Meg Goes Nom Nom

How was your St. Patrick’s Day weekend? Admittedly, my weekend started out a bit German, rather than Irish. (And I possess heritage from both of these nations!).

Metzger’s, an Ann Arbor German restaurant, was our Friday dinner destination. Metzger’s has a nice house salad, as I’ve mentioned before.

For dinner, I departed from my usual Pot Roast, and instead ordered the German-Style Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with a side of spatzen. These Stuffed Cabbage Rolls were a gem!!! They were just… absolutely delicious. The menu describes the dish as, “Krautrouladen stuffed with rice, ground beef and spices; topped with a rich tomato sauce.” This savory dish was comfort food at its finest. The beef and rice within the cabbage roll was so tender and flavorful. I must recreate this at home!

The huz went caveman on me and ordered a slab of beef – the Sirloin Sizzler Steak. Had a bite and it was delish!

On Saturday, things became more Irish for the St. Patty’s Day festivities! I was not one of the throngs of students who go up at 6:00 AM to start drinking. I waited until a more modest 1:30 PM or so, with a first round of drinks at ABC, where I sipped on an Espresso Love Breakfast Stout. Didn’t love this beer – heavy on the coffee flavors (like a coffee pot that’s been sitting out for too long), no hints of chocolate or sweetness, very little carbonation.

We sipped our beer while waiting to board the BEER BUS! Five Cent Femme and I were speculating about the type of bus that would be provided as the Beer Bus and I was hoping it would be a school bus, and lo and behold – IT WAS!

So what is the Beer Bus, you ask? The Beer Bus is a bus provided by Arbor Brewing Company/Corner Brewery that travels back and forth between their two locations – ABC in downtown Ann Arbor, and Corner Brewery, near Depot Town in Ypsi. Fare is $5 one way, and includes a beer!

We boarded the bus downtown Ann Arbor.

…and enjoyed Larry Hoppe Imperial IPA during our journey to Ypsi. This beer was not a joke – it was strong (8%+ ABV), and surprisingly pleasing to drink, given that I’m not usually an IPA drinker. It was almost sweet, very floral-y and citrusy.

Soon we made it to Corner Brewery!

We headed to the beer garden to enjoy the 70+ degree weather and sunshine.

Several board games were attempted. Scrabble required far too much brain power at this point, so we switched it up to a pop culture trivia game.

After we had our fill of Corner Brewery, it was time to get back on the Beer Bus.

A new keg was tapped on the ride back. Let’s stop and think about this for a minute here. How absurd is the fact that we were riding around on a school bus with a keg!? We were instructed to not “advertise our beers” to other drivers. Bahaha.

Decked out in my green and orange.

After we made it back downtown in Ann Arbor, we took a gelato-breather at Iorio’s.

Unfortunately most of the Irish flavors were picked over, but I did get a small taste of both Chocolate Stout and Irish Whiskey, along with my mostly-Jameson Vanilla-filled dish of gelato. Sublime, as always.

Next unpictured stop was Bar Louie, followed by a journey to Main Street.

Our initial draw to Conor O’Neill’s was to discovered why dozens of people were making freaked out noises, and once we made it to the storefront, we walked into the end of a fight! A security member was pinning a pair of bull-faced dudes to the wall outside, one of which had blood streaming down his face. Intense. We never really found out what happened.

We DID, however, snag an AMAZING table outdoors on the sidewalk, in front of Conor O’Neill’s which was, without a doubt, the busiest place on Main Street on Saturday. We had a bit of the luck o’ the Irish, I suppose.

At this point in the day I was in need of some serious sustenance, so I ordered Corned Beef and Cabbage. I think this was the first time I’ve had Corned Beef and Cabbage… maybe I ate it in the dorm once in college though? In any case, this tasted incredible! Maybe it was partially the beer talking, but oh my word, this was so salty, savory, boldy flavored, and delish!! Loved it. And I thought I didn’t like corned beef! Cabbage twice in one weekend for me – wow! Who knew I was such a fan.

People lined up down the block to get into Conor’s. How many times in your life will St. Patty’s Day occur on a sunny 70 degree Saturday?! I am going to guess very few times. I’m so glad I took advantage of the day.

We had some pretty amazing people-watching and socializing opps at Conor’s. People were crayyyy!

Hope you had a great beer-filled weekend!