(...) But no restaurant is more beloved thanJosy-Jo. Occupying a stone house where Modigliani once lived, the restaurant serves top-notch Provençal cuisine that belies its humble origins. Though the Nice-raised chef Josy Bandecchi has shared the spotlight as a television guest of the superchef Joël Robuchon, she learned to cook by watching her mother prepare Sunday dinners. “I try to recapture the flavors of my childhood,” she said of her deceptively simple cooking style on a sunny afternoon, as her own daughter took dinner reservations. “No one has to explain each dish to you. You taste it and you know immediately what it is.” Indeed, the menu is as simple and restrained as the white plaster walls and exposed timber beams of the dining room. You might find grilled peppers soaked in olive oil — giving them a melting, lozengelike suppleness — or vegetables stuffed “grandmother's style” with diced lamb, garlic, parsley and tomato sauce. The thick-cut rack of lamb is hearty enough for a Visigoth and tender enough for a teething child. There's nothing flashy, nothing superfluous.

“I was never very à la mode,” she said, sounding like the spokeswoman for the Côte d'Obscure. “And I never wanted to be.” Æ