Tripping With Mike and Deb: Four States Fall 2018 - 16

That evening we indulged in Mike's birthday dinner at the nearby Pearl. We go there almost every time we visit Columbus and have never been disappointed.

For some crazy reason they have "The Christmas Story" lamp in the window. That is one of Mike's favorite movies. We watch it every Christmas and visited the house where it was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio.

There are several mixologists on-hand to concoct classic and invented-to-your-taste cocktails. Mike usually gets a Ramos Fizz. In a recent travel mag article, they said this is the world's most difficult cocktail to make properly.

Mike says The Pearl mixes it correctly with traditional ingredients, including orange blossom water and egg white in just the right proportions and "shake." Although I would rather have a traditional high ball glass, it is served here in a mason jar! On the plus side, you get a bigger portion.

I usually get shrimp and Mike gets oysters on-the-half-shell for appetizers.

Today we also tried their house-made tater tots, which were deep fried mashed potato balls. We won't pass them up next time we are here. Dinners were arctic char, super colossal grill cheese, gastronomic pub burger, and braised pork shank.

And we always end the meal with a fabulous dessert. My fave is the brown sugar pie. No matter how full I am, I could eat a whole pie all by myself. Maybe my favorite pie in the world!

https://thepearlcolumbus.com Be sure to make reservations ahead or you probably won't get in.

Back at the hotel we relaxed and watched the end of the U. of Michigan vs. U. of Wisconsin football game. Yay! U of M won 38-13.

The next morning we enjoyed a light buffet breakfast in the concierge room. The cappuccinos tasted particularly wonderful.

First stop was ... wait for it ... a restaurant for lunch!!! Jim had eaten at Pappadeaux a number of times on business so it came highly recommended. This is a Cajun-style seafood place. A whisper of New Orleans in the middle of Ohio.

It was quite a large place. Big bar, big bar menu, big food menu.

You could choose your own lobster out of a tank. Although I love lobster, I really could not imagine choosing which one was going to be my lunch.

We all did find something to eat though. Haha! It was a shrimp fest. My words cannot do justice, but these photos can. If you are not hungry while reading this sentence, you will be after looking at the pix. The first one is the last of my shrimp po' boy.