Leña Brava Awards

Leña Brava Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: This live-fire cooking restaurant rumbles with energy from the minute guests step into the dining room, whose wood-fired oven and mezcal selection are on full display. Heavy ceiling beams and an open concept reflect the industrial feeling of the West Loop. An upstairs dining room flanked by windows can be reserved for private events. West Loopers --- professionals just getting off work, date nighters --- come for the Baja-inspired fare and generous wine and mezcal menus.

Likes: Don't pass the raw bar or cocktails by. The Leña signature cocktail flight samples Leña Fire and Leña Ice, both with the house mezcal.
Dislikes: The first-floor dining room is a little tight. Then again, that lends to an intimate, house party feel.

Food & Drinks: Despite the intense competition on Restaurant Row, Leña Brava maintains its own heat with its raw bar and oven-fired meats and seafood. There's so much big flavor: the Leña ceviche and ceviche maki roll, the chili-marinated octopus, the red wine and tamarind-marinated duck. Carnivores enjoy generous portions with a 32-ounce tomahawk steak, bone-in and smoky with onions and salsa, and the Manzano chile-infused pork shank carnitas. Sides make a statement; savor the butter-roasted plantains. Finish refreshingly with a cava float with fresh fruit or one of the many Baja wines such as the Vinedos Malagon Grenache Rosé.