Thumbs Up For Milwalky Trace

If you haven’t checked out Milwalky Trace, the hot new restaurant in downtown Libertyville, better get moving! People are buzzing about this cozy little spot(only 45 seats!) run by husband-and-wife team Lee Kuebler and KristineKurtzman, who live “above the store” when they aren’t working downstairs.

Photo Courtesy of Milwalky Trace

Lee grew up in Gurnee and is a Kendall College-trained chef with aspirations. He has worked at Michael in Winnetka and Ada Street in Chicago and now he’s putting all that top-flight experience and classical French training to the test in this latest venture.

Kristine designed the décor, and the look is completely different than the nearby Tavern, with its eclectic, kitschy décor. Milwalky is part industrial metals,part vintage warm woods and vintage bricks, in a stripped-down urban kind of way.

The food does most of the talking here, but the menu is short and sweet for now, aclear sign that Lee is is aiming for quality over quantity.

Is topped by recently with a friend and we fell in love with the small plates:roasted beets and baby carrots with pistachio butter, roasted garlic with balsamic to spread on toast, grilled apricots and burrata cheese with prosciutto and a slice of luscious Key lime pie with blackberries.

I can recommend the Moscow Mule – it’s made with trendy Tito’s vodka, and the“French 75,” made with gin, lemon and sparkling wine.

By the way: the name comes from the Native American trail that used to run from Chicago to Milwaukee. Maps from the 1800's list the trail as Milwalky Trace.