Nuit Belge: Atlanta 2016

Nuit Belge premiered in Nashville, TN in 2015 and this was the first year in Atlanta. We had some bad weather on Friday and Saturday the day of the event it was cold! So I am not sure how that effected the turn out, but can I say I glad the turn out was what it was. There were 13 different restaurants there and I was able to hit everyone of them except the Murder Point Oyster Bar. They did run out by the time I circled back. Each restaurant had two small dishes to present and a beer for each dish. Sooooo, 13 was really 23 small dishes, an oyster bar and a chocolate bar. And Hop City was there and had a selection of 6 beers to choose from. Not bad, not bad at all.
Upon entrance, the check in was easy and you were are given a menu and a glass. All the restaurants were spread out along the walls and small tables were cantered in the middle. There could have been more tables, and I would say that was my only complaint. There was a live band playing some music and that was a nice.
The restaurants were some of the top recommended places in Atlanta. King + Duke, Cooks and Soldiers, Iberian Pig, Bhojanic and Empire State South to name a few. And the dishes were such a fabulous selection of eclectic flavorful dishes. Braised Rabbit Empanadas, Lamb Curry, Salami & Sauerkraut Streudel, Raw Kumabachi Tuna (my most favorite) and Spanish Octopus. The options were great, the food was delicious and most food was available until the end.
Each dish was paired with a Belgian style Beer and I am a lover of Belgian style beer. And I tried 19 different beers that I never had before. I was impressed!!! GA local brewery Three Taverns represented with a Raspberry sour that I need to go to their brewery for. Yummy! Creature Comforts was there as well with two beers, Emergence and Brettomatic. But other beers included Boon Oude Geize Mariage (delicious), Trappist Rochefort 12, Kasteel Barista Chocolate Quad (very strong chocolate taste), Rodenback Grand Cru (very sour), and Alvinne Wild West. I am impressed because they got some local beers and they got begins brewed in Belgium so they are straight from the source. I loved this!!!
Finally they had a chocolate bar with samples of artisan chocolate from Olive and Sinclair with the opportunity to grab some bars to take with you. I took two… shhhhh. And they were delicious! I got salt and pepper and sea salt, with sea salt being my favorite.
I had a wonderful at this event and trying new food and beers. I definitely would recommend it! I like that they limit the amount of tickets to 500, but I think it should be smaller so that you can enjoy everything it has to offer. I sometimes felt rushed to just eat and drink because I didn’t want to miss anything and with higher quality food and beer its better to spend some time with it.