Belgium

Latest Articles

Review: Van Ghent Café

More than waffle time
As ethnic cuisines go, most of us would be hard-pressed to anticipate much beyond their eponymous waffles when looking forward to a Belgian restaurant.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 18, 2011

Health 'n' hops

Is beer good for you?
Thomas Jefferson once asserted that beer, when drank in moderation, "promotes health." Trappist monks in Belgium and the Netherlands referred to it as "liquid bread."
By JOSH SMITH | March 29, 2011

Gabriel Kuri and Francis Alÿs look at the ordinary

Magical thinking
It feels a bit like the art-world version of some twins-separated-at-birth Disney comedy: one artist born in Mexico who lives in Belgium, and one born in Belgium who lives in Mexico.
By GREG COOK | February 22, 2011

Go global!

Become a worldly beer drinker
Talk of international beer typically conjures up images of German beer gardens, Belgian monasteries, and pints of Guinness. But where is the rest of the world in this Eurocentric fantasy?
By JOSH SMITH | September 07, 2010

At the G.I. Joe Convention: The Baroness and a ‘slice of Americana’

Gatherings
Roadblock flew in from Miami, and Tunnel Rat took the train from Jersey. But it was Baroness, aka Penelope Pappas, who got the cameras clicking at the 17th annual G.I. Joe Collectors’ Convention.
By ELIZABETH RAU | May 05, 2010

Savor the flavor

How to make great beer even better
Whether you only occasionally hoist a craft beer or carry a notepad to rate beer everywhere you go, we can all become better beer drinkers by following a few simple guidelines.
By JOSH SMITH | May 05, 2010

Review: Marwencol

The resistance of memory
It takes a village to save a mind.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 22, 2010

Beer Heaven

A pilgrimage to Ebenezer’s Pub
Beer heaven does exist. And it’s in the backwoods of Lovell, Maine.
By JOSH SMITH | March 24, 2010

Symphony 8 Restaurant & Bar

Time to face the music
Everyone wants to have a gastro-pub with comfort food, but you have to be able to cook a little bit to sustain one. It also helps to draw a clean draught beer, maintain a quality wine list, and sweep the floor.
By ROBERT NADEAU | March 17, 2010

The Low Anthem visit the Low Countries

Sibilance
Plus Brown Birds and Toughcats
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | February 10, 2010

Review: A Town Called Panic (2010)

Chaos reigns in a Belgian Town Called Panic
It is, indeed, a golden age for animation, where silent montages can wrenchingly portray a lifelong bond (in Pete Docter's Up ), or a band of stop-motion foxes can act out complex and angsty family dynamics (Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox ), or a child's imaginary world is realized with vivid detail (Henry Selick's Coraline ).
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 10, 2010

Review: A Town Called Panic

Bilge from Belgium
This stop-motion comedy from Belgian filmmakers Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar is the anti– Fantastic Mr. Fox — its lack of visual and psychological nuance is, merci, quite deliberate.
By BETSY SHERMAN | January 20, 2010

Interview: Ray Davies

On singing in the choir, his American experience, and who’ll play Dave
In 1964, the scorching five-chord chorus of “You Really Got Me” changed rock music forever.
By ELIZABETH GEHRMAN | November 06, 2009

Bikers: get muddy and wet

Belgian Pastimes
If someone asked you what the most popular winter sport in Belgium was, what would you guess?
By ADAM MYERSON | October 14, 2009

Up and autumn!

New local rock to shake the leaves from the trees
Behold! The prime of the approaching fall local rock crop.
By MATT PARISH | September 15, 2009

Photos: 'Seeing Songs' at MFA

An eclectic mix of work that draws on music as inspiration
Contemporary Outlook: Seeing Songs at the MFA
By PHOENIX STAFF | July 16, 2009

(10) days of celluloid

From the gridiron to gritty realism at the Maine International Film Festival
Among the many treats at last year's Maine International Film Festival were a future Oscar winner (James Marsh's documentary Man on Wire ) and one of the biggest art-house hits of 2008 (Scandinavian teen-vampire flick Let the Right One In ).
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 08, 2009

Review: Moscow, Belgium

Tired mom meets 'viking' trucker
Matty (Barbara Sarafian) is a weather-beaten wreck, a postal-worker mom of three whose vacillating husband has (pretty much) left her for a younger woman.
By LANCE GOULD | April 21, 2009

Old school

Dyer's thing was watercolors and gouaches of romantic fairy tale country cottages, snowy mountain lakes, and ruins of old stone arches and doorways.
Back in 1928, a Providence Journal headline dubbed painter Hezekiah Anthony Dyer a "militant anti-Modernist." Modern art was just about showing off, he said.
By GREG COOK | February 10, 2009

Three Day Threshold take pride in roots

The undiscovered country
Three Day Threshold take pride in their roots
By BARRY THOMPSON | January 26, 2009

JCVD

A comic but poignant collision of biography and filmography
Action hunk Jean-Claude Van Damme, who hasn't had a US theatrical release in years, found a more creative venue than Celebrity Rehab in which to seek redemption.
By BETSY SHERMAN | November 11, 2008

New kids on the block

Allow Dear Leader to introduce you
Newly reactivated local gut-pop heroes Dear Leader will play two shows this weekend, with a handful of notable newbs and special guests.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | September 23, 2008

The Publick House

Grab a drink while you wait
The true focus here is the far frontiers of craft brewing, especially the many styles of Belgian ales.
By ROBERT NADEAU | July 23, 2008

Dance, Monkey: Brian Moote

We put a comic on the hot seat. This week’s victim . . .
Pringles, the pizza-flavored ones, feel like a dinner. I wouldn’t just get sour-cream-and-onion. That doesn’t have enough food groups in it.
By MARC HIRSH | July 23, 2008

Flora, fauna, and the female figure

Art Nouveau Jewelry at the MFA, ‘Players’ on MIT’s Media Test Wall, and ‘Nascent’ at NESAD
The Art Nouveau movement of the late-19th/early-20th century distanced itself from the mass production of the Industrial Revolution with elaborate, one-of-a-kind works made from unusual materials.
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 15, 2008