Petite Abeille

Happy Sunday, everyone! It is particularly happy actually because Ratatouille is on : )

This Wednesday I had dinner at Petite Abeille on West 17^th St. My memory fails me now but I’m pretty sure I first heard about this place on the Travel Channel and have been wanting to try it ever since. Petite Abeille – “little bee” – is a Belgian café, which has been open for over a decade. It is famous for its waffles, French fries and mussels. It’s a pretty small space, with indoor and outdoor seating and a very warm and relaxed atmosphere.

Their dinner menu is diverse; it features salads, poultry, steak and seafood. Wednesday night is Mussel Night at Petite Abeille, so pretty much everyone at the restaurant was eating mussels. Except for us, that is. My girlfriends and I are not big mussel people. Anyway, I ordered the Carbonnades Flamandes ($18) , which is a Flemish-style beer beef stew.

It was delicious. The chunks of beef were tender and juicy. It tasted like it’s been simmering all day. The sauce was very flavorful and even slightly sweet. The fries that the stew was served with were disappointing. They were undersalted and really nothing special.

The only bad part about this dinner was that we waited for our food for about 30 minutes. By the time it arrived, we had to scarf it down because we were running late for Julie & Julia (which, although Maryl Streep did a marvelous job, sucked.)

Overall, I wouldn’t mind paying Petite Abeille another visit. I’m dying to try their waffles.

Petite Abeille
44 West 17th Street
New York, NY 10011

<3