Like sands through the hourglass, so goes the Popolos saga.  The story began when North Dallas businessman Maury Jaffer opened what he thought was the perfect restaurant-a smart but casual room with simple European comfort food: pasta, pizza, and grilled meats.  It worked.  Locals swarmed in for the food, and a nightly bar scene came to life in Preston Hollow.  Unfortunately, Jaffer was soon seduced by the big bucks of the FoodStar empire.  At the time FoodStar was basking in the success of Mediterraneo at the Quadrangle's new $1 million interior, and corporate headquarters looked at Popolos as their next golden concept.  Jaffer lost total control and sadly watched his baby almost get thrown out with the bathwater of bankruptcy as Mediterraneo and Popolos went under.

But the story has a happy ending.  A few months ago, the restaurant fell back into Jaffer's hands and one of his first calls was to original chef Los Akins.  Together they resurrected the menu, making only a few changes.  A fresh coat of sage green paint warmed the room and Dallas artist Christy Black reworked the colors of her whimsical bistro murals to match the decor.  Before the construction crew could get the doors open, loyal regulars were stopping in excitedly asking for the opening date.

A few nights after the opening, we drifted in for a drink at the bar and ended up sharing a salad and a thin crust pizza.  We watched the chef roll the dough to a quarter-inch pie and spread the surface with layers of roma tomatoes, kalamata olives, caper, garlic and fresh basil.  He shoved it in the wood-burning oven and while it cooked, we sampled one of the new salads-an inspired mixture of red and green oak lettuces tossed with grilled artichokes, tomatoes, sugar and spice walnuts, crumbled blue cheese, and honey mustard vinaigrette.

Satisfied with our pizza, we returned a few days later to test our old favorites.  Chicken piccata didn't miss a beat: A lovely lemon caper sauce covered two huge breasts of chicken (all the portions are enough for two) resting on homemade scallion mashed potatoes.  The dish has been so popular Akins added veal and salmon to the piccata list.  

Creme brulee is the common denominator for Dallas dessert menus, and even though we hate to risk the calories, we found Popolos' version worthy.  Actually, we scraped the light and creamy custard off the bottom of the bowl.  But for customers with-out Sansabelt pants, there's always the fat-free angel food cake bruschetta topped with berries and low-fat maple sour cream.  707 Preston Royal Shopping Center. 214-692-5497. $$ - N.N.