Anybody who knows me, knows that I love Belgium ales and sours. My Favorite place remains The
Hop Leaf in Andersonville, Chicago. The ambiance is spot on, just as a 300 year old ale house might feel. Of course as we all know... The great Chicago fire of 1871 makes that nearly impossible. But hey, I will settle for 100+ years. Living in Scottsdale, AZ for aone and half years yielding no good results, so when I moved back to NYC, I was eager to find a worthy replacement to the Hop Leaf. A quick search on google yielded BXL. A close second to the Hop Leaf. The Belgium beer list is about 3/4 that of the Hop Leaf, but they do have the traditional steamed mussels in an iron pot with various wonderful sauces including the white wine leak sauce and the white wine with cream. Both excellent. Sadly they do lack the home made brochettes and the pomme frites really do suck. But all in all I can forgive them for these small transgressions. If you get a chance to visit NY, they are worth a tasting.
BXL Cafe
