There are few foods in the world as perfect as the mussel, few foods so filled with potential greatness, few so often mucked up by incompetent kitchens trying to do too much with a thing that's so good when left pretty much alone. Luckily for us, Le Central not only knows how to handle mussels properly, but it offers them in huge portions for under ten bucks, sided with excellent pommes frites in all-you-can-eat quantities. Le Central's kitchen prepares the moules nine ways, including a simple white-wine mariniere; a less simple, Pernod-rich proven?al; and the exotic au saffron, with tomatoes, saffron and onions in a cream-and-shallot broth.