Indianapolis Restaurant Scene

Long Thanh

2012-01-30T06:26:00.001-05:00

Some friends of mine recently challenged me on twitter about my lack of pho love and suggested I try Long Thanh to get some that I might like. I was kind of surprised that they liked this place so much because it is really super close to my house and I have never eaten there. I will admit, I went in once shortly after we moved here, and picked up a menu, but just never went back. Since then, they have classed the place up a bit with some décor (I remember it being just pretty much white all over and kind of divey) and some tablecloths. Also, the lady who waited on me both times (one of the husband/wife owners I believe) was really nice and when I came the second time remembered me and asked me if I wanted the same drink.

So I met my friends for lunch shortly after their recommendation to see if they were right. Although, on this first trip, I didn’t order the pho. Just being difficult I guess, but I haven’t found pho in Indy that I really like yet, so I wanted to try something else first and get an idea if I liked the place before I moved on to something that I am obviously kind of picky about. I had a Vietnamese spring roll (you know, the non-fried kind)($2.75 for 2) and the “grilled shrimp noodle”(#54)($6.95). So, I have to admit, those non-fried spring rolls don’t usually really get me going unless they are wrapped really tight and are small and easy to eat. And it helps if there is a fair amount of meat in them (I like to be able to see several shrimp). This one was more like a salad roll with mostly (fresh) greens—lettuce and herbs. There was a little meat in it, but not much. And it was kind of fat and messy and not my favorite thing. They were served with a thick, plum sauce with peanuts on top to dip in though which helped a bit.

I really liked the noodles and shrimp dish though—it was a bowl filled with lettuce and bean sprouts and topped with hot rice noodles, and sautéed shrimp and green onions. There were some crushed peanuts on top as well as some shredded carrots. I really like rice noodles in general—they are lighter and don’t feel so filling and the combo of the nicely cooked shrimp with some noodles and some crunchy veggies from the bottom of the bowl was good. It was served with a light, slightly sweet sauce (with a bit of chili paste and garlic it) that I enjoyed dunking my noodles into. So they were right, I was liking this place.

So the next challenge was to go back and get the pho and see how it went. I met a friend again (different one this time) and we started with the Vietnamese pancake ($6.95). I love these in general, and this one in particular. It was truly like a crepe, they way I like them, light and really thin but perfectly crispy on the edges. Folded inside were sprouts, sautéed onions, pork, shrimp, and with cilantro and romaine lettuce on the side and served with some of the same sauce I had above with my noodles. My only complaint, if I had one, is that the inside stuff was just a little oily, but not so much that it stopped us from eating ALL of it. And it is pretty generous in size. I would certainly get this again. I really really liked how crisp the outside was. Perfect.

So, I got the rare beef pho ($6.75). And guess what? I liked it. This is the first pho I have had in Indy where I felt like the dish really had some flavor. And the flavor comes from the broth—the noodles are the same rice noodles that I had had in the dish before and they are just a complement to the broth really. There are also some sautéed onions and green onions in the bowl as well as the very thin slices of beef. So, of course, there is no way the beef really stays rare in that steaming broth, but these pieces of beef were thin and tender and very good. I thought they were fairly plentiful as well as I kept making sure I got all of them. You are also served a fresh plate with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeno slices and a juicy lime wedge. I did add some of all of this into the bowl, which more than anything added a wonderful aroma. I did not have to add any sauces to it, which I have had to do in the past at other places just to get a little flavor. The broth stood on its own and I can officially say I found a pho that I liked. Cheers to my friends who recommended it (and if you have a favorite pho location, please share!).

Long Thanh

5707 East 71^st Street

Indy 46220

317/842-6499

Circle City Sweets/Circle City Soups--Revisit

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-05:00

Recently the schedules in our house changed and my lovely daughter and I find ourselves downtown every Saturday at lunch time (she has ballet in the morning). So we have started trying to take advantage of being there to try some new things for lunch. The last couple of weeks we have hit the City Market which has been really fun, and we can both get different things and enjoy the Winter Farmer’s Market as well.

So this week, I was sort of torn about what to get and ended up lured back to Circle City Sweets/Soups. When we got there (and I think all day on Saturdays) they were still offering breakfast sandwiches served on their own fresh made croissants ($5) so we got one of those to share as well as a cup of the tomato bisque ($2). First of all, that croissant was amazing. Warm and flaky and buttery, but with just the right amount of crunch…literally my mouth is watering right now as I type this. The “American” sandwich that we got included scrambled eggs that were very well seasoned, bacon, and American cheese. It was simple, but delicious. And quite generous in size, particularly given the price. They also offer a “French” version with City ham from Smoking Goose and gruyere which will likely be on the top of my list next time.

The tomato soup was also really good. Rich and creamy, but with still the distinct acidity from the tomatoes. The soup was topped with bacon gruyere croutons-- I mean you can’t really go wrong with that, and I appreciate the texture variation in the super creamy soup. A great little combination. And I love the fact that Circle City Sweets and Circle City Soups are a collaboration of a wife (the sweets, and those wonderful croissants) and husband (the soups, and the rest of my sandwich). They have got a great thing working there.

A little side item, from a different stall, but worth mentioning was the order of pretzel bites we got at A Taste of Philly Pretzels (guess who wanted those?). I liked that they made little bite sized pieces and they are tasty soft pretzels for sure. A frequent purchase by my kids at the Broad Ripple Farmers Market in the summer as well. My daughter wanted her pretzel bites photographed, and of course I was happy to oblige.

Yes, I was the dork taking a picture
of the trash can

I also wanted to mention a follow up from a post I wrote last summer in which I complained about the overabundance of Styrofoam use at various vendors. Neither of the vendors mentioned in this post use Styrofoam in their businesses and I recently saw a tweet from the City Market saying it was one of their goals to get rid of it throughout the market this year. That is certainly good news. As is all of the recycling cans next to the trash cans throughout, which I also don’t remember seeing this past summer. I am a crazy recycler, and find it nearly physically impossible to put something into a trash can that can be recycled. Very happy to see these changes!

Now, of course I would love to hear good kid friendly Saturday suggestions for future lunches downtown with the daughter.

Circle City Sweets

Indianapolis City Markey

222 East Market Street

Indy 46204

317/632-3644

www.circlecitysweets.com

Circle City Soups

Indianapolis City Markey

222 East Market Street

Indy 46204

317/956-2395

A Taste Of Philly Pretzels

Indianapolis City Markey

222 East Market Street

Indy 46204

317/828-6753

www.indypretzel.com

Super Bowl Restaurant Guide for Indianapolis

2012-01-22T14:57:00.014-05:00

Hey Super Bowl fans! If you found me, you probably want to know where to eat in Indianapolis, so here’s the skinny on our local food scene (at least my version anyway). I would personally be devastated if you come all the way to Indy only to eat at mediocre chains (and trust me, it wouldn’t be hard). Local friends, help me (and our visitors) out and add your additional suggestions in the comments. Obviously, there are other good places, these are just a few of my favorites. For the restaurants’ websites with information about location, etc., click on their names below.

Downtown Restaurants

One Eyed Jack-The Libertine

The Libertine: This place is a bar with amazing food. It is small, so if you want to go, you better book it right this very second. (Since it’s a bar, no kids). They are going to be open for lunch throughout the Super weekend as well. Do it, you won’t be sad. My review is here.

R Bistro: This is fine, local dining at its best. Local chef, local ingredients, ever changing menu, cool spot on Massachusetts Avenue. You want a nice place for dinner, this is your place (not overly formal though). One of my reviews here. (There are more if you look).

Goose the Market: Where to begin? Goose is an amazing place to grab a sandwich for lunch or groceries or have a drink and a snack in the evening downstairs in the enoteca. Their “Batali” was mentioned by Bon Appetit in an article featuring the best sandwich shops in the country. And trust me, you will be a happy camper with that sandwich (or any of their other daily specials). Check out my latest review here.

Siam Square: Want something a little different? Really great Thai food located in one of my favorite downtown neighborhoods, Fountain Square. It’s hip, and not overly expensive. Love their noodles. Here’s my reviews. Speaking of which, other charmers in Fountain Square include Mama Irma (Peruvian) and Naisa (Chinese).

Shrimp Po Boy at Mesh

Mesh: Technically, it is part of a local restaurant group, but Mesh offers up some quality, familiar food at reasonable prices right on Mass Ave, which is a great place to shop, eat and drink. You can get steaks, sandwiches and pasta dishes along with good drinks in a relaxed, but polished atmosphere. You can check out my posts about Mesh here.

Ball & Biscuit: B&B is another really cool place that while it is mainly a bar, offers great small plates from Indy chef Brad Gates. If you want a great (non-smoking) bar to enjoy some retro cocktails and some medium sized nosh, check them out. Or go have a drink after dinner. You will love this place.

St. Elmo: Want a steak? This is our local Indy legend. Again, good luck getting in if you don’t already have a reservation, but give it a try if red meat is what you want. You might get lucky. And according to locals, you have to try the shrimp cocktail (although, I have to say honestly I am not a huge fan of the insanity-horseradish thing, but that’s just me, apparently.) And here’s my review. If you can’t get in, give Harry & Izzy’s a try—it’s St. Elmo’s more modern little sister (or brother) and you can check them out here.

Sensu: If you want a hip, night clubby feel (this place turns into a night club later in the evening) and good Asian fusion food, Sensu is a good option. This is also a good place to go if you are looking for a little privacy, as it is dark and has several private-ish booths. We had a very nice meal there and it has been on our list to return to ever since. Read my full review here.

Ceviche- Black Market

Black Market: Indy’s gastropub. Also located in the Mass Ave area, Black Market is one of Indy’s newer restaurants and serves hearty comfort food but with a gourmet twist. Also a bar though, so don’t bring the kids.

Downtown Lunch

Several of the above restaurants are open for lunch and several are going to be specially open for the Super Bowl weekend, so you can check them out as an option. But if you are looking for a more causal place for lunch (and in some cases dinner as well), here are some of my favorite downtown lunch spots.

City Market: Indy’s City Market has undergone a great transformation over the last few years and now features mainly local foodservice vendors. This is an amazing place to grab lunch, conveniently located right downtown. You can get local pizza, Greek food, homemade soups and pastries, Mexican food, French crepes, soft pretzels, ice cream, po boys, and food from one of my favorite local chefs, Brad Gates. I have done a few reviews of a couple of the places and you can check them out here.

Hoaglin to Go: Back on Mass Ave, if you are looking for a great breakfast or lunch, check out Hoaglin to Go. It’s a little place with amazing fresh made items like quiche, pancakes, egg dishes and my personal favorite, their egg salad. I also hear they have a killer grilled cheese. Here’s my review.

Tacos at La Parada

La Parada: In the mood for some cheap Mexican food that is really, really good? This is a gem of a place where you can get a ton of food for just a few bucks and think, “wow, that was an awesome taco.” Try the ceviche too. Delicious. Warning, it’s a bit of a dive, but a charming dive. See what I ordered in my recent post. (Since they don’t have a website, their address is 1638 East New York Street, Indianapolis 46210 and their phone is 317/917-0095).

