The Gossiping Gourmet: A Belgian bistro for mussels and more

When in Brussels, one eats mussels, so too, at Brussels Bistro in Laguna.

You can find it tucked beneath an art gallery on Forest Avenue and it has all the charm and conviviality of the many little cafés lining the narrow streets around the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium. Of course, no proper mussel shop is without its large selection of draft and bottled beers and that is the case in this old world café.

The walls are red brick, the ceilings are beamed and banquettes line the sides of the cozy room. Tabletops are bright red, yellow, green and blue and along one wall is an eat-in bar.

Beer posters and a frieze of photos of the eponymous city make up the décor of this very casual brasserie. There is also a small outdoor eating area with a toasty fireplace.

On most nights from 7 to 11, live music fills the room with sounds from a great duo, with a vocalist Tuesdays. The place has a well-deserved reputation as a good place to listen to jazz. On Friday and Saturday nights, there is a deejay after 10:30 p.m. for a “European party” with a wide range of world music.

Sipping our Stellas, we debated which preparation we wanted for our moules. Six are available. Monday through Wednesday they offer a special “all you can eat” dinner of mussels with Belgian fries and a free beer or glass of wine for $24. If you ask for more, you can choose a different style. However, as with any “all you can eat” offering, it’s not meant for sharing.

We had the nature (white wine and garlic) and the provençal (fresh tomatoes, basil and Pastis). But you might want to try the marinière or the cream varieties: curry, Hoegaarden beer or garlic. The mussels themselves were delicious: small, sweet and tender.

We found the wine and garlic preparation to be a bit boring, needing salt and more garlic, although it made a nice soup once the mussels were gone and we had added the requisite salt. The provençal, however, was fabulous. The slightly licorice flavor from the Pastis and the thin shreds of basil were the perfect marriage for the light tomato broth, accented with big chunks of lightly cooked fresh tomatoes.

The juices at the bottom of the casserole pot were simply irresistible and we soaked them up with their very good, very crusty French bread. Mussels here are served with Belgian fries. These thick-cut fries are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside but the potatoes themselves tasted dry. This is a produce problem, not a cooking problem, just not the same quality or type of potato available in Europe. You can also get a petit casserole of moules marinière as an appetizer.

We followed with a hearty salade ligeoise, another classic Belgian dish, composed of bacon, potatoes, green beans and lightly cooked onions. This warm salad was dressed in a thick, creamy vinaigrette with a tart, rich flavor. These new potatoes were particularly good, the beans were nicely cooked and, all together, they made a satisfying dish, especially nice for winter.

Sea bass frequently appears as a “special” on the menu and the evening’s preparation was with mustard cream sauce. The gentleman at our neighboring table overheard us debating about a choice of entrée and felt compelled to recommend this fish as he was devouring his last bites.

We took his advice and were very pleased that we did because the fish itself was absolutely marvelous, so much so that the sauce was superfluous. With a lesser, blander piece of fish, a sauce often provides most of the flavor.

But here, we didn’t even want any sauce, however tasty it might have been, because it would mask the taste of this exquisite fish, which we think was Chilean sea bass because of its distinctive flavor and particularly moist texture. Chilean sea bass is a fattier fish, giving it a satiny mouth feel.

The accompaniment was a very rich leek tart “” tasty, thinly rolled pastry filled with leeks and cream and topped with cheese “” maybe not the best combination with a cream-sauced fish. It would have been nice on its own with salad as a light entrée. (A selection of tarts appears on the appetizer menu.) Also on the plate was a baked tomato with breadcrumb topping.

After mussels, their next most popular dish must certainly be their great hamburger “” a thick, freshly made patty, which is topped with melted gruyere, caramelized endive and their special sauce on a ciabatta-type bun. It is served with a large cornet of Belgian fries. This burger is definitely on our top five list of burgers in town.

There was a time when crèpes had their heyday, appearing for dessert on a lot of menus as well as in crèperies, where they were filled with everything from bacon and eggs to beef stew. They are hard to find these days; however, no proper Belgian bistro would be without them, so at Brussels there is a crèpe duo appetizer of ham ‘n’ cheese and chicken-mushroom served in béchamel sauce. On the dessert side, you can finish your meal with crèpes, Belgian chocolate, vanilla ice cream and Chantilly cream or crèpes flambéed with orange liqueur.

We were disappointed in the apple tart, made with quartered apples, some overcooked and some underdone. It came with some light custard and vanilla ice cream. We probably should have tried the crèpes.

This charming little bistro has a great European feel, the mussels are top notch and the jazz is really “cool.”

If You Go

What: Brussels Bistro (949) 376-7955 brusselsbistrocafe.com

Where: 222 Forest Ave

When: 5 to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sunday Prices:

Appetizers: $6.50 to $16

Entrées: $13 to $39

Desserts: $8 to $12

Wine:

Bottles: $28 to $55

By the glass: $7.50 to $10

Corkage Fee: $15