Restaurant Roulette with Suzanne! February Issue!

by Suzanne Lorenzi Sala

There are 3 rules to the game:

1) Every month one person picks the places to dine.

2) No one in the group could have eaten there before.

3) Everyone splits the bill.

Follow me on this journey of tasting new things and learning more about the city I love! Feel free to use this game with your own family or friends and share below the amazing places you find throughout your travels!

-FEBRUARY-

We had an interesting beginning to our monthly dinner. It was Rachael’s month to pick the place. Online it listed Cadence Cellars on Smallman as open but when we arrived the door was locked! Now what? We decided that we had not been to PaPa J’s in such a long time and since it is a new location that it was a go. We had a nice, attentive server. The appetizer list looked good so we ordered three appetizers and shared an entree.

We started with their home baked bread, served with an olive oil/balsamic dipping sauce with olives, very good.

Our apps were greens & beans ($11.99), meatballs ($9.99), and a buffalo mozzarella with, once again, their warm crusty grilled bread. We shared mmmm’s many times enjoying each bite.

Then we shared the Napolitana pasta ($14.99), rigatoni with red sauce mixed with mozzarella and provolone with a side of sausage ($5). The sausage, rigatoni and hot gooey cheese hit the spot.

We topped it off with gelato. Rachael hazelnut/pistachio and me chocolate caramel coconut/blood orange. Not the tastiest gelato. ($5.50 each)

We really enjoyed our dinner and the portions were very generous that we both had leftovers to enjoy again.

As a side note, after dinner we went to the new Pins Mechanical Company in the South Side Works. What fun! Two floors of pinball, duckpin bowling, giant Jenga, bocce, a bar and adult size slides from the second to the first floor and more…. Give it a try! Fun for all ages.

Until next time, stay safe and happy eating!