Leland Eating and Drinking House — Restaurant in New York

Fantastic experience. Every single menu item was delicious and bursting with powerful flavors. The reviews didn’t let this place down, and i’m glad we came! This is a boutique style restaurant, so you’re going to have a heavy gluten free and vegetarian favoring menu, with a lot of homemade items. With that comes a slightly heavier price point and smaller portions, but it’s worth checking it out! The drinks were delicious as well, and the employees made us feel at home!

Food: 10/10 Where do I start. The pollok fritters were very tasty, the perfect mix of many flavors of smokiness, fish, and bringing it together with the tzatziki sauce, in a fluffy hush puppy style ball. The eggplant was ridiculously good, but the brussel sprouts stole the show. I didn’t think ever in my life I’d say that brussel sprouts would be the best thing i had that evening, but here we are. Delicious and loaded with flavor. The chicken was surprisingly good but nothing life changing. The pork and beans was also a solid dish but also nothing to write home about for me. Every dish was unique, and had strong flavor, something that I personally value very heavily (even if it means being a little salty or saucy). I really don’t think you can go wrong with any menu item here at this place. Everything was cooked to perfection, and I couldn’t find any critiques.

Menu: As aforementioned, it’s a heavy gluten free and especially vegetarian style menu. You couldn’t tell any of these items were lacking gluten if you tried, so that was irrelevant. The limited amount of protein and or meat options was a little lackluster for me personally, but the amazing quality of the brussel sprouts make up for that entirely. The menu is fairly balanced though, so I feel that there are still options for everyone. The dishes are made to be shared which allows skeptical eaters to get their mouths full of trying something new.

Value: 3/5 Like any boutique style restaurant, expect to pay a little too much for small portions of vegetables. We split 4 small plates and 2 big plates, along with 6 drinks for a little over $200. I think that’s a fair price for $50 a person, however, i’ll note that i stopped and grabbed two tacos on the way home. With that being said, i’ve been to several boutique restaurants in the area and have paid more for lower quality, which is why ill give the value a fair rating.

Experience: 5/5 It’s a remodeled place, everything is chic, modern, but most importantly cozy! It doesn’t have a packed restaurant layout which makes it feel much more at home. Every seating arrangement seems to be unique compared to the one next to it. I found the tables intimate but open. I was very comfortable throughout my entire experience. The service was fantastic for the entire night. We were treated very hospitality the moment we walked through the door and while we were being taken care of. The server was very patient, and took her time to explain in great detail many of the menu items.

Closing words, this place is fantastic top to bottom. As always, the drinks aren’t rated but the mexican hot chocolate is ridiculously tasty! Trust me,...

Fantastic, well balanced food and drink in a welcoming atmosphere. Came for dinner and ended up sitting at the bar. We ordered family style for the group of 4 and received great advice from Randi on additions to our selections. He arranged that our dishes came out over 4 courses and were paced perfectly. We started with the smoked trout, Pollock fritters, and focaccia with a large addition of mushroom toast. The trout was excellent and was either the favorite or runner up for most of us - excellent fish flavor without overwhelming smoke or salt, it was balanced with salty potato chips that brought crunch (don't miss out on the crispy fish skin either! It's not just decoration). The Pollock fritters were tasty bites and the focaccia was savory and nicely chewy under it's crispy rosemary crust (although could have been warmed), the mushroom toast was earthy and rich and piled with a selection of woodsy finds (including luscious chewy ears of hen of the woods), but the trout really shone. The next course was the mussels. Served in their pan with 4 hefty toasted cuts of house-made sourdough, two whole seared lemons and tossed over a veritable bed of garlic, there were plenty to share for 4 and again the flavors of each component posted through (the inclusion of the pith from the whole lemons does add a bitterness that divided the group between "like" and "really like". The final course was the brined dry-aged half chicken and the corn plate. That chicken though was a stunner. Served cut into 5 pieces (everything is shareable!) the skin was crisp and salty but the meat was tender and had such a warming full bodied flavor. Every piece was great - light meat, dark meat, throw some of the juices on it and go all in. With such big rich and fatty flavors, the corn was a perfect pairing (Randi's suggestion and he was right on) - fresh cut from the cob and tossed with spicy peppers and citrus, it was the sweet and sour against the salt and fat. Do not miss the chicken (or really this final combo) - it was the winner after a full selection of excellent dishes. Drinks - we came hungry and only tried two drinks: the peach mojito and the tiki punch for two. I've been on a tiki kick since visiting Jungle Bird in San Juan but despite being in Brooklyn and not the beach, the tiki punch did not disappoint. All four of us were impressed by the balance of sweet level to the squeezed citrus (you can tell!) And while I haven't had 151 in many years and it has connotations of collegiate parties, don't let that scare you into thinking this is your frat-bros punch - it was a savory draft. The peach mojito was a seasonal offer made with in-house peach compote. While it erred a little sweet on the sip I tried, I have a low sugar tolerance and it's owner was very happy. Overall, I'm very excited to see Leland take over this space and will...

Wow! What I love about NYC is you can walk down your neighborhood block (any block) and eat at a restaurant that rivals the best restaurants of just about any other city.

So it is with Leland etc., etc. We were just searching for a new, local restaurant with outside dining (due to covid). But we somehow managed to score one of this restaurant's two outside, self-contained dining pods. It's like... eating at home except with you own chef and servers... my kind of set-up.

Anyway, loved eating outside/but not truly outside, on a nice, non-busy residential street. The music in our pod was great, the service was excellent, the cocktails were decent (a bit sweet but very balanced), they had delicious wines by the glass, but the food...

The food, man... you can always tell when a chef just knows how to "burn". These guys are the real deal- you can teach technique, but you can't teach a great palate. OK, OK... the food.

We started off with the smoked pollock fritters and the focaccia. Those fritters- when I saw them I was like, "man, I hope those taste as good as they look." They effin' did! A glorius combination of flavors complemented by a tzatziki sauce with fresh chunks of cucumber. The dish was like magic.

"But was that all?" you ask. Not by a long shot. They didn't have the chicken jook which is what we really wanted, so we skipped the "plates" and went straight for their entrees...

Of which we had all three (don't judge)... So, in order of wonderful to wonderful:

We started off with a whole fish. I know this isn't for everyone because it requires a bit of work. But this fish was made special by an excellent fennel salad which went so well with the fish we were fighting over the last bite.

Next was the "pork and beans". I don't know what kind of pork that was but if it were here right now I'd marry it (then eat it- so much for love). The gigante beans in what tasted like a spicy paprika oil was the perfect combination.

And finally, the chicken. If you know me you know I love roast chicken. This would be the second best roast chicken I've had in the last few years. Out of all the dishes this one was the most special.

We finished our dinner off by having the crème brûlée pie. Sweet, light- the perfect ending to a perfect meal.

This was the best meal we've had in NYC in months. Try it before the hype becomes too real and the reservation too...