Workingman’s Friend: This may possibly be the best burger in Indianapolis. It is an old bar, but on any given day you will see every type of person from blue collar workers to businesspeople in here enjoying a fantastic burger (oh, and get the onion rings, skip the fries). Here’s my review. (Again, no website, but they are located at 234 N. Belmont Avenue in Indy and their phone number is 317/636-2067).

City Café: This place is a little gem hidden away downtown. Everything is homemade and the ingredients are top notch. Best steak sandwich I have ever had. Tip: Normally, they are not open on Sundays and are only open for breakfast and lunch, but a little birdie (ha, twitter, get it?) told me they will be serving dinner over Super Bowl weekend as well. Here’s my review.

Outside of Downtown

If you are willing to venture a little outside of downtown, we have some amazing restaurants in various locations.

Broad Ripple

Just north of downtown is the Broad Ripple area (probably a 10-15minute drive from downtown). Hit any of these places and you will have a happy belly.

H2O-Tuna Tartare

H2O Sushi: This is one of my all around favorite restaurants. And don’t let the name fool you. While they do serve spectacular sushi, my favorite things are the daily specials listed down the middle of their menu. Wonderful noodle dishes and great tacos. The chefs like to mix it up here, with various Asian influences as well as fun twists on food from other cultures too. I love this place (read more here). If you want to check it out, my advice is make a reservation.

Goat Cheese Quesadilla-Room 4

Recess/Room 4: One of Indy’s most prized restaurants is run by local chef Greg Hardesty. With a new daily menu that is set, you may try some things you wouldn’t normally try, and you will enjoy them all. The focus is on fresh, local ingredients. If you want to dine at Recess, you need a reservation for sure. But if you just want to stop in, give Room 4 a try. Room 4 is the sister restaurant of Recess which is located in the same space, but is more casual, fun, and very approachable a la carte menu. Check out posts on both here. Tip: Both will be open for lunch during Super Bowl week, which is not normally the case.

Taste Café & Marketplace: My favorite lunch spot in the City. Great for breakfast too (and a tip, they serve dinner a couple of nights a week too). Favorite item here by far: the BALT sandwich (bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato). They add dressing to the lettuce and an herby aioli to the bread. Best sandwich ever. And don’t forget a side of their fabulous frites with basil aioli dip. A perfect lunch. Read more about it here.

Mussels & Frites- Brugge

Brugge: A local favorite for mussels and frites and house brewed beer. Their fries may just be the best in town and with a choice of about a dozen dipping sauces, it’s hard to decide (I like blue cheese, regular garlic aioli and the Sherry vinegar and salt). Check out my review. Open for lunch too!

Pizza- Thr3e Wisemen

Thr3e Wisemen: Currently, Thr3e Wisemen is making one of my favorite pizzas in the City—fresh dough, crispy crust and a great savory tomato sauce. It’s a straightforward menu with pizzas, sandwiches and salads and they brew their own beer. Lots of TVs to watch all the coverage. Here’s what I said about it on my last visit. (Also, the same owner has several restaurants throughout the state, including one downtown called Scotty’s Brewhouse. If you are looking for bar grub, it is a decent local option). Open for lunch and dinner.

Patachou/Napolese: This is a local group of restaurants where you can enjoy a great breakfast or lunch. Basic food, but extremeley fresh and high quality ingredients. Good egg dishes, really nice salads. Napolese is their own Neopolitan pizza restaurant that is quite charming as well. Petite Chou is their French bistro version. I have done reviews of nearly all their concepts in my blog as well if you want further information. And they do have downtown locations.

North

Pizzology: Up in Carmel (about 30 minutes from downtown), there’s a great local pizza place owned by the same people who own The Libertine downtown. It is Neopolitan-style pizza cooked in a wood fired oven. Great salads and pastas too. Tip: try the fritters. Delicious. They don’t take reservations so if you don’t mind a potential wait, you should be able to get a table here. Here’s my latest post.

West

Squealers: my current top choice for barbeque in Indy (although the quest is ongoing). Great ribs and those fried biscuits…well, they are things dreams are made of…Here’s my post on them.

Oakley’s Bistro: About 25 minutes drive from downtown, Oakley’s is a great slightly higher end dining option using seasonal ingredients and a seasonally changing menu. There’s a little something for everyone here. Here’s my latest review.

East

Papa Roux: A little bit of New Orleans in Indy. I personally love the shrimp po boy, but Indy people may tell you to get the pork po boy (also available in the City Market downtown). And here's my review.

South

Brozinni’s: Ok, really this is my favorite pizza, but sadly, I don’t live close enough to have gotten to go more than a few times. Huge, delicious New York style slices and amazing garlic knuckles. If you are on the Southside, this is a must. Check out my post here.

Indiana Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

Ok, you may or may not be aware that the sort of "unofficial sandwich of Indiana" is the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. We’re talking a piece of pork tenderloin that is pounded, sometimes very thin and sometimes not, breaded or battered and deep fried. You will see them everywhere, seriously, but clearly some are better than others. Here’s a few I can recommend (I have to admit I am relying on friends for a little bit of help on this one, as I haven’t yet sampled every pork tenderloin in town). The top three are my personal choices and are reviewed in my blog. The others are from trusted friends. Also, there is another local person who does an entire blog called “All Tenderloins, All The time” just about tenderloins if you really want to hear about A LOT of different places.

Muldoon's Tenderloin

Muldoon’s: In an Irish themed bar in Carmel (about 35 minutes north of downtown).

111 West Main Street, Suite 100

Carmel, IN 46032

317/571-1116

Pawn Shop Tenderloin

Pawn Shop: in a somewhat smoky bar about 15-20 minutes from downtown.

2222 East 54^th Street

Indianapolis, IN 46262

317/255-5490

Chatham Tap: good version I picked mainly because they have a downtown location (no kids downtown though). Also a location in Fishers, about 35 minutes northeast of downtown.

719 Massachusetts Avenue

Indianapolis, IN 46204

317/917-8425

8211 East 116^th Street

Fishers, IN 46038

317/845-1090

Steer-In: This place was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, and I have been told has a great tenderloin.

5130 East 10^th Street

Indianapolis, IN

317/356-0996

Sahm’s: Several people have mentioned Sahm’s has a great tenderloin, and they have several locations including one downtown.

433 North Capitol (check out their website for all their locations around Indy)

Indianapolis, IN

317/822-9903

Jimmy B’s : in a little strip mall north about 25-30 minutes from downtown

10598 North College Ave

Indianapolis, IN 46280

317/848-7364

Beer!

Finally, Indy has quite a thriving craft beer loving population and there are some great places to drink quality beer (much of it brewed locally) downtown and in Broad Ripple (as well as other places). This is not my area of expertise for sure, but I know a lot of people love their beer, so I wanted to give you a good place to look to find out the best places to drink. Check out the Hoosier Beer Geek blog, particularly this page which gives you the run down on different areas and places to check out. Cheers!

I would love to hear feedback from out of towners about places they visit and their overall Indy experience! And don’t hesitate to email me personally for any other specific recommendations at erininindy@gmail.com.

Red Habanero

2012-01-19T06:13:00.010-05:00

We had a limited amount of time for lunch after getting hubby’s car serviced nearby and popped into Red Habanero because I had heard some good things about it and also because I heard it was taqueria style and so I assumed it would be fast. It is kind of an interesting place because they have very detailed menu items describing some of the menu items, but then when you order them, they sort of wait for you to tell them how you want it made. I appreciate that you can get it as you want, but just prepare yourself for that if you go.

I went with a lunch special combination of a taco and an enchilada which also came with rice ($7.99). You choose what fillings, etc. you want and I had a chicken enchilada with red sauce and a steak taco (they have 3 kinds of beef I believe—shredded, ground and the steak, which is like a carne asada). Interestingly, there is no pork on the menu at all (that I saw anyway). We also got some guacamole and chips ($2.99). The chips were fine, nothing really special there. The guac wasn’t bad; it definitely had more seasoning than others I have had recently, but nothing out of this world.

I really liked my steak taco though. I sort of ended up with a strange combination of things on it, because they normally put cheese, tomatoes and lettuce on them. I asked for no lettuce and to add some onions and cilantro. I also asked for some sour cream on the side (mainly for my enchilada) and he put it on top of my taco. But the taco ended up being my favorite thing. The beef is really good. Really, really flavorful. Oh, and I should mention the salsa bar where they have like 6-7 different types of salsas to try. I got the mild and the medium to start, and thought it was interesting—the mild actually had more flavor because it was just more seasoned with cilantro—it wasn’t spicy, but neither was the medium really. We ended up trying several of the others and enjoyed the tomatillo blend as well, which was more spicy but not too hot.

My enchilada was just ok. The chicken inside suffered from being too dry and there wasn’t anything else in there to help it out. The red sauce on top was good. I thought it had more heat than several of the salsas actually. I just had a quick bite of the rice because it was there, but nothing about it made me want to eat more (rarely does this happen with me and Mexican rice though).

Hubby had the cilantro-cream burrito ($6.99) which was your classic enormous taqueria burrito filled with chicken and a cilantro cream sauce as well as black beans, and rice and whatever else you wanted. He also had onions and cilantro. The burritos also come with chips on the side. I thought it had a pretty good flavor, but again, the chicken was dry—although with the sauce, it helped a lot and I certainly preferred it to my enchilada even though it was the same chicken.

So I can see how this place might be a go-to lunch place if you worked in the area. I think you could refine what is really good (I really liked the beef) and put together some good combos. It is pretty reasonably priced for a lot of food, if that is what you are looking for. Hubby ate most of his burrito and was moaning about it for several hours after. And they have hard alcohol—which seems a little out of place in this casual atmosphere, but if you want a margarita with your food, you can get one. Anyway, those of you who are Red Habanero fans, I would be interested to hear what you order that you really like.

Red Habanero

4825 East 96^th Street (and there is another location in Fishers)

Indy 46240

317/571-9642

www.Redhabanerigrill.net

Sapporo Japanese Steakhouse

2012-01-16T06:59:00.013-05:00

It was Saturday. It was Castleton. The kids were hungry. We were screwed. We were looking for somewhere to eat (we promised them dinner out) and got shut out of a couple of places because we just wouldn’t wait forever. In desperation, I remembered there was another Japanese steakhouse nearby and I think I have mentioned that my kids love Benihana, so they would love it right? And we could get in without a reservation.

So we were going for the whole teppanyaki cook it at your table experience because my kids are big fans. And forgive me for comparing the whole experience to Benihana, but it is sort of unavoidable for me particularly since we have eaten there so many times. When you order dinner, you get the traditional clear soup with thinly sliced mushrooms and fried onions. I have to say this one had a little more flavor than others I have had. The salad was your typical iceberg lettuce with a ginger dressing. This was the type that was more mayo based and creamy and I prefer the purely gingery vinaigrette type as far as Japanese restaurant salads go.

