THE WINE LIST

Beneath Drai’s single-page, 50-wine list is a section called Best Value--wines the management feels are good bargains. It’s a good idea, but since most of the wines here are overpriced, the Best Value section is only six wines long. Worse, the six wines listed are neither great nor particularly great bargains.

Among them is “House Wine, red or white, $16,� but that tells you nothing about where the wine came from or whether it’s worth 16 smackers. Nor was the waiter very helpful in getting us the name of the house wine. Also listed are 1985 Dom Ruinart Rose at $150 a bottle and 1987 Chateau Lynch-Bages at $45. The latter, from a respected producer, is a middling vintage.

The supposedly “off vintage� of 1987 Chateau Coutet, a St.-Emilion, was quite nice at $23 and not overpriced. We also enjoyed the light, tasty 1989 Davis Bynum Pinot Noir, a decent value at $23. Neither was on the Best Value list.

Alas, there are few other good wines at fair prices because the margins here are so high--more than three times the wholesale price. Maybe we’re being asked to pay for the privilege of seeing movie stars dine at adjacent tables.