Jean Luis Todeschini has lived on a farm in Delaware, N.J., near Knowlton, N.J., for 26 years but still has a French accent from his years growing up in Conte, France.

And his menu at Buckwood Bistro at 84 Route 46 reflects the French cuisine as well as the Acadian selections of Cajun and Creole specialties since he opened it four years ago. Along with unique cooked game such as pheasant, rabbit and ostrich, any of the selections include vegetables he grows on his 140-acre farm and the meticulous attention that influenced him in his upbringing.

"Many chefs come from that area," said Todeschini of the town near the Swiss and German borders where he apprenticed for three years as a young teen before taking special courses and a culinary test. He said he was raised on a farm where his family prepared its own meals from what was grown and raised there.

"This was always my dream," he said of the restaurant he saw every day while still commuting to his job as an executive chef at La Berge (translation: the Village) in Wayne, N.J. "I was tired. I was doing it (commuting) for 26 years, 110 miles a day — and it got hard. I was looking for a place and at this place. I'm a single father and wanted this to be family-oriented."

He said he draws regular clientele from the Poconos, particularly the Stroudsburg area, and from as far as 60 miles away in Passaic and Mercer counties in New Jersey. Buckwood Bistro also is a member of the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce.

Known for many years as Buckwood Inn, the eatery was closed for two years before he took it over, Todeschini said. He installed stained-glass windows of characters from fables, he said, and added a few other interior design touches styled out of Bourbon Street in New Orleans with mardi gras masks. He stuck to a largely Cajun menu last month. Andouille soup, blackened crawfish, chicken or seafood jambalaya, gumbo and crawfish etoufee were among the selections on the menu.

But Todeschini also wanted to keep the identity and local charm.

"I wanted to keep the name Buckwood because there is a lot of history here and people know it as Buckwood, but I changed the other part to Bistro," said Todeschini. "It was built in the early 1900s and after World War I, people came here from New York and came in horse and buggies."

Todeschini plans to open a sidewalk café later in the spring and wants to add more of a bistro menu with offerings such as pasta salads. A Sunday brunch includes steak and eggs — "Where can you get that for $9.95?" Todeschini asks — as well as eggs benedict, quiche de jour, alpine rosti, baked brie and banana crepes foster.

"You have to be comfortable in the surroundings, and this is what we've got," he said. "And I like comfortable food: sauces, good soup and good cheeses and great dessert."

Entrees include the higher priced mustard-crusted rack of lamb for just under $25, seafood mare chiara ($23.95), steak au poivre ($21.95) and veal gourmande ($21.95) as well as chicken breast rollentine, old-fashioned chicken fricasee, shrimp provencal, double-cut pork chop and roast salmon. And soup? French onion, of course, is one of the offerings. Appetizers include escargot turnovers bourguignon, mushroom napoleon, an imported meats and cheeses platter, pate de chef and baked clams or oysters.

There is a children's menu and a full service bar for adults.

Todeschini worked at St. Moritz, Switzerland, and came to the United States in 1969 at age 23, going first to Vermont and also to Montreal before coming to New York where he helped open La Cirque restaurant on Park Avenue in uptown Manhattan in 1974 and was the executive chef there after relocating from Montreal. "I wanted to go to New York because that's the place to be," he said.

Five years later, Todeschini seized the opportunity to have his own restaurant at La Berge. Thousands of driving miles later, Todeschini's career took a detour to just a much shorter drive from his home.

Buckwood Bistro seats 140 and offers catering.

Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m.

Friday and Saturday and until 9 p.m. Sunday.

Call (908) 475-5777 for information.