We reminisced about French restaurants in the neighborhood from that era, all gone La Caravelle, L'Escargot, La Fondue.

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Imagine traditional escargot, served in a baking dish full of little recesses each packed with a snail in rich garlic butter.

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Before dining on the French delicacy, learn about its origins on a tour of L'Escargot du vieil amandier, a snail farm in the northern Ventoux area of Provence, France.

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The food is approachable French (think steak frites, charcuterie and puff pastry-wrapped escargot) and the large space is rustic-urban (vaulted ceilings, unadorned wood tables and exposed brick).

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For the culinary ambitious, Abercrombie and Kent Villas can arrange a cooking class with a specially trained French chef that walks through how traditional escargot is prepared.

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Last Sunday, he ate escargot and duck confit during brunch with a reporter and Danny Goldberg, a longtime music executive who is Mr. Earle's manager and close friend, at the bistro A.O.

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In high school Purkayastha started a food club--called the Students for the Promotion of Exotic Culinary Experimentation--and began hosting dinner parties that featured colorful fare like duck, live sea urchin, escargot and reindeer.

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