I had the filet and shrimp combination ($26.95 includes soup, salad and shrimp app) and hubby had a combination of flounder and shrimp ($20.95). We always share in these kinds of meals. My son, the steak eater, also had filet (happy to see it as an option on the kid’s menu). My daughter had the shrimp. The kids both had the fried rice option as well. So they really liked the fried rice. I noticed they make it with a lot less veggies, no chicken, and a lot more sauces than at other places. It tasted okay to me, but it apparently really appealed to the kids. I did like that there were a lot more sautéed veggies offered with each meal—there were bean sprouts, broccoli, carrots, onions and zucchini and a lot of them. I appreciated this a bit more than the kids though.

Unfortunately after that, things went sort of south. Both the shrimp and the steaks were overcooked and lacking any real seasoning. My son, pointed it out quite loudly that in fact, his steak was not medium rare as he ordered it (my son declares everything very loudly—he really needs volume control). I don’t know, maybe the guy just does the meat that way regardless of how you order it, or maybe he was just having an off night. The shrimp were also a little tough. They don’t cut them up the same way they do at Benihana, which I think is a mistake because they are probably afraid of undercooking them, and went too far the other way. The flounder on hubby’s dish may have been one of the better things, it was cooked properly and was tender and I liked the flavoring they put on it while they were cooking it. I thought the fish was just a little bit fishy though.

All in all, it wasn’t a great experience food-wise, but I will say our chef was quite flashy and skilled with all the teppanyaki tricks. They do the big flames here, and he was tossing eggs all over the place. That part he had down anyway. The interior is tired though, other than the very cool koi ponds as you walk in (even with a little bridge across it—the kids were digging this). It pretty much looks like it was opened in the 80s and hasn’t been touched since. Oh well, at least we managed to find a non-chain restaurant in Castleton—that alone earns us a medal right?

Sapporo

6342 East 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/570-7333

www.steakhouseindy.com

A Few of My Favorite Places: Brad Gates Catering

2012-01-12T11:18:00.000-05:00

I haven’t done a favorite places post in awhile, and I thought it would be a good fit to talk about Brad Gates Catering again. Brad has catered a couple of events for me in the last month or two and he is certainly my go to person for this kind of need. Most recently, he catered my birthday and did a great job. I’ll just tell you a couple of highlights, mainly because there was a lot of wine consumed on this particular night, and some of my recollections of particular details are somewhat foggy (also explains the lack of pictures). We had a smallish group, but Brad still provided us with lots of different small tastes to enjoy and the food was great.

I helped to choose the menu somewhat, but also let Brad come up with most of the ideas. There were a couple of things I have had before and a lot of new stuff. It was all good. Really good. One of the the things I loved was the chilied salmon nachos. They were chips with some nicely seasoned salmon, pico de gallo and avocado crème fraiche. They were easy to eat which meant I ate a lot of them. And I loved that most everything we had was finger food-ish so we all just sort of munched and hung out. We also had lamp chops Milanese that surprised me—I was a little skeptical because they were breaded and I worried they might be tough or overcooked. But they weren’t. They were super tender and perfectly medium rare. There was also a great pork wonton soup-- he did little individual spoons with a wonton in each. Those wontons were amazing. Such tender pork.

Anyway, if you are ever in the market for a caterer, I would heartily recommend Brad Gates. He also recently did the food for an anniversary party for my parents and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it as well (including me). The menu was completely different, and maybe slightly more traditional (per my request), but just as good. He is also a really nice guy whom you don’t mind having in your house for several hours (there are some I have met I would not say this about).

And, I wanted to get this posted because I just saw on facebook that Brad is continuing one of my personal favorite traditions—delivery Valentine’s Day dinners. He creates a menu and you can tell him how many dinners you want and it is delivered to your house in a cute basket. This is a perfect scenario for me because a) I hate going out on Valentine’s Day and b) I love Brad’s food. So check it out—last year’s pork shoulder was extremely memorable. It is a great way to get a great meal prepared for you by one of my favorite local chefs without having to have a party to cater. You can also check out his food locally at the Ball & Biscuit.

Brad Gates Catering & Events

317-292-4259

www.bradgatescatering.com

4 Years and Counting...

2012-01-10T05:07:00.011-05:00

So, 4 years ago today I started this blog. I have to say, friends ask me if I am burnt out on blogging and I can safely say, I am not. There are those days for sure, but in general, I actually think I like it now more than ever. It has become sort of like a job (a really crappily paid job, but at least I like it). I have met a lot of people I never would have met otherwise, and have made a lot of friends, some just online friends and some who have become very good real life friends. How cool is that? Certainly a perk I wasn’t expecting (or even thinking of) when I started this whole thing four years ago.

Some of you guys I feel like I know, even though I may only know you through recurring comments, emails or conversations with you on twitter. (I worry when I don’t hear from some of you for too long, is that weird?) But one thing I would like to say is how much I LOVE it, and you, when you take the time and make the effort to leave me a comment on the blog. I like having that record here so that everyone who reads it can read your comments too, even if they read the post 6 months later.

So, for me, I am asking a question of you--have you ever gone to a new restaurant solely based on one of my reviews? I would love to hear if you have and if so, where (and what did you think?). I want to hear about how my blog might have helped get people to try new places around town. And of course, feel free to leave any other comment you wish as well, and as always, keep all your recommendations coming! I seriously go to probably 80% of the places I choose based solely on reader recommendations. And any thoughts about ways to improve, etc. are welcome too.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Eating,

Erin

Revolucion

2012-01-09T06:28:00.002-05:00

This one’s been on the list awhile. You know I love Fountain Square, and as the friend we were with commented as we drove towards Prospect Street, “now you really feel like you are in a city.” I agree—I love the way Fountain Square feels and I love the fact that nearly everything there is an independently owned restaurant or store. This is a gem of a neighborhood. AND the construction is just about totally finished, and you can even park!

Anyhow, we walked into Revolucion about 6:30 and there were some people at the bar, but the rest of the place was pretty empty. This is a place where you just find a place to sit and then go up to the bar to order. I knew this ahead of time from reading a few things about it, and so wasn’t a big deal for me, but might be confusing to some. We started with a margarita—they were o.k. In general, I really like margaritas (on the rocks with salt) but these were just a little too tart for me. Whatever mix they were using (it was in a big vat at the bar) wouldn’t have been the one I would have chosen, or maybe I just needed more alcohol in mine to smooth it out or something. They were offering $2 tequila shots—maybe I should have added one of those to my drink. I also can’t tell you how much the margarita was because it wasn’t listed on the menu, and I never saw an itemized receipt.

The started with chips and guacamole and salsa ($5.95). The chips were nice and salty, as I like them, and fairly thin. The guac was clearly homemade and was good. It was super chunky with avocado, which is how I like it, but if I were making it (and I like to), I would have added more seasoning. Onion, jalapeno, cilantro…. There were some obvious bits of tomato in there, and a little cilantro, but I didn’t see or taste much else. I would personally like it spiced up a bit. Or maybe offer it mild and spicy or something. With all that said, we licked the little container clean and would have eaten more. The chips and salsa were about $3 if I recall correctly. They list a choice of 3 salsas on the menu, but just had the regular red salsa to serve. It was just o.k.. a little watery. I would probably stick with the guac.

We also ordered the patatas bravas ($4.95) which were basically fried potato wedges (skin on) that were tossed in a somewhat spicy, chipotle chili sauce. I have had a similar version of these at several tapas places before, although usually they were more like chunks. These seem more like they found some decent foodservice fries and then tossed in their own sauce. Honestly though, they were kind of addicting. Especially the smaller ones that were a tad more crispy. I had a hard time not eating them. If they fried them all a little crispier, I would have a hard time not ordering them again.

So, now we moved on to the tacos. The menu here is pretty small, which I appreciate. Other than the few starters, they basically just offer tacos and burgers. I generally think this is a good thing and gives them a chance to hopefully really shine. We had the beef, the pork, and the shrimp. Meat and veg tacos are $5.95 for two and the seafood are $6.95 for two. And just an FYI, you can’t mix and match flavors. You get 2 of the same flavor per order.

When they brought them out, the nice man working in the kitchen also brought us out a large sampler of housemade hot sauces. When I saw his enthusiasm about the different sauces, I started to see there was some passion in these for sure. There was a green sauce that was half regular jalapeno and part pickled jalapeno that was my favorite (and likely the most mild, but still had great flavor). There were several others including a pink one that he gave with an extreme warning. He also advised us to try all the sauces on a chip first, so we didn’t ruin our tacos. That made me laugh. The tacos were all fine. I am trying to think if I had a clear favorite and I can’t honestly say that I did. The shrimp was seasoned nicely with lime and garlic and they were not overcooked. There was a bit of cabbage on top, and they were served with a mango salsa and lime. The beef had a nicely seasoned flavor and were served with a pico de gallo topping and lime. The pork was kind of interesting. It was almost more like eating a pulled pork taco then an al pastor taco, if you know what I mean. It was more shredded and heavily seasoned with what was almost more of a sauce than what you see on your typical pork taco. Like I said, they were all pretty good, but none of them really stood out to me for any particular reason. We did enjoy experimenting with the sauces.

The interior of the place is quite large, and is extremely clean. The service, such as it is, was fine (and I mean as far as going up to the bar and ordering). The drinks were made quickly and the food came out of the kitchen promptly. My favorite part was when they guy from the kitchen came out—it’s clear he enjoys his job.

So overall, we had a fun night with a friend, and it was fun to try everything. Would I personally make it a destination for dinner? No. If I wanted some kick ass tacos in this genre, I would head over to La Parada and get them for about half the price. If I were out in Fountain Square, maybe checking out a band at Radio Radio (love that place and I think it is owned by the same people who own Revolucion) and wanted something to eat, yep, I’d go again. I would probably stick with beer though. And I’d like to try the fish tacos as well. Also, I heard there’s a cool tiki bar in back, although it was cold when we were there and we didn’t check it out. And I am glad to see more and more things opening up in Fountain Square. I love that part of town.

Revolucion

1132 Prospect Street

Indy 46203

317/423-9490

They’re on facebook, although difficult to find a menu anywhere online

Tomo

2012-01-05T08:42:00.001-05:00

Tomo is another really close restaurant to me that I have never been to—and recently has been recommended by a couple of people, so we thought we would check it out. The first thing I noticed was how well it was doing on a random Tuesday night—nice to see a small business like this with such good business. The other thing I noticed right away was the interior is pretty darn nice. I guess for a strip mall outside of Wal Mart, I didn’t have high hopes. But they have done a good job on the interior. There are a few teppanyaki tables (a la Benihana) and then a larger restaurant area with a full bar. We figured if we liked what we had, we may bring the kids back for the teppanyaki as Benihana is one of their favorite places.

The menu is quite large—the regular sushi type items as well as lots of other Japanese options (teriyaki, udon, etc) and even a few Thai dishes. Of course huge menus always worry me, but you never know. We started with an order of shrimp tempura ($6.95) for an appetizer (they have it as a dinner and an appetizer, we got the appetizer portion). It was pretty good actually. I always find it interesting to see how much tempura can vary from place to place, but their batter was very light and extremely crunchy. My favorite part was that along with the shrimp (there were 2), they served several veggies, as is usually the case, and they served broccoli as one as well as eggplant, which are two of my favorite things to be done in this style. I’m not sure why, but in San Francisco, they almost always offered both, and I got used to it—I get tired of the traditional squash and carrots you seem to see so many places here. The zucchini was also really good.

