Tough to write about food these days, but we march on.
Parcelles is one of those places that people either love or love to hate. Local buzz, followed by NYT praise put Parcelles on a hype pedestal very few are able to achieve. Reserving Parcelles isnt very hard if you have a full week in Paris. Just pick the only time available, cancel your Louvre tickets, move dinner plans, and make sure you are around the Marais that day. Easy shmeezy.
Parcelles is a comfortable, sophisticated Bistro in a quiet corner of Le Marais. While its just far enough from the Falafel crowds of the Marais, it is still a destination for FOMO travelers. Well, like myself. The problem however when you are surrounded by FOMO travelers, you are feeling the stress from people that are not entirely comfortable with a menu as such. Thankfully there’s always Gnocchi.
Talking about stress, two young guys ran the entire house. I’m always amazed with European restaurants that operate with half the number of employees of similar restaurants in the US. But at Parcelles you could feel some of the stress in the room. No brownie points for the ambiance from me, but not only the food more than made up for it, the ambiance may be quite alright for you.
A three courser of one hit after another, starting with an outstanding silky smooth Calf’s head carpaccio. Even though I enjoyed it more than Mrs Z who didnt care much as she was in Paté heaven with the Paté en croute. We skipped the much hyped Gnocchi as its something I can easily get in NYC.
One of the reasons to come to Parcelles is for the Sweetbread. If you search for Sweetbread on this site you wont get many results as this is just not my thing. But this is one of those foods that I feel one should not easily give up on. I call it The Bacalhau affect. The Parcelles version may convert you. Expertly cooked Sweetbread with mashed potato, dark veal jus and capers, a spoonful of pure bliss. They only make 10-15 per day, so some call to reserve their Sweetbread for dinner.
Another solid dish was the monkfish, even though it relied a bit too much on the accompanied sauce. The Sweetbread is just a tough act to follow when you are sharing. Chocolate tart with caramelized pecans was another standout. While I’m not the biggest fan of Chocolate desserts, I’m a sucker for a good chocolate tart. Go!
Eating With Ziggy 