Wednesday, July 25, 2012

New Culinary Delights

Brussels, Belgium.  Our home away from our home away from home.  The city we have traveled to consistently for Deaner's work for the past three and a half years.  It used to be that coming to Brussels excited because they had a Pizza Hut buffet and a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant.  Even I have to admit that after three years and many many meals, the old favorites have lost their allure.  I mean, it was always just a Pizza Hut, a place in Atlanta where I never would have dined.  You would think that in a city of this size we would be falling all over great restaurants with awesome food but sadly, that has not been the case.  Especially the area where we normally stay is full of touristy restaurants with mediocre food, none any more discerning than the next.  On this week long business trip I vowed to find new places in attempts of adding something worthwhile to our rotation here.  Having a sick child while here has left me with plenty of internet surfing time and Trip Advisor and I have been reacquainted.  Deaner and I both love a good steak so when I came across the reviews for La Villette, raving about the quality of their steaks, we set out to find the place.  Conveniently it happened to be about a one minute walk from our apartment!  I had a filet with a Belgian cheese and beer sauce and Deaner has the same except with a mushroom sauce.  Huge success.  Our food was delicious and the ambience was perfect.  Evans, who is still feeling subpar, lounged in his stroller and played on the iPad the whole time.  In case I did not make my point about the awesomeness of the food, I give you proof.
Dee-light-ful.  The real icing on the cake?  Our bill was less expensive than most of our trips to Chi-Chi's.

In another new dining establishment adventure we came across another hit.  Ellis is a gourmet burger joint without any of that pork/beef mixture that so many European places favor.  100% real ground beef.  It hard to believe what you will take for granted living in the States.
Once again Evans lounged in his stroller with no complaints.  Both of these places are in a shady area several blocks from the Grand Place so we seem to have found some places that aren't exactly touristy.  It only took three and a years.

Thankfully we are reaching the halfway mark of this trip.  Evans has been down for the count and that has been very hard on all of us.  At 2am he woke me up running a 102.4 fever and would only sleep if lying completely on top of me.  Think Brussels, in July, with no AC, in a single bed, with a 102 degree radiator on your chest.  Two more nights.  I know I keep saying it but SURELY Evans will feel better by tomorrow.  When we return home, I don't care what it takes, we are getting on a better sleeping schedule.  Happy Hump Day to everyone!

**I realize that this post is pretty boring but people can't be caught doing it outside your apartment EVERY day!

1 comments:

Shannon said...

The info on the food was interesting, but I was absolutely enthralled by the part where your child sat peacefully while you ate...what is your secret?!? :)