Studio 35 is AWESOME! So is Mazah.

Over the weekend, we had plans with friends to go to dinner and the movies.  We'd never been to Studio 35, but knew they had a great beer selection (not that I could have it) and in general, we much prefer theaters with bars to those without.  First we went to dinner at Mazah in Grandview, which is a Mediterranean restaurant with a ton of gluten-free options clearly marked on the menu.  I started with the Mujadara, which is lentils, rice, caramelized onions, and spices over fresh greens.  It was super tasty.  Lo had a cup of lentil soup, which was hot as molten lava and more of a bowl than a cup (he liked it).  We split the Large Sampler, which came with hummus, fava bean dip, baba ghanoush, 3 Bean Salad, cabbage salad, Med. Potato Salad, 2 pieces of falafel, rice, and one entrée (meat/veggie) and pita bread.  We got Beef Shawarma for our entree part of the sampler and a side of veggies as dippers for me.  Everything was REALLY good and really reasonably priced.  I would absolutely go back.  I'd recommend making reservations, especially on the weekend, because we had to wait for awhile.

After dinner we headed to Studio 35 to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  I'd read the books, so I was really excited to see the movie.  You can't order tickets in advance through Studio 35, but you can order them through MovieTickets.com, in case you think it's going to be a popular movie.  We did, but it wasn't necessary, because it wasn't nearly as busy as we expected - plus the place is pretty big.  We stopped at the bar on the way in and everyone got delicious beers (they have HOPSLAM) except me (vodka+soda).  When Lo went for the second round during the movie, he also got me a small popcorn with a scoop of M&M's.  Seriously.  I never really get movie popcorn, but I was super excited to get some after I read that you can get a scoop of M&M's added to your popcorn for 50 cents (the popcorn was only $3 itself).  It is really an amazing combination.  They put the scoop of candy on top, but as you're eating it, some of them work their way towards the bottom, so you have candy the whole way through.  So good.

The movie was incredibly good, as expected.  The sound wasn't so great in the theater, and the characters had Swedish accents, so it was a little hard to understand at times. Apparently they sometimes show double features, so for $7.50 you get to see 2 movies.  They also serve pizzas, salads, and subs.  The theater itself is basically the theater version of a dive bar - it's absolutely not fancy in anyway, has a weird old building smell (you get used to it), and like I said, the sound wasn't perfect, but it was a really cool place.  We will absolutely go back, especially after we move further away from Arena Grand, which is usually our go-to theater.