January: Blah.

Taking two weeks off makes it wicked hard to suck it up and go back to work. Having the stomach flu didn't help matters any, either. Here's how you know I was sick: I had to skip Pub Quiz. Boo!

Anyhow, I'm back in CLE for a bit — but I'm heading right back to Akron for the weekend because it's my grandpa's and my cousin's birthdays. So, I still feel kind of unsettled and at loose ends and otherwise not in the swing of things. Especially because I can't find my digital camera, and I need to transfer over the photos I took on Stone Mountain to show my grandpa. Grrr!

On the plus side, I do have an evening at the Loco Leprechaun Irish Cantina to look forward to. Cathy spotted it a while back as she was cruising around, and it sounded so crazy that we had to Google it this afternoon. Here's the inside dope, according to the PD:

Wearin' o' the sombrero . . .

Here's an ethnic food fusion you won't find every day: Irish-Mexican. At the new Loco Leprechaun in Westlake, you'll find corned-beef tacos, corned-beef-and-cabbage burritos and Guinness barbecue burgers grilling next to guacamole burgers.

Owners Michael Ollick and his girlfriend/business partner, Rose Wolfgram, are both half-Irish and love Mexican food, thus the genesis. They ran coffee and snack kiosks at local hospitals and medical centers for 12 years before opening the restaurant last month in the former site of a Japanese restaurant, Daishin.

Loco Leprechaun chef Mark Murray worked at the old Fagan's in the Flats years ago, where it was common to crank out 1,500 corned beef sandwiches on St. Patrick's Day. Although it's neither Irish nor Mexican, Murray offers the "Sloppy Grandma," a chicken paprikash sandwich on a hoagie in honor of his late Hungarian grandmother. Melting pot indeed.

Oy to the vey. Corned beef tacos? Can't be any squickier than fish tacos, I guess. And the Sloppy Grandma? Dirty! Anyhow, suffice it to say that we're intrigued. Especially after we found this:

DRINK: Irish-Mexican Car Bomb

Loco Leprechaun
— 24545 Center Ridge Road Westlake, 440-250-5626

The new Loco Leprechaun restaurant/bar is equal parts Irish and Mexican. In keeping, co-owner Michael Ollick, who is half Irish and loves Mexican food, has concocted a twist on the popular Irish Car Bomb. The traditional bomb is a shot of Jameson's, topped with Baileys Irish Cream, dropped gently into a pint of Guinness. Ollick adds a tad more loco: a half-and-half shot of Baileys and Jose Cuervo tequila, dropped gently into the glass of Guinness.

— Bill Lubinger

More loco is right. Ick.