Local Foodie (OMG) Moment - Cooper's Hawk Winery

I am BACK friends!  After an unexpected blogging hiatus I am stocked up on all kinds of recipes and news to share!  This foodie moment actually happened over my birthday weekend which was three weekends ago but given my unexpected account disabling situation and having to switch it over I got a little behind.

Over my birthday weekend my wonderful fiance spoiled me to the Nth degree!  How I ever became so deserving of a guy like him is still beyond my comprehension.  He is very aware that my parents enabled this spoiling many years ago and he intends to keep up with it!  So in the weeks leading up to my birthday Chris offered to plan my day for me since it was a Saturday so I wouldn't have to work.  I think he did it because he knows I'm such a planner/control freak he took particular joy in not telling me where we were going and what we were doing.  In the morning we went to a delicious brunch at Cap City Diner with great friends Rob and Emily.  Then he had scheduled a mani pedi for me in the afternoon along with ample napping (I'm a nap enthusiast) and getting ready time.  We went to Cooper's Hawk Winery for dinner which had been on my list to try!  I was so excited I could hardly contain myself!

Cooper Hawk Winery

Cooper's Hawk is actually a winery based outside of Chicago and they have multiple restaurants throughout the country, the only ones in Ohio are Columbus (which opened this past fall) and Cincinnati.  Our table was in the upstairs of the restaurant right above the kitchen so we got to see all the expediters and servers in action, as a self proclaimed food geek this was so cool to see!  Our server was fantastic, incredibly helpful with picking wines and offered us as many tastings as we wanted until we landed on the right glass with our meal.  The wine was good, nothing to really write home about but the food....OH THE FOOD!  It was just delicious!  I had the short rib risotto that was just amazing.  Perfectly cooked risotto, the short rib was incredibly tender and not over cooked.  It had a hint of truffle oil which made it pretty out of this world.  My mouth is watering for it now!  They bring out warm pretzel bread before your meal which Chris' and I both agreed would make a great sandwich bun.  It was super fluffy and delicious.  The atmosphere was very nice, even though it was busy we didn't feel rushed or crammed in like sardines.

After dinner we tried Gigi's Cupcakes which just opened by us a few months ago.  I got a Birthday Surprise Cupcake with pink frosting and sprinkles, it was very festive!  For those that don't know, I really love cake.  So this trip to Gigi's was the perfect way to top off my birthday!  After that we met up with wonderful friends at one of my favorite martini bars in the area.

So that was my birthday festivities in a nutshell(ish).  Up next I've got some Lent Friendly dinners to share!  I realize Lent is almost over but cut a blogger some slack, these recipes built up over my untimely account deactivation.

Cheers!
Steph