Parc Restaurant, Bistro, & Cafe

Phew.  Friday.  Haaaallelujah!

I don’t normally go out on Thursday nights, but last night was a special occasion!  My friend, Murray, was in town all the way from Missouri to have dental surgery.  On the down side, that just is NO FUN.  On the plus side, I met her BECAUSE she is the patient of my friend Peter and a Philly expatriate (tear, move back Murray)!  We decided to get together for a ‘last supper’ of sorts before her surgery early this morning.  Destination: Parc!

I am usually not one to jump on the restaurant bandwagon.  In fact, in the case of Parc (yet another Stephen Starr restaurant), I am downright LATE…running after the bandwagon, arms flailing!  I’ve already talked about ‘Krista Time‘.  Update: it’s improving!  But yep, that’s where we went last night.  I ran a 10-miler after work so my opinion might be skewed since I would have eaten ANYTHING, but overall I thought dinner was okay.  I also enjoyed my much-needed glass of wine.  However, I was super thirsty when I woke up this morning and felt like I ate a stick of (salted) butter.  Butter is goooood.

We tried two appetizers – escargots in hazelnut butter and onion soup gratinee.  I have only had escargots once before and can’t even remember the taste because I was so little!  They reminded me of mushrooms and I was a fan.  I wanted to soak an entire loaf of bread in the butter sauce…

I did not try the french onion soup, but it looked redonkulously cheesy.  French onion soup always seems like such a simple dish, but it’s amazing how easy it is to f*ck up.  Excuse my francais ;) My friends said it was good, that’s all I have to say for ya on the soup front!

For my entree, I ordered the Roasted Cod with brandade, cockles, and tomatoes. I really just ordered this because I love shellfish.  It was disappointing; I thought the fish was overcooked (too mushy) and the whole dish was over-salted.  Granted, I don’t eat French-inspired food very often but a properly cooked and well-seasoned dish translates through any cuisine in my opinion!

Peter and Murray split the Beef Bourguignon with potato puree, baby carrots, and turnips.  I did not try this one but it looked rich and the vegetables were gorgeous.

Raj ordered the Braised Lamb Shank with cous cous and yogurt sauce.  While this is probably not the prettiest dish of all, it was my favorite!  The lamb was tender and falling right off the bone.  Lamb is my Mom’s favorite type of meat, and I grew up eating it fairly often.  My dad usually prepares lamb on the grill, in the form of chops cooked medium-rare (without MINT jelly, YUCK).  I’m not a creature of habit at all, am I???  Though I have a long-standing grilled chop preference, I enjoyed sampling a different type of lamb dish!

Again!!  Least visually appealing meals are ALWAYS the tastiest.  I’ve said it about 823 times and I’ll say it again!  This applies to Kristastes Recipes and Parc entrees! ;)

Overall, I loved the atmosphere of Parc, and it was quite busy for a Thursday night at 9:30pm.  We got a kick out of the lineup of middle-aged men that showed up at the Parc bar to cougar/kitten (?) stalk between the hours of 10 and 11.  Who knew it was a good place for singles???  One guy closest to our table recognized, no joke, 6 women that walked in within 45 minutes!  Yipes.  Creep or pimp DADDY?  I wonder if he knows them from match.dot.com?  The photo of Raj above was my attempt to snap the cougar hunters, FAIL.  But I love that bad ass pic!  So gangsta.  I really enjoy being out with this crew aka the Wolf Pack!  Aaaaoooooo!  Wow, did I really just spell that out?

Try Parc for yourself and let me know what you think!  I personally wouldn’t add it to my list of Philly favorites — I am a byob, hole-in-the-wall restaurant kind of gal anyway!

Parc Restaurant, Bistro & Cafe

227 South 18th. Street
Philadelphia PA 19103

Have any of you Philly bloggers tried Parc – if so, did you like it better than I did??