Eat + Drink

I just have to start out by saying that Taste is probably my favorite lunch spot in Indy (and hubby’s too). I eat there a lot and we were excited to try the new bar concept run by the same people next door at Eat + Drink. We actually went the first time with a group of friends just shortly after they opened, but I didn’t plan to write about it so soon after they opened, so hubby and I went back on our own recently.

So one of the things they advertise at Eat + Drink is “craft” cocktails. And hubby had the Cadillac margarita the first time and it was really, really good, even though it took a good 20 minutes to get it. But the second time we were hoping the service would have improved and we both looked forward to getting another one. Well, sadly, it took just as long to get our drinks and this time they were inconsistent (hubby had 2 and one was way better than the other). But regardless, the length of time it took to get them made them not worth ordering for me, no matter how good. I switched to wine at this point.

Food-wise, you will see some same or similar items from Taste—they take the deviled eggs from Taste and add salmon roe to the top ($4). I love the deviled eggs at Taste but honestly can’t say the roe added anything—it was very cold and other than the little pop, didn’t add a ton of flavor. They also serve the various versions of their frites ($6), which we had on both visits, and they are always good. The sauces are what make them (my favorite being the straight frites with the basil aioli). Strangely, they are more expensive ($6 vs. $4.50) at Eat+Drink, even though they are exactly the same.

On this trip, we also tried the truffle mushroom mousse ($6). It was a cold mousse that was topped with lots of light fluffy shredded parmesan. Actually, if someone had just placed in it front of me, I wouldn’t have called it a mouse, more like a light dip—it was a little chunkier and looser than what I would think of as mousse. It had a nice flavor and the first couple of bites had that distinctive truffle flavor. I loved the crisp, light toasts that were served with it. They had a bit of a garlic taste on their own and were nice with the mousse. Between just two of us though, the mousse was a little much to finish with its strong flavor. I think it would be better shared in a larger group. Our first visit we had the chicken liver pate ($10) and enjoyed it more. It was more like a mousse consistency and had a great deep, earthy flavor. The warm bacon and blue cheese dip is also very good (we had some the first time as well).

We had the prosciutto plate ($13) this time also. It was good, but not as good as the speck plate we had on our first visit (sorry I didn’t take pictures that visit). Speck just has more depth to it and I liked the stronger kale and caper taste with it over the more mild arugula and parmesan. The speck had a creamy tangy dressing drizzled across that I preferred over the balsamic on the prosciutto. Also better shared with more than 2 people as it was fairly large as well.

We also shared the fried green tomato sandwich ($11) because it was one of the few that seemed to have a warm component to it. One thing about this menu, there are very few warm items. That will probably work fine in the summer, but when it’s really cold out, I don’t know about you, but I like something warm.  The sandwich was fried green tomatoes, nicely dressed greens (a signature on Taste sandwiches that I appreciate) and a lot of pimento cheese spread. For me, a person who likes pimento cheese spread, but isn’t obsessed the way some people are, it was the dominating flavor over everything on the sandwich. Just a little too much for me. I scraped some of it off and enjoyed it more.

Basically, we hit a lot more home runs the first visit with food, but were trying on our second visit to get different things. Also, the menu is small with just snacks and sandwiches. I get that as an approach for a bar, but in this town, I think in a place with a food pedigree like Taste, people might expect to be able to go eat a meal there (I did). And honestly, the menu’s a little too limited for that--at least for me. Also, as far as décor, it is a bit confusing. There are giant tvs in the modern interior showing movies like Animal House and Star Wars (at least on the night we were there). In such a small space, it was very distracting. I had a giant tv right behind my head.  I do like the red and green light outside to tell you if they’re open though.

I don’t know, I am just not sure I get this place. Is it a bar? If so, they need more bartenders to make drinks in quicker than 15-20 minutes. Is it a restaurant? If so, a few more items (particularly warm ones) might be good. From what I see, it is a place best visited with a fairly large group to share several items (they are mostly fairly generous sizes) and hopefully get some drinks. Overall, for now, I think I will stick with Taste during the day and Aftertaste if I want an evening Taste fix.

