It’s not always the fanciest places that make for pleasant dining.
Belgium long has been a star of the European dining scene, but Belgian restaurants are few and far between here.
There’s a casual restaurant in downtown Laguna Beach that’s looking to change that in Orange County,Brussels Bistro. It’s celebrating its first year of serving Belgium’s unpretentious comfort foods.
The owner/waiter/bon vivant at the front of the house is Alain Pauwels, who came here last year directly from Brussels. The chef/partner is Thomas Crijns, who has worked with high-end chefs in Belgium.
Alain is known in the hospitality industry as owner of other restaurants and hotels in Brussels and Senegal.
When the duo considered a restaurant in this country, Laguna Beach seemed like a dream location,Brussels Bistro sits just half a block from Main Beach. And they opted for the casual end of Belgian dining, rather than fussy food and lush decor.
This truly is a casual space reminiscent of a favorite local pub or restaurant you’d find in Europe. We’ve added this bistro to our list of places for spur-of-the-moment good food.
After stepping down a few steps,it sits beneath an art gallery,and entering through a modern front wall of glass, there’s the casualness of a zinc-topped bar, brick walls and pub-style tables with wooden bistro chairs.
The wine list is a mix that leans mostly to California and French labels at affordable prices but also includes some pricey ones. But since the Belgians make some of the world’s best beers, I don’t go to Brussels Bistro to drink wine.
Belgian beers are acclaimed for their clean taste without harsh bitterness. The bistro serves 17 of Belgium’s most renowned beers by the bottle and a trio of good beers by the glass.
Hoegaarden is an unfiltered wheat beer, the color of lemonade and citrusy enough in its own right to embrace the slice of lemon that floats atop the glass. Stella Artois is a well-known brand, amber colored and very smooth on the palate. My husband Patrick and I, however, really enjoy Maredsous, a darker beer that is delicious.
Belgian fare must start with the fries,crispy, twice-cooked marvels that bear no resemblance to the American version. French fries here can be ordered as an appetizer and come with some of the dishes, including a 10-ounce burger that’s topped with caramelized endive, tomato and lettuce.
Good bread starts the meal. Save some if you order the casserole of moules (a hefty portion of tender mussels in their shells); you’ll want to sop up the sauce. Ditto for the buttery sauce at the bottom of a casserole dish holding white asparagus topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and minced parsley in the Flemish style.
Other impressive starters include croquettes of shrimp and cheese. A soup with assorted fish comes in a nice tomato broth sporting a dab of saffron flavor; a creamy asparagus soup also is offered.
Some of the foods require patience to prepare. An example: the creamed chicken entree,a plateful that comes topped with a round of cloud-like puff pastry,is a two-day affair. In this classic vol au vent dish, the poultry is first cooked in liquid, infusing flavor and rendering the chicken tender and easy to shred. It’s then combined with a wonderful cream sauce with some wild mushrooms added along with an accent of flat-leaf parsley.
Tartare of beef can be ordered as an entree, served with the crunchy fries or piled atop toast with a salad on the side.
There always is a fresh fish of the day. As an entree, the steamed mussels are offered with a curry essence perfuming them, in a classic white wine sauce or in a garlic broth.
Salmon is crusted with chopped parsley and engaged with a cherry beer sauce. Meatloaf is a comfort food that is joined with the earthiness of morel mushrooms and mounds of a trio of vegetable and potato purees around the meaty centerpiece.
The Belgians simmer their stews in beer and here it is presented as carbonnades de boeuf comprised of beef and vegetables and haricots verts in a typical stew broth. Smoked salmon on a bed of spinach set upon toast is an appealing sandwich.
Three appetizers and four entrees are changed weekly. When we visited, the weekly menu featured appetizers of binche potatoes (a Belgian waxy variety of potato) with goat cheese and honey drizzle and the beloved hard-boiled eggs with peppers and North Sea shrimp.
Entrees of the week were a seafood salad incorporating tuna and shrimp, pork in a pastry crust with vegetables and a shallot sauce (another two-day affair to prepare), rolled chicken meat with mushrooms and foie gras sauce and a plate of Belgian endive topped with ham and cheese.
Belgians love their desserts. When lighter is better, go for the bistro’s classic, airy chocolate mousse. Sauce made from fine chocolate can be a coating for a scoop of ice cream too. Also on this end of the scale is a refreshing orange “salad” dressed in a Mandarine liqueur.
I highly recommend the warm apple tart that is surrounded by cr & #269;me anglaise and given added decadence with a scoop of ice cream. There’s a signature chocolate cake with a molten chocolate center,made with Callebaut chocolate.
Sweet Belgian toast is topped with caramelized apple slices, while a warm sugar tart with a scoop of coffee ice cream brings back memories of my French grandmother’s tarts. Crepes are served with both chocolate and vanilla adding panache.
A live jazz group entertains on Thursday evenings and a DJ on Friday evenings is fun, too.
AT A GLANC – BRUSSELS BISTROE
Address: 222 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach
Phone: (949) 376-7955
Cost: appetizers $6-$12; sandwiches, salads $9-$11; entrees $10-$22; desserts $6-$7
