During the month of September, I spent about a week working in a restaurant in Brussels, Belgium where I had gone to college. The restaurant is called Au Repos de la Montagne and has been there for over 50 years under various owners.

One interesting thing about the experience was that the owners, who also ran the business, where in their final 10 days before the new owners were to take over. The atmosphere was a bit like a bunch of people graduating from high school... some heading off for trips, others looking for jobs, and others just happy to take some time off. The owners, Nicholas and Cecile, had decided to sell the restaurant so that Cecile could retire or do something else less demanding. Nicholas, who is younger, was heading off to Asia to travel and do some cooking, and will likely return to Belgium in 6 months to get involved in another restaurant.

The restaurant was open for lunch and dinner with a staff of 3 in the kitchen and 2 in the dinning area having about 50 seats. The crew worked split shfits 5 days a week, having a couple hours break between lunch and dinner. Hours in the kitchen were 10am to 2pm, and then again from 6pm to 10pm.

The prices were 12 to 21 Euros for an entree. The menu was typical northern European food such as meat filled vegetables, pan fried sweetbread and kidneys with mushrooms, steak with bearnaise sauce and fresh cut fries, wok fried shrimp and scallops with curry and rice, sea bass, duck breast, tuna tartar, and beef tartar.

Beef tartar is extremely popular in Belgium. It's freshly ground beef mixed with herbs, spices, and condiments such as mustard and mayonnaise. The beef is fresh and not ground until the order is placed. The mix is then prepared in the dinning room so that the guest knows that it is freshly ground. Interestingly, they call it filet americain (American fillet). ("The table that just walked in ordered 3 USAs.") The name was apparently given to the recipe by restauranteur Albert Niels in 1924, but no one seems to know why. The recipe for filet americain is different from the French version (bœuf tartar) because the Belgian recipe contains mayonnaise.

I've had filet americain many times and find it similar to tuna or chicken salad in that it's cold and mixed with condiments, but with a more beefy taste. The first time I had it was in 1995 in a car with a bunch of skateboarders. It was dark and someone offered me a sandwich. I was starving, as usual, and gladly accepted. I thought it was tuna and only found out what it really was when the lights came on. Open to new experiences, and a fan of tuna sandwiches, I decided that I liked it!

One more thing I found interesting at the restaurant is that when I asked them if they focused on local food, they were perplexed. To them, it was so natural that almost all their food came from within a few hundred miles of them, that I had to explain myself more to be understood. Their response was that, of course they focus on local food because it's cheaper and fresher! Some ingredients do come from other places, but most things are produced locally. When taking the train later that week, I could see the miles and miles of farms in all directions just outside the city. So much food is grown and raised locally, that it's much less of an issue.

Check out these photos, mostly of the kitchen.