Sneak Peek: Petite Leon

You can't eat inside yet, but you can peek inside the new Kingfield spot.

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Jorge Guzman's new dream, the restaurant Petite Leon, opens in the former Blackbird space this weekend, sort of. Along with co-horts Ben Rients, Travis Serbus, and Dan Manosack, they decided to open slowly, rolling with takeout only to begin. 

The first PL menu is much more casual and pickup-friendly, though clearly far from boring. Check out some linguiça sausage with smoked bone broth and braised beans or red chile pozole, a warming soup with heirloom Mexican hominy and all the fixin's. But yes, there is a burger, an Oklahoma style onion burger dripping with cheese and instagram licks at that. And I know you know that Guzman's Pollo Pollo al Carbon pop-up concept will be making an appearance in the takeout kitchen. But this is an important bit of intel: there will only be a limited number of those Yucatan charred chickens each night, so don't dally.

Once the team gets things rolling, they'll start indoor dining with a limited dinner party, called Sneak Peek in December. The $75 small seating dinner will be a multi-course event, showcasing more of the Petite Leon dishes they hope to bring to full service dining: think pasta nero with rabbit or masa panisse with pumpkin seed mole. If you miss out on December, they're hoping to host these kinds of dinners on a monthly rotation, so sign up for that newsletter. 

But while it's curbside takeout for now, the papers are off the windows and you'll have to press your nose against the glass and dream of future nights in the low-lit dark wooden booths, snacking on goat cheese-stuffed piquillo peppers. Not a bad vision to hold on to through the winter, yeah?

If you remember the former space, this will feel much more open, clean, and calm. They kept the ornate iron work chandeliers as a nod to its former life, but the white walls will hold nothing but a few mirrors that are still on order. Dark wooden candle-lit booths and refinished floors bring that soft elegance they wanted. "We did most of the work ourselves," Guzman noted, "it was great to save on the budget of course, but it was also important to us to put the work into our own space."

You really can't miss it. Once you walk in, you'll see this giant young lion painted in the slant of the ceiling over the bar. The work is by Daniel Buettner, a local artist know for creative juxtapositions with animals (and not Mr. Blue Zone). "It's our petite leon, and having him in a hoodie really nods to the world we're living in now, that's important." Other smaller touches, like the refinished door frame, the red light above the custom stained glass entryway to the kitchen, and the copper clad bar top all play in concert with the image, which silently holds court over the space. 

The back bar is newly built as are some side shelves mounted to the wall, but the plan is to keep the energy simple, warm, and inviting. There might have been some sage-sticking of the place when I showed up. 

Takeout launches on Friday, and after will run W-Su from 4:30 to 9pm.