We almost didn’t order the tempura, because it didn’t seem that exciting, but I am glad we did because it was probably our favorite thing of the evening. We had some miso soup ($1.95) which was your standard miso soup, totally fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Then we had the beef tataki ($9.95). Normally I wouldn’t order beef in a Japanese restaurant (well a sushi place anyway), but because they did all the teppanyaki stuff, I knew they would turn over beef (and all of those tables were full while we were there). It was lightly seared on the edges, and sliced thin, served nearly raw (except for the sear on the edges)and cold. This dish was fine, but nothing about it made us really excited. The beef was pretty tender, but there were some pieces that were a little too fatty. The “chef’s special sauce” was a little overdone—the beef was really almost floating in it. It was soy based, with some sweetness to it as well. A little less of it would have been better. There were lots of chopped chives on top as well, which I liked for some texture. It is a very generous portion though.

Finally, we went with the sweetheart roll ($12.95) which was spicy tuna crunch on the inside (tuna mixed with little pieces of tempura bits) and then topped with fresh tuna, which was served in a cute way (it’s upside down because they put the heart facing hubby, go figure). The heart was actually made up of several sauces, which were good with the rolls, and kind of necessary, because the roll on its own wasn’t that exciting. But while I thought the whole thing was a creative presentation, I think I would have preferred the whole thing served as a regular roll with some sauce dressing it. The “spicy” tuna in the middle didn’t really have a lot of flavor and the first piece I ate had a large piece of tempura that was quite hard and made me think for a second I bit into something else. This roll would be a skip for me.

The service was good all night—not super friendly, but extremely efficient and they never let your water glass get more than 1/3 empty before they were refilling it. I also really really like the fruit flavored Japanese bubble gum they give you with your check. But then again I have a weakness for it. Honestly, it is possible I will go back just to get the gum.

Interestingly, the clientele (other than the teppanyaki grills which were dominated by families) on the night we were there was mainly made up of women—probably varying from their 20s to 40s. Not sure why this is, but I was facing the door and just kept watching group after group of women coming in.

We have quite a few good sushi places around us, and several that are better as far as my food experience has gone, but I did like the interior, and I would possibly be willing to go back to try some other things. Recommendations?

Tomo

7411 North Keystone, Suite A

Indy 46240

317/254-8666

www.tomo123.com

Thai Spice

2012-01-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

Hey, Southsiders! Look, I’m doing a southside post! I know, I don’t do that many, but it is a long drive for me after all. But vacation meant we had a little extra time so we decided to try Thai Spice finally. Every time I write about Thai food, several people always mention Thai Spice. But believe me, driving right by Brozinni’s was a test of my will power.

So the restaurant is set in what looks like an old bank, you know those ones that look sort of like schoolhouses or something? And the interior is pretty cute. They have spent some money on it and they have lots of cute glass lotus light fixtures. I liked them. (Check out my shot of the bathroom sink too.) I was a little annoyed that they sat another couple right next to us when there were many other tables available, but that’s just one of my pet peeves.

We were there at lunch, and they have a more limited menu, and each lunch came with soup, a fried spring roll and what I think was a little slice of fried banana with a honey sauce on top (all lunches are $7.80). I am thinking it was lemongrass soup—and there were bits of onion, cilantro, tomato and mushrooms in it, and a touch of chili oil, but honestly, it didn’t have a lot of flavor. Sometimes I really like the little freebie Thai soups and sometimes they are just ok, this one was just ok. The two fried items were pretty good, although not very hot, like maybe they make them up in batches and keep them warm. But a nice assortment of stuff to try before your meal.

Hubby and I shared a couple of things—his all time favorite, the Padd Seuw which is the wide Thai noodles stir fried with Chinese broccoli, bok choy and protein of your choice. He actually asked for pork, but got chicken, but it was still really really good. The chicken was tender and the dish had a great garlic flavor—a tiny bit of sweetness, a little acid, and some saltiness from soy as well. The rice noodles were fresh and so good—we both wished for more of them. I would get this again in a second.

The other dish we tried was the Padd Ped which was a rice dish with stir fried chicken (again, your choice of protein) with eggplant, green beans and basil and bamboo shoots in a red chili paste sauce. Neither one of us cared for this one. This was a new (and unfamiliar) dish for me (trying new things you know) and there was coconut milk in it, and I am not a big fan of coconut milk. If it had been listed, I wouldn’t have ordered it. Also, the eggplant was the little round green Thai eggplant and honestly, I am not sure I have ever had them before, but they were kind of hard as a rock. Not sure if they were just not cooked enough, but I did not care for them. Live and learn. We left most of this dish.

The service was very friendly and fairly fast, and I was impressed when the lady chased us to the door asking us if she could make us something else that we might like better. She was quite distressed that we didn’t like the Padd Ped. I thought that was nice. And honestly, if hubby weren’t in such a rush, I might have just taken her up on it. Of course, she could have just taken it off the bill, but I wouldn’t expect that just because I ordered something I didn’t really like.

Anyway, I can see why people like this place, and if it were nearby, I would certainly add it into my rotation.

Thai Spice

2220 East County Line Rd

Indy 46227

317/881-2243

http://www.thaispiceindy.com/

Chatham Tap

2011-12-29T07:06:00.002-05:00

I was intrigued about some comments about Chatham Tap’s tenderloins (and sides) after my Muldoon’s review and after asking around and finding out that at least the location in Fishers is family friendly, we loaded up the kids one night to give it a try (anyone know about the downtown location? Is it kid friendly?) It had only been a couple of weeks since we tried Muldoon’s, so it was still pretty fresh and a good time to make a comparison.

Based on a reader comment (thanks, Tom H.), we went with an order of the breadsticks ($5.99 with an up charge to add a second sauce) to start (also because it is something that all four of us would eat). I have to say, they were a highlight. The dough (assuming the same as their pizza dough, as they have a fairly extensive pizza menu) was cut into rectangles slices of bread (rather than your traditional “stick” form) and were topped with herbs and seasonings—thinking garlic, salt and pepper and maybe some fresh parsley. They tasted really good—really hot, soft inside and just the right amount of chewiness to the crust. They had three dipping sauces, the traditional marinara and nacho cheese, but they also offered a garlic ranch which was nice to see. We got the cheese for the kids and the garlic ranch for us and we were quite happy. And my son even preferred the ranch. I mean, honestly, it was just good, garlicky ranch salad dressing, but it was a nice change of pace. I would certainly order these again.

Hubby and I decided to sort of repeat our meals from Muldoon’s to compare and so we split a pork tenderloin sandwich ($7.49) and the ½ order of fish and chips ($7.49). The tenderloin was a good sandwich. Did it live up to the Muldoon’s version? I have to say no. It was a little dryer and less even in size. It did have a nice flavor and I liked the Brioche bun. We did have to ask for mayo to put on it, but once it was all put together, it was tasty, just not amazing.

The fish and chips were pretty good as well—these were the true beer battered type of fish fillets—they are really more like fish fingers in form, but you can tell they are hand battering them in house. The fish was pretty tender. And my son really enjoyed them as well. The ½ order was more than enough for me as well—there were 4 “fingers” on the plate and a fair amount of fries. I think the full order has twice as many pieces of fish on the plate. I saw plates coming out and it was seriously piled up.

My kids were not as excited about their food. My son particularly, may in fact be a steak snob. He ordered the ribeye from the kid’s menu (which he was SO excited to see on the kid’s menu) ($6.49). Unfortunately, it was really thin, and there was pretty much no way they could have made it medium rare no matter how hard they tried. I should have known better than to expect a ribeye on a kids menu to be anything but this really thin thing, but you can’t know until you try. He was happy eating some of my fish and chips and declared them his new favorite thing. My daughter ordered a grilled cheese ($4.99), which I am pretty sure was made with slices of smoked gouda, which was a little more of a distinctive flavor than she wanted. She also said she didn’t like that the cheese wasn’t really melted (it’s true, it wasn’t). I did appreciate the fresh slices of apples and pears served with the kid’s dishes.

I was also told by several people that the sides at Chatham Tap are much better than the ones we had at Muldoon’s, which was certainly true. The fries are the lightly battered type, with a nice flavor and crunch. But the star side were the housemade potato chips. They were not too thick, but still nice and hearty with great crunchiness. Honestly, I would skip the fries (which I doubt are housemade) and get the chips instead.

Our server was very friendly and our drinks were brought fast. The food service was a little slow—I was a little surprised by it actually, although the place was pretty busy (and was on a wait by the time we left). I liked the interior—it really felt like an English Pub, although without all the smoke (which I totally appreciate).

Overall, we enjoyed our visit, and it was fun comparing the tenderloins. This one was a good one, although, I have still had a couple I like better. But we are still always open to future suggestions!

Chatham Tap

8211 East 116th Street

Fishers, IN 46038

317/845-1090

www.chathamtap.com

Colts Grille

2011-12-26T09:11:00.001-05:00

This is a restaurant that I probably would not have eaten in if it had not been for the blog. Not because I am not a Colts fan (I don’t want to rile anyone up), but because well, a) sports bars are not my typical places, b) it’s a chain, and c) it is centered around tons of tvs playing sports all the time. But I actually had several people recommend this place to me, which was enough for me to at least give it a go. Also, we had my son with us, who has been playing “football” on the playground for the last couple of years (we’re talking preschool) so we knew he would dig it regardless. It is amazing how this sports thing is born and bred here in Indiana.

Anyhow, we sort of worked our way in to the place (if you come from the garage, it is a little bit of a maze to get there) and were seated right away. It wasn’t a football night, so the place was pretty much empty. It was sort of depressingly empty actually, and aside from the tvs, the décor is pretty much 90s airport. A little grim I have to say (although very clean. Sterile, actually).

The menu is sort of one of those ridiculously big types, and it is really hard to decide where their area of expertise might be, if it exists. They do have an area called “specialties," so we figured we should go with one of those. And then we also had a burger. But first, we asked the server what were good appetizers and we went with the deep fried pretzel sticks ($7.99) which are soft, breadstick-esque things but that taste like a pretzel. Ok, basically like a soft pretzel that is deep fried. Not like it has a batter, but just a little crunchier exterior than your normal soft pretzel. Our server also recommended that we get a side of the house made queso dip instead of the honey mustard that came along with it, so we got both. She was totally right about the dip. The queso wasn’t fancy, but it tasted pretty good. It wasn’t just your out of a can nacho cheese stuff. It had red and green peppers mixed into what I am assuming was your regular block of processed cheese. But it went well on the pretzels which I also quite enjoyed. They were a little crispier on the outside, like I said, than your average breadstick and nice and salty. They were by far the best item of the evening.

