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Nopalito Restaurant 310 S. Mesquite St. Las Cruces, NM (575) 524-0003 There are two Nopalito Restaurants in Las Cruces, and I have been going to the original on Mesquite Street for just about as long as I have been in the … Continue reading
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Nellie’s Cafe 1226 W. Hadley Ave. Las Cruces, NM (575) 524-9982 This long time family run restaurant has the distinction of being the first New Mexican restaurant I tried in Las Cruces (other than La Posta in Mesilla, a suburb … Continue reading
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Pho Zero Degree 1305 E. University Ave. Las Cruces, NM (575) 222-0718 Over the years I have come to expect that some of the most disappointing food in Las Cruces would be found on University Avenue across the street from … Continue reading
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La Nueva Casita Cafe 195 N. Mesquite St. Las Cruces, NM (575) 523-5434 Just when I thought I knew all the best New Mexican restaurants in the Las Cruces area (with strong contenders such as Chope’s, Nellie’s, and Nopalito) I … Continue reading
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Le Rendez-vous Cafe 2701 W. Picacho Ave. Las Cruces, NM (575) 527-0098 Although Las Cruces is about one-eighth the size of El Paso, there are several cuisines and food experiences offered here that are not available in its much larger … Continue reading
A Bite of Belgium
When my dad and uncle were growing up, Belgium was referred to simply as “the old country,” with their grand-maman trying in vain to pass along a working knowledge of the French language to the grand-kids. Another item that seemingly did not get passed on was any tradition of Belgian food in the family. This has led me on somewhat of a quest to find anything that might be a true representation of food from the “old country.”
A Bite of Belgium was my first successful attempt at getting an actual Belgian meal as opposed to novelty items such as chocolate candy or waffles that were Belgian in name only. I will have to say the restaurant was quite impressive, and a large crowd in both the dining room and outdoor patio seemed to agree. The restaurant has a large breakfast and sandwich menu, which has actually expanded since I first dropped in to pick up a menu in 2017.
One thing I like about the breakfasts is that they are not oversized, and the restaurant believes you might actually want to eat lunch somewhere and have enough appetite to enjoy it. The sandwiches I saw at other tables were fairly substantial and appeared to make a good lunch.
Waffles
Waffles with bacon and vanilla cream cheese
The menu now includes more waffle choices than it did in 2017, and I could see that this was the area I would probably want to explore the most. I have had “Belgian waffles” at other restaurants, but the ones here were obviously the real thing and opened up what seemed to me like a whole new world in waffle enjoyment.
A Bite of Belgium serves Liège style waffles, and to me the waffle itself was the best part of the meal. The Waffles, Bacon, and Cream breakfast serves the waffles with two bacon strips and vanilla cream cheese for a very nice combination of flavors (in addition to fruit and powdered sugar on the plate). The cream cheese turned out to be a little too sweet for the type of breakfast I like, but the good thing here is that you can order the waffles in a variety of ways, including plain with just the powdered sugar. I really enjoyed the waffle and will definitely want to come back for these again.
The bacon was excellent as well–they have a very good quality bacon here.
Desserts
This restaurant has pastries to eat here or for take-home orders as they do at Le Rendez-vous, but the selection at A Bite of Belgium seems small. I have not tried any of the pastries and cannot comment on them. What I can say, though, is that Le Rendez-vous would probably be the place most people would want to go if their primary concern is finding a large selection of items.
Other Comments
For much of my life I have wanted European food to be considered as “normal” in the United States, and for this style of restaurant to be popular places where people would eat all the time. This seems to be the case with A Bite of Belgium–the place was packed and people were obviously enjoying the food (most people were eating sandwiches at the time I went).
A Bite of Belgium is more expensive than the diner or fast food options around town (you can see the prices from the menu I have included). The portions are good, and I do not think many people will complain that they did not get enough food (although these are not the huge portions that some breakfast and lunch restaurants serve).
It is very encouraging that there were very few tables available at A Bite of Belgium. Perhaps this means that in the future it will be easier for other Belgian restaurants to open around the country than it has been up to this point. I do think, though, that restaurants with good quality (such as this one) will do well no matter what type of cuisine they serve.
RATING: 24
Cuisine: Belgian
Cost: $$
Hours: Open Daily 7:00 am to 2:00 pm; Dinner Wed.-Sun. (5pm-9pm)
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No smoking
Alcohol: Beer, Wine
Most Recent Visit: Mar. 22, 2018
Number of Visits: 1
Best Items: Waffles, Bacon
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Waffles, Bacon, & Vanilla Cream |
Menu (Mar. 2018):
