Taste of Belgium owner Jean-Francois Flechet is launching a new fine-dining concept in Norwood.
In doing so, he's teamed up with Patrick Bowling, the former chef at the late, great Le Bar a Boeuf, to open Jacques Modern Brasserie, a French-Belgian-style brasserie, which will occupy TOB's current location at Rookwood Exchange. According to a press release, the restaurant will now be Taste of Belgium by day, and Jacques by night.
Jacques won't officially open until Oct. 1, but you can get a preview during Cincinnati Restaurant Week (Sept 22-27). The menu includes three courses for $56 and an optional wine or beer pairing for an additional $22. The price does not include taxes or tips.
Menu items include French cheese puffs, escargot in garlic-parsley
butter and steak frites with beef-tallow fries and green peppercorn sauce. Bowling's Duck & Waffles pairs duck leg confit with a Taste of Belgium waffle, topped with berry compote and duck jus.
Dessert choices include vanilla bean crème brûlée and profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and drapedin warm chocolate sauce.
According to Flechet, he and Bowling first met nearly 20 years ago at Jean-Robert’s Pho Paris, where, "he cooked upstairs and I made waffle dough downstairs," Flechet told me.
Cocktail options include a ginger old fashioned; a French 75 or a Brasserie Martini with genever, dry vermouth, olive brine and house blue cheese-stuffed olives.
3825 Edwards Road, Norwood, 513-396-5800, tasteofbelgium.com. Restaurant week hours: 4-10 p.m. Sept. 22-27
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Taste of Belgium joins former Le Bar a Boeuf chef for new restaurant
