Meet Lincoln.

So I've been in Lincoln since August of 1999. I've eaten at most of her restaurants, shopped at most of her stores, tasted many of her coffees.

Or so I thought.

Monday, I finally toured Empyrean Ales. Yesterday, I finally shopped at Leon's Food Mart. Today, I finally ate at Tina's Cafe and drank coffee at Meadowlark.

I'd always wanted to tour Empyrean, but never was available when they had hours posted for arranged tours, so I just didn't bother. Then I found out about their monthly tour the first Monday of every month and put it down in my mental calendar. Having not been to Lazlo's or had an Empyrean beer for a while, the previous Tuesday I had their LunaSea ESB (Extra Special Bitter) to compare with the Fuller's ESB I had at Yia Yia's. Fuller's was more balanced, tipping to the malt/sweet side. Then Sunday after painting our living room (Ralph Lauren's Dressage Red and Mesa Sunrise) and waiting for it to dry, my sister and I went to Lazlo's again. Monday made it three times in one week with four different beers (ESB, Irish Red, Belgian Wheat, Scottish Ale). Their monthly tours have a theme, and this month's was hops with a sampling of IPAs (India Pale Ale) and some ESBs. It was interesting to compare the LunaSea a second time with a more American ESB from Sierra Nevada (though to be fair, their ESB stands for Early Spring Beer, while their press release admits a nod to the English style.) Empyrean's ESB was much more balanced than Sierra Nevada's.

I had always heard about Leon's excellent meat department, but had never sat down to figure out where they were. Then driving home from work yesterday and wanting to make chili this weekend I caught Leon's sign out of the corner of my eye driving along South Street. So I turned around and got a pound of 93% lean and another of their beef stew meat. It is nice having a person behind the meat counter to weigh your order out for you instead of having it prepackaged in shrink wrap in a big chest cooler [not that I'm one to shy away from big chests ;)]. Fortunately, the meat department isn't the only impressive section of the store. They have a great cheese section and plenty of exotic dairy like two or three European butters and some creme fraiche. I'm sure that won't be my last visit there.
PS The chili turned out great.

Yestere'en after watching Leatherheads (fun enough but not solid anywhere, the seriousness toward the end really drained the comedy, and the love interests weren't developed enough for me to care), Marcy and I were discussing our plans for the morrow. Before thinking about church, we decided on breakfast, and I recommended Tina's Cafe, which is another little place off South Street, near 7th or 8th streets. I'd wanted to go there in the past, but again our schedules never aligned. We enjoyed it, and the cinnamon roll dominated the meal and our stomachs with its 6x6x2 dimensions.

After church, we wanted to stop in to Open Harvest for their spreadable horseradish cheese and acoutrements. But first I wanted to see Porridge Papers' hours, because I have designs on getting some personalised stationery* (notice the 'e' when talking about something you writ'e' on) from them. On our way back to OH we stopped at Cultiva for a Kahlua latte and a normal latte. Both were excellent, and after our visit to Open Harvest we went to Meadowlark where I got another latte so I could compare. Cultiva wins.

I'm not only meeting new business establishments in Lincoln, but also new people. Matt, who I went on the Empyrean tour with, was behind the deli counter at Open Harvest, and Spenser, who you might recall from my previous "Spear Ritual" blog, was in a similar position at Meadowlark.

*This means I'll be needing postal addresses, so that I can write people.