Chef Robert Wiedmaier opens the third location of Mussel Bar & Grille in Ballston today with beer chandeliers, more than 100 Belgian beers, and of course, lots and lots of mussels.

Located in a former Chevrolet dealership, the gastropub has a “dive-bar-meets-raw-American industrial look,” according to a press release. Cargo containers have been retrofitted as bathrooms, and construction crane hooks serve as purse hooks at the bar. Bottles of Wiedmaier’s Antigoon Belgian pale ale, brewed exclusively for his restaurants by Brouwerij De Musketiers in Ursel, Belgium, adorn light fixtures, and an antique Belgian train clock is displayed in the dining room.

On the menu, you’ll find—what else?—mussels, from spicy green Thai curry to Mediterranean. Weidmaier sources his mollusks from Penn Cove in Washington State’s Puget Sound. Other dishes include pizzas, salads, sandwiches, and grilled items from steaks to swordfish.

Beer is just as much an attraction as the mussels with more than 100 Belgian and craft varieties displayed in a glass refrigerated beer case behind the bar.

Mussel Bar & Grille also has locations in Bethesda and Atlantic City.

Mussel Bar & Grille, 800 N. Glebe Road, Arlington. (703) 841-2337. musselbar.com. 

Photo courtesy Mussel Bar & Grille