Our last stop in Chicago was Hopleaf.  Leaning more towards the “bar with a nice kitchen” vibe than The Publican, it was packed from when we arrived till when we left.  The menu highlights local purveyors, and looked like a nice spin on upscale bar food. We were excited to see what the kitchen produced.

Unfortunately, the items we ordered didn’t come together as one might have hoped. The stuffed pheasant was overrun by a blue cheese, and the salad with pears had only small flecks of pear, and was instead overcrowded with cheddar. (I never thought i’d find myself complaining about too much cheese!)  The brisket was good, but unremarkable. Luckily the beer was excellent, the stilton mac and cheese delightful, and fries were perfectly seasoned.

Maybe we were just there on a off night, or maybe we just ordered poorly – it’s hard to say.  Perhaps a revisit is in order next time I’m in town?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.