Belgian native and Michelin trained Chef Bart Vandaele has been serving Washingtonians his Belgian cuisine at the original Belgian café, Belga Café, for eight years. As founder of DC’s Belgian Restaurant Week, Vandaele has been working with Ambassador Matthysen through the years highlighting Belgium’s strong culinary contribution to the international field through events, product awareness and tourism campaigns. Raised in the Flemish-speaking northern region of Belgium, Chef attended the Culinary Institute for Restaurant and Hotel Management in Brugge and worked at acclaimed Restaurant Scholteshof. He went on to serve as Executive Chef for the European Union’s head diplomat to the United States. As a result of his commitment to Belgian cuisine and products, Vandaele was ‘knighted’ by the Belgian Brewers Guild in 2009, and in 2010, he was awarded the Belgian decoration “Ridder in de Orde van Leopold II” or “Knight in the Order of Leopold II”. His forthcoming restaurant, B Too, is expected to open December 2012.
