Only the top 40 restaurants were ranked in 2011's Best Restaurants list.
The French-accented waiters and comforting soups and stews give this place the feel of a continental bistro. Despite the restaurant’s Belgian pedigree, mussels have sometimes been disappointing. Not so other Belgian classics and dishes that feature fish, such as the seared scallops or the sea-bass waterzooi.
The chocolate mousse is a popular dessert—one night it seemed to land on every table, and the kitchen sometimes runs out. But others are more deserving of attention, including a delicate almond-pear tart with a refreshing Hoegaarden-beer ice cream.
Also good: Smoked trout with lentils; French onion soup; ham-wrapped endive baked with béchamel; Flemish beef stew deepened with dark beer; a rib-eye steak (with a superlative green-peppercorn sauce on request); open-faced ham-and-cheese sandwich (lunch only); lemon tart.
Open Monday for dinner, Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for brunch and dinner. Moderate.
>> See all of 2011's Best Restaurants
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
