It is exciting to see the number of restaurants opening in the USA, who take the ‘Belgian Eat and Drink Culture’ as theme. A new exciting trend is in the making. An investors company, that owns already a successful and large chain of restaurants, is jumping in, and may open a chain of Belgian restaurants on the East Coast. Young Belgian chefs are coming to the USA, touring to chose the city and the location to open their own Belgian restaurant.

Americans! Get ready for Belgian style food, like ‘stoump’, ‘mussels’, ‘stovers’, pork sausages, soups, pancakes, chicken and fish-dishes ... with plenty of good Belgian beer. And, for once and for all: it’s not ‘French Fries’, but ‘Belgian Fries’. That’s where these good looking, popular and delicious potato-stickies were invented. It’s another thing France stole from us, Belgians. You don’t believe me? See if you can find kiosks selling nothing but fries on every other corner in France. You will in Belgium.
In 1992, two young fellows (a Canadian and a Brit) opened their first Belgian restaurant is the heart of London. Everybody thought, they were crazy. Today, four BELGO restaurants in London are serving over 10,000 Belgian meals, and many, many more Belgian beers per week. The BELGO restaurant in Covent Garden, in the trendy West End, is called ‘Belgo Centraal’, and is one of the top 10 places to see in London.

A must for all tourists. Over 100 different Belgian beers are available, not one non-Belgian beer. The waiters are dressed as monks, and the most favorite dish is ‘mussels’. The menu changes every two weeks, and the many Belgian ‘Feast-days’ are the ideal anchor to create special dishes. The bartenders and the waiters tell you the history behind every beer, and are trained to pour the perfect beer in the appropriate glass. The concept is so successful that its menu and beer-lists are copied by other restaurants. The first BELGO restaurant in the USA is already open in New York. More than 20 are planned.

About 10 years earlier, another group opened Belgian style restaurants under the name ‘Chez Leon’ in Paris. Today, four of these restaurants are catering to a very international public in Paris, again serving their most favorite dish: ‘mussels’. The group is also looking to the USA, and opened their first restaurant in Tokyo. One thing in common
among the 2 groups is the efforts they invest to train their waiters and bartenders in Belgian Style hospitality. All of them can pronounce correctly the names of the Belgian beers. All key personnel are sent to Belgium on a regular basis, to taste and enjoy the Belgian nightlife while touring many bars and restaurants. The bartenders in ‘Chez Leon’ went through a daylong training to master the art of Belgian joke telling and have to memorize all the Belgian one-liners.

Americans who have ever visited Europe, and who stayed a couple of days in Belgium, will tell you, that all of Europe the best place to eat and drink is BELGIUM. So, it’s about time that the quality of life in Belgium, mirrored in their ‘Cuisine’, comes to the USA. There are already some Belgian restaurants sparsely planted in the USA. We must thank and congratulate these restaurants in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, San Juan Capistrano, ... and several other places for the pioneering work they have done. One special place is the ‘Sharp Edge’ with two locations in Pittsburgh - PA. The ‘Sharp Edge’ is absolutely the best Belgian beer bar-restaurant in the USA with 40 Belgian beers on draft! The owners are looking to expand their successful concept into other US-cities.