La Rue Marche Café
Cinnamon Bun
Pecan Roll
Almond Croissant
Cream Cheese Danish
Biscuits and Honey
Chicken and Waffle Sliders – Maple Blazin’ Red Gravy, Sweet Pommes Frites
Chef’s French Toast – Thick Sliced Bread Dipped in homemade Batter
Cherries Jubilee Pancakes
Stuffed French Toast – Brioche bread stuffed with Strawberry Cream Cheese
Marche Bread Pudding – Sweet and Savory Breads and Pastries garnished with chocolate and vanilla bean sauce
Not yet celebrating its Grand Opening, but offering full service from 7am until dinner on East Desert Inn, it was with two friends and two children that breakfast was had at La Rue Marche Café, and although the long history of husband and wife team Leslie and Jesus Cirbrian is an impressive one the wide ranging menu rooted in their previous years of catering shows as much room for improvement as does the touched up location, an immense space shuttered since 2009 that previously housed a Chinese restaurant.
Eventually intended to be a market, bakery, coffee roaster, and caterer in addition to the restaurant itself, one’s first impression on entering La Rue Marche Café is that despite a name that sounds ‘fancy’ the space itself is actually as simple as the location’s literal translation and although clean and well presented the overall feel is quite sterile with a lack of decoration, charm, or even music to help give it a lift.
Seated near a window where an elderly woman and two youngsters would provide pleasant service and copious refills with a smile even when the youngest diner cast a full glass of water to the floor it was with a tray of pastries that dining began and with two served warm from the oven while the others were cool to touch the results were unfortunately rather underwhelming, the cinnamon roll and croissant both far too doughy with a lack of exterior contrast while the pecan bun and cream cheese danish were far more enjoyable, though certainly not on par with any of Sin City’s best.
At this point temporarily turning savory, round two featured biscuits that, despite being described as made ‘in-house,’ seemed far closer to those cut from a roll featuring the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and paired with little packets of honey instead of something a bit better sourced one quickly wondered about the rest of the restaurants ingredients, an answer to be found later after dissecting a plate of soft waffles and fried chicken tenders that were on their own good enough, but a bit obscured under thick gravy that purported maple but instead tasted almost identical to Krystal or Frank’s Red Hot.
Hoping for improvement as the meal moved back to sweets, it did not take long to cast aside “50/50” Maple Syrup in favor of the good stuff brought from home before indulging in pancakes and French Toast, and with the latter a mistaken delivery since the stuffed version had actually been ordered it was unfortunate that neither version was all that impressive as the bread came off soggy while cream cheese stuffing tasted exceedingly artificial, the fluffy pancakes and warm cherries proving the first memorable dish of the morning with a light crumb and good rise surrounding bursting pockets of stewed fruit.
Waiting for late arriving friends to finish their entrees, but enjoying the quiet conversation as the space was largely empty throughout much of the morning, it was with a small bowl of bread pudding that the meal concluded and perhaps a sign of good things found outside the proper breakfast menu suffice it to say that this was the lone item for which a return trip to La Rue Marche would be considered, the blend of several day-old breads reinvigorated by custard with a surrounding pool vanilla bean sauce that far outpaced any other sauce, spread, or topping experienced throughout the rest of the meal.
TWO AND A HALF STARS: Certainly a place with potential, particularly given the team’s pedigree, the experience currently feels far more ‘catering company’ than restaurant quality and considering the challenges of the restaurant’s size, location, and scope there is a whole lot of room to improve. Obviously still new, but apparently not yet willing to invest in proper ingredients or technique to really make the product shine, one wonders whether it may have been the better part of valor for La Rue Marche to wait until they were 100% ready before opening up their doors.
RECOMMENDED: Bread Pudding, Pancakes.
AVOID: Almond Croissant, Cinnamon Roll, Biscuits, Stuffed French Toast…and the restrooms.
TIP: Currently selling ‘shares’ in the business for $3,000 per unit, those interested would be advised to check out the website and business plan, or to contact Leslie directly via the restaurant’s listed E-mail.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
http://www.laruemarchecafe.com