Monsieur Marcel

It’s the French-American Dream. He was born in France; she’s a California native. He worked at an art gallery while she studied business at California State University Long Beach. They met in Paris, fell in love, and now they’ve been a part of the gourmet-food scene in Los Angeles for nearly twenty years.“If you never try, you’ll never know,” is Stephane Strouk’s philosophy at Monsieur Marcel, the gourmet food emporium and French bistro he operates with wife Katy. Since 1993, the couple has been dedicated to bringing the French bistro experience, as well as domestic and imported artisanal food, to Los Angeles epicures. Stephane was born in Paris but grew up in Provence, where he “discovered flavor” and learned to love the ambiance of the communal markets. Traveling from village to village, he found that each has its own terroir. Now he’s passionate about helping his customers discover what he himself discovered in that region of France. When Stephane arrived in Los Angeles, he found himself missing the flavors and aromas that make French food French. In 1993 he did his bit to fill that vacuum by opening a crêpe stand in the historic Los Angeles Farmers Market. Katy, who was then a West Coast Director of Scouting for Elite Models, was inspired by her husband’s passion for specialty cuisine, and together they created Strouk Group Inc. They believed the community needed more than a crêperie to satisfy its growing appetite for gourmet specialties, and they were