Living in the Lap of Luxury for Three Hours – Monday, 2 May

In 2014, Epicure was awarded "Best Restaurant in the World" by The Daily Meal, Saveur US magazine and the World Luxury Hotel Awards.  In 2009 its chef Eric Frechon won his third Michelin star (the highest possible award).

I had a three-hour lunch there today.

Epicure is located in the spectacularly beautiful hotel Le Bristol in the 8th arrondissement (just down the street from the Elysée Palace), a place filled with gorgeous art and furnishings – and an amusing little “feature” I observed – find that tidbit at the end of this post!  Epicure’s porcelain, crystal, silver flatware and serving items were a joy to behold and use, just as exquisite as you’d expect in a 3-star.

So first, my meal.

While I was studying the menu and sipping a nice rosé Champagne for my aperitif, I received an amuse-bouche trio: an espresso-size bowl of deeeelicious warming white asparagus velouté with pea purée and mint, a piece of shrimp on a stick (!) with some salty/peppery chorizo, and a tiny cream puff filled with foie gras mousse and glazed with a thick tart raspberry sauce.  They did indeed amuse my mouth!

With them came the best brioche bun I’ve ever had – impossibly rich while still delicate and fluffy, lightly studded with cheese, white Italian bacon, olives and herbs – my new challenge is to duplicate it (I’ll be happy if I even come close).  And with some of the salted butter (the flat disc in this photo) – hooooo boy – off the chart!

Next, I was served a hemisphere of smooth, light haddock mousse sitting on some red bell pepper gelée, studded with very finely diced onions, carrots & celery, and sprinkled with a bit of sieved egg yolk.  The number of harmonious yet contrasting flavors and textures that a great chef can pack into just a couple bites never ceases to amaze me.  Of course, the execution of this little dish was absolutely flawless – that mousse is not easy to make and, trust me, there are a few steps in the preparation of the gelée!

My actual first course was a lobe of foie gras, coated with salt, pepper and mace (I believe) and baked in a crusty brioche (of a more sturdy texture than the brioche bun that came with my amuse bouche) and served with beet purée that seems to have been enhanced with raspberry vinegar.  Two servers delivered it to my table – one carrying a wooden board with the just-baked stuffed brioche and some décor (wheat sheaves, etc.) and the other carrying a platter and silver dome.  The wooden board was presented to me.  I said “wow.”  Server #2 playfully said “you can say wow after I cut it!”  He cut it into pieces, putting the center slices on my plate along with the beet purée and some herbs, set the silver dome over the plate, placed the plate/dome in front of me and ceremoniously removed the dome.  It was very theatrical, although I think he refrained from saying “voilà!”  I said “wow” again and added “bravo” for good measure.  He chuckled.   The foie was an absolutely pristine product – pure and sweet and fatty and just-earthy-enough.  How they baked it inside that brioche with minimal melting/shrinkage I’m not sure (when I’ve done such a thing it shrank a lot more) – another research project!

My main course was rabbit loin and octopus, along with a glass of 2010 Côte-Rôtie.  On the plate were the rabbit loin, an octopus tentacle smoked in tandoori spices, a sausage made from rabbit and octopus, split pea purée & foam, vegetable sauce, dots of currant sauce, and a dried glazed nasturtium leaf.  On the side was a bowl of more pea purée & foam and a tiny silver saucepan of the vegetable sauce atop a small candle.  The combination was quite interesting – the octopus and rabbit have a very similar flavor profile, although the texture differs.   The sweetness of the purée and vegetable sauce complimented them beautifully, with the currant sauce adding that little tarty kick that you need for contrast.

Next, the cheese course.  From a large trolly (sorry that I didn’t get a photo), I selected a 28-month Mimolette, a chalky Corsican sheep’s milk cheese with wild herbs, Rebluchon, a goat’s milk cheese that was aged in a chestnut leaf, a dried apricot and a dried fig.  This was served with a wonderful rustic bread containing walnuts and raisins.  Such a fabulous combination of flavors and textures!  And cheese is good for one’s digestion (as if I needed an excuse!).

Then it was time for dessert(s) – but first they scraped the crumbs off the table with a cool little tool, a silver rectangular spatula thingy with a hollow handle so that the server just had to tip the thing up and the crumbs ran down into the handle, not on the floor.  (I’m easily amused!)  And I got a new napkin because heaven forbid that the savory aromas confuse my mouth when I’m wiping chocolate off of it!

Dessert #1 – a palate cleanser of lemon sorbet, diced apples, roasted pineapple gelee, and spun sugar with edible gold.  Oh ya, baby!

Dessert #2 – vanilla cream with diced pears, tart blueberry sauce and shards of dry airy crunchy yet tender soft brown sugar spice cookie – like speculoos but much more tender.  Yum!

Dessert #3 (actually served with #2) – two gel globes about 1-inch diameter, filled with lemon tea and flaked with edible gold leaf.  Tasty, refreshing and entertaining.  What more could you ask for?

see me reflected in the
"magic box"?

Dessert #4 – the server wheeled over a giant silver “magic box” filled with a huge assortment of truffles, candied fruit, marshmallows, caramels, nougats, chocolates and macarons (these post-dessert treats are called mignardises)  – I could ask for whatever and however much I wanted, but was SO STUFFED at that point that all I could take was one chocolate-salted-caramel macaron.  If I had been smart I would have taken a walk to the restroom before dessert to pack some of the earlier food down and make room!  Lesson learned!

And then, of course, a cup of lovely espresso.  I could choose from coffees from all over the world and went with Cuba, well, just because.  Tasty.

the lovely banquette on which I
was seated

Service was formal and gracious yet friendly, not snooty. Servers and bus-persons wore all black, or ivory jackets with white shirts, black bowties and black pants (men), or ivory buttoned-up jackets with black skirts (women).   There was one staff member for every two patrons in the room.  Bach Orchestral Suites were playing quietly on the sound system.  A thick tablecloth rested on your knees like a heavy blanket, and it was covered by a white linen cloth.  At one point I dribbled something on the linen cloth and a server brought over a smaller linen square to cover it.  I said “oops.”  He said “no problem, it’s our secret!”  Each table had a beautiful heavy glass short vase lined with a large leaf and filled with red roses and variegated carnations.

One of my lovely servers was from Alaska!  She had been in Paris just three weeks, but had a background in wine and had previously worked at one of the Four Seasons restos (in Las Vegas? Los Angeles? I can’t remember), and came here to work alongside the very best chefs and with the best ingredients anywhere.  Quite the deal!

Read more about Chef Frechon here:  http://www.lebristolparis.com/eng/gastronomy/epicure/eric-frechon/

And now for my amusing observation.  Before lunch I was seated in a lovely corridor alongside the windows encompassing the courtyard.  One little section was screened off and a painter was up on a ladder using a fine brush to touch up the grout between stones over the window (or so I thought).  But when I looked more closely, I discovered that she was painting lines to just LOOK like grout!  The French love trompe-l’oeil (it’s their word after all), but I did find it a bit amusing to see it in this context at this outta sight expensive hotel.  Click on this photo to enlarge it, and you will not see any grout lines over the window to the right of the painter!

the hallway in which
I hung out before lunch

Experiences like this are pretty darn expensive but hey, as well as nourishing you, they provide a half-day’s entertainment and a remarkable aesthetic experience.  Try it sometime!