buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
one of my other favorites is Escargot Provencal which is a tomato-based sauce.
i had something similar recently. snails in a tomato-ey herb sauce. italian, not french though, but still great. not chewy at all.
they weren't in their shells, just a small pile with sauce in the middle of a plate with a depression in the center. the snails must have been trimmed a bit since they were served that way. when i've had them in their shells either grilled or chinese style, you realized that you're essentially eating a little slug because of the antannae and such.