We split the breakfast burger ($11.99) which was described as being served open-faced, with a fried egg, bacon marmalade, and mozzarella. So first of all, am I crazy or does open-faced not mean served on only one piece of bread? This had a regular bun (both sides) although they were served next to each other, but whatever. So the burger was pretty bad actually. They asked me how I wanted it (the beef and the egg) and I told them I wanted the beef medium rare and the egg over easy. The beef was really practically raw and the egg was barely soft in the middle. The cheese was sort of sliding off and the bacon marmalade was more like just regular marmalade to me, I couldn’t really taste the bacon. I see they are trying to be unique, but throw a couple of slices of bacon on that thing. It couldn’t hurt. (Not that I would ever order it again). Hubby was even less kind in his description. The fries were of the battered food service type and were ok.

The other thing we shared was the southern balsamic chicken ($15.99) which was described as tempura battered bone-in chicken. So, I thought it was interesting they mention it was bone-in, when it was actually a de-boned breast with just a little attached wing bone. Anyhow, it was super thick crunchy tempura batter. The chicken was pretty tender and juicy and HOT. It wasn’t bad. It sort of reminded me of Long John Silver batter, if you are into that kind of thing. The battered type sweet potato fries were a little soggy. The sautéed veg medly was blah. But the chicken was not bad. There was a drizzle of a balsamic glaze across it. I appreciate that they didn’t overdo it with this, it was almost more of a plate decoration, because too much would have been too sweet and too soggy-inducing.

My son, of course, loved it (always happens when we don't really like a place and vice versa). He had a kids dish of pasta with marinara and was happy as a clam (I didn’t try it). So there you go. And of course there were all those tvs.

So I am guessing with the Superbowl and all that, this place will do fine at least for awhile (although the night we were there, not so much). Honestly though, it will be interesting to see how this place does after that.

Colts Grille

110 West Washington Street

Indy 46204

317/631-2007

http://coltsgrille.g3restaurants.com/

Thai Café

2011-12-22T05:59:00.001-05:00

I like Thai food. I am not exceptionally versed in it, but I certainly have my favorites and my not so favorites in town. I wanted to try something new, and this one is in Broad Ripple, so it would be very convenient if I liked it. I took the BFF with me to get us out of our usual Taste rut (where we almost always seem to end up, but we just love it so).

So the décor of this place is a little strange. The tables are pretty close together (although there were not a lot of other people there) and there was a strange blue hue over the back half of the restaurant which is where they first seated us, until I asked to be moved into natural light near the windows (high maintenance right?). But seriously, it’s all part of the experience and the blueness is sort of strange. Not sure if it was from the big TV or what, but it was kind of off-putting (you can still sort of see it in the pictures).

The first thing they brought us was the soup that came with our lunches. I actually quite liked it. It was really just a broth—there was no actual pieces of anything in it (ok, maybe some cilantro)—but it had a slight sour taste (lime maybe?) and quite a bit of spiciness to it. You could see little bits of chili oil on top. Especially with the little fried noodles they served on the side thrown in. It was a tasty little combo and cleared the sinuses quite well. I don’t think BFF was as impressed though, she thought it was sort of boring.

We wanted to get an appetizer just to try something more than our lunch plates so we went with the Tao Hoo Tod, or deep fried tofu served with homemade peanut sauce ($6.95). This dish was a disappointment for me. I actually tend to like tofu, but it was so dry, and while it was described as deep fried, there was no discernable flavor in the barely crisp edges at all. The peanut sauce wasn’t bad—it was sorely needed with that tofu, although later I saw that they also offer an option of a sweet chili sauce, which I wish I had known about, even though I don’t think it would have really saved it. This dish would be a skip for me next time. I will say, it was quite plentiful and would be very easy to share with several people.

For my lunch, I had the lunch special of drunken noodles ($7.95). These were long flat rice noodles stir fried with lots of veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, onions, bean sprouts, carrots, and pea shoots), meat (I had chicken), eggs, sweet soy sauce and basil. This is the kind of flavor combo I like about Thai food—the slightly sweet soy with a fairly decent basil flavoring and just a bit of lime. Unfortunately, the chicken bits suffered the fate of so many Asian stir fries and were a bit tough. There was actually at least as much, if not more, of the veggies then there were of the noodles which was interesting as well. I would put it in the middle of the pack as far as Thai noodle dishes I have had. You certainly are getting a good portion of veggies with this dish though, if that is what you are looking for.

The service was fine. But I wouldn’t call it overly friendly. And there never was more than one other table in there while we were there, although there were a few carry outs being picked up. I did like the way they asked you to tell them how hot you wanted your food on a scale of 1-10, and they seemed to do a decent job of meeting my expectation of my requested spice level—seems like “medium” at a lot of Thai restaurants can be shockingly spicy. But since it has been awhile since I have done a Thai review, I am throwing the question out there, which restaurant has the best Thai food in town?

Thai Café

1041 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/722-1008

www.indythaicafe.com

Harry & Izzy's- North

2011-12-19T06:56:00.005-05:00

You know, I am pretty psyched to have a local steak place on our side of town. The closest one is Peterson’s, which I actually quite like, but it is still a little trek from my house, and well, let’s face it, it is one of the more expensive ones. The new Harry & Izzy’s is super close to my house and some friends invited us to join them for dinner shortly after they opened. So, I don’t usually review a place so quick, but I figured, you can all take that into account when you are reading this right?

So the interior space is nice, especially considering it is in a strip mall—not quite as dark and clubby as I sort of expected, but a nice, fairly sophisticated space overall. The place was jammed also so I guess I am not the only one who is happy to have a locally owned place in this area (and I am sure the proximity to the Nordstrom Rack and Container store don’t hurt either. I have never seen a bigger transformation in a strip mall then this one). Anyway, we were greeted promptly and the host was quite friendly which is important to me. I hate being treated like an inconvenience, which seems to happen more often than it should in restaurants.

Hubby and I were planning to split a steak because it was just after Thanksgiving and we were still a little stuffed. It also gave me the opportunity to order the carpaccio appetizer ($12) since I couldn’t exactly order a steak and have carpaccio for a starter right? I actually thought it was really quite well done. A fair amount of beef, sliced very thin, and topped with a good amount of salty parmesan, capers and a drizzle of oil as well as some dressed greens in the center. The crackers served alongside were buttery and sort of melted in your mouth with the beef. All in all, it was one of the better seasoned versions I have had in Indy (and I seem to try it everywhere).

Hubby started with a Caesar salad that honestly wasn’t very good. Well, it just was kind of blah. I don’t think he would order that again. He then had the ribeye ($34), which I had a fair amount of as well. I appreciate that Harry & Izzy’s includes a side in its price and hubby went with onion rings, which he had before at the downtown locations and really enjoyed. The steak was good. It was cooked properly and had a nice flavor. The right amount of fatty content without being overly chewy, which is a fine line for me. I would put it up in the top 25 or 30% of ribeyes I have had around town. Not the best, but very good. The onion rings are hand battered and tasty—the coating kind of falls off as you eat them, but they still taste good.

I just ordered the seared tuna appetizer ($13) for my main because we knew we would have plenty of food. The tuna was very rare and sesame seed crusted and then just very briefly seared on the edges. There’s some sticky sushi rice on the side and a soy based dipping sauce. It is described as a soy cilantro ginger sauce. I tasted mainly soy. I would have liked a bit more of the other flavors to develop the taste a bit more—it was a lot like just eating plain sashimi with soy sauce (there was also wasabi on the plate). The tuna was good quality, but just needed a little more excitement for me.

I also had a couple of bite of one of my friend’s potato pancakes and I enjoyed them. They are shredded potatoes that are in thin patties and pan fried. Served with sour cream and some sort of apple sauce I believe (I just ate some of the sour cream). I liked that they were really crispy and crunchy. Another friend also had some of the Asian shrimp as an appetizer, which I have talked about in a review before and they were just as good—they are rock shrimp that are breaded and fried and tossed in a chili aioli. I liked that the shrimp remain fairly crunchy (although the shrimp are not tough) and that they don’t use so much of the sauce that they get soggy.

Ok, so that’s the food. The biggest annoyances of the night actually came from service and atmospheric issues. I am truly hoping these were just new restaurant kinks and will get sorted out. The first thing was the wine service. It took about 15 or 20 minutes to get the bottle of wine we ordered. They do have a rather impressive wall of wines in there, but if you can’t make it work service-wise, it just becomes a giant wall of annoyance that there is so much wine that you can see but can’t get to your table. And sadly, when we ordered a second bottle of the exact same wine, it took just as long again. I am assuming they have some sort of wine captain with all that wine, but I don’t know if it was because it was so busy or so new, but the wine service blew. My other pet peeve of the night was about midway through our meal when they started using what is apparently, their “ice crusher” in the kitchen. I mean, it is so loud (we were seated a few booths away from the kitchen apparently) it sounded like the place was being bombed. And it went on for quite awhile—it wasn’t like just a minute or two and then it was done. They might want to think about crushing ice before service or during lulls in business—you couldn’t really carry on a conversation while this thing was running. Of course, if I had had more wine at this point, maybe I wouldn’t have cared as much, but, well, I couldn’t get the wine.

So, overall, I would say Harry & Izzy’s is certainly a welcome addition to the Northside. We needed a non-chain steakhouse in the area, and hopefully, once the service kinks, etc. are worked out, it will be a complete package. The food was pretty good anyway.

Harry & Izzy’s

4050 East 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/915-8045

www.harryandizzys.com

Black Market- Revisit

2011-12-15T07:04:00.003-05:00

So this was a tough one for me….My first visit to Black Market was really good—I really enjoyed just about everything I ate. This review is actually my third return visit—I didn’t write up the second one because it was not so good and I thought maybe it was just an off night because it was so different from my first visit. This most recent visit was better than the last, but didn't meet the high of the first... I don't know if is just a matter of taste preference or if the finesse from the first visit has just worn off….anyway, these are my thoughts on my most recent visit….

We started with the house cured salmon and chips with capers and egg and lemon crème fraiche ($11). This may have been my favorite item of the evening. It was fairly simple, but the salmon was very well done. It was light and fresh tasting and while I liked the lemony crème fraiche and some of the egg (more like an egg salad actually) or pickled beets with the fish, hubby thought the accompaniments detracted from the salmon because it was so good on its own. The chips were also housemade –they were thick cut potato chips and honestly they were just a little too hard and crunchy for me. Almost hard to break with your teeth. I would love to see some thinner chips with this dish. But overall, like I said, it may have been my favorite dish because it had bright flavors and several components that I mostly enjoyed together.

Next we had the fried mozzarella and fennel sausage plate ($11). This one was not bad, the sausage coming locally from the Smoking Goose. It had a distinctive fennel taste, but was warm and hearty and I enjoyed it even if sausage doesn’t tend to be my favorite thing. Hubby particularly enjoyed it. The fried cheese (cheese made in house) wasn’t bad either, but I guess maybe there is only so far you can go with fried cheese. There was a red onion/tomato jam served alongside which again was good, but maybe just a tad sweet for me. Actually, that was probably my main problem with this dish and our next one, they were a little too on the sweet side for me. I realize that these kind of sweet rich flavors are often used in fall and winter dishes, but there was just something missing to balance it here for me.

