B Is For Belgian

The other night we decided to check out a new restaurant in our neighborhood called the B Cafe. This is a new Belgian Beer Cafe that has opened on the Upper East Side. We read that they have a great back yard dining area, which is good for kids. So, we loaded up our son in his stroller and off we went (we were meeting two of our friends there). Unfortunately the backyard was closed for repairs/reports of bad weather, so we had to sit inside where it's louder (which resulted in waking our son up a couple times during the meal). The place is very nice inside, and has the feel of a place that should be downtown and not on the UES. We started with some appetizers - salt and pepper shrimp and bitter ballen - which are deep fried meatballs served with a spicy mustard dipping sauce. Nice.
For dinner, 3 of us had variations on the house specialty - moules frites (mussels and fries). I got the mussels cooked in beer (Hoegarten), parsley and garlic. My wife got them cooked in white wine, vegetables and fresh herbs, and our friend got them cooked in saffron, chicken broth and white wine. All were terrific. And the fries came with ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard for dipping. Our other friend got the beef stew, which was also very good. To wash it all down I had a couple bottles of Leffe Dark, which went very well with my meal. Unfortunately our son got too cranky and we had to leave before dessert. Maybe next time.