Recent dining excursions

On Thursday I enjoyed $4 martini night with a friend at Ballantine in Downtown Willoughby. I had the Mushroom Gnocchi ($8.99) which was in a flavorful sage and butter sauce along with onions and diced tomatoes. Despite the small looking portion (I think it was the dinnerware they used - very funky shaped), I was stuffed afterwards. But that could have also been because the entree came along with a house salad. Not a bad deal for the price. My companion had the Very Dirty Burger, which came topped with burger shaped fried mozzarella thing. She said she enjoyed the burger, despite the fact that the meat tasted "very Worcestershire-y."

Friday I dined at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights prior to attending a birthday party on their outstanding patio. (Really, if you've never been there, you need to stop by on the half greenhouse/half open-air patio and order a cocktail from their bar.) I had the mushroom and blue cheese ravioli. It was really delicious. The blue cheese flavor went very well with the mushrooms but wasn't overpowering.

Yesterday I dined at Dave's Cosmic Subs and had the Veg-Out, minus peppers. Slathered in Dave's Cosmic Sauce, the hearty sandwich had mushrooms, artichoke hearts, lettuce, provolone cheese, cheddar cheese, and Swiss cheese. It was very tasty. This was my first dining experience at the University Heights location, and I was sad to see that they didn't have any vegetarian soup. On a previous visit to the Coventry location, I was happy to find a baked potato soup that was meat free.

Tomorrow is Earth Day so I hope to take a field trip to Whole Foods to pick up some delicious vegetarian treats!