The same was true of the last dish we shared---the buttermilk fried quail with cheddar polenta, roasted apples and bacon ($23). The quail was good. I really enjoyed the buttermilk fried part of it—I would love to maybe see this on some chicken or something a little bigger as gnawing on small bony birds isn’t as much fun (for me anyway—this one had most all of its bones in it still). Like I said, the quail itself was tasty, and I do appreciate the slightly more gamey taste to other larger birds. The polenta was not bad, but there wasn’t a lot of cheddar flavor to me and I don’t know, the sweetness of the apples just wasn’t doing it for me either. The whole dish was also drizzled with a maple syrup type glaze. I think maybe my problem was there just wasn’t enough other flavors to balance out this amount of sweetness. Also the slice of bacon on the plate was completely undercooked, totally soft and white. I looked at it for a long time before I even realized what it was.

The main thing we sort of discussed as we ate the dishes is that they just didn’t seem to come together the same way as they did the first time we were there (and the second time I went, without hubby, I found both my dishes very under-seasoned). I think maybe I will wait til spring and go back when they offer some brighter flavors. I just wasn’t really digging most of what we had.

Ok, for dessert though, when you are wanting and expecting sweets, we really enjoyed the flavors in the caramel pie. It was a special and was made with a chocolate crust with basically just lots of ooey, gooey, and salty caramel pouring out of it. There was whipped cream on top (way too much actually) and some more smoky salt. We both quite enjoyed this. But here, even with a pure sweet, it was better balanced with the salt.

So, the thing is, nothing was BAD, and nothing was great. I am not writing off Black Market though, because I totally know what they are capable of. I am just really glad neither of these last two meals were my first, or I might not have as willingly returned.

Black Market

922 Massachusetts Avenue

Indy 46202

317/822-6757

www.blackmarketindy.net

La Parada

2011-12-12T07:08:00.003-05:00

I love that you can live in this town for years and find new places that turn out to be little gems. This place is one of them to me. And it wasn’t perfect, but there is just something about it that makes you just like it as soon as you walk in. Hubby might say it is the Mexican t.v. shows playing some show depicting scantily clad women that warmed his heart, so to speak, but I like the pure charm of the place. It is a little tiny, almost diner-like place (anyone know what it originally was?) but it is super clean, and just a sort of a darn cute dive, if you know what I mean.

I asked around (wow, people are pretty into this place) about what to order and got a lot of different answers, but probably 80% of them included some form of tacos so we knew we had to get several flavors of those ($1.99 each). Because it sounded good (even if hubby thought I was potentially crazy), I also ordered a shrimp ceviche tostada ($3.75).

But first, they bring you chips and salsa—there is a mild very tomato saucey kind of salsa for dipping and then two hotter salsas for seasoning with. One red, one green. I really liked the green one right away, but it was pretty hot just by itself on a chip. The chips themselves are nothing special, a little thicker than is my preference.

So the first thing they brought us was the tostada. It was simple, with basically just chopped shrimp, cilantro, tomato and onion with a nice amount of lime juice and a couple of slices of avocado on top. And it was a pretty generous portion for less than $4. I really quite liked it. Again, it wasn’t complicated, or particularly spicy, but the shrimp was tender (seriously, they can get it right but like 75% of Indy restaurants can’t?), and it was super fresh and light. Turned out it was nice that they brought it first, because the tacos were spicier and would have really drowned out the flavors here if you ate them together I think.

So I tried to get a tongue taco because so many people recommended them, but as it turned out, it wasn’t to be because there was some miscommunication between me and our server. But I can always make the best of what is offered (and I look forward to getting one the next time). So we ended up with pork, spicy pork, and chicken (I am using their designations and not the traditional names just to avoid confusion because that is how they designate them on their English menus).

By far my favorite was the spicy pork (same for hubby). The meat was exceedingly tender and had a nice amount of heat to it and lots and lots of flavor. The corn tortillas (2 per taco) were also soft and you could really taste the corn flavor. They were simply topped with onions and cilantro with lime wedges on the side. They were good just like that, but when you topped them with some of that salsa verde. Wow, it was amazing. One of the best tacos I have had.

The regular pork was also good. If I didn’t have the spicy pork, I might rave about it more, but it was much milder in flavor. The meat was also tender, but with some nice little crispy bits, and again, once I topped it with more of the green salsa, I was a happy camper. The chicken was probably the least impressive, but it was still good—some of the better grilled chicken I have had in a Mexican place. It was well seasoned and cooked and wasn’t tough at all, although it was a little dry.

So with this much food, a soda and a bottled beer for hubby, our bill was like $15. The server was really super nice (even if we didn’t communicate with each other very well) and I wish this place was in my neighborhood. The menu is huge and I want to try pretty much everything on it. A bunch of you guys responded on twitter about what you recommend here when I asked, would love you guys to post a comment here telling everyone again (and anyone else too). I need a sub list of things to try at this place. But no way will I not be ordering that spicy pork taco. Wow.

La Parada

1638 East New York Street

Indy 46201

317/917-0095

Yats

2011-12-08T06:08:00.002-05:00

Yats. A place that is clearly an institution in Indy, and one which people have extremely strong feelings about. And a place I had never been until this visit. Not sure why, possibly because I just get nervous about places like this—it seems like there are expectations to live up to and sometimes in this town I find with places like this (see, Mug n Bun),sometimes people’s sentimentality dominates their taste buds. (Actually, I could name a list of places that this applies to now that I think about it—Hollyhock Hill is the first one that springs to mind, not to mention a LOT of Italian places in this town).

But, it was cold, really cold, one day and I wanted something warm and comforting and thought it was as good a time as any to check it out (and I had an appointment on Mass Ave, so it worked out). I felt as though it was a requirement to get the chili cheese étouffée with crawfish, as untraditional as it may be, just because it is the thing I always hear people talking about. But I wanted to try more than one thing, so I also got the drunken chicken (a two plate combo is $6.75).

You know, I liked the chili cheese étouffée ok. As in, it was a cold day, and it hit the spot. I can see how you could develop a taste for it. The texture is quite smooth (thinking processed cheese here) but the chili part of it added some depth. I enjoyed the bits of crawfish I got, but I have to say, they were few and far between (maybe like 3-4 pieces of crawfish, no whole tail pieces). They were tender though when I stumbled upon one. Couldn’t really describe it as Cajun in my opinion, but I am no expert there. It certainly was not overly spicy. The rice was kind of minute ricey, very un-sticky if you know what I mean and honestly, I can’t believe I am saying this, there wasn’t really enough rice to absorb the sauce and make the right proportion. I know most people would probably like more of the higher priced part of the food, but it needed more rice for balance. I basically felt like I was eating stew off of a plate.

I wasn’t a fan of the drunken chicken. It was a beer and tomato based sauce with other seasonings, but didn’t really have a whole lot of flavor to me. Also, even with the chicken, I had a hard time picking out much meat. I don’t know, I just didn’t get a lot of flavor from this dish, and I didn’t really care for it. I was glad I had gotten the étouffée because I much preferred it. The dishes are served with a side of garlic bread which was pretty darn tasty—very garlicky in that bright yellow kind of way, but in the way that you just can’t stop eating it. I can see why they offer extra sides of it for 50 cents.

So I wouldn’t put it in the same classification as the restaurants above. I think at least they are doing something unique (although I couldn’t really say it was truly authentic Cajun food) and you get something that they have actually made themselves for a very reasonable price. It hit the spot for me that day, and I can see how it might pop to mind when you’re cold and you are running low on cash. But not sure it lived up to my expectations of what I was hoping for….or I don’t know, maybe it did. Maybe it just didn’t live up to the hype.

Yats (various locations around town)

659 Massachusetts Avenue

Indy 46204

317/686-6380

www.yatscajuncreole.com

Muldoon's

2011-12-05T05:53:00.019-05:00

After getting into a discussion online with some folks about tenderloins, I really wanted to try Muldoon’s version. I convinced hubby to go with me (even though he was suffering from a temporary health kick). We drove up to Carmel, dodged the weirdo statues outside on Main Street, and made our way in. The place is a pub, a clean, non-smoky pub, but not fancy or anything. There weren’t a lot of people in there just before noon, but several people came in while we were there.

So we got the tenderloin sandwich ($7.95) and the fish sandwich ($7.95) and it turned out to be the perfect combination. I really wanted to get the fish and chips over the fish sandwich, but the sandwich was like $3 cheaper, and as it turned out, had the exact same bun as the tenderloin. So we cut the tenderloin meat in half (it was huge) and both had plenty for each bun. We ate the fish on its own without a bun (a la fish and chips). Voila! A tenderloin sandwich for each of us AND a nice piece of fish for each of us.

tenderloin

The tenderloin was great. Just the right way to do a tenderloin—not too thin, hand breaded and homemade. It was very tender. We both just added a bit of red onion and mayo and were set. The bun was perfectly toasted with butter also—not the least bit overdone, just perfectly toasted. Seriously, this is up there as one of my favorite tenderloins to date. I don’t know what else to say, other than it was very, very good.

The fish was also really good. Honestly, I really enjoyed having a bit of each and I think we would be hard pressed to get anything different on a follow up visit, which I would guess will happen soon based on how much hubby has talked about this sandwich since (it may be somewhat challenging to get him to try new ones now that he found one he liked in a non-smoking place). The fish was cod (as fish and chips should be, in my opinion) and was hand breaded with pretty much the same breading they use on the tenderloin. The fish was super moist and tender. The breading is a very light breading with just the right amount of crunch and lots of seasoning.

Fish Sandwich

The downside was the sides—the fries were just your standard food service fries and they were an up charge ($1) actually. With the tenderloin we went with the standard side of chips and they were just straight out of a bag ruffle cut chips. I am wondering if any of the other sides are housemade and if any of them are particularly good. Not that you need the sides, mind you, there is certainly plenty of food with just the sandwiches. I also appreciated a good fizzy fountain soda. I hate it when it isn’t carbonated enough.

I have a quite a large list of places to try just for tenderloins, but I always welcome more (hint, hint). So far Muldoon’s is up there though. And don't forget to tell me if there are any better sides to check out too.

Muldoon’s

111 West Main Street, Suite 100

Carmel, IN 46032

317/571-1116

http://muldoons.net/

Mama Irma

2011-12-01T05:26:00.002-05:00

As soon as I heard about Mama Irma’s opening in Fountain Square I was excited. One thing Indy seems to be lacking is Peruvian restaurants. Machu Picchu on the West side is pretty good, but I was psyched there was somewhere a little closer—and in Fountain Square which is an area I really like because of the neighborhood feel. I was also bummed after trying to go to Peruvian Corner for the first time recently and finding it closed.

Anyway, I stopped in for lunch one day and looked over the menu. I had a really hard time deciding what to order, and I really wanted to try more than one thing, so I decided to go with a papa rellena appetizer ($5.50) and a soup ($6.25).

