Any great restaurateur or seasoned diner can tell you that restaurant excellence avails itself in the details. From the moment you exit your car at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to Marcel’s, chef Robert Wiedmaier’s enclave of French country elegance in the West End, you know you’re in the major leagues. Staff will greet you at the door, whisk you inside and deliver you to Adnane Kebaier, Marcel’s longtime maitre d’. You notice immediately the sartorial splendor of the entire staff, their dark tailored suits accented with classic repp ties and pocket squares, all gifts from a regular customer who dines at Marcel’s every night and has since the place opened in 1999. This man is onto something. What he’s onto is the quiet sophistication of a restaurant devoted to excellence. When you sit in the dining room, with its butter-colored walls, navy and gold leaf-pattern carpet, fleur-de-lys etched glass room dividers, glass shelved waiter stations, mauve upholstery and lavish draperies, bone china and crisp tablecloths, you can’t help but feel relieved you’re not in a concrete box that passes for high-style elsewhere these days. The service at Marcel’s is so attentive, they don’t set the table with napkins; those are placed on your lap once your order has been taken. A choice of four breads and three flavored butters (smoked paprika!) comprise the bread service. All dishes are served in unison with military precision, as servers dramatically remove presentation domes from them, to grand effect. The menu is broken into five savory courses going from light to more robust, then a cheese course and dessert. You can choose between four-, five- , six-, or seven-course prix-fixe tasting menus or order any tasting menu item as appetizer or main course -- lots of options. Even though he runs a string of successful eateries (Mussel Bar, Brasserie Beck,  Brabo, The Tasting Room), Marcel’s, his first, is still Wiedmaier’s baby. It takes 15 cooks on the line, under the supervision of chef de cuisine Paul Stearman, to produce this studied fare. After amuses-bouches, marvel over what follows: A silken pumpkin soup with crisped sweetbreads, pappardelle dotted with chunks of ultra-fresh lobster and drizzles of lobster beurre blanc, a cylinder of filet mignon tartare topped with a fried quail egg, turbot with dark, dense mushroom purée, pheasant with foie gras mousseline and Brussels sprouts, and roasted pork loin with potato croquettes. Do not pass up the house specialties: lamb loin Wellington wrapped in a triangle of phyllo and the classic boudin blanc, a chicken and pheasant sausage made ethereal with cream, foie gras and truffle essence. For dessert, Marcel’s chocolate soufflé with chocolate sauce rightly earns accolades. Savor it over the last drops of wine poured from a swan-shaped crystal decanter by sommelier Ramon Narvaez. If you let him choose the wine, happiness ensues.