Travel Adventure Birthday Cupcakes

We went to Main Street Cupcakes original location yesterday.  The closed their other branches, so this one is the only one left.  It was worth the trip.  Pictured above from left to right:
Back row: Birthday cake, Hudson Apple Pie, Toffee Coffee
Front row: Chocolate Raspberry and Blueberry Cheesecake

This bakery has given me really high standards for cupcakes.  Once you try them, everything else is sort of meh.  They have 200 plus different flavors on a rotating menu, plus you can order boozy adult cupcakes for special occassions.

District

Last night was the preview for upcoming season at Playhouse Square.   It's a day early before the public release tonight.  Steve and I took the opportunity to eat at the District.  We ordred the Wine and Dine set menu.  For fifty dollars, you get two entrees, two starters, and a bottle of wine.   It's a lovely deal.   Pictured above is the Herbed Barramundi with the spinach rissotto.  It was delicious!   It had a lightly cripsy surface.

Steve ordered the special, some sort of lamb with couscous.   Very nicely tender.

Each of us had a different soup.   I had the creamy ginger carrot while Steve had the tomato and rice.

The carrot soup was lightly sweet.   Very good.

The tomato rice soup was much heartier.  

After dinner, I decided to splurge on dessert.   We got the toffee ganache.   It was decadant and very filling.

I'd definitely go to this place again.   We also got to take the bottle of wine home with us!

Parallax

We went to Parallax last night for dinner.  We had been meaning to go, and we just happened to be in the neighborhood.  Pictured above is the pork shank Steve ordered.  The meat was very tender and falling off the bone.  It was served with spicy egg noodles.

 We also had calamari as an appetizer.  This was really delicious!   It had a marinara sauce and a sweet and sour type of sauce served with it.

I went with salmon rolls because I had a snack before going out.   These were nice.  I would have tried one of their specialty rolls if I had more appetite.

Overall, no leftovers with very nice portion sizes.  We'll probably visit again and try the dessert menu.

L'Albatros Brasserie

Hello food fans!   Steve and I had dinner the other night at L'Albatros Brasserie, a lovely French restaurant nestled among the Greek houses at Case Western Reserve University.  They do have a dedicated parking lot.   Please remember to bring quarters for the meter or a credit card for the automated pay system.  If you run into the parking lot attendant, the entire evening is only three dollars.

We weren't too hungry so we split everything.  Pictured above is a mushroom soup, the soup of the day.   Nicely creamy, lots of flavor, and a dollop of cheese in the center.   That's the bowl size.   Very tasty.

For our main course, we ordered the cassoulet.  The restaurant was kind enough to split it into two different plates.  That's lamb, duck confit, and sausages with white beans.   I really enjoyed this.   The sausages had a fruity flavor.  I want to say apples.

Lastly, we had the honey almond cake for dessert.   Topped with creme fraiche and strawberrys, this was a great way to end our meal.   The almond cake was soaked in a honey sauce.  

We didn't have any leftovers this time.   I'd like to eat here again sometime.

Cowell & Hubbard

Last night we went out for dinner at Cowell & Hubbard in the Playhouse Square district downtown.   That was fun.   There was a lot of variety.  Pictured above is my order, smoked porchetta.   It's basically pork belly served with a very savory polenta and red cabbage.   Extremely rich and delicious.  I got to have the rest today for lunch.

Steve had the skate wing.  It was supposed to have artichokes, but they ran out.  Still, it was good.  I can't remember what they did as a substitution.

They serve their bread with olive oil and pink salt.   It's more of a crusty type of bread, but with large bubbles of air in the center.

It was nice to try someplace new.  Maybe we'll stop by the next time we see a show.

Provenance

Yesterday, Steve and I were at the Cleveland Art Museum and stopped for lunch at their restaurant, Provenance.  It made a nice break in our day of exploring different centuries of art.

Here is a photo of their menu:

They have a pre-fixe menu based on a collection of art currently on display.   I decided to have the brie and bacon burger with the grilled onions.   The meat was so tender it just fell apart!   The garlic fries were very tasty.  They were just the right level of crunchy.

Steve had the steak salad.   It was served with "bacon jam" which was sweet and just bacon-y enough.   He really enjoyed it.

Our meals were so filling that we didn't have room for dessert.   Here is a picture of the dessert menu:

The restaurant does a high tea in the winter months, so we'll definitely be back to give that a try.

Final Cupcakes from Main Street Cupcakes Rocky River

Today was the last day for Main Street Cupcakes in Rocky River.   Their other locations are in Hudson and Chagrin Falls.   I'm really going to miss them being just around the corner.  There is always online delivery though.

Our friend Ellie joined us today.   Her order is below:

Left to right:

Top row: Chip Overload, Birthday Cake, Red Velvet

Bottom row: Classic Chocolate, Caramel Apple, Wedding Day White

We started off planning to order four, but went with a half dozen instead.   

Top row: Caramel Apple, Coconut Cream

Bottom row: Strawberry Cookies and Cream, Hot Cocoa

The left one is MSC Fluff and right one is Chip Overload.

A Cookie & A Cupcake

It was such a pretty, sunny day today that we stopped by A Cookie & A Cupcake.

Top row: Strawberry and Apple

Bottom row: Salted Caramel and Nutella

The apple one was basically covered in apple pie filling and the core had cinnamon.  The strawberry one was filled with vanilla custard with strawberry pieces.

The salted caramel had salt sprinkles on top.  It wasn't overly salty.   The nutella was today's special flavor.

The frosting is very light and more similar to whipped cream than buttercream.  It is a nice little shop and definitely worth a visit.  Next time we're going to order their sampler tray of all their flavors.

December Holiday Cupcakes

I stopped by Main Street Cupcakes today and got a couple of flavors.   The red one on the left is December's Flavor of the Month, Ruby Slipper.   It's red velvet cake with champagne buttercream frosting.  The yellow one is Lemon with a Twist, a lemon one with a generous dollop of raspberry filling in the center.   Both were extremely yummy.

They also gave me a mini hot chocolate cupcake for free!   See the tiny marshmallows?

Normally, Main Street has 16 to 20 flavors on a daily basis.  Today, I counted 25, 26 if you count the mini hot chocolate ones.

Churned Ice Cream

As a treat today, we went to Churned Ice Cream.   I quickly decided on my flavors.  Steve and I both agreed on them and were able to share.

The scoop on top is Malted Cookie Dough.  The malt was nicely subtle.

The scoop on the left side is Blondie.  It reminded me of sweetened condensed milk because of the caramelized sugar.  Yummy!

The flavor on the right is Chocolate Passionfruit.  It's a rich dark chocolate and the passionfruit flavor comes out towards the end.   It reminds me of a chocolate truffle you'd get in a fancy shop.

The final flavor in the front of the picture was Apple.  It had large chunks of sweet apple.   A perfect fall flavor!

My ice cream dish was basically full of fall desserts.   I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, I had to try the weird flavor.   I tried the Horseradish Chive savory ice cream.  It had chips of beef in it!

Yes, I'm not big on beef in ice cream.  If there is going to be a meat product in desserts, I prefer bacon because it just goes better.   I couldn't resist trying something so unusual.  It was spicy and definitely fit the description of "dinner in a cup without mashed potatoes."  The flavor is apparently more popular than their roasted garlic and rosemary ice cream which I want to try.