Eat + Drink

5168 North College

Indy  46205

317/925-2233

www.eatplusdrink.net 

Taste Café and Marketplace- Revisit - Dinner

For some reason I always forget about Taste as an option for dinner—I guess because it is only open a couple of nights a week  (Wednesdays and Thursdays I believe) because I never forget about it as a lunch option. It is one of my favorites for lunch for sure. (Check out my other reviews of both lunch and dinner here.)  Hubby and I had a babysitter on a Thursday the other day and actually remembered it.  It was also a beautiful night so we thought it would be nice to sit outside. 

I think the food hits a spot that Indy is lacking in though---good but not overly fancy, small plates.  (They do have entrées, but we always get small plates when we go).  The menu is quite extensive though, so it always takes us awhile to decide. And then when the server told us the specials, it was almost overwhelming.  There were probably 10, each with about 10 different ingredients. It took quite awhile for him to read them all off to us.  I am thinking it may be a lot easier (and less time consuming) to either print up some daily specials sheets or else just update the regular menu more often. 

We shared several items—the panzanella salad ($8) was the first thing delivered and it was very good.  Hubby had just been complaining about one we had elsewhere, and declared this one to be superb.  It was a spinach base, with giant white beans, nice hunks of bread, tomatoes, capers and red onion served with Champagne vinaigrette.  There was feta sprinkled on top.  I liked the variation on a traditional panzanella which often is focused more around just the bread, tomatoes and basil, and I have most often had it served with mozzarella.  This one was nice with the spinach and the texture variation from the beans, and the salty flavor of the feta.  The salad was dressed perfectly, and we both really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that I would have loved it on a slightly bigger plate—it was mounded so high, it was actually hard to eat it without making a mess. But we managed.

We also got the special antipasto platter of the day which is somewhat similar in accoutrements to the regular one on the menu, but included just speck as the meat. If you aren’t familiar, speck is very similar to prosciutto in appearance, but is smoked as well as seasoned and has a much more distinctive flavor.  They served it with marinated artichokes, some roasted seasoned tomatoes with a slice of fresh mozzarella, and a couple of boiled eggs.  There were a couple of slices of wheat baguette alongside as well.  We both enjoyed eating this dish out there in the open air.  Just a pure flavor of summer.

Finally, we shared the rare roast beef tartine with blue cheese, horseradish and balsamic onion marmalade ($12).  A tartine is basically an open-faced sandwich and taste does them very well.  The beef is actually rare, and tender, and the blue cheese combined with the onion marmalade really complement each other as well—the salty distinct blue cheese with the sweet, slightly tangy marmalade. One of my favorite combos. The horseradish was just lightly grated across the top, giving it just the right amount of horseradish-type heat.  Of course, we also had a side of the frites ($6), which are some of my favorite in town, mainly because of the basil aioli on the side.  I always get these for lunch and dinner.  The fries are light and crunchy and topped with salt and some parsley. But it is the slightly tangy aioli that is the reason I keep ordering them.  They were also offering a chipotle aioli this night, so we tried a side of it is well.  It was good too, but I am still partial to the basil.

Taste is a good casual place to go for a dinner sized exactly the way you want—you can make a nice light meal out of just a couple of the smaller plates, or you can go the traditional route and order an entrée.  I still prefer it for lunch, but it is a good change of pace for dinner as well.

Aftertaste (Taste Café and Marketplace)

5164 N College Ave
Indy 46205
317-925-2233www.tastecafeandmarketplace.com

Aftertaste-Revisit

The food karma continues, and it’s awesome! We had been wanting to go back to Aftertaste (Taste Café’s dinner service) ever since we went and had a mixed experience. We figured it had been long enough to work out some of the kinks and settle into their dinner thing (not to mention that they are now serving two nights a week-Wednesdays and Thursdays, so the crowds are not so crazy).

We got there right around opening time (6:00) because they don’t take reservations but there were only a few people ahead of us. We were seated at a table appropriately sized for the two of us and greeted by a very friendly server. The menu is still quite large and it took us awhile to decide what to get. We sorta skipped the mains and just made up a tapas dinner this time since the mains we had last time were the biggest disappointment (that and the service).

