I first discovered Sayat-Nova in the early 1970’s, when an Assyrian colleague suggested it for a office birthday luncheon. A quarter-century later, I go there because its near-Eastern cuisine provides low-fat dinners with zestful tastes you don’t often find in "heart-healthy" diets.

And, considering it's in one of America’s toniest shopping venues, Sayat-Nova charges surprisingly reasonable prices: Full-meal offerings mostly in the $11-$14 range with pita bread, soup or salad, rice, and veggies; The most expensive entree, an array of aromatically spicy but lean mini-lamb chops --- is $18.95. A half-liter of good Mediterranean wine will add $12.

Armenia borders on Turkey and its cuisine is similar to Turkish, Greek or, some might say, Yugoslavian. The sarma and several other appetizers are much as you’d find them in a typical Greektown restaurant, but Sayat-Nova’s spices have considerably less "bite" and more subtlety than in many American Turkish restaurants. A favorite of mine, a lean, flavorful blend of ground lamb and veal called "lula-kebob", recalls the cevapcaci a Yugoslav restauranteur first introduced me to. The truly diet-conscious will savor Sayat-Nova’s "Trout with Fine Herbs": a fillet totally devoid of skin, bone and fat, grilled to your liking, with a flavor unlike any other I would normally associate with fish.

The house salad features fresh lettuce, tomato wedges and julienned red cabbage in a moderately sharp mint dressing; lentil soup is your other option.

This is simple food, not fancy. The one knock I have on Sayat’s cuisine is the blandness of the rice that accompanies all meals: it needs at least a hint of spice or, perhaps, a light infusion of some aromatic, but heart-healthy, herbed oil.

Grayish beige walls, a low ceiling and subdued cove lighting give Sayat-Nova’s main dining room a somewhat dark, Mid-Eastern look; hookahs and Arabian lanterns above the bar suggest a bistro somewhere deep in the Casbah. Along two of the walls, round tables with banquette seating are recessed so far into the walls that they could could be called "alcoves" rather than "booths" --- excellent for intimate encounters or business conversations.

Sayat-Nova is open for lunch Monday through Saturday and seven nights a week for dinner. It’s normally fairly quiet in the early-evening hours but, especially on Saturday nights when the owners’ ethnic friends come to party, may get loud later on. Service is generally quite attentive, but can slip a bit on Sundays if the staff is recovering from one of those Armenian Saturday nights.

The restaurant is just a half-block east of the Marriott on Michigan Avenue and I heartily recommend it for a change-of-pace dinner or lunch.