Wicked Pigeon, the Collectif Resto Bar and the Brussels Horeca Federation are joining forces with Urban Brussels to put the spotlight on Brussels' gastronomic and culinary heritage. In 1958 the restaurant began a period of prosperity when the World's Fair turned Brussels into the center of the world for six months. At the beginning of the 1970s, Jacques Veulemans, one of Calixte Veulemans’ sons, founded the “Comptoir des Armes,” a Belgian-style tapas bar, on Petite Rue des Bouchers just outside the venerable establishment. He worked there with his wife Madame Suzanne and his son Laurent, among others. The entire city of Brussels would meet there for a drink and to enjoy small servings of the restaurant’s classic fare while they swapped jokes and stories all night long. The prosperous period of “Aux Armes de Bruxelles” lasted two decades, contributing to the festive reputation of the Ilot Sacré, the capital’s top destination for fine cuisine. In 2006, the Veulemans family sold the business. The restaurant went through several years of instability before being purchased in 2018 by Rudy Vanlancker, owner of Chez Léon and longtime friend of the Veulemans family. It was time for this great lady of restaurants, asleep since 2006, to awaken.