My biggest problem with First Fridays has always been, well, they only happen on first Fridays.

Why should I have to reserve my urge to celebrate art, culture, music and food en masse once every four weeks?

A year or so ago, Chez Foushee the spot for elegant, midday noshing jumped in the game and started serving a special dinner in conjunction with this monthly event.

Are owner Andrew Hardie and chef Matt Greene purposefully trying to taunt me?

Since 1989, this downtown gem has been serving noontime delicacies, such as potato-crusted roasted salmon with parsley Pernod sauce ($11) and homemade pimento cheese sandwiches ($8), to everyone from ladies who lunch to the business set.

You may be wondering, why, after almost 20 years, dinner isn't served every night.

Well, because Chez Foushee is also the place for private events and cocktail parties, thanks to its lucrative cateringoperation.

Chez Foushee's First Friday dinners may be less frequent than I'd like, but at least they keep me from staking out wedding expos in hopes of snagging an invitation to some soon-to-be bride's Chez Foushee-catered rehearsal dinner.

These dinners are first-come, first-served. In preparation for the monumental wait we expected during June's dinner, we did a little pre-dinner snacking before making our way past the crowds meandering in and out of Broad Street's art galleries.

Arriving at 7 p.m., we were surprised to find only a 15-minute wait. We bided our time with light libations from the small drink list, which includes imported beers, wine ($6.75-$7.50 a glass, $20-$65 a bottle) and signature cocktails such as limoncello martinis ($8.75).

After seating us at a two-top just inside the bar area, our server was quick to take our appetizer orders -- spinach phyllos and duck confit (both $7.50). He kindly heeded our request for more time to decide upon entrees.

This turned out to be a critical error. The magic window of ensuring an efficient meal during First Friday is slim. Get there early, get there late or don't complain about waiting.

While we didn't receive our skewer of wild shrimp with pimento-parsley picada ($20) and tagine-spiced lamb chops ($25) for another hour, this time was not without entertainment.

Despite its prim appearance, Chez Foushee attracts all types, making it prime for people watching. Over the course of our meal, the crowd shifted from Red Hat Society ladies and canvas-shorts-clad boomers to smartly dressed male couples and expertly mascara-ed femme fatales.

So was our meal worth the extra downtime? Yes, give or take a few minor disappointments.

Greene comes to Chez Foushee from Helen's but has spent time in many Richmond-area kitchens -- Franco's, Racine (during its French days) and Stella's. His culinary style, using global ingredients with classic French techniques, is evident in much of Chez Foushee's dinner menu.

The four warm, flaky phyllo triangles were elegantly presented over mesclun greens, dressed in subdued cherry feta vinaigrette. Despite a filling of mostly cheese and barely any spinach, they were good nonetheless.

The savoriness of duck confit was checked by intensely fruity blackberry confiture and delightfully crispy herbed crostini. The contrast of flavors and textures couldn't have been better.

The skewer of five shrimp, grilled just to the brink of tender, was bathed in a spirited bath of butter and lemon. The subtle richness of the accompanying saffron potato tortilla -- a triangular wedge of thinly sliced and layered potatoes -- was a fitting (and filling) complement.

What the lamb chops lacked in size, they made up for in flavor. I'll admit I gasped audibly at the contrast between the three munchkin-sized chops and the mountain of apricot- and pea-studded couscous gracing the plate.

However, the crusts were gloriously salted, and each rosy center infused with earthy hints of coriander and clove. The potent impact of a visually unassuming drizzle of mint coulis masterfully harmonized the dish.

We split an individual white chocolate cake ($7.50) for dessert. Topped with an orange curd quenelle, the moist cake transformed into oh-so-moist cake as it soaked up the surrounding pool of tart raspberry sauce.

Chez Foushee's First Friday dinners give Broad Street's gallery crowd another outlet for relishing in the natural marriage of art and food. Here's hoping the waits get so long that Hardie will be forced to increase his dinner frequency.