by MARK SLUTSKY

Blink and you'll miss Le Petit Toscan, an appealing resto on Marquette, just off Mont-Royal's main drag deep in the Plateau. You'll probably miss it even if you don't blink - situated on the first floor of a two-storey residential walk-up, with no big sign to catch your attention, it's the kind of place you're certain not to notice unless you've already been warned it's there. Well, consider this your warning.

The space has been through a couple of hands over the past few years. For decades, it was the Idéal diner, then it was briefly a tapas bar and now Le Petit Toscan occupies the room. Dark, rough-hewn wood walls and soft ambient lighting make it quite a cozy spot, and the open kitchen and small bar add to the general atmosphere.

As you may have guessed, the restaurant's focus is Tuscan cuisine, which is always a pleasure, with its emphasis on fresh ingredients and its relative simplicity. Le Petit Toscan's menu is, appropriately, not very complex. Its three main sections - antipasto, primo, and secondo - each feature around three choices each. You don't need any more, though, when the food's this good.

On the antipasto side, I'd suggest the insalata di cipolla con rucciola e proscuitto ($6). It's a salad, but oh, what a salad. Tender leaves of arugula, tossed in a light vinaigrette and sprinkled with pine nuts sit next to sliced prosciutto and roasted red onions. Surrounding these main ingredients is a circle of thinly-sliced cherry tomatoes. It's something else. The onions are really the main attraction here - baked in their skins, the tender onion flesh is translucent and sweet. The prosciutto's great as well, delicate-tasting and none too salty.

There are a few dishes you really must try from the primo section of the menu as well. You've got two options here - order a demi-portion ($6–$7) as an appetizer, or the full thing ($15–$16) if you want to make a main course out of the dish. The lasagnetta resembles an artful, free-form version of lasagna - an abstract lasagna, if you will. Thin squares of pasta, layered with carrots and leeks, form the centre of the dish. Sprinkled around the pasta, and indeed all over the plate, are tiny scallops, like little seafood pearls. To top it all off, one side of the dish is drizzled with a roasted red pepper sauce, the other side with pesto. The orzotto is also delicious. You might mistake this barley-based pasta for risotto, as they look almost identical, but rice it is not. Just a little chewy - almost squeaky - the orzotto is covered in a lovely cream sauce, mixed with leeks, with fresh mushrooms on top to complete the dish. Very tasty.

You've got three choices for your secondo, or main course, and you really can't go wrong here. The misto di pollàme ($16) is a treat, with three different types of roast fowl (chicken, duck and quail), artfully arranged and topped with an entire head of roast garlic - this may be one of the more exciting phrases in the English language. Also yummy is the tonno con olive ($17), a tuna steak in two parts, one coated with green olive tapenade, the other with the black olive equivalent. The tuna is quite tender, and the tapenades give it a wonderful zing. If I only had to pick one, though, I'd go for the coscia d'agnello ($17). It may just be roast lamb, but in this case the meat is slow-roasted for a full seven hours, giving it an unparallelled tenderness. This one's also topped with a head of garlic, along with sides of thin roast potatoes, zucchini, and rapini (the pollàme also comes with the same delicious accompaniments).

A genuinely charming spot with a top-notch menu, Le Petit Toscan may be hidden away, but it's definitely worth seeking out.

Le Petit Toscan
ADDRESS: 4515 Marquette (one block west of Papineau,
just north of Mont-Royal)
PHONE: 523-7777
HOURS: Tues–Sat 6–0PM
BEST FEATURES: Slow-roasted lamb, plus the wonderful side dishes
ALCOHOL: Yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: More or less - you might have to request something special
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: There's actually no "smoking" section at all
PRICE: $16–$30 per person, before wine, tax, and tip
RATING: *** out of ****