Highland Park's "Park Bruges Cafe" ..... Its Finally Open!

Carnitas Poutine at Park Bruges Cafe

Opening day at a restaurant is usually a stress-filled day.  Did they pick the right location?  Do they have the right chef?  Is the waitstaff up to snuff?  Is their menu going to be received well by the local patrons?  Opening day at Park Bruges, however, included none of the above worries.  Instead, they had a jubilant crowd assembled outside the door waiting for the "Open" sign to appear in the window.

Park Bruges in Highland Park is the new sister restaurant of the much-loved Point Brugge in Point Breeze.  From the moment Point Brugge announced its expansion plans, the entire Highland Park neighborhood awaited the opening with great anticipation.

The slight spelling difference in the names (Brugge vs Bruges) was purposeful to signify that the Belgian restaurants will each have their own different personalities.  Belgium is home to both Dutch-speakers and French-speakers. The Point Breeze restaurant took the Dutch spelling and Highland Park has gone the way of the French.

Park Bruges will be open for breakfast and lunch, and for brunch on both Saturday and Sunday. It will offer some of the dishes popular at Point Brugge, but with a new twist, such as moules frites with different sauces and slightly different frites. One of Park's signature dishes, however, will be the Carnitas Poutine which has carnitas-style pulled pork, cilantro and scallions,  Another is their Tarte Flambee, bread dough rolled thin and classically topped with creme fraiche, cured pork and onions. Park Bruges neighbor E² will help out by lending their wood fired oven for this dish.  Park Bruges will have a slightly larger wine list as well as a few new cocktails. But they'll also offer plenty of the Belgian and Belgian-style beers.

Like Point Brugge, Park Bruges won't be taking reservations. The dining room is slightly larger, but given all the anticipation for the opening of this restaurant, waits are probably in order.

Park Brugges 
Point Brugge
Highland Park
Point Breeze
Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate