la.foodblogging

One of my favorite restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley has always been La Parisienne. Imagine my delight when I found out that the owners have opened up a sister restaurant, Marla’s. Marla’s is still fairly new, around since March 2005. While it seems this restaurant has everything down, the only thing missing are customers! Was the the casual dining environment that turned gourmet diners away? Was it casual diners who were turned away from the extravagant menu? I had to find out why people aren’t dining at Marla’s and went to experience this place for myselfr. After last night, I still don’t know exactly why people aren’t flocking to this restaurant. One thing’s for sure - it’s not the food that’s turning them away because that was excellent.

First, all diners got an amuse bouche to start. The manager, who did double duty as the server for all the tables last night, told us it was Chef’s Surprise. It was fairly easy to figure out what was in this. Imagine shrimp and parsley wrapped in a pastry puff, topped with avocado, served with balsamic vinegar reduced with sugar. Quite nice, but my problem with an amuse bouche is that I always want more of it.

Next came my appetizer, which is a traditional French onion soup ($8). As you can see from the photo, the soup is topped with a very generous portion of cheese. This is the way a French onion soup should be. The cheese was delightfully gooey, the bread in side the soup was thoroughly soaked, and the onions very flavorful. The broth itself was a little too salty for my palate, but aside from that, it was perfect. To help me balance out the saltiness of the soup was the fresh dinner roll. Every so often, the manager would come by with a basket and place fresh from the oven rolls on my bread plate. The dinner rolls are flaky on the outside and soft on the inside. They are topped with toasted sesame, creating a nice aroma and taste. After my soup (and the two dinner rolls that I gobbled up), I was pretty much full. I didn’t know how I was going to make room for my entree… until I saw it.

The duck confit in truffle sauce ($24) is one of the best entrees on Marla’s menu. The manager highly recommended it, and after one bite, I understood why. The duck meat was so tender that it just fell apart in my mouth, and yet the duck skin was perfectly crispy. I loved the contrast in texture in every bite. The truffle sauce that partnered the duck was wonderful! The duck and the sauce just came together beautifully. Also on the plate were mashed potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli. Because I already had so much to eat, I could only finish half of the duck, which means that it will make a great leftover meal for later.

I also sampled a couple of other entrees that we quite good. The breaded pork loin was surprisingly good. The pork was tender and juicy, and the bread crumbs created a crispy coating. I’m not sure what sauce accompanied the pork loin, but it tasted good (just not as good as my truffle sauce). The osso buco was also enjoyable, but if you wanted French dining, skip this entree. The osso buco is definitely very Italian, even at Marla’s. Served with a tomato-basil sauce, this was delicious.

Okay, so I was all set on just going home after this really filling dinner. Then the manager mentioned that the pastry chef from La Parisienne made the cheesecake and apple tart. I caved. I ordered the apple tart, which by itself would not have been so impressive, but after it was topped with French vanilla ice cream and some mystery red sauce, was absolutely fantastic. At first I thought the red sauce was raspberry, but it defintely did not have the syrupy sweet taste associated with raspberry sauce. What was it then? Cabernet sauvignon reduced with a bit of sugar. It was a very unique companion to the tart. Honestly, after that, I really was stuffed.

Marla’s Restaurant
39 West Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-9300

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday
Lunch: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Dinner: 5 to 11 p.m.
Public parking around the corner (on 1st Street)

By Pauline (see more of her posts).