Were someone to tell me the world were ending tomorrow, I would pick up the phone immediately and make a reservation at Restaurant Alma [1]. No doubt. Given a scenario where there wasn't enough time to jet off to New York City or Paris, Alma would be my choice for a last meal. Actually, maybe even in a scenario where there were. . . .

It's a near perfect place: never snooty but stylish, with high ceilings, plain tables, and smart servers clad in denim and black. And the food is always exactly (if I may be so bold) what God intended food to be. Alex Roberts, the 36-year-old chef behind Alma and the more casual Brasa [2], believes in taking whole ingredients and just touching them -- with heat, with spice, with sauce -- so the natural flavor is dominant and the other elements only enhancements that make sense.

Such was the case with the duck I ate the other night, roasted rare and set on a bed of the best baby Brussels sprouts that have ever passed my lips. What's important here, though, is how well those leafy little heads went with my wine: Domaine de la Tour Penedesses Carignan 2004 [3], a Languedoc Roussillion that Roberts sells for a mere $8 a glass.

A hearty pour in a tulip glass, the nose is of wet wood, plum, and leather. This is a dry wine that tastes wise somehow, but also a little wild -- of dark red and purple fruits, oak, and pepper -- like a French cowboy, great in the saddle but also well read.

Yes, given what I know of food and wine, this -- the duck and sprouts, the sagacious wine, and the salad wearing a savory dressing spiked with caraway -- would have been a lovely last meal, had the world imploded today at dawn. It didn't, however. Lucky you. Pick up the phone.

Restaurant Alma, 528 University Avenue SE, 612-379-4909.