This past October Wendy and I took our annual vacation and since she was working in Rotterdam at the time and also had sufficient air miles to fly me out for free we decided to spend a week in that faraway insanely expensive land known as Europe.
We only had a week so we decided to spend a day or two in Amsterdam and take a train to Belgium because of their picturesque towns, their famous lace and for some chocolate. Actually, the truth of the matter is we went to Belgium for beer. Beer nerds know what I'm saying when I mention the words Belgium and beer. It's like a wine geek dreaming of visiting the famed vineyards of Romanée Conti.
I had just seen the movie "In Bruges" and that was all the travelogue I needed. While I didn't expect to run into Colin Farrell, the town looked postcard pretty and we decided to visit. It's as beautiful as it was in the movie. Amazing gingerbread house architecture most of it from medieval times, museums filled with amazing Flemish art, cobblestone streets. The city has beautiful canals running throughout with stone bridges and swans languidly drifting by.
We, of course, ate mussels and fries (mussels were great, fries just okay), had a waffle that I'm fairly certain came out of a microwave, dodged endless gangs of British tourists in giant tour groups recklessly brandishing umbrellas, had a really great Flemish beef stew and at the same restaurant actually had a very good braised rabbit dish that was of the all-you-can-eat variety. I couldn't believe when the waiter asked if I wanted more rabbit.
The most enjoyable moments, away from the madding crowds, in from the cold and rain, were at the pubs. One in particular, Staminee de Garre, stood out. Once we found it, that is. It sits in a tiny alley off the Markt, the main square. We walked past the alley at least three times because it was so tiny and narrow. Down the alley there's a small sign leading you up an ancient stairway to the pub. The building is some four or five hundred years old and once seated inside it felt like you were in a pub out of Middle Earth. The bar had three beers on tap: a Wit, a Blonde Tripel, and a fruit beer. The beer menu listed some 100-plus bottles of beer. As in all the best Belgium pubs it's rather quiet. Classical music plays in the background and the patrons speak in hushed tones as they sip their beers in near reverential fashion. The Flemish would term the atmosphere "Gezellig." - cozy, comfortable, social. Such a far cry from the bars that pump out blaring Euro-disco along with Harp, Bass and Budweiser.
-Chef Steve Jaramillo