When erstwhile entrepreneur Damien Watel sold La Frite to concentrate on other operations, a black, yellow, and red flag went up. The purchasers were a mother and son team with scant restaurant experience and no known connection to the foods of Belgium or France. An initial encounter with a croque monsieur was not encouraging. Non-Francofoods were stealing onto the menu.

But with time, the menu has become more focused, and execution has improved greatly. Though many of the old recipes remain, the selection of sauces for the signature moules alone has increased impressively to encompass simple marinière and (perhaps overly) inventive “Bruxelles” with olives, Marsala, and more. The “Vert” with onion, basil, cilantro cream, and white wine works admirably, and if the mussels aren’t preternaturally plump, they are tender and fresh-tasting. The eponymous frites are again among the best in town. A simple salad of frisée aux lardons, crowned with a perfectly poached egg, becomes a satisfying meal all its own—especially when mated to an on-tap Belgian beer such as the spicy-smoky Karmeliet.

And if anything, the atmosphere seems more funkily thrown-together than it did before, with ex-owner Watel’s Blue Dog homage paintings a dominant factor.