Nurturing my inner... belgian brunch

Why I like brunch - An essay.  *Et hem*

I like brunch because it affords you time to sleep in.  *yawn*  It gives you the option of breakfast and/or lunch foods, so you can go with your mood of the day.  And moody people like me like choices.  (It's best to not limit us and make us more cranky.)  Brunch says to me, "Hey, take your time.  Have that second cup of coffee.  Chew slowly in between recanting your stories.  Take turns.  Ask lots of questions to draw your friends out too.  Listen well.  Find out what's really going on in their lives.  Care for them.  You can be here well into lunch time, because you are in no hurry at all.  You're exactly where you need to be and who you need to be with at this very moment."

Wow.  Brunch is a talker.  But why not.  It is a meal that was never meant to be speedy.  So slow the heck down, would ya?

Trying new restaurants makes me giddy.  (Think: kid with new bike.)  There is always so much to take in.  The layout, the atmosphere, the other patrons, the sounds, the tables, the decor and of course, the food.

TV is my educator.  Well, not wholly.  (Thank goodness.)  But a lot of good info can be learned if you watch the right shows.  In an episode of Bobby Flay's Throw Down, he was going to make waffles.  There is this amazing looking yellow truck in NY City that does a booming business.  Wafels & Dinges.  (Loosely Flemish for waffles and whatchamacallits.)  That was the guy he was going to throw down with.  And boy, you should have seen those waffles.  He makes two styles: Brussels (we know as Belgian, but if you go to Belgium and ask for a Belgian waffle, apparently they will look at you sideways because to them, it's Brussels) and the liège style.  This second one got my attention.  When they make it, the batter is really like dough.  You don't pour it.  You break off a piece and put that dough ball on the waffle iron.  BUT, here is the kicker, they first put down some pearl sugar.  (Oooh.  You don't even know what that is yet, but yes, you want it.  You can buy some of their products here.)  It really is what it sounds like.  Small pea-sized orbs of sugar.  And when they melt on the iron as the dough cooks, they caramelize.  (Second Oooh.)  At that moment, I knew I had to find this elusive waffle.  But since I wasn't going to be in NYC until maybe the summer, I felt a little let down.  But wait!  All is not lost.  Back to the show.

For some tips, Bobby went to a friend of his who owns a restaurant called Le Pain Quotidien.  (Once you can figure out how to spell it, you probably can find it.)  They too serve both styles of waffles and this place has a variety of spreads to put on top.  (Though, I didn't see spekuloos, which, you need to know, is apparently amazing stuff.  They mash up special ginger cookies into a spread that is about the consistency of peanut butter and I hear it's to die for.)  I looked up this restaurant online and was out and out thrilled to find out there were some in the MD/DC/VA area!  Huzzah!  I sent out an email and a couple of my friends were able to make it.  (And the rest will kick themselves for missing the deliciousness after they see this post.  Don't worry guys, I'll be going back there and you can be sure to book your calendars now and join me.)

Let's go into the restaurant, shall we?  We decided on the Clarendon, VA location this time.  Table for three.  Five minute wait.  Not bad.  I got to look around the shop.

By the cash registers, they had some chocolates, sandwiches to go and their signature spreads.  You can buy individual large jars or these sample packs that have all four varieties.  Flavors are Noir (dark chocolate), Brunette (praline), Blonde (white chocolate) and Noisella (chocolate hazelnut).

Oh, the flavor options.

Behind the registers, on the back wall, were all kinds of breads.  It's like carb paradiso.  (Did Dante write about baguettes?  I'm pretty sure he did.)

And the angels sang.

Shift your eyes 45 degrees to the right and you have the patisserie.  Sugary baked goods galore.

We'll come back to this later.

The five minutes flew by and we were seated quite quickly.  This was around 10:30 am on a Sunday.  It was a quaint place.  Bistro-like.  The tables were unfinished wood tops.  I liked the rustic, no nonsense feel.

I started with a cappuccino with an impressive over-the-rim foam top.  (How'd they do that?  It defied gravity with its vertical height.)  One of my other friends got a hot chocolate.  The bowl of hot milk came to the table with a little silver pitcher of melted chocolate that they poured in and stirred.  (I loved this place already and I hadn't even eaten a thing yet.)

Bowl with no handles. Very French. Might
as well get the full experience.

The menu was inventive and fresh. In the DC locations, we get organic eggs. And if I haven't lauded the praises of fresh farm eggs enough, I will do it again, shortly!  I was so torn between items, everything looked incredible, but I had come there with one thing in mind.  So I had to make a tough choice and stick with it.

We drank our warm beverages, gabbed as usual and before you know it, our meals arrived.


Friend one got the Paris Ham & Gruyère quiche.  One of the best quiches I've ever eaten.  (Yes, my friends accept my commitment to my food blog and are eager to let me try their dishes so I might properly report in great detail.)

Paris ham is less salty than Virginia ham.
It was the ideal compliment to the gruyère.
Someone knew what they were doing.

Friend two got the Paris Ham & Gruyère omelet.  (Seems to be a popular combo.)

Those eggs were the fluffiest I've ever had in
an omelet. So delicate. Delicious. (Yep,
nabbed a little bite of that one.)

And now for me.  As promised, the liège waffle.  Insider note: it's not on the breakfast part of the menu, it's at the bakery because you can get them to go.  But you can order it and it will come to you warm with powdered sugar and fresh berries.  The other thing that they have at the tables is some jam and the Brunette praline spread, so I got to try that.  Oh wow.  I'll be buying a jar of that next time I go in.  The waffle was crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and the crunch that melted pearl sugar added was magnificent.  Never had a better waffle.  (And to think I nearly ordered the Paris Ham & Gruyère tartine.  That's for next time!)

As dreamy as promised.

Seeing I was able to resist ordering everything off the menu earlier, I allowed myself a couple of things to go.  The organic brioche muffin (which you can order in house too and they'll serve it warm with jam) and...

I heated at home in microwave.

... the pistachio tart.  Which was a mini pistachio cake with apricot jam and pistachio halves on top.

Now that's a lot of pistachios.

I told my cousins in CA and CT they had to go to the Le Pain Quotidien in their locations, since they both had a couple within an hour's drive of each of them.  My hope is that they too are able to go with some good friends and spend a couple hours talking, listening and eating.  It's always a great time when you're out with good buddies, but it's just that much nicer when the food is also incredible!