Zot

The city's latest Belgian tavern has opened just off Headhouse Square.

by Trey Popp

Ten years after Monk's Café opened, Philadelphians still can't get enough mussels and Flemish ale. The city's latest Belgian tavern has opened just off Headhouse Square, not far from Old City's Eulogy. The new place is called Zot, a Dutch word that denotes eccentricity. The menu lives up to the name. Zot's list of four dozen Belgian beers and a slew of other imports doesn't distinguish it from its competitors, but the availability of ostrich and kangaroo certainly does.

Chef Bernard Dehaene has a mix-and-match approach to food. Pick your meat or fish from one list, choose among some 20 sauces, and pair the main dish with whatever starch you desire. If you love béarnaise so much that you want it on your tuna, as well as your bison, no one's going to stop you. (You might find vegetarian urges thwarted, however. Dehaene recently informed his servers that customers could go next door to order a vegetarian dish. "I'm just kidding," he added. "They could order one next door if there was a vegetarian restaurant next door.") Sauce options multiply further in the mussel category. From harissa to root beer to crab fat, there's no lack of variety. I opted for the "Snob," which involved lobster bisque and cognac. My only complaint was that the delicious liquid didn't come with a spoon.

The meat menu offered almost as much variety. Beef comes in several cuts, from a New York strip to a rib-eye to pave, a rump steak known for its firm texture and intense flavor. Cornish hen and duck breast provide a nod toward the Old World. But the most interesting options are without a doubt the ostrich and kangaroo, and I couldn't figure out which animal I could feel better about eating.

I pondered the choice over an order of frites, which were remarkably (but not unpleasantly) similar to the McDonald's kind. Then I lost myself in what must be the most informative and thoroughly cross-referenced wine list in town. You can search by color, country, grape or style, and more than two dozen vintages are available by the glass, for as little as $6. Funny that the beer list isn't descriptive at all — although the servers were well-informed and spot-on with suggestions.

Finally I recalled reading somewhere that an ostrich kick is powerful enough to kill a man. Unfortunately this claim was impossible to verify from my comfy barstool. But it was easy to imagine that even a nonlethal ostrich kick would land more or less directly in line with my gonads. That seemed to license the giant bird's slaughter, and hindsight ratified my selection. Beneath a mellow bordelaise sauce, Dehaene's dark red ostrich steak was as tender as a filet mignon and easily as flavorful. At $18 with a starch of my choosing, it was also a bargain. Yet I couldn't help wondering if it would have been better with béarnaise.

(t_popp@citypaper.net)

Zot, 122 Lombard St.267-639-3260, Open: Wed.-Mon., 5 p.m.-mid., Appetizers, $4-$9; entrees, $14-$23. Credit cards and reservations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Takeout available (at a 20 percent discount).