The star appetizer is a bowl of crunchy lotus-root slices braised in a thick sake-soy sauce.

Equally delicious was queso de cabra al horno - goat cheese baked with tomato sauce in a small terra cotta casserole, served with crunchy slices of herb-garlic bread.

Noodles are good, too; I particularly like slim strands of green tea in a broth enhanced by crunchy slices of fresh bamboo shoots and slippery sheets of seaweed.

He adds paper-thin crunchy slices of fennel, green beans and olives for contrasting texture and taste, with a creamy garlic dressing.

I much preferred the fruit savarin, accompanied by toasted brioche, an ethereal Marsala sabayon and crunchy slices of toasted almond.

It reappears in a different guise, softly chewy, in a hearty stew packed with chunks of succulent preserved duck and crunchy slices of lotus root.

Didier Virot at Virot, in the new Dylan hotel in Midtown, uses Jerusalem artichokes in a completely different presentation, with thin, very crunchy slices set under airy gnocchi in a light but creamy sauce.

By themselves, these crunchy slices are irresistible; combined with tender greens, they create an alluring contrast in flavor and texture.

Argentine chorizo, sweeter and milder than its Spanish cousin, figures prominently in a delicious soup of pureed asparagus with crunchy slices of hearts of palm.

His strong suit can be found on the menu of small plates, a mixed menu of modernized sushi and tapas-size appetizers like crunchy slices of lotus root braised with sake-soy sauce and spiced with red pepper.