Taste of Lakewood + NBA Finals ~ Game 2 ~ June 5, 2016

The best thing about game two is that it fell on the same day as the Taste of Lakewood. Being one of our favorite days of the year, we couldn't necessarily predict that it would be the highlight of the day...despite the occasional downpour.

Enter your Eastern Conference Champions

The Cavaliers made what started out to be an awesome day downright miserable.

Let's first start with the Taste of Lakewood. Having lived in the fine city of Lakewood for most of my 36 years and Steve for the past 20 (ish) years, we are very fond of everything that it has to offer, but mostly the walkability and restaurant/bar options. We appreciate the dining diversity and are always up to try all of the newest restaurants.

  

Located at Madison Park and only a few blocks from our house, The Taste of Lakewood is ultra-convenient. We always see fellow patrons we've met at restaurants and well as the slew of owners and staffers who have served us over the years. 36 restaurants participated this year and we took the opportunity to try five of them - Interesting enough, all located along Madison.

Woodstock BBQ has not yet officially opened their doors, but are located at 13362 Madison. We've walked by a few times and are very impressed with the décor transformation. We tried their BBQ pork sliders with corn and black bean salad.

Buckeye Beer Engine is located at 15315 Madison and has really great burgers. When we visited with Kevin and Lisa last week, Lisa ordered the Bob'z Big Boy monthly special and said it was one of the best burgers she'd ever had. When we saw they had them "slider-style" we just couldn't resist.

Chow Chow is located at 14201 Madison and is one of the newer restaurants in Lakewood. They mostly cater to take-out, but also offer a few seats in the small dining area. We have been looking to try their spicy fried chicken and this gave us the perfect opportunity!

Roxu is located at 15607 Madison. Offering a menu of Japanese fusion, we tried a pair of their steam buns and slaw.

There were so many other restaurants that we wish we had the time and stomach to enjoy, but we look forward to visiting (some of) them over the next several months.

Louie and Josephine weren't quite prepared for the pounding that Golden State was about to put on the Cavs.

Oh, Game Two.

I'm pretty speechless. I had confidence that the Cavs would come out and play with passion, heart and talent and they did none of the above. The stats tell it all as the Cavs big three combined for 34 of the whopping 77 points after Kevin Love was limited due to a shot to the head and subsequent concussion. 

The Cavs scored a measly 77 points, but not surprising after they shot 35% from the floor including a staggering 21% from three with 15 assists and were outrebounded 46-34.

Draymond Green led the Warriors with 28 points with five three's, seven rebounds and five assists while Steph Curry and Klay Thompson scored 18 and 17 points respectively. The three stars combined for 13-24 from three-point range.

Golden State overwhelmed the Cavaliers 110-77 to take a 2-0 lead in the series and have left Cavs fans everywhere wondering "What has gone wrong?"

Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and wonder why do we invest so much of ourselves into these games?!

Adjustments need to be made and they need to be made now. I'll be headed to The Q with Sean on Wednesday and we'll remain optimistic that the Cavs will be able to pull out these next two games at home before heading back to Oakland.

Still 12 Down...4 to Go

First Annual Lakewood Taco Crawl! June 4, 2016

I have highly publicized the annual Lakewood Wing Crawl that takes place every August and this blog has received a lot of street cred as a result. Knowing how much fun an event like that is, a group of us put our heads together and created our 1st Annual Lakewood Taco Crawl. This wasn't really "organized" other than Kevin created a Facebook event and I mapped out the destinations. We were all on our own for purchasing food and drinks and ensuring we got through the 5.4 miles by the time 2 am rolled around. My initial list had 11 stops, but after a few hiccups (see below), we ended up visiting eight.

To be fair, Steve and I did our own taco crawl back on Cinco de Mayo in 2013 and I wrote a blog to prove it! 2013 Taco Crawl

 We were 16 strong as we departed our house and headed 0.6 miles south to La Plaza Supermarket. Yes, it is a Mexican grocery store and they have some delicious and authentic tacos!

La Plaza is located at 13609 Lakewood Heights Blvd. on the southern boarder of Lakewood and Cleveland and their taco cart can be found outside on most days. If not, head inside near the butcher and they'll make them. You will not be alone!

Steve and I ordered the barbacoa and carnitas at $2 each.

Our next stop was another 0.6 miles north to Taco Tontos located at 13319 Madison in Lakewood. We nearly took over their entire dining room and enjoyed the best drinks on the crawl. Steve and I shared a (large) chicken hard taco which put us back $4.50. I also ordered a hand-crafted grapefruit margarita. The bartender and server were busting their a** to serve us and we were not disappointed.

The third stop took us 0.5 miles west to El Tango Latin Grill located at 14224 Madison. Although we have enjoyed the food in the past, the service has always been really...unfriendly. Steve and I debated about including them on the list for this reason and the man in the big white hat did not disappoint! He actually refused to serve us due to the size of our group. We understood that 16 people arriving at one time could be a little daunting, but we were sharing so would have likely ordered around 10 tacos for the group and either ordered a drink to stay or walked with them. Instead, we carried on and chalked it up as hiccup #1.

The fourth stop took us another 0.6 miles west to Barrio located at 15527 Madison. Barrio is one of my all-time favorites and admittedly, I have to get at least one of the same taco every time! I highly recommend the soft taco with braised beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce, jicama slaw, corn salsa, salsa roja, chipotle crema and barrio secret sauce (if you like it hot)...along with a skinny margarita :) You will thank me later. A standard taco at Barrio will cost you $3 apiece. 

We had an extra special visit from baby JoJo (and Sean).

Next we headed 0.7 miles north to Chipotle located at 14881 Detroit. The tacos are always consistent and always delicious. We shared our taco trio with Nick Jones at $6.50 for three. Unfortunately, they were out of tequila so we settled for a couple of beers.

