Leon's Full Service
(a review for my local readers...non-locals, my apologies)

The Brickstore Pub folks have opened a new venue, Leon's Full Service, and on this Thursday night it was well worth the 45 minute wait for a table. The food is extremely tasty, but given that most of us are on a student-esque budget, allow me to first tantalize you with the price - six beers + one appetizer of fries with dipping sauces + two entrees, each with sides = approximately $80 including tip!

Ok, it's the Brickstore folks, so it goes without saying that the beers were excellent.

It's a newly opened restaurant, so service could go one of two ways - slow, inexperienced, and poorly informed or excellently informed and over-eager. Our experience was definitely the latter. And we certainly didn't mind the extra friendliness and attention. Fries are fairly standard fair (not the thick steak frites from brickstore) but are more than made up for by the plethora of dipping sauces. The goat cheese fondue may sound most appealing, and is fairly tasty, but it's not a strong enough goat cheese to be much noticed over the standard greasy-ness of fries. Instead I highly recommend the curry which is perfectly complementary to fried potatoes. My partner for the evening had the pork osso bucco, which was tender and well flavored, but, in my opinion, it was the squash and kale and whatever magical seasonings were in that sauce that made the dish exquisite. I had the open-faced brisket sandwich. Still no competition to the best brisket ever (provided at A and L's wedding in Mississippi) but quite good nonetheless, and quite well complimented by crusty bread and fried onions. My side of curry flavored vegetables did not dissappoint, most importantly by maintaining the crispness of the veggies while still being pleasantly warm and steamed. Raisins and nuts rounded out the Indian flavors. (I enjoyed the whole thing, though I must confess that compared to authentic Indian flavors it could be found lacking)

None of the desserts knocked our socks off, so we swung by Chocolate Bar on our way to the car, which, of course, did not dissapoint.

Happy dining!