photo credit: ExtraMSG (retouched by me)

There’s a new restaurant in town named Lovely’s Fifty Fifty. They’re a wood fired pizza joint located on Mississippi, right next to what used to be Lovely Hula Hands. And despite the downpour on Friday, K and I trudged over to get our taste buds dirty. 

As you may have guessed, it takes the place of Lovely Hula Hands, which closed due to family complications (Read more here.). Although the family has changed directions in the dishes they offer, they haven’t changed their values. They’re still serving seasonally inspired menus and sourcing their ingredients from local farms.  

We arrived around seven, and it was packed. Upon entrance, we were greeted by a hostess who looked like she’d been run ragged. It’s not uncommon for new restaurants to be short staffed in their opening months—but LFF brought over their existing staff. So they should be set, right? Because we’d driven to this place specifically, we decided to stick around and give it a shot. To fortify ourselves for the wait, we ordered a bottle of the 2007 Cuvée A Pinot from Anne Amie Vineyards. After a twenty minute wait, we received our delicious wine. And with still a half bottle left, we were seated.

It didn’t take us long to find something great. The menu contains an array of great vegetarian options. To start, we ordered the roasted brussels sprouts. And to save room for dessert, we decided to just split one of the twelve inch bellwether ricotta and black olive pizzas. The sprouts arrived shortly after ordering, which was a relief because we were starving. They were sprinkled with parmesan and contained a delightful punch of lemon. And the portion size was enough to satisfy.

Our pizza was delicious. If you don’t like spicy, this pizza’s not for you though. It had a sting that Muhammad Ali would appreciate. The ingredients worked gracefully together and the combination went perfectly with our Pinot.

After scarfing down the pizza, we had dessert. The selection of homemade gelato was too hard to turn down. K had the a coffee flavored version and I had the peanut butter and jelly. They were both satisfying and a perfect ending to our fresh and spicy meal.

If you’re patient, give this place a shot.

photo credit: Liquor Snob

I’ve never tried this but I want too. I ran across this one day when peeping a British GQ and have been fascinated by it ever since. And when I was browsing the massive selection of whiskies at Clyde Commons today over lunch, this whisky popped into my head. Clyde Commons doesn’t carry it and this fueled my desire to try it—and my desire to post about it. Anyway, the Monkey Shoulder is a blend of three scotch whiskies that have been aged in bourbon casks. And it’s referred to as a triple-malt. If you find some at a reasonable price in the US, let me know.

As for the lunch, I had the butternut squash sandwich. Complimenting the delicious butternut squash were long-cooked spicy greens, grilled onions, and preserved lemon goat cheese slapped together on a baguette. To drink I had the Farmhouse Rye ale, and everything was delicious.

photo via must love beer

Earlier I walked over to Zupans and found a new beer. I’m not really sure what it means to have a double india pale but I think following the “New Beer” sign at Zupan’s didn’t lead me in a bad direction. Beer Advocate gives this Steelhead Double India Pale Ale from Mad River Brewing Co. a B+ and I give it a B+ too. This beer is great with nachos–that’s what I’m having with it at the moment–and it has a great logo of two trout jumping from the water in succession. I’m assuming this mystically symbolizes the importance of doubles. And I’m considering never drinking a single pale ale ever again.

I’ll let the GQ coffee experts speak to this week’s coffee. They sum up Verve’s Streetlevel espresso (seen in the photo above) by saying it is:

“…a burly seasonal blend that recently packed Brazilian beans for muscle and El Salvadoran for spice…” via GQ

If you’re a real coffee connoisseur, unlike myself, you might experience hints of orange rind, apricot, butterscotch and cocoa. I had a cup this morning and it was delicious. I recommend it.

photo via southerntierbrewing

We’re staying in tonight. And because I’m in the stout-drinking mood, I travelled over to Zupan’s to pick up a few. The beer lords over at Zupan’s really know how to stock beer. And I wasn’t let down by their massive selection of stouts. I made my way out with quite a few interesting ones and I’ll try to review as many as I can before I’m just over it.

Currently I’m drinking a crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout from Southern Tier Brewing. And its flavors are creamy and distinctive. You could definitely pick this beer out of a lineup of stouts; it’s like nothing this stout lover has ever had before. If you were to drink this with anything sweet, though, it’d be a disaster. Especially if you’re a hyper mofo like myself – I’m saying you’d get a supah suga’ high. Anyway, this New York-brewed beer was stewed with vanilla beans, dark caramel malts and probably a little love. I split the 22 oz. bottle with K and I’m glad I did. This is the beer you have when you’ve eaten too much and you can’t bear to pick up another utensil. But you’re the type of person that needs something sweet after every meal, well, just stick a straw in this sweet libation and consider your meal complete.

This is the coffee of the week. For the past 5 months I’ve been drinking Stumptown, which is great, but I ran across this Guatemala Finca Villaure blend at the City Market on 21st the other day and I figured it’d be a good change — only because the logo is so damn cool. I had a cup this morning and it wasn’t disappointing. I’m not ready to give my full review yet, but I’ll try to put it up once I get to the end of the bag.