Burdick's brings fabulous French food to small New England town

— -- The scene: Besides well-known Paris, Texas, there are nearly two dozen states with cities or towns named after Paris. New Hampshire is not one of them. Nonetheless, the tiny and rural town of Walpole is home to one of the most unique and notable Parisian-style bistros in the nation. It sits right next to a Parisian-style gourmet chocolatier, which in turn sits right next to a post office, real estate salesroom and general store. I have had the pleasure of visiting some very unexpected restaurants in very unexpected places around the United Sates, and The Restaurant at Burdick Chocolate, better known simply as Burdick's, is among the most surprising.

You may already be familiar with L. A. Burdick Chocolate. In 1984 Larry Burdick began making fine European-style chocolates, including truffles, bonbons, his signature chocolate mice, and a range of rich, hot-chocolate powders for high-end restaurants in New York City. This grew into a thriving mail-order business, and after running out of room he moved his production to Walpole, a small town in southwestern New Hampshire, just off central New England's main North/South road, I-91. Few passing motorists know it is there - but they should. Today Burdick's has retail stores with small attached cafes in New York City, Boston and Cambridge, Mass., but only the Walpole headquarters has a full-service restaurant.

These two businesses sit in an otherwise unremarkable row of storefronts in "downtown" Walpole, the quaint New England equivalent of a strip mall. You enter through the chocolate shop, very tempting to the eye, then into the restaurant, which has a long marble counter down one side, festooned with pastry cases that are filled with tortes and macaroons, coffee machines and oversized mugs. The list of daily cheeses is written in chalk on a piece of rough slate on the bar, and tables are set simply but elegantly with white tablecloths and straightforward plates and glassware, close to one another for an intimate café atmosphere that would be equally at home in Paris or Vienna. This is no coincidence, since Burdick lived in France and Switzerland for years before returning to the U.S. in the 1980s. Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, a Walpole resident, is an investor in the restaurant and said to eat here regularly when he is home.

Reason to visit: Traditional bistro fare, especially beef stew, pâtés, charcuterie and salads.

The food: Burdick's has different menus for lunch and dinner, a bistro menu that runs between the two, and a brunch menu for Sundays. They all differ slightly but are mostly similar, especially when it comes to the restaurant's strength: traditional bistro dishes like steak frites, roast chicken, beef stew and steamed mussels. I've been a few times and had several of these standards, and they have never disappointed.