Foie gras ice cream is part of feel-good story at Carmel's PortaBella.

France native Jacques Zagouri is a happy man, which is good news for lovers of French food across Carmel and beyond.

After serving the better part of a decade as chef at Andre’s Bouchee—where loyal patrons from across the state still arrive asking for him—he is well on his way to settling in at PortaBella (624-4395).

It's part of an interesting upstairs-downstairs dynamic with Mediterranean (624-5659), also newly reopened, in the former Merlot Bistro, the latest handiwork from ever-popular restauranteur duo Bashar Sneeh and Faisal Nimri.

After turning Dametra Cafe (622-7766) into a oud-fueled party every night and expanding its square footage as they went, they recently opened a Dametra Fresh Mediterranean (275-5555) fast-casual sibling in Del Monte Center, to enthused reviews. 

Now the focus in on the corner of Ocean and Lincoln in Carmel.

Upstairs Mediterranean essentially expands the Dametra party and allows them to turn fewer people away a block up at the original.

The walls are warmly colored, the menu ranges crazy-widely from seafood to pastas to Greek to pizza, and theater comes tableside with the fun and flavorful "saganaki" flaming cheese. 

On a recent visit, that savory feta-style cheese, torched with olive oil, brandy and lemon, lit up the room. Other notables: Yaya's simple but satisfying stuffed grape leaves ($7.95), the spot-on spanakopita ($11.95), a portobello-fennel rigatoni in a garlic-cream-and-white-wine sauce ($16.95) and sand dabs with stylish potatoes au gratin ($20.95), though the last two felt like they got a $3 or $4 Carmel-by-the-Sea surcharge.

The real highlight wasn't anything we ordered, but a beef tenderloin carpaccio ($14) that surfaced when a chef from France spotted us and sent it out from the kitchen.

It hit the palate so delicately thin and high-quality it seemed to evaporate on the palate, grounded by an earthiness summoned through arugula, rich Parmesan and olive oil, and sparked with citrus and capers. Just yum.

With that carpaccio as an in, Zagouri lured us downstairs with his desserts and they didn't—what's the word—disappoint.

Zagouri visibly relishes the fresh start, and building his menu at PortaBella.

Sneeh and Nimri and enjoying the venture into fine-dining territory.

Meanwhile, Big Sur Food & Wine founder Toby Rowland Jones has come on board to provide textured wine insight and world-class service.

The French and French-Mediterranean fusion goodies include grilled Spanish octopus ($15), ahi-salmon tartar ($16), white wine-steamed mussels ($15), wild mushroom risotto ($24), eight-hour braised short ribs ($29) and one of Zagouri's specialties, pan-seared foie gras ($25).

The menu enjoys identity, and cohesion with the cozy, bistro-style space.

They dazzled, by way of a clever rosewater crème brûlée and textbook tiramisu, but most mightily via the foie gras ice cream on house-baked cream puffs.

The inherent richness and sweetness of the foie plays naturally well with the creaminess of the homemade dessert. It tastes like a bucket-list menu item.

Giuseppe Panzuto popped in from il Tegamino next door, one of the top two new restaurants of 2015, to trade jokes with Zagouri and wonder away at the brûlée. 

Thanks to PortaBella's new game, two of Carmel's—and the area's—best cozy and classy restaurants share the tucked away Court of the Golden Bough.

They also help herald a new golden age for Carmel-by-the-Sea food.