Belga Café

You can plan and read and scheme but sometimes serendipity serves you best. We went to a cocktail party at a friend's place near Eastern Market and since we secured a parking place decided to explore 8th Street SE, which was hoppin' on a Friday night.

As we walked along looking at the numerous restaurants and their sidewalk areas we saw an empty two-top at Belga Café and got ourselves seated there. It vaguely rang bells and clearly sported a fairly authentic Belgian menu. It turns out that Chef Bart Vandaele claims to be the original Belgian restaurant in the District, leading the way in one of DC's biggest trends.

We split the four-cheese croquettes, which were hot and creamy and richly cheesy, with a frisée-bacon salad and balsamic gelée. I had the Flemish beef stew with red cabbage and the rich, brown braised beef truly melted in your mouth with a deep beef flavor. The red cabbage tasted of cabbage but was blander than some other versions I've had. It was served with frites -- which were very good and served nice and hot.

Service was good though I made the mistake of letting the server pick my beers without checking the price and while the blond Lucifer was good to start with and pricey at $9, the stout, though it paired well with the beef stew, was too expensive at $12.

We like Brasserie Beck and Marcel's, so we're definitely susceptible to Belgian cuisine. The Belga Café menu looks great, with a good mix of authentic traditional dishes and updated or Eurofusion creations. Not sure how pleasant it would be inside, but the patio on a breezy spring evening was ideal. The whole 8th Street SE scene was a revelation. It is really far from our house but definitely worth a trip back.