Thomas Jefferson said “A little rebellion every now and then is a good thing.” And Fold Three Hospitality partner Joel Griffin is banking on that fact. He and his team opened Rebellion Bourbon Bar & Kitchen in downtown Leesburg in July, a sequel to the successful Fredericksburg location of the same concept.
Guests can expect what’s named in the moniker — around 150 varieties of Scotches, whiskies, and bourbons — as well as pub cuisine from culinary director and executive chef Declan Horgan. Horgan is known to Hell’s Kitchen viewers as a finalist on season 19 and the show’s first Irish contestant. But visitors to Rebellion will also find a third-floor cigar lounge, friendly service, and an exquisite renovation of a 232-year-old building that was most recently home to an erotica shop.
In other words, Rebellion is a cut above the mostly uninspired restaurant offerings in Old Town Leesburg, where service is generally lacking and the food is overpriced. Not that I would call it a destination restaurant. Rebellion is a neighborhood spot. Griffin is careful to mention that he worked with local contractors and designers to perfect the space and Horgan sources his ingredients from area farmers markets and purveyors.
My favorite dish that I tried at Rebellion was also my first. Horgan’s chicken wings are smoked for three hours before being grilled to order. The result is caped in a lick of smoke, but crisp skin comes with ropes of likably blackened caramelization. They are a pleasure on their own, but even better with a bath of bourbon-maple or mambo sauce. Even the side of blue cheese dressing is of a higher quality than most with its rich funk.
Though Horgan goes between the Fredericksburg and Leesburg Rebellion locations making sure that everything is running smoothly, Nancy Linarte is in charge of Leesburg’s kitchen on a daily basis. That can mean that not everything is prepared exactly as the celebrity chef intended. I found that meats are typically cooked a bit beyond the level requested. The sear on the scallop dish wasn’t as blistering as I might have expected, but it wouldn’t prevent me from ordering it again.
The quartet of plump shellfish is served sunken into a sweet corn succotash. Each scallop is bolstered by a blob of bacon jam. So far, so heavy. But the beauty of the dish is that amid the brown-butter richness, the chef adds pickled chiles, cilantro, and a pile of fresh greens to lighten up the flavors.
The danger of dining at Rebellion, in fact, is this type of alchemy. The fish and chips, which Griffin says earned Horgan the title of the best in Dublin two years in a row, are not only not a touch greasy, but the airy fingers of Atlantic cod, paired with skin-on, hand-cut fries actually feel like a light meal. It’s a sin, then, that when I tried the dish, only some of the fries were crispy and one out of three of the chunks of fish had been cooked almost to the point of vaporization.
At another visit, the salty fries shattered with each bite, but the flank steak accompanying it as steak frites was dry. The sauce of bourbon peppercorn cream was forbiddingly sweet, something that would have been more welcome in a dessert. (Incidentally, there are no desserts being served at Rebellion just yet. As one server put it, “Our bourbons are the dessert.”)
Booze, including local products like sips from Catoctin Creek Distilling Company and an upcoming collaboration barrel with Leesburg winemaker Fabbioli Cellars, doesn’t just find its way into heavy pours. The good stuff also appears in a large segment of dishes, from maple-bourbon-glazed bacon to start to the popular grilled pork chop with bourbon-roasted-shallot jus. Whiskey is even slipped into the nachos.
That’s in the form of earthy, pleasantly spicy Sagamore Rye Five-Alarm Chili. Crisp tortilla chips are coated in a piquant white cheese sauce, but also fresh guacamole, powdery cotija cheese, and pico de gallo. $14 buys a plate that even two hungry adults couldn’t hope to dispatch if they’re also planning on entrees. There’s also the option to add pork belly or smoked chicken, completely eradicating the necessity of a main course.
Size is definitely not an issue at Rebellion. The half Caesar salad ($8) is a heaping bowl of lettuce in an anchovy-redolent, creamy dressing. The soft-boiled egg mentioned in the menu never materialized when I tried it, but the hearty helping of chunky cubes of smoky bacon makes the surprisingly large salad more than satisfying.
The Ramsay Bolton burger, another bourbon dish, suffers a similar fate to the steak frites. Cooked well-done, despite my request for medium, the double patties are flavored with whiskey bacon jam so sweet that even its binding of aged cheddar couldn’t make it a palatable entree.
Yes, Rebellion is not without stumbles — at one visit, two courses of food came out in no more than 10 minutes, but it took at least 20 to flag down a server for a check. But such missteps are forgivable at your local haunt. And for those craving such a thing in Old Town Leesburg, they may have finally found a worthy match. A little Rebellion may be worth a regular visit.
Rebellion Bourbon Bar & Kitchen
Rating:★★1/2
See This: Original exposed brick and beams combine with new fittings like chandeliers suspended from rope for a welcoming rustic-chic look.
Eat This: Smoked wings, fish and chips, pan-seared scallops
Appetizers: $9–$20
Entrées: $11–$42
Open for lunch and dinner daily
1 N. King St., Leesburg
Feature image by Alice Levitt
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