Ten restaurants and the Embassy of Belgium will team up beginning tomorrow to kick off Belgian Restaurant Week in DC, which will run from July 15-21. The week will be chock full of events designed to celebrate the food, beverages, culture, and hospitality of Belgium. The following restaurants will all be participating: Belga Cafe, Brabo, Brasserie Beck, Et Voila!, Granville Moore’s, L O’ocolat, Le Pain Quotidien, Marcel’s, Marvin, and Mussel Bar. A couple of the places are doing beer dinners.
Read about it here. And here.
Crisp Maltings for Lager, Barleywine, and Porter
11 hours ago
3 comments:
Hate to sound like a complete homer on this, but I can see absolutely no reason to head on down for this event.
There maybe other areas of the country that have a better craft beer selection than Baltimore does (OK. We all know there are), but I know of no place in the US that compares to the Belgian selection we get here in Baltimore (and that includes Monk's in Philly and Brouwer's in Seattle). So at best I would be drinking the same beer down in DC that I can get here, and of course it being DC, the freight charge to get my Belgian on is sure to be a LOT higher.
Also, Max's has more than enough interesting beer events this coming week to keep my interest completely focused at home.
That might be true. However, we don't happen to have a real "Belgian-style bistro" experience here. Not even The Brewer's Art really tries to be a "Belgian restaurant." Belgian food is more than mussels and frites, and the times I've been in other Belgian-style restaurants--Mannequin Pis in Olney, Bistro Belgique Gormand in Occoquan, and even a little deli in Door County, Wisconsin, the experience enhanced the beer. It's kind of like the saying "a hot dog just doesn't taste right without a ball game in front of it" and "a Guinness doesn't taste right without a session playing in the corner".
The last time I was in Monk's Cafe, I had pulled together a Scottish band and a Quebecois band who had been playing within walking distance on a Sunday night, and got Tom Peters to keep the place open late for a raucous, beer-fueled end-of-tour party. (Both bands had wanted to watch each other's performances, truth be told.) Monk's got a little more "real" that night, with the French and Scottish brogues flowing freely.
And far be it from me to say anything if someone prefers Belgian cuisine and beer dinners to Italian beer and the Max's menu.
Can't disagree with you there Alex (about the food). I have no doubt that the DC restaurants will provide vastly superior cuisine to what one finds at Max's (not exactly a high bar).
Still not worth the time and expense of attending this event down in DC though....
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