We celebrated our birthday this week with a French-Food-Themed evening out, East Bay style that we thought you might like to try, too.

4:30 p.m.: Catch the last matinée showing of Ratatouille at the U.A. Theater on Shattuck. (This theater has the tastiest popcorn we've tried lately, by the way. Not too salty. No odd aftertaste.)

If you are even half the food-geek that we are, you must see this film. But to watch so much decadently beautiful animated gourmet cooking, and NOT follow it up with a delicious French meal, well, that would just be silly, wouldn't it?

6:30 p.m.: Exit theater. Walk eight blocks to Liaison Bistro. Dine.

Our group of 12 unanimously enjoyed the meal, the convivial atmosphere, the knowledgeable and helpful wait staff. And we appreciated that the restaurant is certified "green" in its operations practices, and serves naturally raised meats and wild-caught or sustainably farmed seafood.

For appetizers, we scarfed down Les Moules ($11.50): a large bowl of steamed P.E.I. mussels in white wine, garlic, shallots, and "pastis" (an anise-flavored liqueur). Dipping bread into that sauce was so pleasurable that we fought the bussers off twice to keep them from clearing the "empty" dish from our table. We also liked the Napoleon des Tomates($13): a tower of heirloom tomatoes layered with pistou (the French version of pesto) and doused in a light goat cheese fondue sauce.

After the jump: More of what we ate and the cool movie-related cooking toys we hate ourselves for loving.

Entrées were large and unanimously favored (with all dishes licked clean): saffron infused Bouillabaisse ($23); sautéed rainbow trout in white wine, lemon, capers, croutons, and parsley with basmati rice ($17); Sole Farcie ($19): two pieces of fish rolled around Dungeness crab stuffing and baked in a shrimp and cognac cream; and roasted half-chicken -- marinated in parsley garlic and lemon -- served with green beans and a hazelnut jus ($17).

For sides ($4.50 each), the skinny, crisp pommes frites and aioli did not disappoint, but the ratatouille failed to garner much interest. Our group ordered it because we'd just seen the movie, but really, aside from being a good plot device in an animated feature, the dish of stewed summer vegetables is never really a favorite for anyone, is it?

For dessert, our crew shared the Fondant au Chocolat, a small chocolate cake with a creamy molten center, accompanied by vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce; and the sorbets -- mango and white peach, served on a bed of fresh berries with a crispy tuille ($6 each).

The next day, you might just want to wander down to your local Sur La Table store, where you can find the gosh-darned-cutest and for our vote least-offensive movie-tie-in paraphernalia. Not that we needed such toys to get us into the kitchen when we were kids. But the chic design and useful nature of the Ratatouille cooking gear might actually inspire some reluctant young chefs-to-be?