The week of April 11th was such a busy week and I just had to share even though I’m a week behind. It was Mac and cheese week throughout Cleveland, the Cavs played in the play in games, brunch at a new restaurant, dinner at one of my favorites and a visit to Brookside Reservation to see the cherry blossoms.
The whole week was Mac and cheese week in Cleveland, which consists of local restaurants selling their Mac and cheese, whether their normal Mac on their menu or specialty Mac for $5 and if you check in at some places you get put in for a drawing to win $250. There were tons of options on the list and a couple on the east side which I couldn’t wait to try out. We knew we couldn’t just eat Mac and cheese so we grabbed dinner Thursday night at Nora’s to try their Mac and cheese and grab a full meal. We each grab a sandwich and tried their Smoked Gouda Mac and cheese. This Mac and cheese is creamy, has amazing cheesy flavor and then the baked cheese on top of the Mac just makes the whole dish. I would get this as my side every time.
That night we also stopped at Wild Goose to try their Buffalo Mac and cheese. One of my favorite pizzas is their Mac and cheese and I add Buffalo sauce. Their Mac tasted just like this and I loved the flavor. The noodles were a little softer than I prefer as I’m an Al dente noodle person, but it didn’t change the amazing Buffalo flavor.
Friday was a big day in Cleveland with both the Guardians home opener and the Cavs play-in game. It was so great to see downtown as busy and vibrant as it was. Plus the weather was beautiful and sunny for Cleveland in April.
We stopped at Society, a speakeasy on East 4th right when it opened. Society is located in the middle of East 4th and it shares an entrance with some of the apartments. You walk down stairs into the speakeasy. They have a bunch of bench seating with tables, some chairs and tables, high top tables, and a bar, where you can watch all the magic happen. They make unique fun cocktails. We had a drink there to celebrate the Cavs season and then decided to enjoy the warm weather and amazing crazy atmosphere of downtown.
We stopped by our favorite before dinner spot Vincenza’s to grab some pizza and of course my favorite Italian sub. It was amazing as normal. Then we head to the Cavs game. Who would have ever thought at the beginning of the season the Cavs would be in a playoff game. The atmosphere was electric and it reminded me how much I missed NBA playoffs. We had so much fun even though the outcome wasn’t what we had wanted. The Cavs are such a talented team and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I hope lots of spring playoff games!
Since it was busy downtown instead of trying to fight the traffic to head home we decided to check out Giappone, Goma’s speakeasy. Giappone is located on East 4th beneath Goma. The space is smaller and intimate. The bar only has a couple seats and then there a couple seating areas and a DJ both. We grab a drink off their cocktail menu and watched the bartenders make all kinds of specialty cocktails.
Saturday I had brunch out in Lakewood with the ladies at Summerhouse. The views at the restaurant are amazing! It looks right over the lake and there are gorgeous views of downtown. The restaurant is beautiful inside, with tons of windows around the restaurant. The brunch menu was was decent size and we all really enjoyed our brunch choices.
Since we were on the west side and it’s spring in Cleveland we went to Brookside reservation to see the beautiful cherry trees in bloom. This is a place in Cleveland I had never been and I’m so glad we stopped. It’s just gorgeous!