I said NO CHEESE!

Last Thursday night, Katie and Elaine ventured outside 43215 again to visit Rancho Alegre in Grandview. For those of you who don't already know, Elaine could live off Mexican food. Katie LOVES love, and Elaine LOVES Mexican.

Earlier in the night, Katie and Elaine went to CCAD to help critique student's projects in an advertising design class. Our co-worker, Josefa Spiess, is a professor there and asked us to come in to watch presentations and offer feedback. We didn't know what to expect coming into this situation, and were both pleasantly surprised at the level of work put into each project. The presentations lasted a couple hours, and because of this we were practically starved when we got to the restaurant.

For the second time on this whirlwind blog tour we were joined by co-worker Kate Rohrer, but as an added bonus Mike and Maddie (super cute baby in the pictures above) decided to tag along as well. As with any good Mexican restaurant, we sat down to hot chips and salsa. In my opinion as a Mexican restaurant connoisseur - if they don't give you free chips and salsa it's not worth coming back. When it came time to order I went with my usual, some sort of fajitas - in this case veggie fajitas. And as always, what's Mexican food without a Diet Coke? Katie and Kate ordered chicken quesadillas, and Mike ordered a burrito. Side note Mike can not have dairy, so he asked specifically for no sour cream and no cheese.

Well... when it came time for our food to arrive everyone's looked great except for that Mike's burrito was covered in cheese! The waiter tried to argue that he asked for no sour cream or SALSA, which didn't make sense since we were all sitting waiting chomping on chips and SALSA the entire time. Who eats salsa with their chips then magically decides they don't want it on their meal? (Answer - no one.)

After a short argument, the waiter took Mike's burrito back and returned with a new one - minus the cheese of course. Although we had this little hiccup, Rancho Alegre is delicious and will be going back whenever possible. We weren't in a drinking mood that night, but if we had been - Rancho Alegre is known for their delicious margarita's.

Katie and Elaine are looking for a Columbus hot spot to visit this week week for Leap Year - let us know your suggestions!

Double Happiness, Double Happy Birthday

On Friday February 17th, a group of friends came together at Double Happiness to celebrate the 29th anniversary of JMG's birth (whose true identity will remain known only to those who know him). After hassling and harassing Katie all day at work, she finally agreed to join in the festivities - and boy oh boy was she glad she did!

For those of you don't know who the great JMG is, he is the boyfriend of former dinner guest and current co-worker Brittany Kress. At first sight, Double Happiness was pretty hard to find - therefore there was no first sight. It is located in the Brewery District of Columbus, across the street from Shadowbox Theater. It is a bar, but you can order food there as well - but because we were just celebrating the birthday, we only got drinks. The on-tap beer selection was quite limited, but it did have a unique variety of choices. Being at an Asian inspired bar, I decided to go with an Asian inspired beer, Sapporo. Katie went with one of her all-time favorite beers, Hornsby.

A few fun facts about this night, we were joined by many co-workers including Cherise, Sara, Alison and Phokeng. Also, because JMG is such a big deal there was a live DJ, Envelope. Katie and Elaine had a great time enjoying the Asian decor, spending time with friends, and listening to awesome music. If you want a Double Happy Birthday - Double Happiness is the place to go!

It's Valentine's Day and I Need Closure!

As many of our followers may or may not know Katie and Elaine are both single, so this year we decided who better to spend Valentine's Day with than each other. Another fun fact you might not be aware of is that Valentine's Day is Katie's absolute favorite day of the entire year. As of today the countdown to VDAY 2013 will begin (364 days left!). Katie LOVES love and Elaine loves Katie enough to tolerate all of the hearts/candy/flowers/everything else associated with Valentine's Day including chick flicks.

Taking all of this into consideration, we decided to venture outside the 43215 zip code to try the Movie Tavern which is located in Hilliard. The Movie Tavern is just like any other movie theater except for that you can eat dinner and drink while you watch the movie. Because it was Valentine's Day we gathered up all our single girlfriends and got tickets to see The Vow. For those of you who have not heard of it or seen the trailer, The Vow is a story about a husband, Channing Tatum, and wife, Rachel McAdams, who are in a car crash, and when the wife wakes up she forgets she is married. Throughout the whole movie the husband is trying to make her fall back in love with him. We won't ruin the ending for you, but the first words out of Katie's mouth when it was over were, "I NEED CLOSURE!"

Although we were slightly disappointed that this chick flick didn't live up to the high expectations we set for it, the Movie Tavern was fantastic. Being that it was Valentine's Day and all the stupid couples were out and about, we had to sit up in the front row. Even sitting that close we still had great seats and didn't feel as if our necks were going to fall off when the movie was over. The menu was actually fairly large with everything from burgers and pizza to wraps or salads. I ordered the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wrap with sweet potato fries, which the waiter said was one of the most popular items on the menu. It was delicious! It had the right amount of spicy without making my eyes water, and the portion was very reasonable. Not too much, but enough that I was full when I was done. And of course since we had the option to drink while watching the movie I washed it down with a couple Blue Moon's. Katie had the Thai Chicken Flat bread and it was "fahhh-nominal," also washed down with some Blue Moon.

Do we recommend seeing The Vow? Yes, but wait until it comes out in Redbox. Do we recommend going to see a movie at the Movie Tavern? YES, because it has reasonably priced tickets, food, and drinks!

Happy Birthday Momma Kalkman!

After a much anticipated return, we are back!

A few weeks ago Katie and Elaine ventured out into the cold to try Milestone 229, a new restaurant on the Scioto mile, and for the first time in the history of the blog we were out to celebrate! Friend and co-worker of ours, Krysti Kalkman, invited us to dinner for her Mom's birthday. The entire group included: Krysti and her boyfriend Jake, Krysti's mom, their friends Andrew and John, Elaine, Katie and our friend Gillian.

The night we chose was possibly the coldest day of winter thus far, but we immediately decided if we liked the restaurant we wanted to come back in the summer. Milestone 229, which has a large patio, overlooks the Scioto River and shows a very picturesque view of the city.

To start off the celebration, we each ordered our drink of choice. Most went with wine, but a few opted for beer. The menu was fairly large and full of many choices. Jake, Andrew and I each got the Roasted Gerber Chicken Breast: Ohio free-range chicken with mac ‘n cheese, skillet green beans and savory gravy. IT WAS DELICIOUS, and we would all order it again if we come back. Katie and Gillian went with the Skillet Mac ‘n Cheese: double-smoked hickory bacon, diced tomato and scallions. Krysti ordered the Grilled Barrel Cut Sirloin: a thick center cut steak with three potato hash, skillet green beans, whiskey steak sauce and Gorgonzola butter. Krysti's mom ordered the Blackened Mahi Mahi: dirty rice, braised collard greens and spicy tomato butter, not to be confused with the Maui Maui. Last but not least, John ordered the special of the night which was a fish fillet with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Everyone LOVED their dinner and cleaned their plates so we could get dessert. Andrew and I ordered the Pumpkin Cheesecake with gingersnap crust, pecans and rum caramel. IT WAS TO DIE FOR. I am quite the cheesecake connoisseur, and this might have been the best cheesecake I've ever had. Katie, Gillian and Krysti's mom had the Pecan Pie Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and Johnson’s triple bean vanilla ice cream. I'm not much of a bread pudding fan, but the girls loved it. And Krysti and Jake split the Rich Chocolate Cake served with a small jug of milk. It was the biggest piece of chocolate cake you've ever seen!

Milestone 229 was delicious and definitely gets the stamp of approval from Katie and Elaine take Columbus!