Lennie's Restaurant and Brewpub offers fabulous large portions

Lennie's Restaurant and Brewpub, 1795 E. 10th St. across from Ashton Center, is a truly fulfilling dining experience -- so filling, in fact, that you won't eat again for a while. We found the food to be excellent and the service to be courteous and speedy. Although the seating and waiting areas are small, eating here is worth the wait.\nAppetizers\nWe sampled the roasted garlic foccacia, an Italian-style flatbread with garlic, rosemary and caramelized onions. It was salty, but not overly so. The marinara dipping sauce was full of chunky vegetables, and the roasted garlic bulb added a wonderful flavor to the bread. The 6-inch loaf cost $3.95.\nThe Mediterranean Sampler appetizer platter includes roasted red pepper hummus, kalamata olive tapenade and eggplant relish. At $5.75, it was served with crumbled feta cheese and pita points. The hummus was exquisite, at just the right texture and flavor. The olive tapenade was surprisingly good, considering we do not usually care for olives. The relish, cooler and more chunky than the other two options, was a pleasant treat.\nEntrees\nThe Alberini's spaghetti and meatballs was one big bowl of pasta for $7.95. We're still eating the leftovers of this giant dish, which was topped with tomato sauce and meatballs made of Italian sausage and beef. The meatballs were good, with a distinct flavor, and the pasta and sauce were above average. The sauce had generous chunks of tomato. \nWe ordered the roast beef dip sandwich, a roast beef sandwich with grilled onions and mozzarella cheese, for $7. The roast beef had an excellent flavor, although the cheese was bland and oily. The au jus at first seemed a bit too thin, but the excellent seasonings and flavorings made up for the consistency of the dipping sauce. Served with potato chips, this sandwich was the perfect choice.\nLennie's offers a variety of other options -- including an entire page of sandwich selections. The restaurant also serves entree salads, such as the black and blue chicken caesar for $8.75, as well as pizzas and strombolis. Patrons can even create their own strombolis from the list of pizza toppings offered.\nDessert\nWe were so full after our appetizers and entrees that we opted to split one dessert instead of ordering individually. We passed up tiramisu and "The Original Sin" brownie, and chose the cheesecake of the day -- lemon with blueberry sauce -- for $4.25. Instead of being creamy, the filling was somewhat chunky, but still appetizing. The sauce, with real blueberries, was excellent, and combined nicely with white and dark chocolate shavings and whipped cream topping.\nOverall\nIf you eat at Lennie's, be prepared to take half your meal home. The food is excellent, and is served in generous, extremely filling portions. Despite the excellent food, the atmosphere is relatively casual. This is one of the few gems we've found this semester in Bloomington restaurants, and we highly recommend it to all hungry students.\nLennie's restaurant\n• Where: 1795 E. 10th St., across from Ashton Center.