As readers of this blog are well aware, I am a fan of Molly’s Cupcakes.  Well, over the weekend, my loyalty was tested by another Chicago cupcake joint, Sweet Mandy B’s. (Sorry, I couldn’t find an actual website for them)

I was a little nervous that the place would actually be good and then it would test my loyalty.  As we were walking in I said, “Best case for me, this place totally sucks.”  Unfortunately (or fortunately) the place did not in fact totally suck.  Quite the opposite actually, it was quite delicious!

It is really hard to compare the two places though.  They had slightly different vibes.  Sweet Mandy B’s was busier, with less seating and with a lot of other options besides cupcakes (like cookies for example).  I don’t think you can make your own cupcakes like you can at Molly’s.  They didn’t have swings either.  As far as I could tell they don’t really put any frosting or filling inside the cupcake the way they do at Molly’s.  It did seem to be a little cheaper, which isn’t anything to scoff at.  The strangest thing that made it hard to compare the two was that there was actually very little overlap in the cupcakes they offered!  Both places have maybe 10 types of cupcakes so you would think they would overlap significantly, but they really didn’t.

The first cupcake I tried was the Turtle because it looked the most similar to the Ron Bennington.  But in actuality they were nothing alike because the Turtle doesn’t have any peanut butter, which is the main ingredient in the Ron Bennington.  However, I have to say, I may have preferred the Turtle!  That is only due to the fact that I am not as much of a peanut butter fan as some people may be.  So I’m not saying the Turtle is a better cupcake, I’m only saying that I personally (may) prefer it.

You know, this brings up another point.  It is hard to compare cupcakes because whatever cupcake you are currently eating is automatically the most delicious cupcake ever.  So the reality of the current cupcake competes with the faded memory of the past cupcake, which isn’t really a fair comparison.  That is why I can’t say whether the only cupcake I tried that is actually found at both places (Red Velvet) was better or worse at Sweet Mandy B’s.  It was delicious, but so was the one at Molly’s.

Anyway, I also really liked the Snickerdoodle and Sara declared that the Cherry Almond cupcake was the greatest cupcake EVAR.  It was extremely tasty.  The only disappointment was the regular vanilla cupcake. With all the other choices you have, I’d say don’t bother.

So, unfortunately, I now no longer have a go-to cupcake place.  I still have a special place in my heart for Molly’s; you never forget your first love.  Choosing between delicious cupcake places…my life is hard. 😦

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In addition to Sweet Molly B’s, we went to another Chicago restaurant, Minnies.  Their gimmick is that they have tiny sandwichs.  So instead of ordering one sandwich, you order maybe three.  My favorite was the Pesto Chicken.  I also tried the Reuben and the Club.  The Club was pretty good, but about what you would expect.  The Reuben was decidedly blah.  The BBQ Pulled Pork was actually really good.  It was sweeter than I expected, but still good.  

While there I saw on the menu that they had Dublin Dr. Pepper.  For those not in the know, that is the only Dr. Pepper bottling plant that still uses the original Dr. Pepper recipe with real sugar. Being a Dr. Pepper fan, of course I had to try that.  At first I was worried that it would just taste the same and be lame.  When I drank it I thought it tasted different, but only later did I realize it was probably because it was regular and I am used to diet!  So maybe there is no difference, I don’t know.

So, all in all, the restaurant was okay, but it was kind of expensive for what you got (that Dr. Pepper was $5). 

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Contrast that with the May Street Cafe where I had I think the best prepared fish I have ever tasted in my entire life.  Salmon, delicious and perfectly cooked.  I would absolutely recommend this place to anybody.  We got there right when they opened so nobody was around at all.  In fact, we were the only customers the entire time we were there.  I hope they get busy later because it would be sad if a great little place like that closed down because they never got any customers.  Out around the parking lot they grow flowers to put on the tables and they even have a little herb garden to grow some of the ingredients.  The one knock against the place was that they didn’t have a highchair (it was kind of a fancy place).  However, it turns out they had something better!

Keep in mind this is not the first time this has happened.  Whenever we go to a Mexican restaurant, everybody is quick to fall in love with Evie.  (Okay, whenever we go anywhere)  Because it is a very family oriented culture, they just love to make a big deal over babies.  So what you have to do is go really early when the restaurant first opens so that there are no other customers.  Then the staff is happy to take your baby and carry her all around the restaurant and introduce her to people and show her all the pictures, etc. leaving you to eat in peace!  I’m telling you, the first time it happened it kind of freaked me out, but now I love it.  They are so nice and they kept her occupied the entire time, even though that meant showing her the picture of the fishy like 20 times and giving her little boxes of Chiclets to use as maracas.

So, two thumbs up to the May Street Cafe, one for food and one for service!

Quite the foodie weekend!