B is for Belgian - BXL East

This past weekend, we continued our culinary adventure with the letter "B."  Part of how we decided to start exploring different foods together is a few weeks ago, I was telling Russ how much I loved mussels.  He told me he had never really had mussels as a meal before and from that point, I knew that once we hit B, we had to do mussels!  We actually had a ridiculous Japanese meal at Megu the night before with my family and then spent Saturday with Russ's family having brunch and then going to an art show at the New York Historical Society and finished off with a few beers at The Dead Poet on the west side before even heading over to BXL East for our Belgian meal.

Above:  Photo credit BXL

BXL definitely has a bar vibe with wooden tables and chairs alongside the bar in the front as well as a room with tables and chairs in the back.  The menu is full of Belgian treats but the mussels are definitely the reason to come.  There is also a huge beer menu with a rotating list of about 8-10 beers on tap and numerous bottles, mainly from Belgium but all over the world.

 Above:  Menu Cover

Above:  Beers

I'm a fan of Belgian Wheat beers so I went for the Duvel Green draft which was delicious and Russ enjoys a darker beer so he started with the Ommegang Abbey which came in a bottle.  We decided to forgo the appetizer this time because we wanted to be sure to have a delicious dessert so we just dove right into the mussels.  

 Above:  Moules Marinieres 

Above:  Moules Provencale

Above:  Fries and dipping sauce

We decided to split 2 kinds of mussels, each comes with 2 lbs of mussels and a plate of fries.  First we had the classic Marinieres which is mussels in a broth of white wine and shallots.  These were delicious, perfectly cooked, just the right touch of shallots to not be overpowering but give the mussels lots of flavor.  The second was the mussels Provencale which was in a tomato, garlic and basil.  I'm not usually one for mussels in a red sauce but this was incredibly fresh and flavorful.  I love how much garlic they used and the tomato and basil were great additions to the mussels!

Above:  Moelleux au Chocolat

This was delicious!  Molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, berries and crumbled nuts.  It was insanely good, so rich and decadent.  The trick to eating this is half a spoonful of ice cream, a bite of chocolate and some nuts (Russ ate all the berries because I'm allergic.)

All in all, a fantastic meal!  Russ discovered he liked mussels and I solidified my love of mussels and Belgian beers!  To finish up, a few pictures of the beautiful sunset that night and us before dinner!

~Carly