Leon's Full Service

It was late last night when David and I decided to go drinking. Feeling "refined"(pinky up) we decided that our nieghborhood and long time best friend Taco Mac was not what our classy taste buds craved and walked down the street to Leon's Full Service.

It was like walking into a comptemporary time machine. From the old school red leather booths and chalkboards filled with American and foreign beers to the state of the art mixing stations and drink ware. Yet the place made you feel at home when you walked inside. I don't know, maybe its the opaque lighting and live jazz music that's wraps around you like a warm blanket. Or maybe the essence of the old fill up and go that it once was lingering in hopes of revisiting the smiles of the locals like once before. Only not to fill up your cars but to fill up your stomach.

 I had been introduced to the place years ago when my friend said there was a place that you can get french fries with a bunch of "weird" sauces. And you know its LAW if someone says something is weird, you gotta try it out for yourself.(Victoria's reasoning at its best). So I decided to go there to see  what all the talk was about.

Pub Frites

The pub frites are served in an old fashioned pail and is paired with some of the most interesting sauces ive ever heard. Sauces like goat cheese fondue, mango-peppadew catsup, garlic aioli, and bacon herb mayonnaise (yum). Yes I had a great first time but the time I had last night has made me fall in love with the place. 

Because this time, we hit up the bar. 

Awwww Yeeaaaaahhhh!

And when you see your bartender doing this 

You know its about to get serious. 

David started with a classic. The dark and stormy which was made up of  ginger house beer that they make fresh everyday and gosling black seal rum. 

Fun Fact

When its raining they're 5 dollars.

I decided I wanted a manly man's drink so I opted for the old fashioned whiskey cocktail with old overholt rye, bitters, sugar, and citrus peels. 

The mixture of orange zest and whiskey were blended perfectly. Each edgy sip takes you back to a time where sitting under an orange tree in the south breathing in the orange smell that waivered throughout the air and tickled the inside of your nose was simplicity. 

But the drink that stood out the most was The Tilt A whirl. It was so great I forgot to take a picture of it! Lets take a second to go back to our childhood. The never ending fun of camp outs, staying up late, chasing fireflies, eating candied...anything, and going to carnivals. In enters the tilt a whirl. It is a beautiful fall night at the carnival in a glass. The drink is made up of berkshire mountain ragged rum, salted caramel, salers aperitif, apple bitters, and toasted hay. The drink is truely an experience. The drink's salted caramel and apple bitters mask the harshness of the rum and right when you take a sip and it travels down your throat what is the aftertaste? Lime! Anyone who knows me knows I love sweet and sour drinks.(I love to confuse the hell outta my tongue yay) but THIS was a sweet and sour drink that took me by surprise. Everything was blended perfectly. It reminded me of old fall nights in Alabama when we would all take hay rides and enjoy the cool night air....as we waited for our inevitable doom because that's how horror movies start right? 4 kids...going on a hay ride....in the dark...having a good time....WHEN A NINJA.....

We had lovely pairings with our drinks that included David getting the chicken sausage and me getting the mussels which were to die for!

To die for I say!

Leon's full service has certainly met if not exceeded my expectations.Great atmosphere, great food, great drinks, overall a great night. A great night that ended with a drunken stumble out the doors and a smile. Gotta love it.

Ah Sonya Yu....

Its safe to say that 

Trotter

Is my new best friend.

I was pirusing the internet due to bronchitis ive had for 2 months when I found Sonya Yu. Self proclaimed professional food pornographer(saucy) Sonya Yu  Photography ranges from 

Food Porn

Cityscapes

Pets that are soon to be apart of my crew

People of substance

....this

Yes, it is safe to say spending a day in the unforgettable world of great sunsets and sunrises, breakfast for champs, and sleeping beauties is much needed after this hectic life I endure. Sonya Yu will always be there to give me that San Fransisco smile that always makes me smile back 

 http://sonyayu.tumblr.com/image/22784917519

Normality

and if i had one day
to live without my corroded heart
to sing to the blue birds mocking how they sing to me
to look up at the sky and feel the joy i know its supposed to make me feel
if i had one day. one day, to be different, like everyone else
to feel happy when its expected
to cry when things are sad
to love when it is called for
but the darkness engulfs me
and all that is left is the empty shell of me
If i had one day
to feel like a real person
a whole
the empty shell taken over by a real soul
if i had one day

I would make it last