Belgian food

[ots]

Hi. Wondering if there are any good Belgian places in Philly. Went to Monk's once but the people that we went with didn't like the atmosphere..."too claustrophobic." Liked Cuvee Notre Dame, but understand that that's closed. Any recommendations?

Husband loves Belgian brews and mussels and would like to go in January.

Thanks for your help.

Anne.

[Andrew Fenton]

Welcome, Anne!

Well, you could try going to Monks, with different friends... Nodding Head has mussels, also; while I haven't tried them, I believe they're owned by the same people. (There's a relationship of some kind between the two restaurants, anyway.)

Eulogy on Chestnut St. also kicks it Belgian-style. I like them fine (but I may be a minority around these parts). Haven't tried the mussels, though.

Seems to me I've heard the mussels at Marra's are pretty good. Not that they're Belgian, but you know: mussels.

[MarketStEl]

Eulogy on Chestnut St. also kicks it Belgian-style.  I like them fine (but I may be a minority around these parts).  Haven't tried the mussels, though.

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Oh, only you, me, Gary, one of Gary's fellow professors, his wife, and the readers of Citysearch.com, who--unlike their reviewer, who thought it only average--rave about the place.

They've got a great early bird special on mussels--a dinner size portion at the lunch price, which is about what you'd pay for a top-flight cheesesteak or not much more than that. I also thought their Belgian fries were excellent.

I assume you've been in the upstairs room with the coffin table and the black Last Supper painting?

[rlibkind]

Eulogy on Chestnut St. also kicks it Belgian-style.  I like them fine (but I may be a minority around these parts).  Haven't tried the mussels, though.

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I can't comment on the quality of the food at Eulogy since I haven't been there, but based on the menu they post at the web site, the only items that appear to come close to Belgian cuisine are the mussels and frites. Nothing listed among the entrees is remotely Belgian. And on the appetizer list, while the meatballs may be good, the choice of beer for their braising, Hoegaarden, seems inappropriate.

Mussels is a good start, but it's not enough. Where's the waterzoi or cafbonade? The version of moule provençales specified on the Eugology menu would not be recognized in Ste. Catherine.

Alas, I know of no restaurant in Philadelphia that offers Belgian cuisine beyond mussels and beer and frites. Now, if I could only find one offering lapin à Gueuze!

[mrbigjas]

didn't monks used to have lapin a gueuze? they used to have some sort of beer-braised rabbit on the menu.... actually i just looked it up and it is still on the menu on their website.

[xtian]

Has anyone been to the Abbaye? I have been their for the great beers, but have never read the menu.

[xtian]

Has anyone been to the Abbaye? I have been there for the great beers, but have never read the menu.

[MarketStEl]

Has anyone been to the Abbaye?  I have been there for the great beers, but have never read the menu.

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I have. The only thing Belgian about the place is the beer.

They do serve good food, though--a mix of pub fare and contemporary American. Their chili is one of the few I'd bother to order out.

[rlibkind]

didn't monks used to have lapin a gueuze?  they used to have some sort of beer-braised rabbit on the menu.... actually i just looked it up and it is still on the menu on their website.

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Excellent! I'll have to get back to Monks!

[gabe]

Monk's can't be beat for Belgian food in the city. Their lapin a la gueuze is terrific. It was the first rabbit I'd ever had, and I still consider it the standard. It will soak up a lot of belgian beer at dinner, too. You might enjoy Caribou -- order a nice Belgian beer (they have several good ones) with your steak frites and enjoy. I should add that there are many choices for mussels at Monk's, and I find the "red light" spicy variety to be the best. Don't order the "spanish fly" wings, though, if you want to taste your beer.

[Rich Pawlak]

Monk's can't be beat for Belgian food in the city.  Their lapin a la gueuze is terrific.  It was the first rabbit I'd ever had, and I still consider it the standard.  It will soak up a lot of belgian beer at dinner, too.  You might enjoy Caribou -- order a nice Belgian beer (they have several good ones) with your steak frites and enjoy.  I should add that there are many choices for mussels at Monk's, and I find the "red light" spicy variety to be the best.  Don't order the "spanish fly" wings, though, if you want to taste your beer.

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Monk's has SOME of the Belgian ouvre down, like the mussels and the frites and the lapin, but there just aren't enough of those dishes on the menu. Eulogy does nothing with its Belgian "pedigree" and some of its food is downright awful. The Abbaye sounds Belgian in name, but they are more flexitarian than anything else, and their kitchen is pretty inconsistant.

[philadining]

I've consistently had good food at Monk's, when I felt like dealing with the crowd and smoke and noise. But I can't get behind those frites - they're not bad, but not like real Belgian frietjes.

I ate at Eulogy once, and the food wasn't bad, but as noted in above posts, not particularly Belgian. Another time I just had a Corsendonk and some frites, and the frites were awful, really dry and mealy. I know others like them, so maybe it was unfortunate timing, but still, a Belgian bar ought to be able to deliver at least that one thing at all times!

Brigid's still has a few offerings that resemble Belgian food, but not much... and they don't do the big pot of mussels thing.

It's odd: you can get a good Belgian brew almost anywhere in town, but what's with the frites? The place on south street that was open for about a minute and a half got them right, but I haven't had any others that come close.

Cuvee Notredame was inconsistent, but the mussels and duck and carbonades flamandes were pretty reliable. I miss them. But their frites weren't all the great either...

