Finally, after missing two years of Notre Dame home football games, I returned to South Bend on a chilly October weekend to cheer on the Irish.
One of the best things about football Saturdays is definitely all the good eats, and drinks too of course! This particular Saturday started off with breakfast at Uptown Kitchen. I definitely struggled to decide on my order (so many things sounded amazing!), but I finally selected the Chicken Sausage Hash.
I knew I had a cold, potentially wet, day ahead of me, so a hearty warm breakfast seemed like the right choice. This hash came with diced bits of chicken sausage, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, potatoes and onions with two fried eggs on top. I was a little hesitant at first because sometimes I am not the biggest fan of sun dried tomatoes, but I found that they worked really well in this dish to bring some sweetness and acidity to the earthy flavors of the rest of the dish. The eggs were cooked perfectly and oozed when I cut into them, and the bread was wonderful – soft and fluffy but at the same time nicely toasted.
After breakfast, we headed to Brother’s on Eddy Street across from campus to get started on our drinking. Since the summer, I have decided that Bloody Mary’s are definitely my morning go-to drink. This one did not disappoint, and I think this was probably the spiciest Bloody Mary I’ve had yet.
Definitely the best way to wake up and prepare for the game in my opinion.
Then there was the game . . . 
I took this picture right before the game started . . . and it’s a good thing because soon the rain was coming down and it would have been detrimental to my phone to try to take pictures then.
It was a . . . cold and wet game . . . but we won! Yay, and that’s what’s important at the end of the day, right? The weather did give me a great excuse to get some hot chocolate in the stadium too.
After the game, we went to our new favorite spot in South Bend – Villa Macri. They have a main dining room, but we also discovered over Easter a wine gallery where you can enjoy wine tastings and delicious food. We enjoyed many different wines throughout our meal, which was pleasantly quiet and relaxing after an exciting day of tailgating and cheering.
I ordered the short rib ravioli. Typically I don’t order pasta dishes, and usually not ones that have some sort of red meat sauce, but on this day the idea of a comfort-food-like bowl of pasta just sounded wonderful.
With a healthy serving of freshly grated cheese on top, and the pasta cooked to a perfect al dente, this one really hit the spot.
The thing about pasta, red sauce, and red wine though . . . it also makes me crave chocolate . . .
As you can see I succumbed to temptation and ordered a slice of their chocolatiest-chocolatey cake to share with the table. It was somewhere between a really rich chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cheesecake. The point is, it was awesome! I absolutely loved it, and it was the perfect end to an excellent day in South Bend.