BY ISAAC HAN

In print | Published March 4, 2010

Among the many treasures that one can find as they venture out of The Bubble and into the small town of Media is La Belle Epoque. The restaurant offers traditional French cuisine in a menu that seeks to delight with well-known favorites from France, a country synonymous with good food. This French wine bistro, located in the middle of downtown Media at the intersection of State Street and Olive Street, is a great find for those looking for good food in a place with a friendly ambiance as well as those yearning for a little taste of France.

The bistro boasts a trendy décor, mixing warm colors of purple and brown and effectively utilizing a red brick wall and a glass window that allows for a beautiful view of downtown Media. The chandeliers blend well with the famous old posters of the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec that are now the staple depiction of Montmartre, the once bohemian capital of Paris.

La Belle Epoque is a product of its owner and head chef Loic Barnieu. Barnieu grew up in a small village in Burgundy, France in a family familiar with the food business. One of his grandfathers owned a bakery, while his other grandfather was a chef and also owned a restaurant. Barnieu moved to Philadelphia to pursue his passion for theater and opened up La Belle Epoque and Picasso, a restaurant in Media serving Mediterranean fusion cuisine.

Drawing from Barnieu’s French roots, La Belle Epoque offers a menu packed with many traditional French dishes. For me personally, the menu is reminiscent of those that I had seen during my semester abroad in Paris. The appetizers, which are fairly priced at $5-13, include a good french onion soup (soupe à l’oignon), escargots (snails in butter and garlic) and meat and cheese plates (charcuterie and plateau de fromages) that complement the generous variety of white and red wines offered. There are also classic French salads like Nicoise and Verte and crepes that cost $10 on average. For the entree portion of the meal, ranging from $18-32, there are choices of steak, lamb, chicken and duck. The dessert menu includes the typical crème brulée and crepes with Nutella and fruit jams.

Among the four of us that dined at La Belle Epoque, we tried a wide variety of food, finding everything to be well-prepared, delicious and satisfying, although not flawless. We started with the soupe à l’oignon and the escargots. The soup was overall adequate in taste, but compared to my experiences in France, lacking in heartiness. The escargots were magnificent, but I was troubled by the fact that the snails were pre-extracted. For me, the true experience of these two dishes is the heartiness of the cheese that is so sticky that it is almost impossible to eat cleanly, and the adventure of picking out the escargot from its shell.

Apart from these concerns, the rest of the meal went smoothly. My friends tried and liked the boeuf bourguignon (beef braised in a red Burgundy wine), the roast chicken (poulet rôti) with a side of vegetables, and the chicken and pork stew special. I thoroughly enjoyed my tangy Canard à l’orange (duck in an orange marmalade sauce). As for dessert, which is often the hardest part of the meal to mess up, the crème brulée and crepes with Nutella filling were delicious. However, the chocolate cake was surprisingly flat and lacking in taste, unfortunately awakening me to the treacherous possibility that one could mess up chocolate cake.

La Belle Epoque offers an authentic French experience of good food, good wine and good conversation. It is a great place to relax on any given evening and to escape the worries of The Bubble and of life in general. I highly recommend La Belle Epoque but with one final caveat: Go with people you’re comfortable with. Like I said, it offers an “authentic French experience” which, for those who have been to France already know, means slow service that is meant to create a relaxed and conversational atmosphere.

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