What goes into the perfect French Onion Soup? Love...

No wait, seriously. It should be served in a small crockery style bowl. It should be covered with a stringy, relatively unsalted, melted cheese (Fontina or Gruyere) baked on top. Below the cheese should be a round crouton of bread floating on the soup, soaking in the broth from below and adhering to the cheese above.

It should be served not quite so hot that you'll burn your taste buds by sipping tiny bits of it. It should have a rich, salty, sweet flavor of slightly caramelized, stewed onions (often a mix of sweet yellow and red onions).

The French Cafe in Omaha, www.frenchcafe.com, embodies this perfectly in their French Onion Soup.

I probably don't say enough about the atmosphere of a restaurant. I remark on it passingly at some point, but never dwell on it. Allow me to dwell for a moment.

The French Cafe has very high, stately ceilings with every side and ceiling surface trimmed in rich, dark wood. The white linen covered tables are stationed just far enough part to give the service staff room for table side preparation of certain, signature dishes. (Cesar Dressing, Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, etc).

To complete the Black & White look, the walls are lined with large, black and white photos of diners in Paris, enjoying their meals, reading their papers and going on about their lives.

My experience at the French Cafe was excellent. Nothing I had was the "best" of that particular item in my recollection, however, everything was excellent.

In addition to the afore mentioned French Onion Soup (which I normally pass on, but had to try based on rave reviews), we started with an order of the Baked Brie (served with grapes, wide hand broken fresh-baked crackers and a fig compote, it was very good). I would have chosen toast points myself to serve it on, but the crackers sufficed.

The salad was a nice mix of baby greens and served with a house dressing that I'm going to guess was an asiago balsamic vinaigrette. It was tangy and sharp with a nice flavor and blend of textures from the baby greens.

I went with the Steak au Poivre. A good sized filet, prepared medium rare, precisely as I had ordered it. With a stacked column of potatoes au gratin and a fresh vegetable medley. The steak was drizzled with an excellent Bernaise sauce, though I would have preferred a small tureen of Bernaise on the side.

The wine list at the French Cafe has an excellent if moderately sized selection including some nice French wines, as you would expect. However, it was the price that had me very impressed. A 2003 St. Emilion Grand Cru Bordeaux (Chateau Lyonnat) came in at only $36.00 a bottle.

I was very mildly put off by the fact it was listed as a 2001 and that I had requested it be corked and begin to breathe immediately, but the wait staff saved this for later. However, regardless, it was an excellent wine for the meal, at a wonderful price.

Lesson...a Grand Cru Bordeaux is almost always going to be a great wine with red meat, and you don't necessarily have to pay an arm and a leg for one. Any French Bordeaux on a menu with the name Chateau _______ is a Grand Cru Bordeaux.

The meal ended with Creme Brulee, my gold standard dessert for how good a restaurant is. And this was wonderful. The sugar on top had been caramelized just to the point that it had a very, very tiny bitter flavor and crisp glass like texture, enough to accentuate the creamy silk texture and flavor of the dessert. Sweet, rich, creamy, excellent.

Dinner mates enjoyed Cherries Jubilee and Bananas Foster, and all of us enjoyed the show from the table side preparation. Who doesn't like a two-foot fire in the middle of the dining room?

I leave you today with words of wisdom from Mike that I pass on whole heartedly. When the daily special is Ossobuco, if you are a veal eater, order it. Requiring hours and hours of painstaking preparation, this is a dish that truly is made with Love. Only a chef with a passion for what they are creating bothers with the trouble necessary to prepare Ossobuco.

You find it so rarely because of this...savor that find and enjoy it. On this night there were two orders left (quantities of this special are almost always limited) and I was happy to leave one to Mike for whom it is a favorite, and one to Dietta, for whom Ossobuco was a new experience.

I would advise those interested in the French Cafe to understand that while some preparations are French, it is more Continental or French American Faire than traditional French. But, none the less, very enjoyable.