The Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris Las Vegas offers cuisine from an award-winning chef, a stunning view, and a circular bar and 250-seat dining room. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

A picturesque view of the Strip isn't everything the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. South, has to offer.

There is, of course, the restaurant's French cuisine from award-winning chef Jean Joho, vice president and executive chef of Everest in Chicago, Brasserie Jo in Chicago and Boston, and the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, a part of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group.

But when the doors to the glass elevator open on the 11th floor, the first thing diners see is the display kitchen where the staff is busily preparing the evening's fare.

"The view, for me, is always an accessory," Joho says. "My first priorities are the food and service. The view is part of the decor, the ambience."

The display kitchen is "welcoming you to eat," he says. "It invites you to see what's happening."

When getting off the elevator "people are shocked," Joho says. "They say, 'We don't want the kitchen, we want the restaurant.' "

But once visitors are escorted around the corner into the dining room, the kitchen is not seen again. Just the circular bar and the 250-seat dining room, which includes a 60-seat semiprivate room and 20-seat private room, and the Strip.

The cuisine is "updated French classic," according to Joho. "French food has always been misrepresented in the United States as rich food with cream sauces."

But that isn't it at all, Joho says. "It's just tasty, straightforward food."

Joho changes the Eiffel Tower menu "nonstop."

"I like to say, 'What is good for me today is not good for me tomorrow.' Every time I come here, I make changes, some seasonal," he says. "You want to have new things. I look at what I do well and what can be produced well. It's a well-diversified menu with something for everyone."

Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at the bar. Joho calls the menu "light fare," and consists of grilled French sandwiches, each served with mixed greens, salads and desserts.

Dinner is from 5:30 to 11 p.m. daily. Reservations are recommended (948-6937).

Starters: Cold smoked salmon with condiments ($16.95); Maine peekey toe crab salad, avocado and cucumber ($18.95); warm shrimp salad, watercress, tomato and chive vinaigrette ($19.95); roasted duck breast, duck confit and poached pear ($16.95); roasted foie gras, marinated grapes and julienne crepes ($22.95); and the grand seafood platter for two with lobster, shrimp, crab, oysters and clams (market price).

Soups and salads: Cream of asparagus soup and aged Parmesan flan ($14.95); Romaine lettuce and poppy seed tuile ($14.95); and spring greens, crispy shallots and verjus ($15.95).

Entrees: Fish and seafood choices include fillet of braised halibut, clams and smoked bacon ($36.95); sauteed wild red snapper, broccoletti and confit onion ($35.95); fillet of Atlantic salmon with a pinot noir sauce ($34.95); fillet of wild sea bass, herb coulis and roasted cauliflower ($36.95); and lobster Thermidor ($54.95).

Meat and fowl selections include farm-raised organic chicken, roasted and braised, and herbs ($29.95); sauteed double pork chop, braised apples, calvados and sage ($29.95); charbroiled filet mignon accompanied by a choice of lemon parsley butter, porcini butter, b arnaise or red wine sauce ($44.95); charbroiled bone-in rib-eye and bordelaise sauce ($49.95); and sauteed medallions of veal, English peas and black trumpet mushrooms ($44.95).

For vegetarians, Eiffel Tower serves baked cassoulet of 12 vegetables and Belgium endives ($23.95).

Extras: Tasting menu features lobster salad, haricot verts and radish and lemon verbena vinaigrette; cream of asparagus soup and aged Parmesan flan; braised turbot, vegetables and bouillabaisse broth; sauteed medallion of veal, English peas and black trumpet mushrooms; Eiffel Tower dessert or Eiffle Tower souffle ($5 more); and petit fours ($89).

Eiffel Tower also offers a selection of imported caviar, including beluga ($225 per ounce), osetra ($110 per ounce) and sevruga ($79 per ounce), each served with cr?me fra?che, chives, blinis and toast. Larger sizes are available.

Desserts: White chocolate banana Elysee ($10); warm baked Alsace apple strudel and cinnamon ice cream ($10); chocolate hazelnut cake a la Parisian ($10); raspberry Napoleon and vanilla blanc manger ($10); classic cr?me br?l e ($10); chocolate plate Eiffel tower ($10); and Eiffel Tower souffles, including chocolate, Grand Marnier, pistacio, banana, mandarin or Benedictine ($15 each).

Appetizers is a weekly informational column about new developments on the Las Vegas dining scene. Items should not be considered reviews or recommendations and none is a paid advertisement. Contact Ken White at 383-0256 or e-mail him at kwhite @reviewjournal.com.