Cirque du Supper

The entree's next: your choice of roasted chicken breast or vegetarian risotto cakes. The former is tender but burdened with a tedious mushroom-prosciutto stuffing and unremarkable mashed potatoes (although the blue lake green beans alongside are impeccably al dente). The latter, one red-pepper cake and one basil cake, are discernible more by their color than their taste or gummy texture, but the roasted vegetables that share the platter are hearty and admirable. Coffee and dessert conclude the meal, with an excellently rich and dark-hued semisweet chocolate mousse presented on chocolate shortbread, drizzled with orange essence, and sprinkled with bits of crunchy caramel brittle. To accompany the meal you'll find a hundred-item wine list with 11 selections by the glass and 13 varieties of sparkling wine (the ideal beverage in these surroundings), including Schramsberg Napa Valley's lovely blanc de noir. Also nice: Anchor's warm, well-rounded Old Foghorn Barley Wine, one of nine beers available.

ZinZanni's founder and artistic director, Norman Langill, has a broad theatrical résumé that augurs the diverse nature of his current enterprise. His past ventures include the One Reel Vaudeville Show; the Seattle Arts Festival; a live performance by the cinematic rock band Spinal Tap; the Grand Kabuki Theater of Japan's first United States tour; writing, directing, and producing for TV, theater, and the movies; and Gumbo Ya Ya, a musical about rice farming that premiered at the Barcelona Cultural Olympiad in 1992. It was in Barcelona that Langill laid bedazzled eyes on his first spiegeltent; six years later Teatro ZinZanni premiered in Seattle. The San Francisco production opened a year ago, three months after the Seattle troupe ended its original run.

All seating is preassigned and family style; it's inevitable that you'll bond with your fellow diners before the three-hour show is through. The fee ($110 for the Saturday performance, $99 the rest of the week) covers dinner, tax, gratuity, and the performance; drinks, drink tips, a service charge, and a TicketWeb charge are extra. (The TicketWeb fee can be avoided by purchasing tickets at the Teatro itself between noon and 6 p.m. daily; given the show's ongoing popularity, advance purchase is recommended.) This week Teatro ZinZanni celebrates its one-year anniversary with four days of special attractions, including free champagne, sweepstakes tickets, pre-show tomfoolery along the Embarcadero by the locally based School of Circus Arts, and a few surprises. On top of that the liquor's good, the food ain't bad, and it's a practical certainty that you won't be bored.