Bart Vandaele (Courtesy of Belga Cafe).
“Belgium has the best beer in the world,” declared Bart Vandaele, the owner and head chef at Belga Café, as we sat down at his restaurant’s bar. “This is a fact.”
Such statements help explain why Vandaele recently was awarded membership in the Knighthood of the Brewers’ Mash Staff, the modern-day incarnation of Belgium’s centuries-old beermakers’ guild. Such statements also explain why InBev, the Leuven-based company that produces Stella, Hoegaarden, and Leffe, employs Vandaele as one of its brand ambassadors.
Most Hill residents count Belga Café as a favorite – just about every night, and certainly every Saturday and Sunday morning, the restaurant is packed. And it’s obvious that the restaurant takes beer very seriously. Patrons are presented with a menu of about 150 different beer selections shortly after sitting down.
In part, Vandaele loves Belgium beer because he’s from Belgium. He started his cooking career at the age of 12 when he enrolled at a culinary institute in Bruges, and made it to the United States in 1997 when he landed a job with the with EU’s head diplomat to the United States.
But Vandaele also loves beer because he’s a chef. “One of the great things about beer,” he explained, “is that there are no written rules when you pair it with food. You can order a beer when you sit down – and enjoy it before the food arrives, with your appetizer, and then all the way through dessert. It’s much harder to do that with wine.”
Belga even offers about a dozen beer cocktails. Its signature drink, “The Belga,” combines lime-flavored vodka with peach-flavored beer and peach-cream liqueur. The restaurant’s “Apple Beer-tini” – a twist on an apple martini – combines apple beer sorbet with marinated apples and apple vodka.
When asked if beer cocktails are common in Belgium, Vandaele laughed. “It’s not really a Belgium thing,” he explained, “it’s more of a Belga thing.”
While the focus of the beer list is Belgium, Vandaele has gradually expanded his selection of American brews. When he moved to DC 13 years ago, he says it was extremely difficult to find a good beer. These days, though, he’s quite impressed with American brewers – pointing to Ommegang, Brooklyn Brewery, and Fat Tire as his favorites. You can find beer from Ommegang and Brooklyn Brewery on Belga’s menu.
The restaurant is about to celebrate its sixth anniversary, and will be celebrating October 22 through 24. When the restaurant opened back in 2004, many of Vandaele’s friends thought he was “crazy” to open such a nice restaurant on 8th Street. Few could have predicted that within just six years, many would call Barrack’s Row “Restaurant Row.” Indeed, one could argue that Vandaele is the father of the Barrack’s Row restaurant scene, as he proved that the neighborhood could support expensive restaurants.
Despite the price tag — entrees range in price from $19 to $27 – Vandaele likes to see his restaurant as a neighborhood hangout. With that vision in mind, he hosts a beer tasting on the last Tuesday of every month, picking out about 5-7 beers to pair with a three-course menu, all for $49. This month – on October 26 – he’ll feature Red Ales and Vintage Rodenbach.
Woah, there! I say, woah! InBev? When I think of mass produced, low quality beer, I think InBev. No one should be flaunting his affiliation. Stella, Hoegaarden, Leffe? These are NOT quality beers.
There is a reason that you don’t see Budweiser on tap at Churchkey. Several countries are doing great things with beer right now, but I think you would be hardpressed to find one better than the US of A.
To each his (or her) own, Beer Guy. I was impressed and entertained by the beer list at Belga, but at other restaurants I’d take a Stella or Hoegarden any day over some of the soapy water some mass-production American breweries distribute as beer.
I dunno…Leffe Brune, tasty…and hard to find these days!