I loved the papa rellena. Seriously, I have been thinking about this thing since I ate it and am trying to figure out a way to get over there and eat another one. Hubby has been making fun of me about it, but I plan on getting another one very soon. It is basically a football shaped ball of mashed potatoes that are filled with wonderfully seasoned ground beef and boiled egg pieces (the egg tasted almost like it was slightly pickled). The whole thing is then very lightly fried, just giving it a very slightly crispy golden edge. But my favorite part of it was the thinly shaved pickled red onions served alongside. There were also a few red pepper pieces as well. I loved the tartness of the onions with each bite of the potato/meat mixture. And I really appreciated that they gave you more than enough to have some with every single bite. And I ate every single bite. And if I got it again (which I most certainly will), I probably would not want to share.

I chose the soup, the sopa a la criolla, because it was quite a cold day and soup sounded good. Also the menu said something like, “there’s no way you won’t like this soup,” and I appreciate confidence. And it had a poached egg in it. I was sold. The soup was solid. It was a creamy broth with spaghetti noodles, some tomato, and a lot of seasoning. And when you broke the poached egg, the yolk made it even richer and creamier. There were also little strips of beef in it, which probably added to the flavor, but they were pretty tough. I ate a couple pieces and left the rest. But I enjoyed the rest of it…although not as much as that papa rellena.

The place is cute and homey, although on the particular day I was there, it was not just freezing outside but also inside the place. I had to keep my coat on throughout my meal, which is not my favorite thing to do. The servers were all super-friendly and very enthusiastic about the food. I am pretty sure they are making everything to order back in the kitchen though because my soup took a little while. Part of that may have been that they were quite busy, which is always a nice thing to see for such a new restaurant. The prices were a little more expensive than I would have thought (most entrees were in the $10-15 range), particularly since they had no separate lunch menu (might be a thought).

Overall, I liked it though, and look forward to trying some of the other things. Have you been? Tell me what you have had and liked.

Mama Irma

1058 Virginia Avenue

Indy 46203

317/423-2421

G.T. South's Rib House

2011-11-28T05:40:00.021-05:00

Back on the BBQ quest, we finally got around to trying GT South’s. It is literally like 5 minutes from our house, and we had actually eaten there once before, but it was years ago, pre-blog, so we thought it our duty to check it out again. Instead of carrying out, like we often do with BBQ, we took the kids and ate there. It is an extremely casual place (ok, it is a little low on atmosphere), and totally kid friendly.

On our current quest, we tend to order the same things in general, not just because they are the things we tend to like, but because it is sort of easier to compare places if you get similar things. Hubby got the baby back rib dinner ($12.50) and I got a combo plate with pulled pork and pulled chicken ($11.50) (you don’t see that everywhere and I liked the idea of it). Both dinners came with a cornbread muffin and 2 sides.

They have several sauces—basically mild, hot, 911 and a North Carolina vinegar sauce. You can either get your food “smothered” with the sauce or you can do it yourself at the table. I figured I would just get mine dry and try all the sauces. And I asked for some of the vinegar sauce on the side, because I had never had it before (that one is not out on the table). So the chicken was like pulled pork—shreds of meat that was described as a mix and white and dark meat. It was pretty heavy on the white meat on my serving, which was a little disappointing because it was dry and didn’t have a lot of flavor. Even after pouring the sauce on, it just wasn’t really worth eating. The pork was much better—more flavorful for sure, although still pretty dry. When mixed with a bunch of the sauce, it was ok. I actually thought I would like the vinegar sauce because I tend to like vinegar based things, but I really didn’t care for it. It was very thin and was quite hot. It tasted like there was quite a bit of hot sauce and cayenne in there. The vinegar was kind of lost in the heat for me. Probably my favorite of the sauces was the mild—the hot wasn’t crazy hot, spiced up with pepper flakes, and not a lot different. But the mild just had a nice rich flavor that I enjoyed.

Hubby’s ribs were also just fine. They were a little tougher than we tend to like them—quite a bit of force was required to pull the meat off the bone. And the bites I had had a fair amount of fattiness. They certainly did not live up to his memories of Squealers’ ribs. The sides were kind of a mixed bag. The mac and cheese was basic—it seemed homemade, but there was nothing about it that made it stand out. It was pretty much noodles and cheddar. A little bland. We both probably liked the potato salad the best—it was a mustard and mayo- based dressing with red-skinned potatoes and not sweet at all. It wasn’t amazing, but better than most I have had lately and the best thing we had as a side. Hubby had mashed potatoes and gravy, and they were pretty standard. Homemade? Not so sure about that. The kids were happy though as mashed potatoes are one of their favorite things. He also had cole slaw which was pretty standard as well. Similar to KFC. I should say though that while none of them were amazing, as a whole, the sides were better than a lot of BBQ places we have had. The cornbread was in a muffin form and was extremely dry and crumbly.

Pulled chicken & pork with sauce

It was kind of funny though because my son ordered ribs and my daughter a grilled cheese off the kids’ menu and she ended up liking the ribs and he wanted her grilled cheese, so basically they ended up switching. Typical. We saw they had cobblers for dessert and asked if they were made in house. Our server told us “they are warmed up in house…” We passed. They do carry seasonal pies from a local bakery and my son was happy to see they had pumpkin so he and hubby split that.

All in all, I would say G.T. South’s is not going to be at the top of our list for BBQ. Hubby has found ribs at several other places he prefers and nothing I had made me want to go back. Too bad too that one of the places so close to us wasn’t our favorite (or even close). But our search continues….

G.T. South’s Rib House

5711 East 71^st Street

Indy 46220

317/849-6997

www.gtsouths.com

Twenty Tap

2011-11-23T06:28:00.003-05:00

I have been hearing a lot about Twenty Tap from various people and was intrigued to try it. Ok, I will just get it out of the way right now, I am not a beer drinker, so this is a food review (as are all of my reviews) so please don’t yell at me. Yes, this place is a bar/restaurant specializing in lots of different local and regional beers and serves appropriate grub to go along with. The kids were on fall break and I sent a quick tweet to see if they were kid friendly. I got lots of responses emphatically telling me yes they were welcoming of kids; that they have a separate dining area where kids can sit, that they have a kid’s menu and that they are in fact non-smoking. We were good to go on all accounts (and that non-smoking thing is nearly a requirement for me with or without kids anyway).

When we sat down and looked over the menu, I knew I must order the fried cheese curds ($7)—never having seen them on a menu before. I don’t usually go with a big appetizer for lunch, but like I said, I couldn’t pass them up! They were quite good and strangely addicting. They are little cheddar curds, that are soft and somewhat salty and then they were tempura-type beer batter, with seasoning in it. You got to choose from two of their housemade aiolis to dip in—we choose the roasted garlic and the chipotle (both could have used a little more zip I think, especially the garlic). Nothing like dipping fried cheese into what is essentially mayonnaise. Hubby and I had a difficult time not eating all of them…although it is a very generous portion so we didn’t finish them all. And even not being a beer drinker, I am pretty much sure that they may be the perfect pairing with beer.

For my lunch, I had heard good things about the burgers, and there are several varieties on the menu. I went with their version of one of my favorite combos, which they called the “wake up” ($9.00). It was a burger with cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli, bacon and a fried egg served on an English muffin. I enjoyed it pretty well. The beef was pretty tender and very juicy, although I would ask for it medium rare next time (to be fair, it states on the menu that they do medium unless you ask otherwise). It was certainly medium, if not a little beyond. My biggest peeve though was I specifically asked for my egg to have a runny yolk, and it was totally fried hard. I am sure that is how they normally do it, but I thought if I asked, I could get it that way (and my server didn’t tell me otherwise). I liked the English muffin part of it too, making the bun less bulky. I hate it when burgers are so big they are hard to eat. The kids both had cheeseburgers off the kid’s menu ($5 each) and really liked them. My son ate half of his and then ate the other half for dinner (it re-heated very well I might add, and I appreciated the non-styrofoam containers that they give you to go). We all had fries as a side and they are the battered-type of fries that are quite tasty, especially dipped into the aioli, although I would doubt that they are made in-house. Hubby had the Indiana brat ($8), and seemed to enjoy it, but honestly I think he was a little jealous of all of our burgers. The brat was served with beer mustard, pickles, onions and roasted peppers. I can’t speak to its taste, because I didn’t try it. I can see again, how this would probably be a good pairing with beer (duh, beer and brats right?).

Anyway, it was an enjoyable experience—we all had a good meal and I appreciate that while they are obviously going for a beer place with somewhat familiar comfort type food items, that they are putting a twist on things and are not afraid to venture a little out of the mind-numbing options that seem to appear on so many pub-type places. They have several interesting burgers and several interesting salad and sandwich options that are not just like everything else you see at other places. The service was very friendly (although slightly absent a lot considering there were only a few tables there at the time) and while I bet in the evenings it is more of an adult crowd, it was a good place for a family lunch. Nothing totally blew me away, but everything was good. Tell me what you have had, and what you think. And hey, if you want to tell me what beer you like with those fried cheese curds, maybe I’ll even order it next time.

Twenty Tap

5408 College Ave

Indy 46220

317/602-8840

www.twentytap.com

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-21T20:41:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

So I hear some of you are looking for places to go out to eat for Thanksgiving—so I have compiled a list of restaurants that are open for Thanksgiving for you. I have tried to check into most of them, but do me a favor and call them to verify they are open (and to check the hours) if you plan on going.

I wish you all a great Thanksgiving—how can you go wrong with a holiday that is centered around eating?

P.S. Let me know if you know of other places and I will add them to the list!

Cheers!

Erin

120 West at the Hilton 120 W. Market Street 972-0600

Bella Vita Circle Center Mall 822-9840

Buca di Beppo (all locations) 35 North Illinois Street, 632-2822; 6045 E. 82^nd Street, 842-8666

Champps Circle Center 951-0033

Chef Mike’s Charcoal Grill, 7102 Woodland Drive, Indy, 295-9490

Claddagh Irish Pub 234 S. Meridian St, 822-6274; 3835 E. 96th Street; 569-3663; 2539 Futura Park Way, Suite 150, Plainfield, 838-9917

Conrad Indianapolis 40 West Washington

Fleming’s Steakhouse, 8487 Union Chapel Road, 466-0175

Great American Grill at the Hilton Garden Inn (also at the Airport location) 10 E. Market St. 955.9700

Grill 39 (Marriott), 11925 North Meridian, Carmel, 814-2550

Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites 120 W. Market St. 822.5914

The Jazz Kitchen, 5377 North College, 253-4900

Kincaid’s, 14159 Clay Terrace Blvd, Carmel, 575-9005

Palomino 49 W. Maryland St. 974.0400

One South at the Hyatt 1 S. Capitol Ave. 632.1234

McCormick and Schmick’s 110 N. Illinois St. 631.9500

Osteria Pronto (JW Mariott) 10 South West Street, 860-5777

Pullman’s at Crowne Plaza 123 W. Louisiana St. 236.7470The Propylaeum 1410 North Delaware Street 638.7881

Rick’s Café Boatyard, 4050 Dandy Trail, 290-9300

Scotty’s Brewhouse/Thr3e Wisemen (no Thanksgiving dinner, but regular menu from 4-9) 3905 East 96^th

Street, 1021 Broad Ripple Ave. 574-0101, 255-5151

Severin Bar & Grill restaurant - Omni Severin Hotel 40 W. Jackson Place 396.3623

Weber Grill Restaurant 10 N. Illinois St. 636.7600

Turner’s Restaurant at the Canterbury Hotel 123 S. Illinois St. 634.3000

The Capital Grille 40 W. Washington St. 423.8790

Shula’s Steak House in Westin 50 S. Capitol Ave. 231-3962

Road Trip: The Bristol-Chicago

2011-11-21T06:54:00.006-05:00

On our final night of our last trip to Chicago we went to the Bristol after getting several recommendations for it from people whose judgment I generally trust when it comes to food. Again, it is another place that doesn’t take reservations, and we got there shortly after opening to find it still empty. So we strolled the neighborhood a bit and came back. It was pleasantly full, but we still got a nice table. By the time we left, it was heaving. And it was a beautiful night and they had the front windows completely open. It was completely lovely (with the exception of a bunch of guys sitting at the communal table wearing backwards baseball caps. I mean, it is a somewhat casual restaurant, but have a little respect for meal time. I’m not asking for a jacket or tie, but baseball hats at dinner? It annoyed me a little.)

