"I didn't know this was here," my editor friend says as he sits down for our lunch at Bistro Calais.
I get this a lot.

He isn't referring so much to the French bistro where we are dining, but to the paradise beyond the plate glass windows where we sit. Outside is a lush garden filled with towering pecans and live oaks, a real English-style conservatory, bandstand, romantic gazebo, a splashing fountain, benches, wrought iron gates, Victorian lamps, and beds of rose bushes and brightly hued gladiolas. This is The Gardens of Bammel Lane, a square block of prime real estate located on the edge of River Oaks that is an oasis among the city and a showcase for historical Texas architecture.

Privately owned by the family of former Rockets owner Charlie Thomas, the gardens offer not just an idyllic spot for outdoor wedding receptions and birthday bashes but are surrounded by charming 19th-century Houston homes and cottages, moved here in the 1980s and lovingly restored. Today they house dentists and real estate offices, alternative healers and shops.

There's the Needle House, with all things needlepoint, from spools of colored yarn to intricate patterns; The Healthy Weigh with its porch swing and decorative chimes upon the porch of its 1917 cottage, where you can receive massages and nutritional counseling; and the Hairitage, a charming beauty salon in residence in the 1938 Darsey home.

And you can't miss the gray house with its bay and portal windows and white-washed trim sitting on the Phil Fal Street side. Moviegoers will soon recognize it as the bakery in the upcoming romantic comedy "Love and Mary," shot here last March. But it's really home to Diane D'Agostino's Elegant Edibles. The smells inside are as mouthwatering as the delicious Texas treats, everything from chili-flavored pecans to biscotti. Written up in Saveur magazine, these Lone Star snacks make perfect gifts, that is, if you can stop from eating them yourself.

Of course the gastronomic highpoint to a trip to The Gardens of Bammel Lane is Bistro Calais, a barely year-old French bistro that occupies the 1880-era, 3,166-square-foot De Chamues Cottage.

Phillip Mitchell, one of the three owners, was already set on the location before he wandered out and read the iron plaque outside.

"This house was right down the street from where I grew up in the Third Ward," Mitchell says. "We used to call these shotgun houses; turns out all of these buildings are historic homes from the Third, Fourth and Fifth wards in Houston."

Neither Mitchell, nor co-partners Jane and Roy Knapp, speak a word of French, but Mitchell has spent his entire life in the restaurant business and the last 12 years of those in eateries specializing in French bistro foods. He says, "I love French food and wine and I think people now want a more casual atmosphere in which to eat great foods."

Executive Chef Andre Anderson whips up affordable, fantastic food from rabbit stew to Carré d'Agneau au Romain ($22), a savory roasted rack of lamb with rosemary demi glace and a hint of mint crème fraiche. The eatery is also known for its almost glutinous carvery Sunday brunch with crepe and omelet stations, tables laden with roasted meats, grilled vegetables and pastry pyramids. And of course they boast a fine selection of French wines.

Besides a full and content belly, you might also leave with a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, lavender, sage or basil from the beds in front of the restaurant and if you're really lucky, you might even see the ghost of Bistro Calais.

"When we first moved in, strange things happened," says Jane Knapp. "Things in the kitchen would move around and we'd have odd light shapes turn up in photographs." But not to worry, "he's a friendly ghost," Knapp says.

Perhaps, like the rest of us, he's just here for the foods and the ambience.