The fairly new patio at Luxe is where I found myself last Tuesday, along with my friend Danielle who owns the wonderful shop Room Service and new friend Charity, who authors the fabulously informative I Heart Cleveland blog.

The night started off with drinks, followed by us girls sharing the farmhouse/artisan cheese plate, roasted sea scallops with corn and avocado salsa, spicy seared tuna with black bean turnover and mussels with chorizo and fennel in a chili broth. Plenty of food for the three of us. In fact, despite how flavorful and satisfying everything was, we couldn’t finish it all.

This wasn’t my first trp to Luxe. Or second. Or third for that matter. While it’s a favorite stop for me and Jamie, this was my first time on the patio. The patio is basically in the parking lot, yet you would have no idea. In fact, the patio is so well thought out and constructed, one could almost forget where they are altogether and think they were on vacation. No matter where you sit, you take in a different view and perspective. And, to Danielle’s point, the feeling and vibe changes throughout the night, thanks in part to the recessed lighting coming from the clean wood walls. It’s really a great setting and I look forward to going back soon. Perhaps with Jamie, Natalie and Stella, our Boston Terrier who is eager to attend the bow wow brunch held on the patio each Sunday.

Besides the great company, consistently good food and shared laughs, there was something else that made me happy about this night. The fact that is was a Tuesday evening in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and the restaurant was nicely packed – and there were lots of people walking around the surrounding streets. All of this despite the massive construction going on in this area.

On our weekend visit, the table of 7 split a bunch of appetizers, including the Pabst Blue Ribbon shrimp, mussels in a slightly spicy garlic butter, cheese plate (I can’t wait until I can have the real good and creamy and stinky cheese again), calamari and the veal stuffed hot peppers. For our meal, Jamie and I once again split the Plain Jane pizza with prosciutto, plus I added a small Luxe house salad and a bowl of the onion soup with gruyere. Oh, and the banana foster sundae for dessert. Yes, we ordered way too much food.

On Tuesday, the girls and I also opted to split everything. We went with the one salad with a few different types of meat (all of which I can’t quite remember because I forgot my notebook), and two of the specials: veal cannelloni with pomodoro sauce and the prosciutto-wrapped cod with mushrooms and fava beans. For dessert, we split the basket of beignets with chocolate sauce.

On Saturday, every single one of the appetizers were fan favorites. In fact, everyone seemed to enjoy their entire meal. For me personally, my favorites included the cheese, mussels (the bread drenched in that sauce alone was wonderful), a few bites of my sister’s fettuccine carbonara with bacon (in a word, wow) and of course the dessert, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite’s in town.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as happy with everything. On our first visit, I was completely impressed with the pizza – this time, not so much. The crust wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered and the prosciutto was on the dry and rough side.

As for Tuesday, the veal special and salad were easily our favorites. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the salad – especially the avocado dressing and various meats that I can’t seem to recall. A big disappointment was the cod special, which frankly was very dry, had a slightly burnt taste and again, the prosciutto was way too dry and rough. So what sounded like a wonderful combination ended up falling very flat.

Another disappointment was the dessert. In my mind, I was eagerly anticipating some type of remnant of Cafe Do Monde with mounds of powdered sugar. In reality, not even close. The Chex-sized faux beignets were dry, flavorless and overall disappointing to all of us. Oh well – that’s what I get for bailing on that oh-so-perfect bananas foster sundae. I won’t be making that mistake again.

Aside from a few let downs, this place continues to impress me – both for the atmosphere, service and of course, food. I will definitely be back – and probably very soon with Stella in tow. We were told on Saturday that dogs are always welcome on the porch.

On an unrelated thought, we briefly chatted with Marlin Kaplan on both visits. On Tuesday, he told me about two sushi places that his staff has been buzzing about: Watani (in Parma I believe) and Nasoya. Anyone been?

Prior to heading into Luxe, we checked out a couple of the stores in the up and coming Gordon Square Arts District, including our friend Danielle’s store, Room Service, and the neighboring store, duoHome. Both are wonderful home stores featuring all sorts of fun and unique treats for your personal space. More on Room Service later.

After visiting these two beautifully decorated stores with wonderful offerings, it’s a perfect fit to have Luxe as a neighbor. What a beautiful space. Simple, rustic sophistication with a lot of vintage touches and good use of exposed brick. For example, dishtowels that remind me of the ones my grandma use to have hanging in her kitchen, are used as runners on the table. Moreover, the dishes – they reminded me of the fun throwback finds you would pick up at Fishs Eddy. And speaking of my grandma, the server’s station looked like an old credenza from her house. It’s clear Marlin shares the same good taste my grandma has.

Marlin also pays homage to the space’s former tenant by using the bank vault to store wine. And in the bar area when you first walk in, you are immediately greeted by the giant bar, which has to be from the 1920s or 1930s.

The only element we didn’t care for were the quotes. In general, I like his idea of using quotes and tried to read several, but to me, it was a bit too chaotic all grouped together on the window and almost too much.

The Mediterranean menu is a mix of shared and small plates, sandwiches, pasta and pizza with four daily specials serving as a larger meal. The drink menu offered a good variety of wines, brews and fun and inventive cocktails, like lavender and blueberry handmade lemonade with citrus vodka or the Splendor, with fresh pomegranate and sparkling wine. And much like Bar Cento and Lolita, everything on the menu, from food to drinks, is fairly reasonable.

Jamie, continuing with his summer beer kick, opted to try his new favorite beer: pyramid apricot. I think he is also enjoying having a pregnant wife and thus a designated driver for the next six months because he enjoyed several.

For our meal, I started with the panzanella special with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olives and crunchy bread, while Jamie went with the calamari with fried scallions, spicy tomatoes and lemon aioli. For our meal, we opted to share the potato gnocchi with asparagus, peas and tomato saffron sauce and the Plain Jane pizza with mozzarella, marinara sauce and prosciutto. While there were several interesting pizza options, I’ve noticed my tastes have changed slightly (thank you, hormones) and it was this simple pizza that really jumped out at me. For dessert, we went with the bananas foster sundae.

Well, Kaplan has lived up to the reputation I have heard so much about. Every bite of our meal, from start to finish, was incredibly wonderful. The salad was so fresh, simple and packed with flavor, especially the olives. And speaking of fresh, the pasta was surprisingly fresh and light, not at all heavy, which is typically what I expect from gnocchi. The saffron in the sauce really made this dish.

However, my favorite dish of the evening was easily the pizza, which is ironic because I only thought I’d have a slice and ended up having three (plus finished the last two for breakfast the next day). This super thin and crusty pizza was so good; it’s easily my new favorite traditional pizza in town. The taste, specifically the sauce, was very familiar to me and reminded me of something. I’m not sure what, but clearly better than whatever I was thinking of since I can’t even recall it. The prosciutto was perfect, not too salty, and complimented the pizza well. There were several other options for the Plain Jane pizza, but this is the version I am going to be craving.

Another winner was the dessert. Simple and hit the spot with plenty of caramelized bananas. I especially savored this sweet ending because my birthday is the one day of the year I get to pick dessert. Which honestly, I can’t complain considering I usually pick everything else.

I have to say my first impression with Marlin Kaplan was definitely a memorable one. What a great restaurant he created in this up and coming neighborhood. During our meal, we had the opportunity to meet Marlin. Of course, I told him about the blog and regular chef interviews, so look for one from this former ad exec turned chef soon.