DaVinci

Restaurant Review: Mona Lisa's

12:00:00 PM



A few posts ago, I wrote about how my University put on Family Weekend, and we had all gone out to dinner at this amazing restaurant. The minute we walked in from the cold autumn air, we were met with room filled with photos of the Mona Lisa, and chandeliers made from wine bottles hanging from the ceiling. Two disco balls sparkled above the bar, and it was clear by the amount of people that this place was a good choice. A vast variety of interpretations of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting decorated the ceiling as well as the wall.


We were seating in a little corner of the restaurant which was spread between two rooms and we were served by the friendliest waitress, she told us that they always update their menu, creating new dishes about every two or three weeks. Which is fantastic if you ever want to go to a place and want to try something new with the comfort that you know it will still be really great food.
We devoured the delicious bread, that came with a selection of dipping choices. Olive butter, hummus and two types of oils. It was really great, and I'm sorry I don't have a photo to show you all! I did however, take photos of the food! 
The dish on the left is mine, it was an elbow noodle with green sauce and veggies, while my mom opted for the mushroom ravioli. Both were very delicious. The sauce was incredible on mine, and my mom agreed that hers was great as well! I even had enough left for a little bit of leftovers to take to my dorm with me the next day. Which was good. The cafeteria isn't opened on weekends. 

My stepdad raved that the scallops, like our waitress said, were amazing! Definitely one of our waitress'  favorite dishes along with my dads girlfriends choice of gnocchi. My stepdad eats out a lot because his work requires traveling, and he's had a lot of scallops at nice places but he definitely stated over and over that these were the best. 
While there are many pasta choices to choose from, you can also have a nice tenderloin like my dad chose, with a side of beans and potatoes that come along with it. 


We all really enjoyed this meal and the owner even came over to introduce herself, Lisa is so kind and even stated that they're opening a new place next door and there is a patio for summer seating, and also a fireplace for the winter. Though we haven't tried a large number of places to eat, if you're ever in Eau Claire Wisconsin, Mona Lisa's should definitely be the one to go to. 
Also, I should point out that we weren't even left with that uncomfortably full feeling, and it was great! The food tastes amazing and I cannot recommend it enough! 
What are your favorite Italian dishes?  Let me know in the comments! 
Have you found any new places to eat near you? I'd love to hear about it! 
Thanks for reading! 
xx
Kenzie


Bacon

Birthday Treats

10:30:00 AM


If you aren't following me on Instagram or Twitter, you may not have noticed that the sixth of September was my birthday! Being Labor Day weekend, meant having my birthday on a four day weekend. There are 3 birthdays right in a row in August, and it was also a good reason to celebrate them as well.
 My Grandparents picked me up from University on Friday and we drove over to Minneapolis for the festivities. Friday night was more of a laid back, wait for everyone else to arrive, night. You may remember my post last summer about the Great Minnesota Get Together, also known as the Minnesota State Fair, which we all attended this year as well! Here are some of the delicious foods that we tried this year!

This wasn't the first one we tried, it was actually the Gizmo, like last year and you can read about that and the other foods on the post I just linked! 
The photo above is actually Chicken Fried Bacon. It was quite tasty, though more chicken flavor than bacon and with maple dipping sauce (which I personally didn't care for as much.) But wow. 


Here they're making taffy. Like sea salt taffy...I was kind of in awe watching the machine flip the stuff around. 
The fair this year had listed many of its new food items and those were mostly on our "must try" list! This one was Salted Caramel Puff Ice Cream. It was pretty delicious, definitely something anyone could make at home I suppose. Just have vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, and puff corn! 

Being Labor Day weekend, many people have off and therefore...this crowd all had the same idea of going to the fair! 

The baby animal barn is always my favorite part, this little lamb on the left was sleeping in its caretakers lap, with its head in her hand. TOO cute! We also wandered through the horse barns and saw these guys there as well as horses with sparkles on their rear ends. 


The next foods we tried out were a macaroni cup cake, which my sister took an immediate liking to. Not being a fan of macaroni, I wasn't too thrilled, but I did enjoy the deep fried oreos! 

The Italian Desert Nachos were probably my favorite things I got. Though a bit pricey, customers could get any variety they wanted! I chose white chocolate, almonds, strawberries and whipped cream for mine and it was incredible. It was very filling and I was glad it was the last thing I ate! 
I also had cinnamon flavored almonds as a snack. And of course I got shaved ice and chose Watermelon as this years flavor. 
It was a great start to my birthday weekend!! 


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