Moules, Frites and Libations at Brasserie Beck

This is my second time dining at Brasserie Beck and man, dinner last night lived up to my every expectation! We didn't have reservations, but went there straight after work and only had to wait a few minutes for a table. The bar was hopping with happy hour drinkers, so the dining room wasn't really crowded. As a bonus, I never realized how close this place is to where I work! I already knew I was going to devour some delicious mussels and fries, but also wanted to try something else off their menu.

To start, we got the crispy veal sweetbread. Now let me begin and say that I've only had veal once before. It's a taste that I'm trying to get acclimated to. But this dish was amazingly delicious! It's served on top of squash risotto with sage butter that was cooked to perfection, absolutely creamy and full of flavor. As for the sweetbread, it was super crispy and light and as you bite into it, you get this burst of salty goodness! I couldn't believe I was actually enjoying every bite.

Next up, I ordered a full portion of the spicy red thai curry mussels. The mussels came out with a heaping bowl of delicious crispy french fries with sprinkled parsley and three dipping sauces. The presentation of the mussels is kind of interesting too. If everyone at the table orders it, the wait staff comes out with a huge covered pot and then open all the lids at once at the table. It's like "ta da, here's your dinner!" My mussels were cooked to perfection in this amazing sauce that was sweet, salty and spicy, all my favorite flavor combinations. There was also a generous portion of crusty bread to use to soak up the saucy goodness. Tuan got the mussels that were cooked in a mushroom broth. It tasted very hearty and you could taste the mushroom flavor with just a hint of herbs. Not your traditional type of mussels, but still finger licking good!

After polishing off everything in front of us, there really wasn't much room left for dessert. I couldn't believe how full I was, but that could have been the effects of the wine as well. They have a very impressive wine and beer selection and our waiter told us last night that they were having a special with half off bottles of select wine.

I really did enjoy everything about dinner last night and was so happy to come and try it out again. As we were sitting at our table, I drooled over some of the other entrees that the tables close to us were eating. So needless to say, I see future trips so I can try more food.