comfort food.

Cleveland Restaurant Week took place this past week, so I would be remiss if I did not share a little post to highlight this wonderful time of the year. Restaurant Week is the perfect time to try those places that you've had on your radar for quite some time, but haven't gotten around to yet. It is also a great opportunity to try a place that might be out of your price range for the average dinner out. This week's theme was "Comfort Food" with lunches priced at $15 and dinners at $30 (occasionally 2 for $50). 

A Bar + Kitchen

On Friday, we ate at A Bar + Kitchen for the first time. This is a newly opened restaurant in the 8th street alleyway. The CLE Restaurnt Week menu here looked very yummy, but it was Friday so we opted for their Lenten Fish Fry.  The atmosphere here is a great and they have some happy hour specials worth checking out.

For our Cleveland Restaurant Week experience, we had the opportunity try Adega at The 9. Three days later, I am still dreaming about our delicious meal. The Prix Fixe menu was perfect for Chris and I. We tried a different item for each course. 

First course was a Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Soup for me and a Greek Salad for Chris.

The perfect combination of sweet, spicy and savory

My second course choice was the Chicken Francaise with parmesan polenta, crispy brussels, bacon and honey. Comfort food to a T. 

Chris chose the Tancredi Sunday Sauce with pork shoulder, ground beef, Italian sausage, wine tomato sauce, pennoni pasta and parmesan. The Sunday Sauce is a family recipe from the head chef's Italaian grandmother. I had to steal a few bites. Obviously.

Are you drooling too?

To finish our meal, Chris chose the apple fritter doughnuts with Frangelico anglaise and berry smash while I went with the chocolate cherry bread pudding topped with warm bourbon butterscotch caramel and brown butter ice cream. I loved the presentation of the apple fritter doughnuts. So creative and fun!

We only had two minor hiccups. The first was the menu online said our meal at Adega would be 2 for $50, but instead we were charged the regular $30 per meal. The second issue was the parking discount was quite confusing. The attendants at the garage didn't seem to be aware of the validation, even though I had it with me. It must have been a communication error, so they let us out with the discount which was very kind. 

Aside from these two issues, our first Downtown Cleveland Restaurant week was a success! The quality of the food and service at Adega was really outstanding. Our wine paired perfectly with our meals.  I can't wait for next year! 

Did you participate in Cleveland Restaurant Week? Follow Downtown Cleveland Alliance on Instagram to see more pictures and share your own!