SIMPLY FRENCH: PATRICIA WELLS PRESENTS THE CUISINE OF JOEL ROBUCHON

SIMPLY FRENCH: PATRICIA WELLS PRESENTS THE CUISINE OF JOEL ROBUCHON Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon (Morrow, $35) This joint effort by Paris-based American food writer Wells and celebrated French chef Robuchon is the book that lovers of French food will want this year. For the past four years, says Wells, she haunted Robuchon's three-star Paris restaurant, Jamin, working to pin down his culinary magic and translate it into recipes for American home cooks. Impossible dream? Maybe, especially as neither Wells nor Robuchon can seem to decide whether cooking is a replicable science or an ineffable art. Still, Wells attests that watching Robuchon bring out the flavor of food has changed her life as a cook; this labor of adulation, with all its trucs (cook's tips) and special touches, might do the same for any who would emulate this impressive chef's fresh take on classic cooking. A -SF