So we sat down and were told that we needed to put in our entire order at once, but they would bring out things as they were ready. But we could order a snack course to munch on while we looked over the menu and made our decisions. We were down to the monkey bread (which I had read a lot about) and the duck fat frites (how could you go wrong there?). At the advice of our server, we got the monkey bread ($5). It was served warm with a dill butter sauce and had dill cooked throughout. Ok, I had heard a lot about this bread online and was intrigued. But honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan—the bread was a little dry even with the butter. And hubby confirmed something that he already knew; he is not a fan of dill in many things.

We quickly flagged down our server and added some frites to the order instead (we had already placed our order) ($7). Now these are great. Fresh cut fries that are medium sized, perfectly crispy, with the extra rich taste from the duck fat. They were served with housemade ketchup and a garlic aioli. I loved the aioli, it was nice and garlicky, but I was surprised at how much I also liked the ketchup. Usually I am not a fan of ketchup with fancy type frites, but this sauce had more of a unique flavor. It was tasty.

One of the other things we got at the same time we got the frites was a plate of head on prawns that were sliced in half long-ways, grilled and covered in an anchovy butter sauce and tarragon ($19). These were the best prawns I have had in a long, long time. Seriously. They were so good. You could taste the seared flavor, but they weren’t blackened all over, and the salty butter sauce was so good to dredge them (or maybe a rouge frite) through. You could suck the little bit of head meat out too, giving that extra fatty bit that you rarely get in regular prawns that have been de-headed. The light tarragon flavor (slightly like licorice) was also a great accent.

The raviolo ($12) was good as well, although nothing was as good as those prawns. The raviolo was a large piece of homemade pasta filled with ricotta inside as well as a runny egg yolk. It was covered in a brown butter sauce. When you cut into it, the yolk made a luscious rich sauce when combined with the ricotta. We also had the roasted bone marrow ($14) at hubby’s request—one of his favorite things. These were nice because the bones were sliced in half, making the marrow easier to get to. It was served with toasted sliced bread and a wonderful shallot jam—it was slightly sweet, and slightly tangy, making it perfect with the insanely rich marrow. And I liked that they gave you a little dish so you could use it in whatever proportion you wanted.

Our least favorite savory item by far was the flatbread (I know, what is WRONG with me? Why do I keep ordering flatbread?) ($11). It was a crispy whole wheat crust topped with braised kale, white anchovies and a mild white cheese. The kale was too strong tasting and the anchovies were too fishy. We have had white anchovies other places and I always imagine them as the super fresh, not fishy tasting ones I have had before. Sadly, these were not those. And I don’t know that I have had good white anchovies since Europe. I also really like kale, but this was just too much bitterness. For me, this dish just did not come together. We barely ate any of it.

Dessert though—whoa, was it good. They did their homemade version of nutter butter cookies with a chocolate sabayon to dip them in ($8). The cookies were so good—the crunchy parts of the cookies were so light and studded with some little bits of peanuts. And in proper form, they were filled with peanut butter cream. The sabayon was a rich dark chocolate—almost like a hot fudge consistency, only it wasn’t hot—it is basically like a custard. I couldn’t decide if I liked them better together or apart—the cookies were the star for me though.

All in all, this was a great dining experience and wrapped up what was an awesome, but insanely filling, weekend in Chicago (which is how it should be right?). I would (and have since) recommended The Bristol to others and look forward to returning myself at some point. Especially when they start taking reservations!

The Bristol

2152 North Damen

Chicago, IL 60647

773/862-5555

www.thebristolchicago.com

Mug n Bun

2011-11-17T06:34:00.002-05:00

Hubby and I ended up at Mug n Bun the other day because frankly, we were trying to go somewhere else and it was out of business. I knew Mug n Bun was nearby and it had been on the list for awhile (admittedly the part of the list I often just ignore a lot of the time). It was my first time, and I didn’t realize this is a true drive-in still. They have picnic tables and in your car service. There is also a little building they have added next door, but literally, they make the food at the drive-in and carry it across the parking lot. Luckily it was a decent day, so we sat out at the picnic tables. Neither hubby nor I are particularly keen on eating in the car.

So I have read a lot of positive things about this place, and I appreciate the fact that this place is a kind of a legend and it has been around forever, but let’s face it, they are serving pretty much everything straight from the freezer. I even asked, and was told by our server that the only things made in house are the onion rings, the root beer and the chili sauce for the dogs. So why would you drive across town for a frozen tenderloin you could get a million places? That’s my question.

Anyway, we got the root beer ($1.50) and the onion rings ($2.90) because they are the specialty and made there. Hubby ordered the tenderloin (everyone else seemed to be ordering it around us) ($3.60) and I got the special burger ($3.30). I did enjoy the root beer. I haven’t had a root beer in probably 20 something years and it tasted good. Served in a frosty mug with no ice, I can appreciate the appeal of something like this. The order of onion rings was huge! So glad we just got one to share and not the “family size” hubby was contemplating. I can’t even imagine how big that would have been. So the rings were battered in a tempura-type batter and, while they weren’t bad, I can’t say they really wowed me either. The batter was a little too doughy and there was a bit too much of it. And honestly, they could have stood to have been a little warmer. I can see how if they were done perfectly, they could be very good. Too bad they weren’t. I also wonder about the huge list of other fried side items they have on the menu and why they can’t make some of them freshly as well. They had mushrooms and zucchini among other things and I bet they could taste pretty good fried in that same batter.

So the tenderloin was one of those kinds that you just know is pre-made and frozen even without the server telling you so because it is so uniformly round. It was fine. As in, not bad for basically a fast food tenderloin. But when I recently heard of someone from out of town wanting to base their tenderloin experience on a Mug n Bun sandwich, I pleaded with them to try a different one. There are so many great ones, and this is not the one to experience a tenderloin for the first time (speaking of which, where would you tell someone who has never had one to go?).

My special burger was a burger patty with cheese and bacon served on toast. Sounded good to me, and again, it was fine, in a fast food kind of way. What can I say about it? It was your basic burger--the bacon was pretty good. If I had to choose between the two, though, I would say hubby’s tenderloin was probably better. But honestly, neither stood out for anything.

So I can see how this place could be fun in the summer sitting outside—even though the place is a little run down honestly. It is more about an old school atmosphere I think than it is about the food. I should say there were quite a few people there, even in the not so warm weather. And I guess if you lived nearby, and wanted fast food type food, at least it is locally owned. And our server was very very friendly. But I find it sad that the place has basically turned into a restaurant that just takes stuff out of a bag and fries it. I bet once, when it first opened, everything was made fresh, and I bet it was tasty.

Mug n Bun

5211 West 10^th

Indy 46224

317/244-5669

www.mug-n-bun.com

H2O - Revisit

2011-11-14T06:14:00.001-05:00

So it has been awhile since I reviewed H2O, and while I know I have done it before, I felt like it was time for an update. And I actually got some sushi this time, and since, ahem, a few people have gone completely insane over the fact that I have reviewed this place without reviewing the sushi; I figured this was a good time. We were in the mood and got a couple rolls. We also had my sister and her husband with us, so we could order a little more than we usually do.

But first, one of my favorite go to dishes at H2O is the tuna tartar appetizer ($14). I think I have even discussed it before in my review, but it is yummy and something I crave on a regular basis. It is tuna with chives, cilantro, and radish and marinated in lemon, soy and ginger. The fish is super fresh and the marinade and seasonings give it a nice texture variation as well as a light, but distinctive Asian flavor. They serve it with crispy wonton chips and I just love it. I could eat it all the time.

The next thing we had were the rolls. We had the serpent roll ($13.50) which was a special. It was delicious. It had a lot going on, but an impressive combination of flavors. Inside it was spicy tuna, romaine and crunchy onions and it was wrapped with eel, avocado, spicy sauce and bonito. It was more of a gooey type of roll, which is probably not truly traditional, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the spiciness from the tuna and the sauce, the soft eel and avocado on top and the little crunch from the onions and lettuce. I would get this one again.

In contrast, the other roll we had was much lighter in flavor. It was the seafood delight ($13). Inside the roll was shrimp, jalapeno, cilantro and avocado and it was wrapped with crab and super thin lime slices and topped with a ginger sauce. While totally different, I enjoyed this one too. I really liked the fresh citrus kick from the lime and the slight spice from the ginger and a little kick from the jalapeno. If I had to choose, I probably liked the decadence of the serpent roll the best though.

We then had tacos—one is a regular on the menu (and a regular for us) and the other was a special. The carne asada tacos ($12) were the special and they were really tasty. It was marinated Wagyu flat iron steak with salsa, queso fresco, radish, onion and cilantro. They were served with a side of pickled veggies that were really nice to put on top for a bit of tanginess. There were pickled jalapenos, carrots and onions. I really liked the onions. There were two tacos served in doubled up soft corn tortillas. The beef was flavorful and really tender—not cooked to death. You could really taste the meat through the other things, because the toppings were not over the top.

One of the carne asada tacos

The other tacos we had were the grilled shrimp tacos ($10). While similar in theory, these had different fillings and are one of our perennial favorites. The shrimp are perfectly grilled and not tough, and they are inside a soft flour tortilla that is also filled with shredded cabbage, guacamole, radish, cilantro, sour cream and a yuzu adobo sauce. They have a slightly smoky flavor and are much creamier than the beef ones because of that cream, guacamole and sauce. But they still have a bit of crunch from the veggies. I have had them several times and have always thoroughly enjoyed them—they are also 2 to an order.

Of course we had to have “the cookie” for dessert served with the espresso whipped cream. This is still one of the best cookies I have ever eaten—a rich, warm, chewy oatmeal type cookie with pecans and even a bit of coconut I think. If you go to H2O for the first time, these are a requirement. It was a first visit for my sister and her husband and while they enjoyed everything, they really seemed to love the cookies.

This has been one of my favorite places to eat in Indy since I first went, and continues to be. If you haven’t been, and even if you don’t like sushi, you should give it a try. The sushi is great, and so are all the other wonderful things on the menu.

H2O Sushi

1912 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/254-0677

www.h2osushibar.com (P.S. So happy to see the updated website and the daily menus.)