We decided on a late lunch at BXL, a Belgian cafe, before heading to the American Airline Theatre to see Debra Messing in Birthday Candles. We just walked through the alleyway across the street to the theatre a block away.

Three of our four ordered mussels mariniere, menu-described as “cooked in white wine and shallots ($30). One seasoned moules-eating diner described them as plump but in need of flavor saying they were cooked in water, not wine and with onions (as you can see in the photo) and not shallots.


I tried their steak frites. The meat was cooked as I requested, but it was not the quality of meat I was expecting.

Their Dame Blanche dessert was menu-described as vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and warm molten chocolate ($10). Instead  of warm chocolate, the tasty ice cream was coated with a syrup that tasted redolent of Hershey’s.

The food was much better at their downtown West 22nd Street location.

After lunch, we headed through the alley to see Debra Messing in Noah Haidle’s 90-minute show about the changes in one woman’s life from her 17th birthday through her 101st.

BXL Cafe
Theatre District
125 West 43rd Street,
New York, NY 10036
(212) 768 – 0200
bxlrestaurants.com