Eastern Market Venture
March 12, 2011
While the rest of DC was celebrating Shamrock Fest and reveling in their inner Irish, I decided to drag my lazy butt out of bed and venture out to DC’s Eastern Market. After making plans, and getting stuck on the train for nearly THREE HOURS, my cousin and I made it to Eastern Market…Just as it closed (Insert sigh of defeat). Figures I picked the weekend DC Metro decided to make repairs on the Orange Line to go into the city.
Nevertheless, we continued to explore Capitol Hill, our first stop, Peregrine Espresso.
A refreshing change from Starbucks and Dunkin (Don’t get me wrong, I love the Dunkin), Peregrine offers several selections of beans (I was a bit baffled when the barista asked what kind of coffee bean I’d like to go with my coffee. “…Um, strong?”), and after you make your selection, each cup is individual brewed with it’s own micro-brew (Which I find fascinating to watch, as previously mentioned in the last post). But as fascinating as and eco/dog-friendly Espresso was (If someday I were to have a pup. Someday), I found my coffee to be on the weak and slightly water-down side. But I enjoyed sitting outside with my cuz while drinking our coffee.
Afterwards, we wandered down to Belga Cafe, a Belgian restaurant, one I was hoping to catch the end of their brunch hour and snack on their crepes. But it was a success, we managed to snag an outdoor table, and a couple dishes, beers, and desserts later, we left the restaurant very full and quite satisfied.
Belga Cafe is considered to be a Belgian-Euro infusion restaurant that also prides in their very extensive beer list (And I do mean extensive, I think the beer list was 3x thicker than the menu). While we weren’t in the mood for anything on the main entree list (Be forewarned, some of the dishes can be a bit on the pricey side), we decided to split a mussel pot with frites, bread pudding, and a plate of mini desserts.
Our mussels of choices were severed steamed in a green curry creme sauce mixed with garlic and bacon. My only complaint was that my plate was too small to eat them all (And it was good that we only ordered one pot, we were STUFFED). The bread pudding was warm and sweet, a good complement to the sweet figs and savory and stinky goat cheese (Which was quite strong and deeeelicous) served with it. And later we had the assortment of mini-desserts. Sadly, I could not eat the ones with chocolate since I had given it up for lent :( But there was Creme Brulee, which was most delicious.
For my choice of brew, I picked a St. Louis Framboise, a Raspberry Lambic, sweet, fruity and quite bubbly for a beer.
I am a girlie drinker. I like ‘em sweet. Plain and simple. I’m not a fan of strong liquor or stouty, dark beers. And once I find a drink, I stick to it (Of course, it poses a problem when I go out and they don’t have my drink of choice. I’m picky, can’t help it). But this, St. Louis, I like.
There wasn’t anything about the dinner I can’t complain about, and I’ll probably come back for brunch the next time I come to Eastern Market (Among a number of other restaurants I plan of visiting). But it was quite pricey and a bit far out location-wise, so I wouldn’t exactly make it a frequent dinner spot. Regardless, I’d give it three yums up.
Belga Cafe - ❀❀❀
-S
