"Cause I'm a Wanderer

On Thursday nights, Beatrix has circus from 4-9 (except tonight, when she had dress rehearsal for Urinetown and then went to her last 2 hours of circus class). So that means that we get a regular date night!

We started at Bar + Cart. I've gone there a lot for happy hour, and really enjoy it (though I seem to have yet to achieve "honored regular" status), but Patrick had not been since we went there on New Year's Eve. They also seem to have rolled out a new cocktail menu for summer! We enjoyed some lovely cocktails and split a shrimp o'boy and the feta dip (which I could literally just eat with a spoon). The place has its downsides, including being very noisy, but I really do like it there! Plus the company was fantastic, nothing like a date night with your husband where you can discuss everything from home restoration to the Parents Association meeting to home tasks that you have to do. Ahh, romance...

We had a little time afterwards, so we decided to check out the new brewery in Highland (not far from circus), the Wandering Leaf.

I'm going to give it a mixed review. It's nice to have a taproom in the area, and the plants are pretty. The atmosphere is ... fine ... a little sterile, like "this is where we are starting, but someday we'll grow up and have a real place." Sort of industrial park. The plants help. 

They don't allow dogs, which seems weird for a place with a concrete floor, and even kicked out a sort-of marginally homed woman who came in with her (well-behaved) dog while we were there, which was sad.

The beer was fine, maybe a little lacking in depth but enjoyable enough. I think we're spoiled because there are so many outstanding breweries we go to on a regular basis.

They did give out some nice little taster glasses of stout.

It was understaffed, even for a slower Thursday; we found someone's phone on our way out and had to wait in line for a not-short amount of time to turn it in to someone there. But the service was pleasant enough.

All in all, a good place if not an amazing one. If it were on Crafttapped I might go more often, but it's nice to have an option in an area that does not have  a lot.