i know in france bastille day is done but in honor of it, i just had the most amazing meal at sel gris.  we sat at the counter which anywhere else might be uncomfortable and where you go when you don't want to wait for a table, but at this place, it's a view of the chefs all working like mad people trying to get your meal out in a more perfect state than any meal has a right to be.  this might be, indeed, the platonic ideal of food.  i can't remember another meal outside of france that was so good.   and if you come to visit me in portland, oh dear flist, we shall go and dine as kings at sel gris.