Monsieur Marcel
Farmers Market, Third and Fairfax Blvd.

We visited Monsieur Marcel Monday @ 6:30 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Coq Au Vin $15.49

Restaurant Visit
Bonjour! And that is pretty much the only amount of French we remember from high school. Mr. Leach would not be very happy with us. But he would be happy about the dinner we enjoyed at Monsieur Marcel. Having lived in Los Angeles for years, and eaten at the Farmers Market countless of times, we were shocked that we had never discovered this unassuming Parisian café tucked into the southeast corner. With outdoor dining on scattered tables of different, brightly colored tablecloths and a well-aged man playing various songs (Humorously, not all French. We caught the tune of It’s A Small World in the mix.) on his accordion, if you close your eyes, you almost feel like your dining along the Seine.

Choosing which dish to order off the menu is like deciding which city in France to visit first. We sipped our glasses of wine and enjoyed the breads and olives before finally deciding to attempt to recreate a classic French dish that would make Julia Child proud. Therefore, we chose the baked brie (in puff pastry stuffed with apricot marmalade, spiced walnut and gorgonzola cheese) $9.99, from the amuse brouches and the duck prosciutto (French duck breast cured and dried) $7.95, from the tapas section to start with. Then, we ordered the coq au vin (marinated chicken with mushrooms, pearl onions and carrots in a burgundy sauce, served with potato gratin) $15.49 and boeuf bourguignon (boneless short ribs with carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, fingerling potatoes in a red wine sauce) $15.49 from their viands plates for our main course.

So how is it that the French are all so skinny? Our meal was wonderful, but we’re pretty sure it wouldn’t qualify as a low-fat, low-cal dinner. The baked brie and duck prosciutto were both very subtle, mild dishes. With the golden breading on the outside of the baked brie, we didn’t even use the accompanying toast, but simply dug in with our forks. Between both starters, and, okay the wine as well, we were a little full when the main courses were served. But in true American fashion, we found a way to still eat all of our food. Both plates looked so simple and unfussy yet the flavors were deep and bold. The boeuf bourguignon was hearty with a subtle sour note and very rich texture yet maybe slightly tough. We also thought the potatoes were a hair overdone. The sauce was darker in color compared to the sauce in the coq au vin and also had a hint of mustard flavoring. On the other hand, the coq au vin sauce had a slight orange tint and was much sweeter in flavor. The chicken skin was deep brown, but the breast meat was rather dry. The leg and thigh held up to the cooking method and retained their moisture. Both dishes used pearl onions and carrot slices to round out the flavors with a nice cooked-by-mom-with-love feeling. One of the biggest highlights to the coq au vin was the side helping of potato gratin. Those could have been a meal all by themselves. Thin sliced russet potatoes, smooth, creamy gruyére and a healthy amount of clove were all hidden below a cheesy, crunchy layer of cheese on top. Did we love them? Oui, oui!

Sadly, we left absolutely no room for dessert. Which only means that we will soon need to return to our new favorite Parisian café next time we are at The Grove. We noticed the table beside us was sharing one of the fondue selections, which we also really want to try out. The menu is so varied, that you could eat there once a day for a month and probably never have the same dish twice. Just like a trip to France, there is always something new, something wonderful, and of course, something tasty to enjoy! But for now, we need to channel our inner Julia Child and figure out how to cook coq au vin.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Chicken Stock $3.99
Whole Chicken $17.81
Carrots $.97
Baby Mushrooms $3.99
Pinot Noir $3.99
Salt Pork $2.74
Pearl Onions $2.99

Recipe
Below is our take on the classic coq au vin. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 servings.

Coq Au Vin

1 chicken, quartered, then separated into serving pieces
30 pearl onions, blanched and peeled, tips removed
3 large cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces salt pork
3 cups burgundy wine
2 cups chicken stock
8 ounces quartered button mushrooms
2 carrots, cut diagonally ¼” thick
2 TPSP unsalted butter, cubed
Flat leaf parsley
Micro greens
8 sprigs thyme
1 Bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, place salt pork. Add water until pork is completely covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes to remove saltiness. Remove pork and allow to cool. Cube pork into 1/4“ pieces.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, sauté pork bits until golden brown. Remove pork and set aside, leaving remaining grease. Add chicken, salt and pepper and brown for about 5 minutes on each side. Discard any excess fat. Add garlic and sauté until just cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Add chicken, onions and pork back in, then add wine, chicken stock, carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then turn heat off. Allow Dutch oven to cool and refrigerate overnight to marinate.

Once marinated, bring Dutch oven to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Once done, remove chicken, carrots and onions. Strain sauce to remove thyme and bay leaf. Add sauce back to the Dutch oven, add mushrooms and heat on high until sauce is reduced by 1/3. Once reduced, lower heat, add butter and stir. Place chicken, onions and carrots back in and reheat.

Plating
In a large bowl, place in the center one thigh and leg with a strip of breast meat. Spoon a serving of the carrot, onion and juice mixture around the base of the bowl. Top with micro-greens.

Rating- We give our dish 2.5 out of 5 stars.
We knew this one was going to be hard. Cooking the dish, in itself, wasn’t hard. But matching their flavor profiles and cooking techniques seemed to be outside of our culinary skills. Let’s start with the chicken. The moisture level was about the same yet ours seemed to have lost some of the crispy, browning to the skin during the cooking process in the wine. This left our skin more limp than desired. Now, on to the sauce. Yes, the sauce. This proved to be our downfall. We’re sure it is because of a slew of missed guesses and ingredients. But, here is what our eyes and taste buds told us. One, the color was off. Monsieur Moncel’s had a tad more orange tint to it. Maybe tomato paste would have helped? Second, the smell. In our version, the main scent was of the wine. In theirs, the main scent was that of bacon or the salt pork. (Interesting note, we had no idea salt pork was used in this classic chicken dish.) And thirdly, flavor. Our coq au vin was noticeably saltier and lacked the subtle sweetness. The missed flavor could be from several sources – we don’t know exactly what vintage of wine they used and our saltiness could have been remedied from rendering the salt pork longer.

All in all, we would feel comfortable serving our version of coq au vin to friends and family but we admit that we missed the mark in recreating the Monsieur Marcel version of coq au vin. Oh well, we guess that means it’s time for a second visit.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Any one have a coq au vin recipe that they love preparing? What’s your favorite French dish? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!