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It is a rare thing for something, anything, to be truly flawless.

Perhaps one reason restaurants are so infrequently found exemplary is that few restaurateurs know themselves - their limits, where they excel, where they want to be - and their market well enough to attain such glory. They must completely polish all the pieces.

Frank Marcello, owner of ABQ Uptown's Marcello's Chophouse, is a champion polisher. (Marcello, raised in Louisiana, also had a hand in bringing New Orleans chains Zea Rotisserie and Copeland's to Albuquerque.)

In context, perfection means impeccable design, an impressive menu and extraordinary service. At the chophouse, Marcello proves a master at each of those feats and caps it all with appropriate - though certainly not low - pricing.

Eggshell and merlot are the colors of choice throughout the restaurant, which also boasts dark woods and suede-like cushions in its rounded booths. (The booths, by the way, create an instant, Hollywood-in-the-Õ50s feel. It works together to make Marcello's the kind of place where you want to be a regular.)

Shortly after my dining companion and I were seated, we were offered a plate of kalamata olives and romaggio cheese squares, along with a fresh loaf of cheddar ciabatta.

This proves a fine appetizer itself, but we ordered the pan-fried lump crab cake ($14) anyway. The crab cake - large and moist, and well complemented by its potato crust and citrus reduction - was one of the less-adventurous appetizers offered. A few others: oysters on the half shell with champagne mignonette ($12), pan-seared Hudson Valley foie gras with pear compote ($16), escargot ($9).

We also ordered a salad to share (the B.L.T., $9 - tomatoes, mozzarella and very crisp pancetta beside a handful of greens), a wise decision in retrospect. We would soon learn almost all dishes can easily be shared, including the separate side orders, which are served family-style.

My companion's choice of veal Oscar ($27) with crab and asparagus was lavished with chef Kelly Mullarney's lush béarnaise sauce.

My entree, as recommended by our server, was off the "bone-in specialties" section of the menu: a 16-ounce filet mignon ($49). The steak, wondrously thick and cooked perfectly at medium, came tender and slightly charred around the edges.

The entrees are served solo, and each side dish costs between $6 and $8. We chose the truffled macaroni and cheese and the New Mexico green chile whipped potatoes, the latter generously served in a copper saucepan.

Proof that we could have shared a meal came here. He quite ably finished off his veal Oscar, but I didn't make it through half my filet. We barely made indentions in our side dishes - not because they weren't wonderful, which, of course, they were, but because there was just so much food.

Nonetheless . . . dessert.

Here is where Marcello's prowess becomes most real. The simplest of all desserts, chocolate cake, gets a luscious makeover. The creation is called "Hot Chocolate Cake, That Is" ($7). In a trio of cups on a crisp-white platter are the makings of the dessert. In one cup, a molten chocolate cake with a large marshmallow baked in the center. The second cup holds hot chocolate espresso. The third, fresh whipped cream. The idea is to smash the marshmallow, pour the hot chocolate in the crevice and dollop whipped cream on top.

The result, with no hyperbole: best dessert in Albuquerque.

And, we notice, it is an appropriate metaphor for Marcello's: Certainly, separately, there is nothing unfamiliar here. Yet, together, piece by piece, perfection.