(edited for yet another typo)

Edited December 20, 2004 by philadining (log)

[ots]

Thanks for the responses. Will probably try out Eulogy for starters.

Anne.

[stephenc]

Hey, is Bridgid's still around?

[herbacidal]

Probably. Someone here woulda heard about it by now if it closed.

[mrbigjas]

brigids is still around; my coworkers and i go there for lunch all the time. it's not really belgian, though, anymore. great beer selection though, and the lunches are reasonably priced and good.

[foodE]

I love Brigid's, but I wasn't aware that it was ever Belgian. When was it?

[philadining]

I love Brigid's, but I wasn't aware that it was ever Belgian.  When was it?

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Michel Notredame used to cook there back in the prehistoric days... before he opened Cuvee Notredame. There are still a few vestiges of that era: the Duck Framboise is still good, there are mussels, just not the big pot of them in an ale-broth style, and of course the beer list. But now it's mostly just a neighborhoody bar with a great beer selection, decent food and a nice vibe.

[rlibkind]

I love Brigid's, but I wasn't aware that it was ever Belgian.  When was it?

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Before Michel Notre Dame opened his own place (Cuvee Notre Dame) he managed Brigid's, which is when it had a Belgian tilt.

[foodE]

My boyfriend and I ate once at Cuvee Notre Dame (which is where we met, at the downstairs bar, a year before). We were both sick the next day.

[MarketStEl]

My boyfriend and I ate once at Cuvee Notre Dame (which is where we met, at the downstairs bar, a year before).  We were both sick the next day.

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I hope that at least the relationship survived this unfortunate event.

[philadining]

Bumping this topic, oddly dormant for a couple of years...

Anyway a few of us have gone on a spontaneous Belgian binge lately, and while I need a few more visits to come to any firm conclusions, here are a few impressions from recent visits:

Eulogy:

Excellent frietjes, if you're down with that thick, double-fried Belgian style of fry (I am.) I had complained upthread about getting some dry mealy specimens a while back, but the ones we recently got served with the mussels, and an auxiliary basket, were crispy on the outside, tender and fluffy on the inside, light, not very greasy at all. I really liked them.

We were not as impressed with the Mussels. The shellfish themselves were very large, which might be a personal preference thing, but all of us agreed that we much preferred smaller mussels. But beyond the size, they seemed a bit over-steamed, many of them were kind of flabby and chewy and just not that great. We left some. Despite being studded with ham and sausage, the broth was not flavorful enough to compel us to soak up much of it with the bread provided for this purpose. I'm hoping to try some more of the menu. They don't have lots of especially Belgian dishes, but there's a Waterzooi, and some of the other dishes, even the burgers, are supposedly based on the owner's (Belgian) family recipes.

Our waiter gave some excellent advice on the beers, pointing out mistakes in the descriptions of a few of them. This of course makes one wonder why they don't just fix the beer menu, but hey, we appreciated the service. The beer selection is very deep, both on tap and from bottles.

Monks:

I recently dropped-in for the first time in years. It had been so crowded and loud and smoky the last few times that I'd gone that I just couldn't take it. But now with the smoking ban, all one has to do is avoid the crowds. We hit a slow time and were pleasantly surprised. The Mussels were excellent. We ordered a version featuring caramelized leeks, bacon and blue cheese, which made for a creamy, salty broth. The mussels themselves were small, tender, and not at all sandy. Some of the tastiest mussels I've had in a while, from any nationality's cuisine.

I liked the fries much better than I had previously. They're still too thin and stubby to be my ideal fry, but they were nice and crispy, not always the case when I'd had them before. Some came with the mussels and we liked them enough that we ordered more. Still, I give Eulogy the edge here, both for authenticity and for overall tastiness.

I had a burger, which was decent, but pretty seriously overcooked beyond what I'd asked for, so it's surprising that it was still good at all. The DP took advantage of a brunch offering (amazingly, the brunch menu seems to be served until 5 pm) and had Eggs Benedict, which as jazzed up with good Ardennes ham and some spinach. The Hollandaise was a little subdued, but maybe that's some sort of Belgian joke about the Dutch...

As always, there was a great selection of beer on tap, and an insane number in bottles.

I haven't made it to Zot yet, but I'm sure others can add their impressions.

I went to Brigid's recently, and beyond having a good selection of Belgian beer, there are very few traces of Belgian influence on the place these days. Still, good neighborhood bar, and I like the food, but it probably doesn't belong in this discussion.

So, what are you folks liking, or not, these days?

[Lisa1349]

Could the beer world have a grapevine? I've learned that Eulogy has purchased 2 additional locations, one in the city and the other is the old Broad Axe Tavern in Blue Bell that has been vacant for at least 2 years. Construction has already begun.

Monk's overcooking burgers has been a consistent problem for a while. Indeed, they are still tasty despite that which must say something about the good quality of meat used. The grilled octopus is also good there. I haven't been there since the smoking ban. I look forward to not smelling like an ash tray when I leave!

[guzzirider]

Word on the street is that Tavern on the Green in Fairmount has changed hands, and is (or will be soon) reopening as Monks II. I haven't been past there recently, so I'm not sure of the current disposition.

__Jason

Edited March 12, 2007 by guzzirider (log)

[rlibkind]

Word on the street is that Tavern on the Green in Fairmount has changed hands, and is (or will be soon) reopening as Monks II. I haven't been past there recently, so I'm not sure of the current disposition.

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It's not "on the street", it's been in the paper. Michael Klein reported this Feb. 18. Scroll down this article link to find the item.