Restaurant - er, um - Birthday Week, Days 1 & 2

Just over a week ago began my (pre!)birthday week, and I was planning to eat like it was going out of style. So, last Tuesday, we dined at Maribelle's Eat + Drink. We've been here once before for brunch, but this was our first time trying them for dinner, and they had several starters that were really reeling us in.

So, we started with the Brussels with toasted walnut, caper, shaved fennel, balsamic, and a sunny side up egg (above: TOP); a side of Fries with fried rosemary, shaved parmesan, and truffle aioli (MIDDLE-LEFT); a side of Mac with brown butter, shallot, white cheddar, gruyere, and breadcrumbs (MIDDLE-RIGHT); and Cheese Curd, seared with black salt, pomegranate molasses, california olive oil, and salted rye (BOTTOM).

OMG, our smorgasbord of sides was delicious! We plowed our way through and stashed some away for leftovers, so we would have enough room for dessert...which was the most delicious banana pudding I've ever tasted. And I was not expecting to be that wowed by pudding.

The following day, we returned to an old classic for us. Melt Eclectic Cafe was the first restaurant that we ever visited in Cincy when we took a mini-vacation here several years back. We liked it so much, we came back the next day to check them out for brunch.

I stuck with a simple Three Cheese Baked Sandwich for this visit with a side of curried potato salad. My husband had a Veggie Cheesesteak with Sun Chips.