Washington DC - Belga Cafe

How do you know it's a Belgian place?  Because the beer list is longer than the wine list and the food menu.  Indeed it was impressive.  But it was the middle of the day, and I was totally zombified from my 20 hour journey, and so we stuck with the food.

In the US, my rule of thumb:  always share so you don't eat yourself silly, or at least if you have to, have variety.

It's a Belgian place, so we had to have a mussels pot.  So we did, and we order the classic Mariniere, with plenty of white wine, shallots and garlic.  Mussels were of the small, sweet kind with the right textural combination of bite and creaminess.  The "soup" was also tasty albeit a tad salty.  Alright if you have a beer.  Fries were disappointing though - not hot nor crispy enough and had too much salt on them.  But dunk in mayo and you might overlook that.

The B&B Burger isn't an American burger and it shouldn't be.  I don't know if it was authentic Belgian but it was very good beef, done medium rare, as we ordered it.  Sitting comfortably on half a brioche, and topped off with a baked Parmesan crisp, and deep fried onions, it was juicy with a nice kick from the cheese.

For dessert, we order the Liege Waffle with cinammon-cooked apples.  The waffle wasn't as chewy as I liked and had too much icing sugar on it.  But overall, a pleasant enough ending to a casual lunch.

Worth a shot if you're in the hood.

8th Street SE
Washington DC
Tel: +1-202-5440100