Granville Moore's

Moules Fromage Bleu - Bacon, Hook’s Blue Cheese, Shallots, Spinach , White Wine, Lemon Juice - $16

When you walk into Granville Moore's Frittes Ales Moules, you feel as if you have traveled at least 75 years back in time. The interior feels almost pre-industrial, with exposed brick walls and old wooden floors. You can't miss the HUGE bar that takes up a majority of the narrow real estate. A few wooden tables and benches line one wall, but clearly, beer is the focus here.

In fact, Granville Moore's has one of the largest Belgian beer selections in the mid-Atlantic region. They carry over 50 types of bottled beers (plus at least 4 draft beers) - and every single one of them is Belgian.

Granville Moore's is named after Dr. Granville Moore, a doctor whose office used to occupy the current location decades ago. Dr. Moore provided pro bono care to the less fortunate in the neighborhood. The building stood vacant for 30 years before a few business-minded entrepreneurs purchased the property and opened up Granville Moore's.

It's pretty hard to get into Granville Moore's these days. They don't take reservations, and the place has become quite famous ever since chef Teddy Folkman beat Bobby Flay in a moules frite throwdown. The winning dish? The Moules Fromage Bleu, pictured above.

We had a fabulous meal here, and I would highly recommend this place to anyone who loves good beer and excellent mussels in a fun, lively, and historic location.


Granville Moore's is not in the best of neighborhoods, located at H Street NE. In fact, the restaurant is surrounded by an eclectic mix of  thriving businesses, rundown buildings, and boarded up storefronts. Some see Granville Moore's as a sign of positive change, the first step in the revitalization of an old, tired neighborhood.

Frites (large - $7.50)
Be prepared to wait, as this place is super popular, and lines go out the door. To pass by the time, we ordered some beers and some fries, which were fantastic. Hand cut from Idaho potatoes and fried twice, these were so good I hardly used any of the dipping sauces.

Of course, the sauces are fine and good, and you get a choice between Truffle Aioli, Homemade Hot sauce, Horseradish cream, Curry Mayo, Garlic Ranch, Chipotle BBQ, Morney Sauce, or Chipotle Mayo.

The bar is super well-stocked, and the bartenders know their stuff.

Here's some of the beers we tried.

Here's some more!

Finally, after waiting about 45 minutes, we were able to sit down and enjoy some food! We tried a variety of appetizers.  From top left going clockwise:  1. Bison Chili ($6)  2. Fried Risotto Cakes ($8)  3. Crab Croquettes with Gruyere and Dijonnaise ($8)  4. Jumbo Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Butternut Squash Puree ($12.50)  All of these dishes were pretty tasty, though I don't think any of them stood out to me as the best I've ever had.

Moules Moroccan – Beer Poached Fennel, Spicy Lamb Sausage, Curry Cream Sauce - $16

The mussels were delicious. We tried three different flavors: the Moules Fromage Bleu (shown at the top of the post), Moules Champignon (Mushrooms, cream, Hoegaarden, Truffle Oil), and Moules Moroccan (shown above). Our favorites? Probably a toss-up between the Moules Fromage Bleu and the Moules Moroccan, with the Moules Champignon a distant second. The mix of flavors in both the Moules Fromage Bleu and the Moules Moroccan were fantastic, and the sauces were aromatically fragrant, savory, and full of umami. We loved dipping our bread in the sauce - yum! The Moules Champignon was pretty good, though not as flavorful or complex as the other two. Surprisingly, I could hardly taste the truffle oil.

We loved this place and had a blast not only trying out so many different kinds of beers, but also enjoying the flavorful mussels and the crunchy fries. It's worth the 45-minute wait, especially when you can drink beer and eat fries while you are waiting!

This post is part of the larger Washington DC Eats Series.  Other post(s) in this series:
Ceiba
Il Canale
Ben's Chili Bowl

Granville Moore
Capitol Hill
1238 H St NE
Washington, DC 20002