Liberty Market = happiness

Last week on my birthday, my family took me out for an amazingly awesome dinner at Liberty Market.  If it wasn't for Karina filling us in on all the hot spots around Mesa, we would've never known about this fantastic restaurant.

Immediately when you walk in, you're greeted by the large, old and weathered butcher block and the long farm table I have always dreamed of owning.  I instantly knew that this was going to be good.  To the left was your opportunity to watch the orange glow of the wood burning pizza oven while enjoying your meal at their modern counter.

It wasn't exactly what we had envisioned, with their paper menus and order window, but it seemed to work well for this eclectic little place.  Scott stood in line while I tried to keep the girls occupied at the table... after a long day, it was not an easy task.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious and it was extremely hard to choose just one item.  The girls had a grilled cheese that was oozing cheesy goodness out of every edge.  It came with your choice of one side from the salad case.  Maria chose the best rice pudding I have ever eaten!  It was the first thing Ginger ate and lucky for me, Maria didn't like hers. :)

Scott ordered pizza with what appeared to be caramelized onions, sausage and goat cheese.  It was delicious and I can totally appreciate a good pizza crust.  Yummy!!  I ordered one of their starred menu items... a chicken pasta.  It was creamy, cheesy goodness that resembled the Pasta Luca Brasi at Blackwoods in Duluth, only without the shrimp and without the bite.  It was very VERY good.

Before leaving the restaurant, Karina mentioned checking out the bathrooms.  So past that old farm table I went, around the glass windowed kitchen, and into the communal sink area.  Each of the 4 or 5 bathrooms were for men and women, and each had their own distinct flare.  One had a crazy geometric floor...

while another had recipes strewn all over the white walls in a black sharpie pen.  Pretty cool.

I wish I had been more brave with my camera to take more pictures, but it's a little uncomfortable when people are watching me.  Definitely something I need to work on because there were a lot of photo opportunities in that place.

We'll most likely be coming here again before we head back north to Minnesota at the end of June.