On Monday, more than 60 guests joined us for the third and final installment of our Crafted Dinner series with Leffe at Belga Café in Washington, DC. Belga Café was conceptualized by award-winning Belgian chef Bart Vandaele, and has been bringing craft beers and authentic fare to Capitol Hill since 2004. With Chef Vandaele at the helm, attendees were treated to an evening of decadence, laughter, beer, more beer, and even a bar quite literally set on fire.
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Things get kicked off with an endless waterfall of Belgian beer for all, followed by some seriously delicious finger food. Guests worked up their appetites with salami chips and onion dip, foie gras poppy seed balls, and grilled baby-back ribs with avocado cream and jalapeño barbecue sauce.
Once everyone was feeling toasty—aided by the free-flowing Leffe—it was time for the main event to begin. The dinner started with Lobster a la Vanilla, a dish of tender, buttery lobster poached in Leffe Blonde; grapefruit; snow peas; torched pasta; lemon; and rich crème de roquette, a sauce rather like an arugula-based pesto.
The next course was titled Duck a la Thanksgiving. Sure, the holiday had passed, but that doesn't mean that tender duck meat can't get the Thanksgiving treatment with glazed carrots, sweet potato puree, braised salsify, and a Leffe Brune-infused cranberry sauce.
Finally, sweet teeth were satisfied with a dessert of Belgian bitter chocolate flan with caramelized orange and vanilla crumble. Cheers to chocolate, indeed.
A huge thanks to everyone who came to our MUNCHIES x Leffe Crafted Dinners series, including our October dinner with John Mooney at Bidwell and our November event with Spike Mendolsohn at Béarnaise. We hope to dine with you again in the future!