Intrepid home cooks pride themselves on ambitious cooking ventures, claiming no recipe is too long and no protein too unusual. And yet one ingredient rarely finds its way into any home kitchen: rabbit.

Though it's commonplace on menus across town--from Hearty's rabbit corn dog to Province's rabbit confit--the mild meat is far from a dinnertime go-to (blame the cuddly associations). But One Sixtyblue's chef, Michael McDonald, aspires to change that.

McDonald, who gets whole rabbits from Michigan's Swan Creek Farms and butchers them in-house, calls them "the easiest way to cook nose-to-tail," and praises the mild, versatile meat.

Follow McDonald's advice for tackling it at home: grill or sauté the tender, quick-cooking loin, and braise the dense leg and thigh meat, or confit it in olive oil.

At the restaurant, he makes use of the entire animal in a dish of bacon-wrapped rabbit loin stuffed with liver mousse, topped with slow-cooked leg that has a rich, duck-confit-like texture.

The end result (pictured)--served with bok choy, pickled carrots, water chestnuts and carrot foam--is a dish that McDonald says "screams of spring."

Pick up fresh Wisconsin rabbit from Gepperth's ($10 a pound; they'll butcher it for you). And start with a version of the One Sixtyblue dish--braised rabbit with pickled carrots--adapted here for easy home cooking (click here to download the recipe).

One Sixtyblue, 1400 W. Randolph St.; 312-850-0303 or onesixtyblue.com