Monsieur Marcel @ Farmer’s Market

While running on errands with my roommate today in Hollywood, we decided to stop for lunch at the Farmer’s Market. We chose Monsieur Marcel to eat at because my roommate said that the food was tasty, relatively inexpensive in comparison to most French restaurants in Los Angeles, and other positive reasons that I can’t remember now. Monsieur Marcel’s is a french bistro, wine, and cheese bar found in the corner of the Farmer’s Market near the Sur La Table. Next door to the bistro is the Monsieur Marcel gourmet store, which is a fun little place to shop for a variety of gourmet foods.

I ordered the French Burger: lean ground beef, sautéed mushrooms and onions, and gruyere de come. Not the healthiest of choices, but it sounded wonderful. And it was, but I would not say that it was the best in Los Angeles (F.O. #1). The mushrooms were definitely the most dominant part of the taste, but combined well with the gruyere and beef. It was more dry than I normally enjoy, so I ended up trying different combinations with mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup. The frites were thinly sliced and were accompanied by an aesthetically pleasing trifecta display of condiments. We were promptly seated and waited on relatively well. My only complaint was that my water glass was ignored.

My roommate had the Croque Madame, which is not actually on the menu, but is just the Croque Monsieur (grilled ham, swiss cheese, and mornay sauce) with a fried egg on top. Apparently, the name change comes from the egg making the sandwich look like it is wearing an old fashioned women’s hat. How adorable! Mornay sauce is a Béchamel sauce, a white sauce, with shredded or grated cheese added (such as gruyere and parmesan). I am not a good judge of any type of food that involves ham because it was only until recently that I started to enjoy ham. When I was a child, I always said it tasted “too hammy” in a whiny tone. I did try the sandwich though and found it to have a pleasant ham and grilled cheese taste. I don’t know if I could eat a whole Croque Madame sandwich on my own anytime soon, but I did enjoy the taste enough that I could have had a second bite.

I would definitely eat there again, maybe even visit the one in Santa Monica (although it is located at one of my least favorite places, the Promenade). I would probably prefer eating there at night with a larger group of people so we could open some bottles of wine and get some cheese plates on the table, but I would still be willing to open some bottles and share some cheese with a friend at lunchtime.

Monsieur Marcel - Pain Vin et Fromage

6333 W Third St
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: (323) 939-7792