Bandol reviewed by Diane Hudson April 2004 Chef-owner Erik Desjarlis is really onto something with his new French restaurant, Bandol. Youπve heard the talk≠a fixed price of $60 for a five-course dinner≠but this place walks the walk. For starters, we were surprised with complimentary glasses of sparkling white wine and an exquisite Iranian (Sevruga) caviar nestled on a tiny homemade potato chip. Very festive. Next, an additional gift from the kitchen: two wonderfully pretty and tasty Kumamoto oysters, artfully placed atop a mound of sea salt. Our selections for the first course, the Confit and Carpaccio of Muscovy Duck with puree of butternut squash soup and Braised Jamison Farm Lamb Tongue with mache and warm sherry vinaigrette, were exquisite. The mache, or lamb lettuce≠bright green little circles of crisp, succulent leaves≠is an inspired accompaniment to the tender, tasty lamb, and the thick, creamy duck soup is divine. An almost hypnotic series of elegant servers float in and out, changing plates and silver, participating unobtrusively in the drama. Then, poof! Another surprise arrives from the kitchen: a lovely tasting portion of delicate Mediterranean Sea Bream, perfectly sauteed in a sauce tapenade. Next we savor Chervelles De Veau, crispy calfπs brain with savoy cabbage, capers, and brown butter vinaigrette, and Ris de Veau, delectable pan-roasted veal sweetbreads with amazing black trumpet mushrooms and roasted shallots. The accompanying sauce is scrumptious, soaked up with a delicious sourdough bread (from 158 Bakery in South Portland). The ≥main≤ course now takes the stage: Braised Nature-fed Beef Short Ribs with crispy marrow and Scottish Red Leg Partridge braised with green olives. Of the two, I preferred the beef, with its dark, rich sauce and tiny, incredibly flavorful beets. And then, another rabbit from the hat: a sweet little bowl of wildflower honey and apricot sorbet≠terrific. Desiring a wine from the region in France from which Bandol takes its name, we were delighted with a half carafe of Domaine La Suffrene Bandol ($20). This luscious, smooth, red was particularly magnificent with our next course, a world-class selection of cheeses, including a perfectly ripened Vacherin Mont Dπor, a soft, buttery, pungent cheese accompanied by a delicate French butter pear tartlette; and Bayley-Hazen Blue, a rather hard bleu cheese coupling well with rosemary- poached quince. After all of the above, we still managed to devour every morsel of our cheesecake enriched with fromage blanc, walnut crumble, and white Valrhona chocolate sauce and the Tart Tatin, a most unusually appealing apple tart. Bandol, 90 Exchange Street, Portland. 347-7155.