Being a professional chef and restaurant owner for almost 50 years, dolks have mentioned many times,"It's my wife's 50th birthday, or our 25th wedding anniversary is approaching, " Where should we go to dinner"? My answer is always the same. Go where you are best known. This particular evening is not typical, experiments should be left for other times.

With this in mind your approach to dinner on St. Valentine's Day should be the same. Do what you do best. Remember also that "less is more."

Simple can be made elegant. For example, the burger. Served in paper in a basket is pretty simple. On a large rimmed plate with no top bun, a napkin, knife, and fork and it becomes elegant.

If you focus on dinner, you can make it, even if you are not comfortable cooking. Come up with ideas you can see. Visualize the outcome and you can make it happen.

Let's say you picture a salad to start, followed by an appetizer, a main course with protein, starch and a vegetable. Well balanced for presentation, taste, texture and nutritional value. Ending with a dessert.

Salad: a mixed salad is best, rather than a composed salad. Mix all the ingredients together. They should be cut so when using a fork to take a bite you will get a lot of the ingredients together in your mouth. If you have a favorite dressing, use it. If not, simply use lemon juice or vinegar with a very good olive oil. Salt and freshly ground black pepper should be used to taste, as well.

Appetizer: hot, warm or chilled? After a salad, a warm or hot appetizer would be nice. Choose one that does not require much finesse. The appetizer should work well with the main course. Both should come from the same area on the globe. If the main is meat you probably want to use seafood or a vegetable as the appetizer.

The main: Hungry people enjoy the taste of what they first eat the most. Knowing that, the main needs to look really good. Some of the flavors should "saltimbocca" (jump in your mouth), as the Italians say. Spice, heat, and or acid will make that happen. Texture is an important element as well. Different textures in your mouth may be like a tango, the same textures may seem as slow walking.

Dessert: can be as simple as prosecco with fresh strawberries, or port wine and cheese. Or a store bought cheesecake with your version of a fruit topping. Slowly cooked fruit with a bit of lemon and sugar works well. Sharing the dessert from one plate can be nice as well. If you would like to pair wines with dinner, remember light to heavy. Light or white food tends to go with white wine. Pink food with pink wine or pinot noir. Heavier red food with heavier red wines.

Smile and enjoy.

My thoughts on chicken parmesan are that most people like it a lot. To make it does not take much finesse or attention to detail. You can serve it with only spaghetti tossed with butter and cheese, olive oil, or marinara sauce. If you prefer to drink wine with dinner, just about any red varietal will pair nicely. Especially a Chianti.

Marinara sauce can be your favorite brand or your version.

Chef Robert Bell was raised in Brooklyn where Grandma Millie welcomed her grandson's help in the kitchen. Over a 45-year career, Bell and partner Michael Franks opened many South Bay restaurants including Misto, Fino, Depot, Chez Melange, and Descanso. Today Bell enjoys teaching, catering and writing.