Boyfriend and I went to Brasserie Beck downtown last night and I fell in love - with the restaurant, of course. I love everything about it - the high ceilings, the modern, Mondrian-esque design, the tragically hip clientele, the FOOD, the book of Belgian beers they give you, with tasting notes for each beer - just a great dining experience.
I had moules frites (mussels and fries), which I always seem to order when they appear on the menu. They were pretty fantastic - plump and juicy, well-seasoned, and the fries, oh lord, the fries. They were thin and crispy and came with a trio of mayonnaise (Belgian-style), which I typically loathe, but I was practically licking the plate if that tells you anything. Boyfriend got the same, except he got his mussels with fennel and chorizo, while I stuck to the more traditional white wine, parsley, and garlic. We also split a cheese course, which was delicious, if slightly lacking in variation.
Brasserie Beck serves up typical Belgian brasserie food, but to be honest, the focus is not the food - it's the beer. Pages and pages (15, if I counted right) of all different types of Belgian beer, each served in a brand-specific glass for ultimate tasting pleasure, our server informed us. The fun was in choosing which beer to try next. I had a total of four: an Affligem Blond (crisp and flavorful, though I'm no beer aficionado), Delirium Tremens (my favorite), St. Louis Framboise (a raspberry-flavored lambic vaguely reminiscent of a wine cooler - bitch beer, pretty much), and a Kwak (caramel-y amber ale - yum.)
Cuteness: I was actually going to order a different beer than the Kwak, but the waiter interrupted me and told me he would bring me what I really wanted, and would overlook my lapse in judgment when I ordered straight up raspberry juice with the Framboise. He came over with the Kwak (which I lurved) in a bizzare beaker-like glass that had it's own wooden stand. How did this man know I love anything involving caramel (even a beer with a caramel finish) and that anything that's so pretentious it has to have its own wooden stand automatically captures my heart with its ridiculousness? Methinks I've found a soulmate.
One last note, to the chick next to us who insisted on having a 20-minute discussion with the sommelier about which wine she was "feeling:"
1. We know you like wine. We know you like showing off to people that you "know" wine. But when you practically scream to the restaurant that you're "LOOKING FOR SOMETHING WITH A HINT OF A PEPPERY FINISH, THAT OPENS UP TO THE PALATE EVER-SO-GRADUALLY," you make everyone in the vicinity want to engage in homicide. Please refrain, and get over yourself.
2. You are at a brasserie with a fifteen-page list full of brews you can't get anywhere else in the city. Man up and order the beer.
Photo credit: heatherfreeman.com.
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