Spring comes alive at Lakeview's Frog n Snail

We have been trying to have dinner at Frog n Snail since it opened but something has always botched our plans. Last week we had reservations AGAIN and there was nothing that was going to get in the way! I haven't written about food in months so I went into it thinking Okay, we’ve been wanting to eat here for forever. If the food is at least somewhat good, I’ll write about it. At least it will be something to get the juices flowing. I will be honest and say that although we had been trying to eat at Frog n Snail for a while, my hopes were not as high as they sometimes can be for other restaurants. Sure, Dale Levitski was on Top Chef but eh… that really doesn’t mean anything necessarily.

We headed over on Thursday night, ready to use our soon-to-expire Bloomspot. We walked in and were surprised by how empty the place was…. and a little annoyed that, despite the emptiness, we stood at the door by the empty host stand for a few minutes before someone made their way over to greet us.  That is pretty much the only thing I can complain about. There are a TON of things I can rave about, however: the food, the service, the food… did I mention the food? Which – after all – is why you go out to eat in the first place. 

Every single thing we ate was phenomenal, starting with that bean/butter/garlic spread which I will have to try to make at home soon. We were planning to try the frog legs but our server said it wasn’t his favorite and wasn’t consistently prepared, sometimes crispy but sometimes soggy. I appreciated the honesty so we tried the pasatelli instead. Wow. Definitely my favorite dish and probably one of the best things I’ve had in a while. Pasatelli is pasta-like mix of bread crumbs, eggs, grated Parmesan cheese, lemon, nutmeg, and is usually cooked in chicken broth. (Or so I learned after our Google search because we both took a bite and said “whoa, this is good – what the hell is it?”) The dish at Frog n Snail comes with english peas, cauliflower, carrots, and braised lamb shank. The broth was my favorite part but really, the whole dish was like spring in a bowl. Perfect.

For the mains, we tried the rabbit pierogi and the scottish salmon. The pierogi dish was equally spring-y with asparagus and other spring veg. I had a small-ish issue with the pierogi themselves which were more like dumplings than pierogi but I can ignore it. The rabbit was smoky and the jus at the bottom of the bowl balanced everything with a nice touch of acidity. The salmon was cooked perfectly – the skin was so crispy and the flesh was still moist - and the turnips were just delicious. We washed everything down with a bottle of 2011 Foxglove Zinfandel and went home happy and full.

When Frog n Snail opened in Lakeview around a year ago, we were excited for the neighborhood but skeptical until we could try it ourselves. I love it when a meal – or anything for that matter – exceeds my expectations and our dinner at Frog n Snail did exactly that. From the service to the decor to the food itself, our meal was wonderful and we will definitely be back.

Frog n Snail is located in Lakeview at Broadway and Briar. They are open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday (closed on Mondays), and serve brunch on Saturday and Sunday. We’ve heard the brunch is “where its at” so we’ll be exploring that option soon. Connect with Frog n Snail on Facebook and Twitter and make your reservation through Open Table.

[This post is an excerpt from "Consume. is alive - Thank you, Frog n Snail" on consumechicago.com]