Moon Child Eats visits La Belle Epoque. Yet another restaurant week has come around and this time it was in Media, Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, I was just having a conversation with one of my customers about this restaurant a few months ago. He highly recommended it for a great French meal. When I saw La Belle Epoque on the list of restaurants for Media Restaurant Week I jumped on the opportunity to give this restaurant a try! Of course I invited one of my foodie friends, my mom, to join me for dinner!
About La Belle Epoque
La Belle Epoque is located in Downtown Media, Pennsylvania. The restaurant is known for serving authentic French food. After looking up La Belle Epoque online I found out some interesting information about the restaurant. It was awarded “Best French Restaurant” by Main Line Today in it’s 2006 edition. In addition, two years prior it was named “Best Restaurant in Media”. It is owned by Loic Barnieu; he is also the Executive Chef. He is also the owner and Executive Chef of Picasso Restaurant; also located in Media, Pennsylvania. He is a self-taught chef from a small village in Burgundy, France.
Moon Child Eats Receives The First & Second Course at La Belle Epoque
La Belle Epoque is a cute restaurant with a French feel. We are immediately greeted after walking in the door. La Belle Epoque is pretty busy when we arrive. The tables are a little snug but we deal. We wait several minutes before our server comes over and introduces herself, her name was Tatiana. She brings over the restaurant week menu and their regular menu then takes our drink order. She returns with our drinks and takes our order. Once again we are easy with our order. There’s two options for every course so we order one of each. Unfortunately they are out of one of their second course options which was the Vol Au Vent. That consisted of puffed pastry with asparagus, wild mushrooms and veloute sauce. Highly disappointed.
The first course of Salade D’Epinards and Soup du Jour arrive shortly after ordering. The Salade D’Epinards consists of baby spinach, goat cheese, grapes, roasted almonds and a strawberry vinaigrette. We love the creaminess of the goat cheese along with the crunchy roasted almonds and the sweet tang of the vinaigrette. The Soup du Jour was Cream of Cauliflower with a Lemon Paprika Oil. This cauliflower soup was pretty tasty and mellow. I was excited about the lemon paprika oil but was left disappointed. The flavor of the oil barely enhanced the soup. There was pieces of cauliflower that were possibly marinated in lemon juice that were delicious. I wish that lemony flavor was more distinguishable throughout the soup itself.
Third Course at La Belle Epoque
Next up is the third course which is the entrees. The first entree was Magret De Canard. This consisted of crispy duck breast, sweet potato gratin, grilled asparagus and a raspberry sauce. Enthused to try this entree due to being a huge fan of crispy duck breast. The skin of the breast was hardly crispy. It definitely needed more time rendering in order to get that crispy skin we all know and love. Being left with a slightly crispy and definitely chewy skin on the duck breast was disheartening. The raspberry sauce was a very nice compliment to the entree. The sweet potato gratin was a bit of a surprise. Giving the initial feels of Thanksgiving, but then being intruded on by the funk of a cheese. The cheese I’m guessing was Gorgonzola cheese. It took a minute to get used to and I’m still not sure if I really enjoyed those flavors being melded together.
The Next Entree was Noix De St. Jacques. This entree encompassed seared diver scallops, beet risotto, english pea puree and a lemon beurre blanc. This was byfar the star entree of the evening. The scallops were seared to perfection! Never hearing of a beet risotto, I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was a very pleasant surprise. The color was alluring and the risotto was just the right consistency. The pea puree was a little salty at first taste but complimented the food oh so well along with the lemon beurre blanc.
Dessert
Finally, there were a few options for dessert but we chose the tiramisu and the mixed berry crepes. The crepes were a little on the heavy side. Reminding me more of a pancake. The berry filling was tasty. Fresh whipped cream would have been quite a compliment to the crepe. My mom is just now finding her love for tiramisu. She has now become a huge critic of tiramisu since she finally has indulged. It was quite delightful. The perfect amount of soak on the lady fingers and the mascarpone mousse being very light always creates a perfect dessert marriage.
Moon Child Eats Visits La Belle Epoque
In conclusion, I feel that the food didn’t live up to the hype. I was expecting this amazingly authentic French feeling meal when in reality I received an average French meal in the states. I would definitely return for the seared scallop entree though I must say! That was by far my favorite course of the meal. I hope that this was just a fluke and that the food is normally better along with the service.
Did you happen to notice how I haven’t really mentioned the service we received? The serviced left much to be desired. Our waitress hardly checked in on us throughout the meal to make sure that we were doing okay and that everything was to our liking. We initially thought that maybe she was just busy, but as the restaurant emptied out we received the same service. There was one male waiter in the room that was constantly checking in on his tables around us. I wanted to ask for a waiter change just so I could receive the same service. When it came to dessert we felt like it was like pulling teeth to get her to clear our empty plates and tell us what was available.
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