Xanadu

It's theater season again!   I'm looking forward to seeing and writing about my subscriptions this year.  Today, we saw the Beck Center for the Arts' production of Xanadu.  The musical is based on the movie of the same named starring Olivia Newton John.

I didn't want to see the show until I had seen the movie first.  The movie isn't terrible.  The special effects are campy and it runs a bit on the long side.  My husband actually fell asleep a couple of times during the movie.  However, it was nice to get a feeling for the original.

Now the musical makes fun of the movie.   For instance, the exaggerated 1980s clothing featuring legwarmers (they are an important plot point).  Oh, and the Australian accent of the main character (also an important plot point).  I love a show that crosses the fourth wall and can have fun at its own expense.  Know those cheesy music videos featuring the gratuitous wind machine?  Watch for it!  It was too fun!

They did change a few things between the movie and the musical.  In the movie, Kira was Terpsichore, the Muse of dance.  In the musical, Kira is Clio, Muse of history.  The musical emphasizes that Sonny did the painting of the Muses.   The character of Danny was made more gruff and less likeable that his movie counterpart (played by Gene Kelly).  They also added subplot of two of  Kira's Muse sisters (Melpomene and Calliope) scheming against her.

The musical runs 1 hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.  I was familiar with several of the songs because of all the Dance Dance Revolution I used to play.  It's nice to know the context of the songs.

Horseshoe Casino: The Spread Buffet

I finally got to visit the Horseshoe Casino today.  It's really interesting to see a casino in Cleveland because I've been going to Las Vegas since I was ten year old.  Anyhow, I'm not really into gambling, so we went to the buffet, aptly named The Spread.

The restaurant is no ordinary buffet.   Each station actually has a small kitchen behind it where the food for the station is prepared.  For example, this is the Italian station:

Note the wood fire ovens in the back for making pizza.

The Spread features art and objects found during the remodeling of the Higbee Building where the casino is located.

As for the food, it was great!  There was a wide variety of things to choose from.  We went this morning for brunch and I'm still feeling full.   I'll probably skip dinner.  Below are pictures of things our party tried in no particular order.

On this plate are a pork dumpling, a cracker with Swiss cheese, a strip of bacon, a waffle, a buttermilk pancake, a quesadilla, scrambled eggs, and a home style hash brown.

They served fried chicken in these individual baskets!   They had a number of dishes like that.

On this plate are a slice of mushroom pizza, an omeletmade to order, a piece of french toast, a lice of garlic bread, and a fortune cookie.

This is a peanut butter tart.  It had a fudge chocolate center.

On this plate:  another waffle, eggs Benedict, two more pork dumplings, Caesar salad, pesto pasta with mushrooms, and smoked salmon.

This plate has another waffle, the pesto pasta with mushrooms, penne pasta with red sauce, a chocolate croissant, a chocolate brownie on a stick, and a piece of pineapple.

This plate has creamed spinach, scrambled eggs, whipped potatoes, General Tso's chicken, spicy beef, and Kielbasa sausage.

This is the Spread's gelato freezer.  The flavors rotate on the inside and the attendant serves it for you.  I just had to get a picture!

The gelato here is stracciatella, coffee, and mango.   The plate to the right is cherry pie.

This is banana, vanilla, and chocolate gelato.

This is creme caramel, pistachio, and sugar free milk cream gelato.   The glass to the right is a strawberry smoothie.

The Spread is definitely an experience not to be missed.  However, it is an indulgence and a whole lot of food.  If you go, plan on eating lightly that day before and afterwards. 

Li Wah

We went out last night to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Li Wah.   They have the best dim sum in Cleveland!  They serve it on the rolling carts every day before 1 pm, but Sunday dim sum is the best.   Their website menu doesn't feature the sheer variety of things they have to serve.  Last night we ordered the 6 person set meal with the substitution of salty fish eggplant casserole instead of the black mushroom dish.  Also, we added an order of salted fish, chicken fried rice.  The order served the seven of us with plenty of leftovers.

 We also ordered some bubble tea.   The front one is taro and the back one is papaya.

This one is pineapple pictured with the plain hot tea.

The soup was beef with cilantro.

This is roasted duck over jellyfish, served chilled.

This is my cousin's favorite dish, beef with asparagus and peppers.

This is the Chinese style lobster.  It does have some shell bits in the chunks, so be cautious when eating it.

This is a sweet and sour pork dish.

This is a Chinese style fried chicken.  By the way, the colorful things on top are prawn crackers.

This is the salt fish eggplant casserole we substituted for the black mushroom dish.  It's delicious!  The eggplant is savory and tender, with just a bit of salty goodness from the fish.

My favorite dish is the salted fish, chicken fried rice.   It was completely finished!

This is tilapia served with bones.  I'm not a big fan of fish with bones, but everyone else enjoyed it.

As you can see, the set menu has lots of food for a fixed price.  The only additions we had were the bubble teas and the the fried rice.  You should definitely go to Li Wah if you want authentic Chinese food.  

The Chocolate Bar

I went out with a group of friends last night to the Chocolate Bar.  I've actually been to this restaurant before a couple of years ago.  Last time we had the Chocolate Bar Baguette (A Chocolate Bar original. toasted baguette, smooth dark chocolate and coarse sea salt.  Served with an olive oil and chocolate dipping sauce.)  which was good, and the Chocolate Bar Pasta (fresh pasta tossed with white chocolate cream, fresh basil, white pepper and white wine. Served with a southwestern corn and pepper medley.), which I thought was strange even for my tastes.  It was sweetened pasta, that made me feel like someone melted a white chocolate bar into alfredo sauce.

This was my drink, a Frosted Cinnamon Bun milkshake.  It was large enough for my husband to share it with me.  This was tasty.  It was sweet and creamy and very much like its namesake. We had to ask a server for a straw.  The white thing in the photo is a white chocolate stick garnish.  Pretty, but I wasn't about to try drinking directly from a glass brimming with whipped cream.

Our table shared a couple of appetizers.  This is the Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella (Slices of tomato, homemade mozzarella, basil, drizzled with balsamic reduction and a sprinkle of sea salt).   I'm not really into tomatoes, but the cheese was nice enough. The balsamic drizzle wasn't too strongly vinegar tasting.

This is their Cheese Tray appetizer.  At the time of this writing, it was not on the PDF of the restaurant's menu.   There were butter and wheat crackers, a blue cheese, a slice of cheddar cheese, and a generous slice of brie.  Additionally, there were apple slices topped with a fig spread, candied walnuts, chocolate chips, and fresh strawberries.  I think this appetizer could use additional crackers and a second knife.

My husband had the Mexican Pork Tenderloin (Rubbed in a spicy cocoa seasoning and served with a bourbon ancho sauce, mango salsa and roasted potatoes. finished with a smoked sea salt).  I had a little bit and it was slightly spicy.

I had the Ski Country sandwich (honey baked ham layered with cheddar cheese, sliced apples, dijon mayo and a home-made apple cream cheese on panini.).   I liked this.  The apples provided a nice complement to the ham and the cheddar cheese.

We both had to take home half of our meals because the portions were fairly generous.  I'm calling this a total of four meals.  The sandwich reheated nicely for breakfast too.