potatomato.blog: La Parisienne (Monrovia)

« Sawtelle Kitchen (Sawtelle) | Main | Cafe ETC (Selma) »

Nov 07

La Parisienne (Monrovia)

Food 01: San Gabriel

More local French restaurant hunting! Found La Parisienne in Monrovia. Worried that it might be pricey, we checked with them on the phone (they said: $16-$27). Turns out it added up to be rather pricey! The interior is country French feel with dark wood, flowers, lace curtains and a fire place. The female host has an intimidating, humorless, uptight, stern face that reminded me of Mrs. Denvers ^^;;; But they were playing incredibly cheesy music (those easy-listening music version of 70s hits) -,-lll

The bread with seseme is so good!!! But it was served in very un-American style: the waiter give you ONE on a plate, then you get another one when your meal come ^^;;

Salmon mousse with Papaya A free pre-appertizer for everyone, delicious~

Chilled Fresh Oyster $10 Heavenly~~

Foie Gras $25 It's quite pricy but it taste so wonderful! The sauce is very unique tasting (I can't tell what it is) and it serves with pear and walnat. Though I think the Foie Gras I had last time at Devon was cooked slightly better.

Post-Appertizer Kiwi sorbet to clean your mouth. The lemon underneath was frozen to complete hardness. It was quite a huge scoop and we got chilly.

Rabbit Stew $22 Forgot the exact ingredient, it's my first time trying rabbit meat and it taste like...chicken to me ^^;; THe meat is soft and tender, and the stew taste pretty good. I like those little pearl thingy (potato, carrot?!) a lot.

Crispy Orange Duck $24 It has a fancy name but I forgot. It was interesting how the shreded orange peel created the effect of "crispy" because the meat itself was very soft and a bit boiled for my taste. The sauce is yummy and just the right fresh fruity taste. I don't know what the black rice-ish thing in the bottom were, they taste almost chinese (the ones used in soup). The flash picture can't show it but the orange on the plate is a candle holder! How they scrapped out the inside and kept the orange peel intact is just amazing! Though the top of the orange got a bit burn so there's this burnt smell assaulting my nose. It's a nice smell though. It came with a dish of vegetable. The presentation is so pretty.

Several table ordered this (don't know what it is). The waiter prepared it on the side by pouring wine in the firey pan. Very curious...

Freda | November 7, 2004 11:24 PM

Comments:

But judging from the pics you have taken so far, the appetizers seen more delicate than the desserts in general - I guess desserts are difficult to make...well at least you got the kiwi sorbet. And $10 for 6 huge oysters is very cheap too.

seat | November 9, 2004 05:02 PM

Yeah we were too full, it was a pity because the desert looks great!! We should have just shamelessly share the foie gras! ^^;; The main dish could have been half the size and I'll be still full.

Joan | November 9, 2004 06:20 AM

yup too full~~ ^^;;; Too much food~~ And I can't imagine the bill if we had wine and dessert! It's all the foie gras's fault. The one we had in Devon (where we only had appertizer) was better though.

You know the Mrs.Denver-ish Host and the waiters just added on the "professional" serious snobbish feeling that made me a bit nervous. But I shouldn't be, it's a causal-dressy place where some of the customers were a little too dress-down. But that's the habit of California...so bad, no one take "dine out" seriously and dressed up (friends from New York told me how ridiculous this is, no wonder they made fun of Californians over there). I mean it's not like you needed to dress up in expensive clothes, but at least not in a sport jacket and nike shoes you know... ^^;;;

I'm so self-conscious about using flash! I was afraid that Mrs.Denvers will come over and scold us or something ^^;; (hey I was unfair, when we were leaving she smiled very warmly to us, but that was the end so...^^;;) I tried not to (my first few pic) by relying on the candle lights. But the waiter move away the candle to leave space for the dishes ^^;; I think my picture resolution was very high already, but still...i need to read my manual carefully regarding what to do in low light situation.

Freda | November 9, 2004 06:01 AM

Oh both of you managed appetizer and main course, well done! But too full for dessert I gathered? ^^;;;

The foie gras and the two main dishes look amazing~~~my turn to get really hungry looking at the pics~~~~they are quite large portions too! It is so good that the orange duck comes with another plate of cooked vegetables! I am so sick of boring salad and really crave for cooked veg. Coincidentally I had that same green vegetable today. But your main dishes look so much better - generous chunk of soft tender meat with rich-tasting sauce, my ideal. ^^;;; Oh rabbit(it says rabbit in the menu, not hare?) meat is not that fantastic I agree - it is just rare that's all.

You should have taken a picture of the menu at the beginning so you can look up the name of what you have ordered later - I always do that cos how else can I remember those long fancy French names?

It seems dark and nice mood inside the restaurant. It was okay to use flash? Can you use ISO 800 or 1600(not sure what that stands for...just know that larger the number, brighter the picture. ^^;).