Union Jack Pub

Randomly, hubby and I stopped into Union Jack’s the other day for lunch (picture at left is actually the back entrance by the way). I haven’t been here in years. The interior hasn’t changed a bit since then, other than, thankfully, it is smoke free and I love the big garage door windows that open up to bring in fresh air and a little more light during the day. And they even have screens which is something for which I give bonus points. (Nothing like being dive bombed by bees when you are eating.)

We had no ideas about what we were going to order, but once we were in there, we saw they had “thin crust New York style” pizza on the menu. Now I know, I know, they are known for their deep dish pizzas, but they take a long time to make, and it was lunch. And besides, we have been on a perpetual quest for true New York style pizza since we have moved to Indy (oh how I miss you Escape From New York Pizza!), we thought we would give it a go.

But first, we started with an appetizer (why not?). So we had the Cheese Fries. These were an enormous portion of seasoned fries covered with lots of bacon and shredded cheddar cheese and ranch dressing on the side. Ok, I am not sure why these tasted so good to me, but they did. Maybe because you could taste that they were using actual cheese and not some weird cheese sauce. And the ranch dressing was actually quite thin, but made for a good dip for them without being over the top. There was something about these that just reminded me of the food I used to eat as a teenager. Sort of like potato skins without the skins. And crisper because the fries were, well, fried. Anyhow, we enjoyed them.

Ok, as for the pizza, we are a bit split on it. As soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn’t really New York style. It was, pretty much in the same style as most pizzas in Indy I thought. It wasn’t super thin large pieces of pizza you could fold in half that was only lightly topped. It was a crispy thin-ish crust that was mounded a bit with the toppings (in this case mushrooms and red onions.) I liked the flavor a bit more than several of the other local places, and I liked that you could really taste the red onions, but this wasn’t New York style. It was pretty much classic “Indy style” if you ask me. So it wasn’t bad for an “Indy style” pizza, but I am not rushing back for another. Hubby on the other hand, enjoyed it more than I did (and ate a lot more of it than I did). But then again, this man would eat just about any pizza you put in front of him.

The server was very friendly, and the service was pretty prompt. You certainly feel like you are in a pub in this place (at least on the bar side) and I don’t think this place, which is sort of an institution in Indy, will ever be hurting for business. I remember really liking the deep dish pies. Maybe next time.

Union Jack Pub
924 Broad Ripple Avenue
Indy 46220
317/257-4343
www.unionjackpub-broadripple.com