What a day.  This morning we went downtown for the Pigskin Classic at Blind Pig for the Ohio State Michigan game.  Chris ran a 5k while Jen, Brooke, Kelly and I attended the Snuggiefest Tailgate.  So cozy!!  The collegiate snuggies are even softer than the originals.  And you know I love drinking in a snuggie.  The Buckeyes of course won and we had a great afternoon!

After a good two hour nap, Chris and I cleaned up and met Sarah (Ruby) and Nick at L'Albatros for dinner.  It. was. so. good.  Sarah I started with three cheeses.  The waiter talked us through the whole cheese plate, probably 15 different cheeses, and I don't know how he remembered all the cheese info.  We went with a goat cheese, a semi-hard manchego, and a truffle cheese.  Mmmm, I love cheese...  For dinner, I tried their vegetarian root vegetable cassoulet with goat cheese, Chris had the beef bourguignon, Sarah had the mussels, and Nick had the croque monsieur.  The food was awesome, the wait staff very attentive with the water (we really needed it, see above), and nice overall atmosphere.  And here is the best part - its really well priced.   I would say this food is some of the best value in the area.    So cross #2 off the list.  Oh and this cassoulet blew Lure's out of the water and it didn't even have any meat in it.  So if you are as curious about cassoulet as I am, I suggest you head to L'Albatros very soon to try it!

Cassoulet

The topic of today's blog comes via my mother. When I was home last week to get a new phone and re-join her family plan, she pulled out this article from the News Herald. It is about cassoulet, which I had never heard of, but this recipe describes it in mouthwatering detail. The article mentions two local restaurants that serve this dish, as well as an at home recipe that I will try sometime this winter. The first restaurant it mentions is L'Albatros in University Circle. I haven't been yet, but it just moved up on my list of Cleveland restaurants to try - Right behind Flying Fig, can you believe I haven't eaten there yet? Me. Neither. Anyways, the second restaurant it mentions is one of my old east side root favorites, Lure Bistro. When I was living at home in Chardon during my first year out of college, my girlfriends and I would go on a regular basis to get sushi and eat on their awesome patio. Well the sushi chef has since moved to his own place right up the street, Young's Sushi, which I haven't been to yet, but from what I hear it is the same great sushi at a much lower price. And that definitely puts it on my list of Cleveland restaurants to try. (Side note: that is the second reference to this "list" in one post. You would think an actual list existed somewhere. I think I need to write one down. Maybe an upcoming post?? If you have recommendations, please share.) Ok so back to Lure.

Tonight, Rachael (previously Rae Rae) and Theresa (previously Little Monster, I think? This is why I stopped using these crazy names, too hard to remember) and I had dinner at Lure and I of course, had to try the cassoulet. It is served with strings of sweet potato fries and has a ton of white beans. It was very tasty and filling and I would definitely get it again, it's a fantastic winter meal. Lure's atmosphere is wonderful, but our only complaint is that it gets really noisy. It must have been girls night out cuz there were several other tables of all girls and it got very loud. Rach had a lovely watercress salad with hazelnut vinaigrette and the Black Widow sushi roll and Theresa had the grouper which was awesome. I'm excited to try the cassoulet at L'Albatros to compare.