It looked exactly what you would expect an old-fashioned tavern to look like with a big wooden bar and wooden tables.

Unlike pubs in England, you get table service, and we were quickly seated in the nonsmoking section. Our waitress was very friendly, and although it was only 4:45, she called into the kitchen to find out if we could have the winter dinner special. The answer was yes, much to our delight.

For a prix fixe of €14.95, we had a choice of appetizer, entrée, and dessert. There were choices to satisfy every taste. The appetizer choices were pea soup, goat cheese, quiche, or fish. For an entrée you could choose Alsacienne choucroute, lamb a l’estragon, grandmother’s pork, or the blanquette of veal. Dessert choices were crepe suzette, a house pastry, sabayon glace Grand Marnier, and La Passindael et son sirop de Liege. With so many fabulous choices at such a bargain price, it took us a while to make up our minds.

I choose the pea soup, choucroute, and crepe suzette. The pea soup was thick and had a smoky bacon flavor. It came with a small bowl of croutons to pour in. On a cold January day, it was real comfort food. The same can be said for the choucroute.

There were pieces of smoked shoulder, kielbasa, smoked sausage, sauerkraut, and pureed tomatoes. It was everything I had hoped for and more. All it needed to make it perfect was a nice spicy mustard and a tall beer, both of which were readily available.

Al had the Blanquette of veal ala ancienne, which was veal in a cream and mushroom sauce served over rice. It was very good. Bob and Joe joined me in the choucroute.

I choose the crepe suzette for my dessert, which was the usual, a single large crepe with a very sweet and intensely orange sauce. The perfect ending for my meal. Al chose the house pastry,

It turned out to be a piece of cake with vanilla cream – okay, but not inspiring.

We had a very enjoyable meal here, the service was excellent, and the location is an easy walk from the nearest bus stop.