October Cupcakes

We stopped by Main Street Cupcakes today to redeem my free birthday cupcake coupon.  I decided on the Berry Berry Strawberry because I don't remember having one before.

It's vanilla cake with strawberry pieces inside.   Very nice and fragrant too.

Steve decided to get Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake.  

Notice the Oreo cookie piece between the frosting and cake.   He liked it.

Fat Cats

 Steve and I went out and met with some friends the other night at Fat Cats in Tremont.  It's a small restaurant and the owner also owns the Lava Lounge.   Pictured above is the appetizer we ordered, warmed goat cheese.   Those crostini were nicely crispy and served in tomato jam.   It had a slight spicy kick to it.   The herbs on the cheese were very nice.

Steve had the pan roasted salmon for dinner.  Those are Ohio corn pancakes, green beans, and a jalapeno relish with it.  

I ordered the duck breast.  This was absolutely perfect!  Duck confit, cooked medium, just the right balance of tender and chewy.   The round piece in front of the kale is apple challah bread pudding and it all is sitting in a mustard shallot sauce.  I was concerned that mustard would be the main flavor, but it was nicely in the background.   The bread pudding went extremely well with the duck.

The portion sizes were just right at Fat Cats.   We didn't have to worry about leftovers.   I really enjoyed my meal and I wouldn't mind going again.

Motown the Musical

We saw Motown the Musical yesterday at Playhouse Square.  Huge autobiographical musical about the creation of Motown Records in Detroit by Berry Gordy and the stars he helped create.   It features 66 songs used in part or whole throughout the piece.  It shows the roots of Smokey Robinson, the Jackson 5, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops and many more.   I grew up listening to these tunes as oldies thanks to my mom.

The opening to the musical is great.  It starts at the 25th anniversary of Motown Records with all the stars coming back to celebrate.  However, it is soon pointed out that they left the company and the protagonist, Berry Gordy feels quite betrayed.  The show then goes back to the beginning and the founding of the company and the rise of the stars.

The music was extremely enjoyable.   I particularly liked how they used "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" to underscore changes happening in the company.

The celebrities are portrayed extremely accurately.   Especially Diana Ross and little Michael Jackson.  The love story in the show is the tumultuous relationship between Ross and Gordy.

The pacing of the show was a tad uneven.   The opening was great, but the endings of both acts were pretty weak.   Usually at the end of a jukebox musical, there is some kind of rapid fire review of all the best loved hits.   Motown didn't have such a thing at the end the way that Mama Mia and Jersey Boys did.   You will probably love this show if you have fond memories of Motown music.   I enjoyed it despite its flaws.

Brown Sugar Fine Thai Cuisine

Steve and I went to Brown Sugar Thai the other night.   The restaurant is fairly new and has two locations.  We went to the one in Lakewood.  Brown Sugar does not use MSG in their cooking.  Pictured above is the Seafood Coconut soup.  It's a slightly spicy dish with an interesting combination of flavors.   Those are mushrooms floating on the surface.  It's very tasty.  I would stop in just for a bowl of this soup.

They had bubble tea.   Steve ordered a mango smoothie with bubbles.  This place did a really good job with the boba.  They were juicy and sweet.   The trick is to keep them in sugar syrup and not over boil them.

I had the Eggplant and Scallops.   Their presentation is nice.   The rice is served in little pyramids.   This dish is heavier on the eggplant than scallops.  The soy sauce is nicely sweet.  I have enough leftovers for at least 3 more meals.

Steve ordered the Brown Sugar Garden with Pork.   That's a little dish of peanut sauce, which was extremely tasty.   It was boiled pork on steamed veggies.   It was slightly sweet.  It's a simple dish that was nicely arranged on the plate.

I enjoyed eating at Brown Sugar.  Next time, I'm ordering the mango rice for dessert.

Samba Brazilian Grill

I was in Wisconsin this past week and had the opportunity to eat at Samba Brazilian Grill.  I had never been to a steak house of this type before.  It's really neat.   They have this wooden beacon that sits on your table, flipped either to red or green.  Green means, "keep bringing more food!" They do, on large swords.  Red means you need time to digest.

Here is where the meat is roasted.   I was just going to get the salad bar, but it smelled so good!

This was my plate from the salad bar.  Lots of good things up there including fried bananas and soup.

That's a picture of the salad bar.   If you're not extremely hungry, you won't get a lot out of a Brazilian steakhouse experience.   There is a great deal of variety and it just keeps coming.   I'd like to try it again sometime.

Table 45

Last night we went to Table 45 for International Talk Like a Pirate Day.   It just was calling for us to go because the restaurant is so fancy and to celebrate such a fun geek holiday was an incredible contrast.   We got there and caught the last 5 minutes of happy hour prices on appetizers!   Also, the staff were wearing pirate hats and music from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disney World was playing in the background.  Table 45 prides itself on being an international fusion restaurant.  The menu, chef, and staff have completely changed since we were last there in 2009.

We got too appetizers.  Pictured above are the Tokyo Street Fries.  The sweet potato fries had some large flakes of salt.   They are nicely crispy and the sweet spicy dip made for a nice contrast.

Steve ordered the Moroccan Kafta, a lamb kebab with salsa, yogurt sauce, and some naan.  The lamb was nicely spiced and went well with the yogurt and salsa.   Salsa and lamb are two Steve's favorite foods, so he really enjoyed this.

 After happy hour ended, we decided to get the rest of dinner.   Pictured above is the bread served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We decided on sushi.   The sushi wasn't as prominent a part of the menu the last time we ate there.   We got the shrimp tempura rolls and the spicy scallop rolls.   I was a little wary of the scallop because I had never eaten raw scallops before.  However, it was the most unusual thing we saw and decided to get it for the experience.  It was really tasty and chewy.   I was expecting it to be chewy to the level of calamari sushi, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Those tempura rolls were excellent too.   They had this really crispy batter that was different from tempura rolls served at other restaurants.   Yum!

We ended our meal by splitting this chocolate lava cake.   It was served in a hazelnut creme sauce and garnished with hazelnuts and chocolate curls.   It wasn't too hot or excessively gooey.  It was exactly the right temperature to eat.   I've known lava cakes that you have to cut open and a wait a while first.  

Overall, it was a fun night.   Steve even got to taste some rum samples that were being featured at happy hour.   Happy belated International Talk Like a Pirate Day everyone!

Forever Plaid

Just got back from seeing Forever Plaid at the Beck Center.   It was a musical revue with songs from the 40s through the 50s.   The plot: a little known singing group, the Plaids, get killed in a car accident on the way to their first gig.  Now they get to perform the show that they never had the chance to in life.

It was nice enough.  Excellent four part harmonies.   Warning!  There is audience participation!  I guess I would have felt more strongly about it if I had been able to remember the Ed Sullivan Show.  It's a tame little show that you can safely bring an older relative to see.   I'm sure if you enjoy variety shows like the Lawrence Welk Show, you will enjoy this.   It's not my type of musical, but there is a valid audience for it out there.