We ordered one “snack”(the truffled eggs on toast), a salad (the chopped salad), a tartine (the rare roast beef) and a side (pomme frites, natch). Everything came at the same time, which was fine, but if you want to space things out you may want to order a couple things and then wait and order a couple more once those come. The truffled eggs on toast were amazing. It was just a thick piece of bread with a fried egg (perfectly cooked, runny in the middle) with a piece of Swiss cheese completely covering the egg, one inch pieces of asparagus scattered on top and around and truffle oil on top. This is the thing about Taste, they take basic quality ingredients and turn them into truly memorable dishes. The quality is super high even though the dishes themselves don’t sound super complicated. The flavors blend terrifically and it all comes together (usually).

Image via Wikipedia

The salad was a slightly smaller version similar to the lunch salads, which are always good. We had the chopped salad, which was lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, blue cheese, avocado and apples all chopped into same sized pieces. It was tossed with a sherry vinaigrette and was quite tasty. It was still so large that even between the two of us, we didn’t finish it all. But it was a nice tangy side dish to go alongside the rich yummy other things.

The tartine is basically an open faced sandwich with horseradish cream on the bread, topped with thin slices of rare roast beef, thin slices of blue cheese (which was really blue and added a lot of flavor) and balsamic onion marmalade. There were two pieces which was a perfect amount to split between the two of us---I don’t think I could have eaten the whole thing as well as the rest of the stuff.

One of the best things at Taste (lunch or dinner) is the pomme frites. Best in the city perhaps, and the basil aioli to dip in is one of my favorite things. They were a good side dish to add to everything else as well.

Things are definitely falling into place at Aftertaste. The place was not so jammed that it was overwhelming, although it was still quite buzzy (probably helped that the outside seating was also available). The service seems more comfortable and polished and the kitchen, not so overwhelmed. The lunch service has always been spot on as far as speed and quality (other than sometimes you wait quite awhile on line just to order—why do people not seem to know what they want by the time they get to the register?). I am so relieved that it has improved so much, because it is a place that, while has been a mainstay of my lunch rotation, can now become a dinner mainstay as well. Cheers!

Aftertaste
Taste Cafe & Marketplace

5164 N College Ave

Indy 46205

317-925-2233

http://www.tastecafeandmarketplace.com/

Aftertaste (Taste Cafe & Marketplace)

You know how when someone you really love lets you down, it hurts even worse than when it is someone you don’t know? That’s how I felt after my recent visit to Taste Café’s new dinner service, Aftertaste. If you haven’t read my review of Taste for lunch, I will tell you that it is probably my favorite place in the entire city to eat lunch. They do everything well, the kitchen is quick and so is the service. They specialize in salads and sandwiches and everything is terrific.

Recently, they added dinner service one night a week (Wednesdays) and I was so looking forward to it! We went with friends who also love lunch at Taste, and who were equally excited. They start serving at 6:00 and don’t take reservations, so we got there shortly after service began. The hostess was friendly, but tried to seat us at 2 different tables for 3 before we sort of chose our own table.

Once we got seated, we perused the menu. It is a pretty big menu, with starters, salads, tartines (open faced sandwiches), mains and sides. Many of the salads and tartines are versions of what are on the lunch menu, but most of the starters and mains are different. Our server sort of mentioned sharing, but didn’t really make a big deal of it, and we sort of thought we would share starters and then get our own mains.

The best part of the meal (and it was really great) was the starter portion. We got the hot blue cheese bacon dip served with flatbread, the avocado puree with plantain chips, and the warm olives. The blue cheese bacon dip was so delicious. Hot and super creamy, but with the tanginess and kick that the blue cheese brings along with the salt of the bacon. Seriously, I almost slapped the hand of the busser who tried to take it away before I had thoroughly cleaned out the bowl. I would love to get this for a holiday gathering. I wonder if you can order it. Anyway, the “avocado puree” was guacamole. Not sure why they call it puree as it is nice and chunky, just the way guacamole should be. It was also really good and the fried plantain chips really added to the dish. The warm olives were, well, a little too warm I guess. I am not sure why they need to be warm to be honest, room temperature would be great, and these were clearly over warmed in a broiler and lost a lot in the process (not to mention burning your tongue as you ate them).

For the next course, one of my friends ordered one of the tartines, the rare roast beef with caramelized onions and nice big slices of blue cheese on top. I, along with our other friend, ordered the chimichurri shrimp, which our server told us, had gotten great feedback from customers. Hubby ordered the short ribs, which were also recommended by our server.

