Culinary Discovery

One of the best things about living downtown is the opportunity to be an urban explorer. I haven't had the chance to venture out all that much yet, but so far I've discovered a yoga shop (Not to be confused with a "yogurt shop." Talk about a let down if you go in expecting that.). Around the corner is a fair trade coffee joint called, appropriately, Fair Trade. They're affiliated with a local church and they have the best Irish Cream coffee--and live music on Friday nights. There's a retro little breakfast place on 1st Street and McKinley called Matt's Big Breakfast. The pancakes are the fluffiest I've ever had.

Last night J and I made one more urban find. (Okay...I had nothing to do with this discovery. I actually didn't want to go in.) Carly's is an eclectic little bistro on the corner of 2nd St. and Roosevelt. They serve Mediterranean sandwiches, salads, and other cheesy/olive-type dishes. We split a plate of flatbread with hummus and olive tapenade and the Ex-Patriot sandwich. All delish. J's comment was that it's good, but it's no IHOP. I almost choked on my olive. The icing on the flatbread is that the hours are convenient (open 'til 10 on Tuesday, 'til 12 on Wednesday and Thursday, and 'til 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, when they have a DJ). It's nice to find a place downtown that doesn't just cater to the 8 to 5 crowd.

The only negative: the women's restroom door is sticky and I got stuck in the bathroom. I had to deploy a Jennifer Garner/Alias-style kick to get it open...only to find someone (who shall remain nameless) laughing at me. Hmm. You, my friend, can go back to IHOP.