my vote for Seattle's best-tasting bread.

There's a lot of interest in these chilly times in pork. (No, not the lean pork that's promoted as "the other white meat," as tasteless as, well, the other white meat, chicken.) Flavorful pork is fatty (think of bacon) or prepared with zesty ingredients (mustard, wine, fruit). Fortunately, pigs also come with tasty organs and appendages hooves, livers, tongues and the like. At Le Pichet, chef Jim Drohman cures fresh pork tongues in brine for two days, simmers them in an aromatic stock until tender, slices them, then soaks them in buttermilk. When you order his friture de langue de porc, he tosses the tongue slices in seasoned flour, fries them up like chicken nuggets and serves the crunchy, tender morsels atop a slaw of grated carrots dressed with a vinaigrette of cumin, orange, and black currants. It's the most delicious $8 lunch in town.

And where can you buy pork tongues, you might wonder, should you want to try this dish at home? Drohman's source is a wholesale slaughterhouse, Kapowsin Meats in Graham, Wash. Me, I'd ask Donnie Kuzaro at Don & Joe's Meats in the corner of the Pike Place Market. Right behind the bronze pig, in fact.

Belltown Buffet: Have been writing about Torero's in this space since the day it opened and never understood the rationale for the Rodriguez family to open one of their Jalisco-themed, family-oriented, upbeat and downmarket Mexican restaurants in Belltown. Not even the offer of free snacks during an endless hora feliz could lure customers in the door: "Shrimp and salsa swimming in a cocktail glass of warm water," according to a disillusioned Belltown habituˇ. Faithful readers will recall that we predicted the closing of Alexandria's two months ago. Owners are moving on, leaving behind what's now clearly a jinxd space at 2020 2nd Avenue.

Chris Linker and his team at Black Bottle are more bemused than upset at a less-than-enthusiastic review in the Seattle Times. The critic, normally reliable freelance foodie Matthew Amster-Burton, had an aversion to one particular item on the menu (the "Broccoli Blasted") and ended up giving the place what's considered a kiss-of-death rating (one and a half stars). But, hey, what do critics know? Black Bottle remains packed every night, and even plans to open a smallish private dining room at the back of the adjoining space by the end of next month. When I dropped in for a bowl of soul-restoring chicken laab gai and a Manny's late last night, a gal at the other end of the bar ordered the broccoli, just to try it. Her verdict: "Great!"

Goodness, gracious, great drinks afire: Circulation's down at urban dailies (stay-at-home, beer-swigging fogies), up at urban weeklies (club-hopping, cocktail-sipping hipsters). So what's The Seattle Times to do?

How about sending a tag-team of 20-something reporters out to write a column about fancy bars? One of them's an Asian gal who gets "impaired" after a single greyhound; the other doesn't drink, but swoons when the suave and handsome bartender at Suite 410 promises to set fire to a grapefruit cosmopolitan.

Sho-nuff, boss, this story actually runs every week, to citywide snickers and guffaws. No comment for the record, but one can just imagine the grownups Bethany Jean Clement (the Stranger's "Bar Exam") and Liza Zimmerman (Seattle Weekly's "In Good Spirits") shaking their heads in disbelief. "What's this place, it's cute," went the second column, as they dropped in at Porta and let themselves be charmed by the suave and handsome owner. Anyone see a pattern developing?

For their third outing, they made it all the way to Fremont's BalMar. And so the suspense continues: Which saloon will Pamela and Nicole sidle into next? What drink will put Nicole under this week? Will their adventures sell even one more paper? Shake my nerves, rattle my brain... Goodness gracious!

Ronald Holden welcomes news and comments from foodies and feeders alike. Additional dispatches are on his weblog, www.cornichon.org Recently named one of "15 Great Seattle Blogs" by UptownSeattle.

© 2006 Belltown Messenger