My BFF comes to visit & we eat

I'm really lucky enough that two of my best friends are big time foodies.  It is hard to be a foodie alone! You all know my foodie friend Laura over at first class panda, but you have not met my other foodie friend Aly.  She lives in Manhattan so I only get to physically see her a few times a year.  She came to visit over the weekend before she goes back to work (she is a teacher) which was super super nice of her because she only got to spend about 24 hrs here.  But we crammed in a lot of food in that short span of time! I picked her up on New London, CT and we headed on over to Mystic.  I really love it there and don't spend enough time there considering how close it is.  I wanted to take her to one of my favorite restaurants called Azu.  Now, because my mom was a restauranter, I know who the owner is and have dined frequently at all of her three amazing restaurants.  And I happen to know the reason behind the  name of this restaurant.  When they were creating the space, it was a crazy experience and the owner said, "this place is a fucking zoo!" and hence comes azu! I love that story.  Anyway I love this place because they have a menu full of small bites, and for entrees they have an amazing risotto.  This was one of the last places I dined with my mom, we went there for my birthday before she got sick.  Anyway, Aly and I were overwhelmed with what to choose! We both wanted clam chowder, and then we picked three small bites.  Also I had a killer alcoholic lemonade which may have been one of the best drinks I've ever had.  The soup was really good and creamy.  We choose mini burgers (I'm obsessed with burgers), onion rings, and crab cakes.  They were all really good, the burgers were the best.  I loved the tiny little things that the condiments were in.  Aly was telling me about this place in Chicago that all the food and all the things are mini, and I need to go.  I love mini!

For dinner we went to my favorite sushi restaurant baba sushi.  They have the freshest sushi ever seriously.  We always get the spicy tuna, angel maki (which is lobster tempura with sweet potato) and shrimp tempura.  And this amazing banana dessert which I did not photograph.  But it's a magical banana.  I am a regular here, I love being a regular somewhere! Aly loved it and I was so glad.  This was our day filled with good food.