Chicago - Leopold, a Belgian inspired food & drink restaurant

Mrs Sweet Willie & I had dinner at Leopold, a Belgian inspired food & drink restaurant. www.leopoldchicago.com

Started with fresh oysters from Prince Edward Island, served with lambic mignonette. I prefered mine w/o, Mrs really liked the mignonette.

Next was a pretzle, with a currant mustard. Seeing as we were just in Munich, the pretzle was a bit weak, but still tasty.

To follow was slagel heart of ribeye tartare: shallot, caper, farm egg yolk, frisee, whole grain mustard, chef's toast.
The tartare is finely chopped ribeye, not ground, the beefy flavor came shining through.

Our final dish was smoked rabbit: mustard spaetzle, caramelized fennel + onion, monks prune glaze
Rabbit is smoked then pan finished, so tender & delicious, combined with the spaetzle (which has the fennel & onion in it) was so good.

Paired with our drinks this meal was a delight from start to finish !!
(from the tap I had a Belgian beer N'ice Chouffe & Mrs Sweet Willie had a pinot from Burgandy FR)

While a restaurant on the far north side, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chicago/587680-hopleaf-belgian-bistro.html started the Belgian frenzy in Chicago, I found Leopold's food to be much more enjoyable, plus if one is in the Loop, Leopold is much easier to get to.

Mrs Sweet Willie & I had dinner at Leopold, a Belgian inspired food & drink restaurant. www.leopoldchicago.com

Started with fresh oysters from Prince Edward Island, served with lambic mignonette. I prefered mine w/o, Mrs really liked the mignonette.

Next was a pretzle, with a currant mustard. Seeing as we were just in Munich, the pretzle was a bit weak, but still tasty.

To follow was slagel heart of ribeye tartare: shallot, caper, farm egg yolk, frisee, whole grain mustard, chef's toast.
The tartare is finely chopped ribeye, not ground, the beefy flavor came shining through.

Our final dish was smoked rabbit: mustard spaetzle, caramelized fennel + onion, monks prune glaze
Rabbit is smoked then pan finished, so tender & delicious, combined with the spaetzle (which has the fennel & onion in it) was so good.

Paired with our drinks this meal was a delight from start to finish !!
(from the tap I had a Belgian beer N'ice Chouffe & Mrs Sweet Willie had a pinot from Burgandy FR)

While a restaurant on the far north side, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chicago/587680-hopleaf-belgian-bistro.html started the Belgian frenzy in Chicago, I found Leopold's food to be much more enjoyable, plus if one is in the Loop, Leopold is much easier to get to.

Sounds great; maybe a good place for a future DO! Love Belgian food.

In Belgium earlier this year we met the founder of Achouffe, which was bought out by Duvel. http://www.achouffe.be/en

Duvel offered a tour in March this year when some of us went to some beer festivals. it was supposed to be 3 hours, but turned into 6+ hours with copious consumption (including beer from rival breweries), a special behind-the-scenes tour, and food. Amazing stuff.

Come on the Belgian beer DO at the end of April (see my sig) and perhaps there will be a repeat.

While a restaurant on the far north side, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chicago/587680-hopleaf-belgian-bistro.html

Far north? come on, andersonville isn't rogers park! ;)

While we're talking about things Belgian, I can put in a plug for the Belgian bakery on Walton, just West of Michigan Avenue:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/hendrickx-belgian-bread-crafter-chicago

Really nice people who are actually Belgian, great croissants, and real drip Belgian coffee. A tiny shop, and you can watch the people in the back making the goodies.

While a restaurant on the far north side, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chicago/587680-hopleaf-belgian-bistro.html started the Belgian frenzy in Chicago, I found Leopold's food to be much more enjoyable, plus if one is in the Loop, Leopold is much easier to get to.

You are probably right about Leopold being more enjoyable - I think of Hopleaf as being more of a bar than a restaurant, but it is very, very good. The beer list at Hopleaf is hard to beat and they have good special events. About 2 months ago they had a raffle to benefit a local school: tickets were $20 each and the prize was 5 bottles of a 3Floyds Dark Lord beer - one bottle from each of the past 5 years. It was not me who won.