The only thing that was good was the tartine, and it was outstanding. I know, because I ate quite a bit of it waiting for my main. They served the tartine at the same time as hubby’s short rib, and it was a good 10-15 minutes before the shrimp came out. Well, one order of it anyway. They served that order of the shrimp to our other dining companion. He gave me one of his in the interim, which I ate and realized I really didn’t even want my order of it. After flagging our server, I asked her if I indeed did have an entrée coming, or maybe only one order was mistakenly put in, but regardless, I didn’t want it, so please cancel it. She came back and assured me that yes, 2 orders had been put in, but for whatever reason, only one came out.

As for the shrimp, they were not good. They were very large, and a tasted a bit past their prime ( I want to say “fishy”, but I guess “shrimpy” is more accurate?). The “chimichurri” was a sprinkling of herbs on the outside of the shell and the shrimp were clearly stuck in a broiler or something along those lines. They were exceedingly hot, dry and overcooked. They needed some moisture (and flavoring) from something---maybe an actual chimichurri sauce drizzled over top? Maybe cook them in a chimichurri sauce? My friend who had been served them did not finish his, even after giving me one.

Hubby said the short rib was very bland and seemed to have been cooked without much seasoning. He also didn’t finish it, and that is a sure sign of him not liking something.

Again, the tartine was really good and thankfully, my gracious friend shared a lot with me because I never got a main.
We did get the frites (they the regular pomme frites that they serve for lunch and hubby and I the truffle frites). The truffle aioli was tasty, but not overly “truffley.” I am sort of a truffle hound though and can usually smell if a truffle is being served in a restaurant the minute I walk in, and couldn’t really even smell them when the frites were in front of me. The truffle frites at Capital Grill are much more “truffley” although the quality of the frites themselves at Taste is probably the best in the entire city. Luckily, you can also pretty much make a meal of the frites, and between that, and the starters, I was pleasantly full. We also had the warm asparagus side which was not bad.

Hubby and I also shared the cheese plate for dessert and it was pretty good too—although with all those gooey French cheeses in the case, I was hoping for more of those, but it was still good and served with a variety of accompaniments (nuts, fruits and quince paste) which I enjoy when eating cheese.

The biggest problem in this place is service though. From the start, the staff doesn’t seem clued in to full dinner service yet. Now, I know we need to cut them some slack as this was only the third week of dinner service, and this is a lunch place that doesn’t do table service during the day, so it is a very new thing for most of the staff, I am sure. But there were very long stretches where we didn’t even see our server, not to mention the fact that our mains came out at such different intervals (if they came out at all).

I do think there are several things that could be done to improve this. First, they could change the menu to tapas, call the mains “larger plates” and tell the table to order to share and that the items will come out when they are finished. Our waitress sort of mentioned sharing, but never specifically said that it was recommended. This way, you don’t expect mains that are presented to the entire table at the same time. The weird thing was, no one really seemed surprised that we didn’t get our mains at the same time, or even really made any attempt to remedy the situation.

The other thing they could maybe do is cut the menu way back. There is A LOT of stuff on the menu, and as I mentioned, much of it is a lot like the lunch menu. Now, I hesitate to say take that stuff off, because it was the best of what we had, but maybe they should focus on fewer things and try to do them better.

Another suggestion I have is to take reservations. The fact is, nearly the entire restaurant was seated at the same time, and surely that would be enough to overwhelm even the most experienced kitchens. They could space their diners out a bit more perhaps with reservations.

The other thing is when you only serve dinner once a week, I am sure it is hard for a staff not used to table service to get up to speed quickly---they just don’t get enough practice. And obviously, you aren’t going to be able to hire a different staff for just one night a week. Hopefully, with more experience (and it is really trial by fire as this place was completely packed when we were there), the service issues will get ironed out. The prices are good, a little over half the food we had was quite good, and I know the potential is there. (And hey, they obviously have the business).

I was a bit depressed about this experience for a couple of days, but I am starting to come out of it. I was so hyped up, but I guess….we always have lunch!

Aftertaste
Taste Cafe & Marketplace
5164 N College Ave
Indy 46205
317-925-2233
http://www.tastecafeandmarketplace.com/