Marche
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (650) 324-9092
- Price:
- $$$$
- Cross Street:
- University Drive
- Hours:
- Tue-Sat 5:30pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Marche – by Kim Cooper
The Scene
With deep leather banquettes, blinds and warm-brown palette, Marché has a clubby, masculine feel that starkly contrasts with the menu's lush sensuality. A glassed-in kitchen offers fleeting views of busy cooks. Highly skilled, knowledgeable servers keep things running smoothly for the dressy, older crowd.
The Food
Hong Kong-trained chef Howard Bulka inserts numerous Asian twists into his seasonal French menu. Tender, poached lobster zings with subtle hints of coconut milk, kaffir lime and lemongrass. Endive and Fuji apple salad with blue cheese and pecans is exquisite, the flavors and textures blending symphonically. Beautiful, minimal assiette cru (raw plate) contrasts salted yellowtail with a dollop of creamy, incredibly rich Nantucket Bay scallop puree. Young, roasted chicken with crisp mushrooms and pureed rutabaga is an ideal fall dish, tender and aromatic. For dessert, it's got to be Le Concorde: a craggy mountain of firm, airy chocolate mousse interspersed with camouflaged chunks of dense, chewy meringue.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoTo guarantee availability of multiple slices of the heavenly Le Concorde chocolate mousse cake, call three days ahead of your visit. Marche makes one cake nightly, and needs time to prep extra servings.
Save MoneyFor a broad sampling of Howard Bulka's cooking, consider the $65 seasonal tasting menu ($30 with wines), which includes the option of substituting any favorite items from the main menu.
User Reviews for Marche
09/22/2007 Posted by lfetter
A gorgeous experience. Two friends and I were able to make a midweek reservation with less than 2 hours notice and ordered the chef's tasting menu with wine pairing for my birthday dinner celebration - the meal was absolutely amazing. Started with the foie gras starter, which was out of this world, and the meal continued to exceed expectations with every course. The scallops with carrot reduction were outrageously good and the wine pairings were sublime. The service was excellent and friendly and was enhanced by our interactions with the manager (Molly?), who checked on us several times. Ended the meal with the amazing chocolate cake and a lovely port - a most memorable birthday! Will definitely be back.
Pros: Amazing food, great service and ambience
12/14/2006 Posted by resjudicata
The introductory lobster bisque given to everyone from the chef was actually quite bad. Everyone at our table could tell it was overcooked, and/or used too much shell. The set menu, overall, was very good. I thought the potato ravioli with mushrooms and truffle oil was outstanding. The lamb chops were average, but covered in an acrid sauce with flavors of asphault. The desserts were perfect. I tried the gingerbread as well as the orange mascarpone crepes - both very good. The wine pairings were fine, but nothing worth writing home about, and simply not worth another $50 per head. The waiter was friendly, but inattentative, and I hate to say, incompetent. He could not answer basic questions about the menu, and seemed flustered the entire time. The ambience was fine, but nothing notable. The acoustics get pretty bad with a full house. My big gripe is that we started with cocktails, then ordered our food soon thereafter. The food was brought out at a decent pace, and we ate it as it came. Before we were offered coffee or tea that is part of the prix fixe menu, the Maitre de came over and asked us how our meal was. She then stated that she needed a table for other people waiting. We were a little surprised, and stated that we had not even had coffee or tea. She lost us when she said that you had to ask for it if you wanted it. Obviously that's not how fixed menus work, and we did not have to ask for anything else. Moreover, we were spending at a pace of $150-$200 per hour for the table, so it's not like we were dead weight. A person at our table said something to general manager, who gave us a $100 "apology" gift certificate, but she clearly just wanted us out of there. I have never had a more insulting experience at a restaurant. Given all of the nice restaurants in Santa Cruz, the Peninsula, SF and Napa with equally good food, superior staff, wine lists and ambience, Marche would be wise to reconsider how it operates.
Pros: food
Cons: wait staff & management
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