CHANGING COURSES: The new chef at the Oval Room (800 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202- 463-8700) is thinking small. Paul Luna, who returns to the city after a decade of cooking in Atlanta, recently rewrote the dinner menu at the modern American restaurant downtown. It now includes more than a dozen small plates ($7-$10 each) and entrees available as half-portions (for $9-$12). "One can do elegant food without being formal," says Luna, who encourages people to order multiple plates for greater variety and possible sharing. The temptations run to marinated pork ribs with cabbage slaw, potatoes skewered on rosemary sprigs and served with romesco sauce, grilled baby octopus with roasted peppers, and house-made pasta with bites of lobster and a light wash of tomato. "The food on the menu is stuff that I grew up on as a child," says the chef, 40, who was born in the Dominican Republic to an Italian father and a Spanish mother. Lucky kid, you'll say after grazing through his handiwork.
CLUB MED(ITERRANEAN): Just when you think every decent location downtown has been gobbled up by a Starbucks, a Cosi or a Potbelly, along comes a place like Couscous Cafe & Catering (1195 20th St. NW; 202-689-1233) to prove you wrong -- and make your lunch hour a little sunnier. A cup of tomato soup thick with cracked wheat, chickpeas and lamb, and phyllo-wrapped chicken with crushed almonds are the sort of dishes co-owner Aziz Benassou says he was raised on back in his native Algeria. Now he now offers them in the 30-seat eatery he runs with the help of his mother and sister, Hadda and Ranu Benassou. "Couscous is to us what pasta is for Italians," says the restaurateur, who features the processed wheat (semolina) in a stew of root vegetables and as an accompaniment to broiled salmon. North African music and walls painted in soothing yellow, green and burnt orange offer patrons a welcome break from the same old, same old at noon. Sandwiches $4.99-$6.99, entrees $6.99-$7.99.