And now we have balloons...

Another 0.2 miles west is good ol' Taco Bell located at 15500 Detroit. Steve and I had the Fiery Doritos Tacos Locos taco supreme (no tomato) and had a little fun playing Lady and the Tramp...Taco Bell Style. This bad boy set us back $1.89.

0.4 miles west on Detroit took us to Cozumel located at 16512 Detroit. This is where we approached hiccup #2 because they were just too packed. We didn't even ask to be seated and instead wandered across the street to Plank Road for a quick drink.

Another 0.6 miles west and we found ourselves at Kenilworth where we were too late for their Saturday tacos. Apparently they stopped serving them at 6 pm. Oh well. Hiccup #3 was under our belt!

Thankfully our eighth stop was only a block away. The Riverwood is located at 18500 Detroit and their crispy soft taco shell is a game-changer. Light and crispy with simple ground beef, cheese, sour cream and tomatoes is well worth the $3 price tag.

Next we headed 0.5 miles west into Rocky River where we encountered our final and 4th hiccup at Fresco Mexican. Located at 19310 Detroit, they were simply closed. 100% our fault as we arrived 1.5 hours after their posted hours. Oops.

Our eleventh stop was another 0.3 miles west in Rocky River at one of the newest and hippest taco establishments. Bomba Tacos and Rum is located at 19880 Detroit and offers a unique variety of tacos and delicious mojitos. Steve and I ordered the Chicken Tinga and Spicy Cauliflower tacos along with two mojitos.

Our last stop was the Lakewood Village Tavern located at 13437 Madison. The LVT, which was not on my initial list (but a no-brainer) has easily become our go-to spot for late-night karaoke and Saturday's are their taco night! Mom and Rich drove us the 5.4 miles we had just walked and joined us for a few minutes while Steve enjoyed a beef taco for a whopping $1.75.

A few additional places that I highly recommend for tacos in Lakewood are El Carnicero (16918 Detroit Ave.) and Merry Arts (15607 Detroit Ave).

El Carnicero's menu isn't suitable for sharing in this setting, so we left it off the list, but it's arguably my favorite restaurant in Lakewood and could work well in a much larger group with chafing dishes. Merry Arts' famous Patty's tacos are only served Monday and Thursday when they're the only menu item available on those particular nights. They have an ultra crispy soft shell taco similar to the one found at Riverwood.

5.4 miles and eight (shared) tacos later and we're already looking forward to next year!

NBA Finals ~ Game 1 ~ June 2, 2016

The Cavs are playing into June and we are excited to go along for the ride! 

The NBA Finals are something special. The bright lights. The media. The fans. The NBA Finals are what dreams are made of and the 2016 Finals brings together the two best teams in the NBA comprised of the League MVP in Stephen Curry and Cleveland's own LeBron James. Whether it's in four games or seven games, one of these two players will lead their team to an NBA Championship. 

For Game One, Steve was literally along for the ride because he was just one of the many full-time team members able to fly out to Oakland to attend Game One of the NBA Finals. The chartered flight departed Cleveland around 8 am and Steve was given a first-class roundtrip ticket. He said it was totally random, but he definitely didn't decline!

They arrived in Oakland around 10 am PT where they boarded buses to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. Steve and a few of his colleagues took in the scenery and enjoyed some cocktails.

They walked to nearby Tony's pizza Napoletana where they enjoyed a beautiful Margherita pizza. Steve and I had seen it on the Food Network and once he saw how close it was to Fisherman's Wharf, he knew he'd have to convince the rest of his crew to join him. 

They have seven different types of ovens for seven different styles of pizza.

At 2 pm, they joined the rest of their Cavalier family for lunch and by 4 pm it was time to depart for Oracle Arena.

Those seats?! Wow. We're not used to that view :)

I was joined by #LilSean, Kevin and Lisa at our house and they even brought me dinner! 2,500 miles apart and we all shared the same anxious excitement.



Both teams started the game pretty consistent. LeBron James scored 8 points on 4-5 FG while the Warriors were led by Harrison Barnes with 7 points and the teams entered the 2Q with Golden State up 28-24.

The second quarter was simply frustrating. The Cavs shot 22% from the field behind a 1-11 combined performance from Kyrie and LeBron. Golden State led by as many as 14 points and were led by everyone but their superstars. After the first half Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 10 points on 4-13 FG and the Warriors were led by Harrison Barnes (9) Andrew Bogut (8) and Leandro Barbosa (7) and Golden State led Cleveland 52-43.

The Cavs stepped up their game in the third and clawed their way back to take a one point lead with 3:57 left after a Kevin Love put back. A few more missed shots, eight straight GSW points and another turnover and the Warriors finished the quarter with a 74-68 lead. 

The fourth quarter was simply disastrous. GSW continued their shooting streak and finished a 15-0 run to take a 14 point (82-68) lead with 10:11 left in the game. Golden State's bench was killing the Cavs starters and there was no chance at another comeback.

Despite the Splash Brothers combining for only 20 points, Golden State's bench played out of their minds. In the end, the Warriors had seven players in double figures including Steph Curry who finished with 11 points. Their bench outscored Cleveland's bench 45-10. The Cavs shot 38% from the field including 33% 3pt FG. Their 17 turnovers led to 25 GSW points with a 29-17 assist differential. Their 28 missed shots in the paint is just sad.

Despite a near triple double from LeBron James (23 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists), it was Shaun Livingston who was the star of the show. He came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with 20 points on 8-9 shooting and helped lead the Warriors to a 104-89 win over Cleveland in Game One. These stats will not win a Finals game and the real Cavs team needs to please stand up.

Still 12 down...Four to Go