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Photo by Ash Daniel
Herb-crusted cod fillet with vegetable medley served in a light fish sauce
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Photo by Ash Daniel
Belgian chocolate mousse with house-made whipped cream and red berry coulis
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Photo by Ash Daniel
Jared Thrasher, bartender, mixes his own take on a cosmopolitan.
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Photo by Ash Daniel
Interior
Belgians: Makers of billiard balls; inventors of the saxophone; mad-payers of taxes (roughly 40 percent of their gross earnings); originators of the European spa — in a little city called, well, Spa; and, of course, purveyors of decadent food and drink. It’s obvious why Belgian restaurants open in the States: The cuisine hits all the fatty, salty, sweet notes that we Americans have come to embrace as our culinary birthright.
Brux’l Café, the Belgian restaurant on the rumored-to-be-accursed southeast corner of Allen and Main, offers French-Belgian treats like moules frites, escargots, Mitraillettes (submarine sandwiches), chocolate mousse and, for brunch, Belgian waffles. Put simply, it’s not somewhere you visit in hopes of improving your health. So, the question: Is it worth the calorie chug?
Let’s start with the moules frites. It’s all but the official national dish of Belgium: a steamed pot of mussels in broth, with a side of fries to soak in the juicy aftermath, if you so desire. Brux’l makes a number of styles: marinières (shallots, parsley, white wine and butter), vin blanc (white-wine broth), mouclade (curry cream sauce), ail et crème (garlic cream broth) and Provençale (white wine, tomato, garlic, herbs and cream), plus a few unconventional cheese-based broths involving Roquefort and Gouda.
My dining companions and I ordered the vin blanc pot — each order is $18, and we were correct in assuming a steep price meant a large portion. Unfortunately, the mussels were so overcooked that we only ate a few of them, and every drop of broth had been steamed out of the pot, leaving nothing at the bottom for the fry-dipping ritual. The frites were good and salty, though, and the accompanying ramekin of white-wine Dijonnaise added a nice touch. All told, I wouldn’t go back for moules frites without specifying that I like a delicately cooked mussel drowning in broth.
We ran into the same issue with the escargots — too much heat had touched those suckers, sadly. They were rubbery, and their garlic-parsley butter lacked salt, making them greasy but without payoff. The much-beloved cheese croquette wasn’t exactly to our tastes either, as the dish is essentially a hunk of heavily breaded, fried cheese whose flavor is too mild to make a case for itself. One of the specials, a $25 veal stew, also needed seasoning and perhaps a few ingredients to complement the large chunks of what should have been very tender meat. I’d avoid these dishes on subsequent trips.
Another $25 special, however — an herb-crusted cod filet with creamy fish sauce — packed a lot of flavor, was carefully prepared and arrived sporting an orchid (which, while lovely, was a bit humorous considering the low-key vibe of the place). And the truffle burger was juicy and tasty with its addition of truffled mayo. Finishing with the mousse is a good idea if you’re a fan of light, fluffy desserts; it’s not something that’s going to put you over the edge if you’ve already eaten to capacity.
So, strangely, the healthiest dish we ordered — the cod — was the best. That might put the kibosh on the calorie-splurge of many of the café’s super-rich items, but it doesn’t mean a visit isn’t warranted. The only serious off-putter is the price tag on most plates, especially when compared to other Fan eateries that serve up food of similar quality and preparation.
If you’re still game, check the specials list, perhaps try the roasted salmon, and get your calories via beer sampling. The chef recommends the golden-amber Maredsous 10, and there are other Belgian favorites like Piraat and Chimay on the list. The restaurant is beautifully lit for dinner, and the service is the kind of excellent that implies everyone who works there loves each other. Best of all, the chef is all smiles and good wishes to everyone he meets. Maybe he spends his off-time in Spa.
