Molly’s Cupcakes

Cupcake Traitor

/ Shane / 3 Comments

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!

A Visit from Vikings

/ Shane / 3 Comments

We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

An old friend from college stopped by on Thursday.  I was actually a little nervous to see her because I haven’t seen her in so long.  In that time she has lived in Austin, Beijing and currently Oslo.  A real world traveler this one!  Surely with all that life experience, etc. the two of us have changed quite a bit and probably have little in common.  Plus, she was coming with her husband whom I have never met.

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

Unfortunately I forgot my phone when I went to get them at the airport.  The one day I forget my phone!  I trusted the Internet when it said they would be 30 minutes late, but when I got to the airport all I knew was that their flight had landed.  I was nervous they ended up being on time and they couldn’t get a hold of me to see where I was.  I found myself trying to judge people to see if they looked like they had arrived from Brussels.  Unfortunately I only know 2 things about Brussels and since I didn’t think Jean-Claude Van Damme would be on the flight, I resorted to looking for people who were six foot four and full of muscles.

On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.

Eventually they came out and it was all good.  We stopped at Molly’s Cupcakes on the way home.   Then we ended up sitting at our house for a few hours before I dropped them off with their friend.  That part was kind of boring I’m sure.  It turns out it wasn’t really strange at all seeing her.  I guess our blogs sort of keep us in contact somewhat.  I guess if you get a long with someone on a personality level, that doesn’t really change over time.

Lucas was nice, I think we would get along.  We have at least 2 things in common: 1) we agree that when you are telling a good story, sometimes you might need to exaggerate a little bit to make it a good story and you don’t need someone else always correcting minor technicalities here and there and ruining your story. 2) I think we both tend to be a little oblivious and need the women in our lives to remind us of time lines, plans, etc.

So anyway, Meg (since I know you will read this), I’m really glad you came!  I enjoyed seeing you and I appreciate you taking the time out of your short trip to the U.S. to see little ole me.

Almost famous

/ Shane / 3 Comments

Well, almost Internet famous at least.

After our trip to Molly’s Cupcakes last week, Tony and I both blogged about it.  Well, yesterday Tony was listening to Ron and Fez and Ron was talking about the Ron Bennington “I have my own cupcake” cupcake (which is of course what we ate when we were there).  He went on to say through the magic of Google alerts he knows when he is talked about on the Internet and that most of this talk revolves around his cupcake.  He went on to say that just in the last few days “two blogs” had talked about his cupcake!  Now it might be a coincidence, but I have to assume he was refering to Tony and me.  I guess we’ll never know, but it is sort of exciting none the less.

But I don’t just plug these places for the fame and I certainly don’t do it for the money (since there isn’t any).  I only plug things that I really like and think other people should check out and that they would enjoy.  I would never plug anything that I didn’t like myself, unless there is money involved.  Then I would proudly endorse anything on God’s green Earth!  That is to say, if it were something I didn’t like and then someone paid me to like it, I would start liking it a lot more.  (Hint, hint advertisers!  J/k I don’t think I have the kind of readership it would take for something like that)

So anyway, if you happen to be in Chicago, you should check out Molly’s Cupcakes sometime.  If you don’t want to listen to my endorsements, skip anthing with the “plug” tag, I won’t be offended.

Sweet Cuppin Cakes

/ Shane / 5 Comments

While Tony was here, we went to Molly’s Cupcakes twice to eat their delicious confections.  I have never even heard the Ron and Fez show, but Tony is a huge fan and apparently Molly’s Cupcakes is featured on the show.  Ron even has his own cupcake there.  You don’t exactly have to twist my arm to get me to eat delicious cupcakes.  We went once on Friday and then again on Sunday so he could get some to take home with him.  I can definitely say they were the best cupcakes I have ever eaten.  My favorite was the smores one, but they were all really good.  The cupcakes were like $3.50 each which I’ve seen some people online complaining about, but come on!  You can’t compare them to cupcakes you would make at home, you have to compare them to like a desert at a restaurant or something.  I guarantee you can’t get an equally delicious desert at a restaurant for $3.50.  Anyway, the owner was super nice.  Tony had me take his picture with him and when we came back on Sunday he totally remembered us and everything.  You can also sit on these little swing things and design your own cupcakes, but we didn’t do that.  So anyway, if you are in Lincoln Park you should definitely check the place out, you will not be disappointed!

On the other hand, boo to you city of Chicago!  We could not find the Metra station we were looking for in Millennium Park and the person in the Millennium Park Chicago Information booth DIDN’T KNOW WHERE IT WAS!  She gave us a map and said, “Hmm, it looks like it should be right here.”  Then she proceeded to use a highlighter on the ENTIRE BLOCK on the map.  Thanks so much!  5 minutes later we found a Policeman and asked him.  He said (in a completely sincere and not sarcastic voice), “Maybe you can find another officer who knows something.”  We ended up hoofing it over to the next station and buying our tickets just as the train was pulling up (no train for another hour and a half or so after that one) and ended up buying a more expensive one than we needed in the rush.  I can understand the cop not knowing; maybe it was his first day working that area or something.  But the Information Booth??  They serve no purpose other than to answer questions and they were apparently literally on top of the station.

City of Chicago, FAIL!