Another possibility is the dollop of carbonade, the Belgian beef and beer stew, which you can order atop the fries.

In Vienna, I was served the Belgian carbonade, a beef and beer stew that is braised inside a pumpkin.

One is Carbonade, a stew of beef cooked in beer, similar to Boeuf bourguignon.

The menu goes well beyond mussels, though, and some of the other dishes are very good, like carbonade, the famous beef stew with apples and prunes.

The kitchen stumbles when it attempts bistro classics like navarin of lamb and carbonade of beef.

Poiret Carbonade is a cold-weather Flemish stew made by browning cubes of beef and braising them with onions and dark beer.

Another fine entree pick is the carbonade flamande, very tender beef stewed in Monk's brown ale with apples and prunes, then adorned with baby vegetables.

You'll pay $18 for a sizable heap of mussels with fries, $19 for the beef cheek carbonade, $6 for a serving of sausage.

Also a good value is a large portion of carbonade ($22), the Flemish stew of tender beef, flavored with tangy mustard and abetted by delicious little spaetzle.

Belgian cuisine traditionally prizes regional and seasonal ingredients, leading to distinctive dishes like Carbonade flamande in Flanders or couque biscuit of the town of Dinant.

Familiar braised dishes include pot roast, Swiss steak, chicken cacciatore, goulash, Carbonade Flamande, coq au vin, sauerbraten, beef bourguignon and Moroccan tajines, among others.

A carbonade flamande (or à la flamande) (in Flemish Stoverij), is a traditional Belgian sweet-sour beef and onion stew made with beer, and seasoned with thyme, bay and mustard.

RECOMMENDED DISHES - Chicken mushroom croquette, coq au vin, Flemish carbonade, braised pig's feet, toro tartare, fried oyster roll.

The best choice is the excellent carbonade ($13), a stew of tender beef chunks in an inky, rich sauce with a smoky intensity set off well by prunes and peppercorns, which have been softened by their bath in the sauce.

The carbonade comes with boiled potatoes, which pale compared with the tasty if not quite crisp frites that go with some other dishes, like the duck confit ($14.25), a solid preparation that arrives still crisp-skinned and moist within.

The term carbonade may also refer to a dish of grilled pork loin and certain beef stews cooked with red wine such as beef bourguignon in the south of France, but is more commonly associated with the Belgian dish.

Occasionally hot sauces are offered by friteries, including hollandaise sauce, sauce provençale, Béarnaise sauce or even a splash carbonade flamande stew from an constantly simmering pot, in the spirit of British Chips and Gravy.

The chef, Luc Dendievel, formerly of Waterloo Brasserie and Bayard's, is Belgian, and he slants his menu accordingly, with foursquare classics like Flemish carbonade, a potent, slowly simmered beef casserole with almost as many variations as there are Belgian kitchens.