NYC Tastes

Our third evening in Brussels we reserved for our fine dining portion of the trip with a reservation at Le Rabassier, a small 18 seat spot by Chef and Owner Christophe Durieux.  Chef Durieux cooks and preps all of the food for the restaurant while his wife Eve Renaud acts as front of the house, waitress and sommelier.  Rabassier loosely translates in French to 'a man with a passion for truffles' which is quite fitting as a meal at this restaurant felt like an homage to the great fungi. Le Rabassier offers three different tasting menus; three course, four course, or five course with extra black truffles and an a la carte.  We decided upon the four course menu and a lovely bottle of Sancerre, then settled in for three and a half hours of an absolutely exquisite evening of food. Amuse Bouche- Parmesan Foam with shaved black truffle Amuse Bouche- Black Olive & Foie Gras 1st Course- Roasted Scallop with daikon, ...

Our third day in Brussels was easily my favorite day of the entire trip. I woke up without a touch of illness in sight and was beyond ready to spend the day eating and drinking our way through two incredible places- the first stop De Heeren Van Liedekercke. This restaurant and bar is in the town of Denderleeuw, a 30 minute train ride followed by a 30 minute walk from Brussels.  We were a bit worried as it poured almost all afternoon but somehow we missed the sheets of rain both coming and going.  Luck was definitely on our side at this cozy tavern. Gueuze happens to be my favorite style of beer so after holding off the past few days I was ready to dive right in with a full on gueuze lunch starting with a funky Mort Subite (brewed at the restaurant from the day before) and the flagship Oude Geuze from Drie Fonteinen. These gueuzes couldn't be more different; the Mort Subite was malty and sweet while the Drie was bright with fresh lemons.  A re...

After our tea we trekked across Brussels to Cantillon.  I won't get into the details about this amazing brewery again but here's a little recap from the last trip . When the doors opened that familiar funky barnyard smell greeted us as we wedged into a small seat by the heater with a bottle of Cantillon Carignan; a lambic brewed with Carignan grapes. This was simply lovely; a bright ruby body with the subtle aroma of fruit and oak and a soft, juicy grape flavor that was tart but tannic like a red wine. We were quietly enjoying this beautiful lambic when we heard our names being called and turned to see some old beer friends from NYC enjoying their own bottles!  We ended up grabbing a table together and started to work our way through the bottle list in the short hour that was left.  Of course we didn't get too far but we all planned to return later in the week to finish what we had begun. We bought some beer to take with us on the way home- two huge magn...

Day two in Brussels I woke up finally feeling a little better but far from healthy.  Being that I usually bounce right back from things this was quite shocking and I started  to think I just may feel this way forever.  As I began to  nosedive into this terrible reality I created Mr. T made an extremely rational observation that pulled me back- maybe my stomach pains were being intensified by hunger pains. I hadn't eaten a thing since that night in Paris so this made a little too much sense. I immediately ran outside and grabbed one of the safest and greatest food items in the world- the classic Belgian Waffle. Light and fluffy with that caramelized sugar coating outside and some fresh strawberries on top.  This was exactly what the doctor ordered!  I finally felt okay enough to leave the apartment for more than just a block or two. We had planned to take the train out to De Heeran Van Liedekercke for a leisurely beer lunch that day but obviously I wa...

After our lovely little meal at Septime and a stop at Brewberry I felt like I could continue on with our plans for Valentines evening with dinner and drinks at La Fine Mousse. Unfortunately there was really no great way to get there from Brewery so we decided to make the hour long walk...which is the stupidest thing you can do when you've been having stomach pains all day. An hour later we had finally made it to La Fine and even with the delightful array of craft beers on tap and fantastic bartenders I knew things were about to be officially over.  We cancelled our reservations for dinner, hopped on the subway back to our hotel area and then finally, after a full day of saying "Mind over matter- you can do it!" my stomach said "I'LL SHOW YOU" and it certainly did.  It was awful- the only slight solace I had was that now whatever was making me sick just HAD to be out of my system; I had nothing left inside.  Maybe I would wake up the next day and feel f...

After bringing home some of those delicious Stohrer pastries for Mr. T we headed out the door for what I was expecting to be one of the best days of our trip.  It just happened to be Valentines Day and even though I hate that holiday I was beyond excited for our lunch at Septime; the Michelin starred spot by Chef Bertrand Grebaut's that's currently on the World's 50 Best Restaurant List  and also one of the most difficult restaurant reservations to achieve in Paris.  I was so looking forward to a long, relaxing lunch with nothing to do expect drink wine and bask in some delicious food.    Unfortunately I started feeling a bit ill on the walk over to Septime; actually very ill. Something from breakfast had sent stabbing pains to the sides of my stomach and sweat was beginning to streak down from the top of my head.   I had moments where I thought I might just pass out right there on the sidewalk; but I absolutely refused to get sick a...

Day two in Paris I woke up bright and early to do what I always do in this lovely city- go exploring all the wonderful Patisserie's!  Mr. T always jokes that Paris is magical because whenever he wakes up an array of pastries seem to wondrously appear in the hotel room.   I have a bit of a problem limiting myself while on vacation and this morning was no different.   I stopped into three different croissant shops, grabbed a breakfast sandwich (which would later lead to my demise) and finally landed at Stohrer the oldest pastry shop in Paris. This tiny little bakery was opened back in 1730 by Pastry Chef Nicolas Stohrer, who just happened to be the pastry chef for Louis XV.  In addition to being credited with creating the very first Baba au Rhum they are also known for some of the best eclairs in Paris and I have to agree.  The outside was light and crunchy with creamy custard inside and a gorgeous vanilla ganache on top that seemed to sparkle in the morning s...