Who would've thought that a small country like Belgium would be famous for some of the best food items in the world like waffles, fries, mussles, chocolate, and of course beer!!! Granville Moore is one of the several Belgian restaurants in Washington, DC. Despite its convenient location in NE DC, there is always a line outside this small dive known for its mussels. This probably has to do with the publicity it got when it was featured on "The Throwdown with Bobby Flay", a show on the Food Network.
A friend suggested this place when a group of us wanted to take another friend out for her birthday dinner. We had agreed to meet up early at 5:45pm so that we won't have to wait too long for a table. Well, we didn't get in until about 7pm. The restaurant is small and has 2 floors, each with a bar. There are several appetizers on the menu, but everyone comes for one thing, their mussels, fries, and beer. Their beer list has over 60 different types of bottled beer from Belgium. There are 5 different mussel dishes, each priced at $16. The 3 of us ordered "Moules Maniere", which is flavored with white wine, herbs, and butter, and "Moules Navigateur", which has a red curry flavor to it. The meal of "moule frites" couldn't be complete, of course, without an order of fries which came with a choice of sauces in which we chose the truffle aioli.
The mussels were fresh and meaty, and the sauce tasted refreshing. Yet, I did came across 2 or 3 mussels that wasn't very fresh. I personally preferred the white wine sauce better because I was able to taste the natural sweetness of the mussels. The red curry sauce was too overpowering for a mussels dish. However, that doesn't mean I can't soak up all the delicious juices with the sides of bread. Mussels on its own aren't very filling as a dish, but after 3 plates of bread dipped in the yummy juice, I was stuffed. The fries were average, it was a bit soggy and greasy. The truffle aioli was the only thing that made it a tad better. I have yet to find a place in DC that can actually do fries the "Belgian way."
Granville Moore definitely could be a cool hang out place if it isn't so crowded. I was satisfied with my meal, but is it really worth the trek up to NE and an hour and a half wait? I'm going to have to say no.
Granville Moore is located at 1238 H Street NE, Washington, DC.
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