L’Epi Dupin - Paris
I really wanted to like L’Epi Dupin — the menu sounded fantastically creative, the price was comfortingly reasonable at 32 Euros for a prix-fixe dinner, and it had such a cozy yellow and brown interior. But the food just went a bit wrong for me. I think that the recurring theme during my meal was that there was one element in every dish that was given in a large quantity … and it didn’t taste good. Only the divine tuna in my main course stands out as a truly fond memory, and even that dish had problems.
My appetizer was the specialty of the house - Caramelized Endive with Chevre. This featured a lifetime supply of caramelized endive, a tiny bit of cheese inside, a bottom crust, and a wealth of a thick, honey-like spiced sauce. The endive tended to be too stringy to cut through easily and they were in too large of pieces to take in one bite… and then it was stringy all over again in my mouth. And the sauce was so staunchly sweet and thick. I love the idea of this dish, but I was disappointed with the execution.
My main course was Tuna with Fondue of Swiss Chard and Carrot Sauce. The tuna was fantastically juicy and tasty — without the metallic bite that has haunted many of my tunas — and I was impressed by how nicely the undertone of carrot went with it. The swiss chard with the mustard-y sauce was good, but there was way too much sauce. It drenched the chard and eventually succeeded in overpowering the tuna, which was laid on top of it without a clean place on the plate to put it on. The tuna also had fine herbs and garlic on top, which were overpowered by the mustard, as well.
For dessert, I had the Sliced Melon, Strawberry Coulis, Basil and Mint, and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream. The lemon verbena ice cream was fantastic (I would have cried bloody murder if it hadn’t been, b/c lemon verbena is one of the best flavors in the world. Why isn’t more widely available???), but it completely melted within a couple minutes in the intense heat of the restaurant. I like the nutty crunchiness of the tuile, but the main disappointment was that the melon was underripe, and strawberry coulis curiously lacked flavor.
So, I had way too many slices of melon, and it wasn’t just me… Chad had way too many whole cherries in his Cherry-Lemon Soup with White Chocolate Ice Cream…
And the Molten Chocolate Cake with Pistachio Sauce had way too much molten chocolate syrup (yes, it was like a syrup) gush out of it and into a puddle onto the plate with a lot of pistachio sauce that didn’t taste much like pistachio to me…
And then there was this Roasted Peach with Tarragon Ice Cream…
First of all, I empathize with L’Epi Dupin… and this is a good time to talk about the heat in Paris. It was hot. And I don’t recall a single restaurant that was air-conditioned (no matter how nice), so be prepared for this in summer in Paris. At one point during the trip, Chad even said, “We’ve been to Aruba and Hawaii together… and it’s never been this hot.” True. And during the hot, hot, hot summer months at culinary school in the Napa Valley, it’s not uncommon for our ice creams to melt like this during service if precautions aren’t taken, but I feel like a restaurant sending this out like this is a bit wrong.
We did have a fan directed at our table of 7 up until after we ordered, but then it was suddenly redirected to the table of 2 next to us… Where’s John Stuart Mill when you need him?
