Belle Epicurean – aka Belle’s Buns – Fauxdie’s Review

Taste: I am a connoisseuse of all things bad for you (cf. my review of chips at Sonrisa), and I always, always get the pain au chocolat when I grab a pastry. Belle’s p au choc is quite good, my second favorite in the city. The chocolate is semi-melted and the pastry has a nice buttery flavor without making you feel like you’re going to immediately suffer a heart attack (although, in our health-conscious society, is this a good thing?). *8.5/10*

Drinks: They use Caffe Vita espresso, but the execution of lattes and mochas is consistently inconsistent. *6/10*

Texture: As to be expected, the texture of the pastries change depending on the time of day. If you don’t arrive early in the morn, they heat up your pastries, which makes them semi-soft without being mushy. The chocolate in the pain is semi-melted, which is a step above p au choc at other bakeries, where it feels like they just shoved a couple of old chocolate bars in the middle of a soft croissant. *8.5/10*

Prettiness: The pastries look like pastries, the desserts look pretty (and appetizing), but the espresso drinks look lazily-made. *7/10*

Atmosphere: Black-and-white tiles, 2-3 seat bistro tables, and some benches that look like you should be confessing instead of eating. Not good for large groups. Cool old espresso machine and clean pastry cases. Downtown. *6/10*

Service: Inconsistent. Sometimes they bring you your food and coffee, other times they yell your order while others your order sits on the counter until you realize that it’s your job to get it. Really, though, you’re at a pastry shop– do you expect to be waited upon? *6/10*

Price: Not significantly more expensive than other bakeries in Seattle. *7.5/10*

Overall: 8/10

Summary: Great place for a couple of people to split a few pastries, although for some reason this is not the first place that comes to mind when I want a pastry. If you’re not too much of a coffee snob (though you should be; you live in Seattle), grab an espresso as well. The espresso is tolerable, and is certainly not a deal-breaker. The pastries are where it’s at, and this is the perfect place to spend a quiet Sunday morning downtown.

Belle Epicurean – Foodie’s Review

Food type: French Bakery (Brioche sweet buns, savory buns, sandwiches, viennoiseries, etc)

Menu: Breakfast and Lunch

Location: Downtown near the monstrously angular library

Atmosphere: Classic French black-and-white tiled floor, polished brass espresso machine, minimal number of tables

In attendance: Sometimes it’s empty, sometimes it’s packed–well-dressed older ladies, late 20-something couples with a subaru, and the downtown business lunch crowd

Service: Inconsistent; fairly efficient

Quality of ingredients: Good (i.e. brioche-”good”; fruit-”fairly good”; bread-”good”; meat-”fairly good”; chocolate-”fairly good”; pastries look “good”)

Foodstuff eaten:

• Regular Brioche Pecan Bun (semi-flaky brioche tasting of pecans and cinnamon) – “Good-Great” – This runs from really good if fairly fresh and warm to fairly good if you get here at one o’clock
• Lemon Brioche (same brioche as above but tasting of lemon, topped with a confited lemon slice) – “Fairly good” – I really love chewy and bitter rind as found in marmalade and I wanted to like this more, but the lemon flavor wasn’t very direct, more muddy actually
• Pear Almond Brioche (ditto on the brioche, but filled with bits of pear, some rum raisins, and almonds) – “Fairly good” – Again the straightforward idea was not as crisply executed as I would prefer; not a ‘clean’ flavor
• Dark Chocolate Walnut Brioche (same brioche, but generously drenched in dark chocolate with walnut chunks) – “Fairly good” – The exemplar of the theme at Belle’s; good conception combined with good ingredients resulting in only a fairly good final product; muddy might be too harsh, especially for pastries I like to eat, but they taste like what your dilettante baker of a Grannie might make if she knew how to make brioche
• Raspberry Macaroons (a slightly cool almond cookie sandwich) – “Good-Great” – the raspberry filling is quite well made and delicious, too; the cookie can be a little standoffish in its flavor, though
• Croissant with pure butter (extremely buttery but not quite the overkill of Besalu’s or the crispiness of Grand Central’s) – “Fairly good” – If I lived downtown, this would be my daily croissant
• Black Forest Ham sandwich (a crisp thin ficelle lightly draped with fairly good quality black forest ham, some passable quality gruyere and insignificant fixings) – “Fairly good” – Not the best sandwich around, but definitely a solid choice for lunchtime
• Muffuletta (overly thick egg bread, fairly good quality meats, fair olive salad) – “Fair” – If you really want a muffuletta this might be your best option in Seattle, but you’ll need to redecorate–first cut out half of the bread on each side (not easy to do because the sandwich is so tenuously held together), then scoop off half the olive salad, and enjoy

Complaints: poorly made espresso; some warmed-over, muddy flavors; muffuletta unbalanced

Plaudits: fairly high-quality ingredients; some items are more than just edible; fills a void for quality sticky buns

Cost: all the buns are just shy of $4 which isn’t terrible, the sandwiches are under $5 for a half, but the pastries seem to be more expensive. Update forthcoming.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Recommended?: Yes for pastries or a light lunch

Visited: Winter 2007, Spring 2008