Downtown’s Le Pichet is the more expensive cousin of Cafe Presse. It has many of the same dishes (often at different times), and it turns out, what you pay does make a difference. The same dish at Le Pichet is executed with considerable more finesse than the Capitol Hill restaurant. In a contest of Frenchiness (a highly technical term) Le Pichet wins. They do not mess around with the charcuterie, for example, which includes terrine au poivre vert (duck liver and pork), langue de boeuf (beef tongue), and saucisse lyonnaise (sausage with pork and pistachios). That said, for all its fancy Frenchiness, it’s still a pretty affordable and casual night out. TRICIA ROMANO