Category: French Restaurants

Cafe Marché – Bird Rock/La Jolla

American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Caffeine Fix, French Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Cafe Marché has closed.

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog, written by a few friends: Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy do the majority of posts here, but a few others have helped out as well.  Today, it's Cathy's turn to write while the guys are 'researching' in various parts of the USA and world.

It's that time of year when The Mister and I just get in the car, drive and stop when one of us is hungry. The other day, we found ourselves in South La Jolla on the fairly new La Jolla Boulevard that has added circles in the middle of the road, so you have to drive slowly, zig zagging at 15 miles per hour, instead of stopping at every corner. IMG_3120

It's the area commonly known as Birdrock. IMG_3118

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As I drove slowly, we saw this- Café Marché.  It used to be a different restaurant where we had never stopped.  This time, I found a parking space (the parking lot has green lines painted in it, but is labeled 'Customer Parking Only' and not '15 minute parking' as are green lined spots on the street).

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I didn't get a photo of the counter when we walked in, but a good variety of freshly prepared deli items and flavored popcorns are available to grab and go.  

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We sat near the front, and had a nice view of the painted Bird Rock on the wall.  The breakfast and lunch menus were brought to us.  

 

 

 

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The Mister ordered coffee ($2) and a thermal pot was brought to him. It was a very good, fresh brewed French roast coffee.

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The Mister's order came with a 'small salad', which was quite large and served with a very nice herbed balsamic dressing.  

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Short story: The Mister and I had just been reminiscing about late night stops at Denny's after the UGLi (undergraduate library) closed, and how we always ordered a "Super Bird", a sort of Monte Cristo sandwich…

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So, when the Monte Cristo Crépe ($8.50) was on the menu at Cafe Marché, He had to order it.  I must say, this was *wonderful* and had a good amount of ham and turkey and cheese inside the *very* perfect, thin and flavorful crépe.

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When I looked at the menu, I could not decide, asked what the soup of the day was and was told that in addition to French onion, the 'soup' was actually a chili. ($5).  I had to try it and was very, very happy I did. Our  (very nice and attentive) Waiter said it was his Mother's recipe…and I want that recipe!  Ground beef, black, kidney and garbanzo beans, corn and a perfect blend of spices, topped with cheese and a dollop of sour cream and…a perfect meal.  It was accompanied by grilled Focaccia, which was so very fresh and apparently what is used for sandwiches here…sandwiches which I'll order next time. 

What a great place.  So glad we stopped here.

Marché Café 5550 La Jolla Blvd La Jolla CA 92037 (623)332-3505

Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia): Au Bon Vieux Temps

European Restaurants, French Restaurants, Sidi Bou Said/La Marsa, Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

One of the places recommended to us by Rafael was Au Bon Vieux Temps. Located right off the main tourist street of Rue Hedi Zarrouk, the place has a nice, almost romantic feel.

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Perfectly in character, we arrived just at the beginning of dinner service. We enjoy the quiet before the chaos.

Though folks rave about the views, I really didn't think it that great from where we sat on the patio.

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The menu featured both French style and Tunisian style dishes. The prices were the highest we'd encounted in Tunisia, but still pretty reasonable by US standards.

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 We were still in search of a Tunisian wine we really enjoyed. Not really knowing where to start and wanting a "blanc", we simply ordered the most expensive bottle on the menu at 42 Dinar, which was about $25 US at the time. It turned out to be a good choice as this bottle of Magnifique was light and refreshing, with a crispness to it. We ended up getting this whenever we saw it on the menu.

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As the meal goes, we found that we preferred the Tunisian style dishes to the French preparations, like the Fruits de Mer (18 TND – $10 US) which was kind of waterlogged and mushy.

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The Duck Pate, a bargain at 10TND, think six bucks, had some potential, the flavor was decent, but the texture was a bit too waxy.

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For me, the best dish of the night was my Lamb Couscous (26TND – $15).

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06072012 1614This was by far the best couscous we had on our trip. It was light and fluffy. I thought the vegetables were going to be somewhat onerous, but they were fork tender, not mushy, but yielding perfectly under my fork. The lamb was simply flavored, but was also very tender….loved the gamey flavor. It really didn't need the spicy sauce provided, which actually covered up all the wonderful flavors.

The Missus loved Her stuffed squid (22 TND – $13US).

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The squid was very tender, we don't really remember much else about this dish.

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Right as we were finishing our mains, a gentleman who claimed to be the owner came up to us and started a conversation. He talked the Missus into ordering a dessert, which She loved….probably because of all the pistachios and the rose water. Since She obviously enjoyed the rose water so much, he brought Her a glass with a bit more of it to pour over the dessert….

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He also told the Missus She should check out the upstairs VIP area where Presidents, King's, Queen's, and Prime Ministers have eaten. He was a pretty smooth operator.

The Missus managed this photo….perhaps you'll recognize someone.

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Overall, this wasn't bad. Perhaps if the prices were a lot higher I'd complain a bit more about the place. On the bright side, we found our favorite Tunisian wine and that makes this meal worthwhile. And as you can tell; we didn't leave hungry.

We admired the sunset as we walked back down the hill.

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We were amazed at all the folks sitting and still having coffee at the busy cafe across from Place du 7 Novembre.

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Folks laughing and carrying on, chatting as they ended the day.

Meanwhile, right across the street, it was time for prayers at the Mosque.

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An interesting contrast for us. Such is life in Tunisia……..