Hoaglin To Go - Revisit

I stopped in at Hoaglin to Go for a quick lunch the other day.  Their menu is very appealing to me, and I really enjoyed the egg salad last time I was there, but since I feel like I should try something new when I am going to do a review, I ordered one of the daily specials—the veggie quiche with blue cheese and pine nuts.  I ordered it with greens on the side and the Champagne vinaigrette dressing ($8.50).

I was told there were lots of veggies in it, and that was no lie.  There were certainly a lot of different ones—I remember carrot, tomatoes, asparagus and big thick pieces of sautéed onions.  And the egg part of the quiche and the crust were both good.  The crust was flaky and the egg moist and not dried out.  My biggest problem? I didn’t taste a lick of blue cheese or pine nuts which is why I ordered it to start with (those are two ingredients I really enjoy together).

The salad on the side was good—simple mixed greens with some tomato and cucumber slices.  But the dressing—the Champagne vinaigrette-- was amazing.  It had the right amount of bright tanginess that I love, but with still the right amount of oil to balance it.  A bite of the salad, dressing, and quiche altogether was quite a treat.  I made due with zinging up the quiche with the dressing since the blue cheese didn’t seem to be there to serve that purpose.

Overall, I like this place though—the ingredients are high quality and fresh and this is the kind of place I like to go for lunch.  The things on the menu are familiar and comforting for lunch, but they add just the right amount of their own touches to also make them unique.  And that dressing was great (and all of the dressings are homemade).  I can see why they call it their “signature” dressing on the menu.

My server was also exceptionally nice—she gave me the time I needed to look over what is a pretty extensive menu without rushing me, answered my questions, and even brought me a soda to go on my way out because it was so hot outside.  That was a nice touch.  I would love to hear other people’s favorite items here because it is such a large menu—and I would really like to make my way back there sooner than I did last time.

Hoaglin To Go

448 Massachusetts Ave

Indy, 46204

317-423-0300

www.hoaglintogo.com

Hoaglin To Go

We recently went over to try Hoaglin to Go with the kids on a Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day and we thought we were lucky to get a table right away as it looked like the type of place that gets quite busy.

I didn’t have the time I would have liked to really peruse the menu since the kids were with me and acting a bit crazy. I was a bit flustered but knew I wanted to try the egg salad because I had read it was voted best egg salad in Indianapolis Monthly. And I love egg salad. I ended up ordering the bacon and egg sandwich which was egg salad, bacon, tomato, lettuce, cheese and red onion on toasted sourdough. While it was very tasty, it was hard to really taste the egg salad for all the other stuff that was on there. I did dig out a couple of bites of just the egg salad by itself which was really good—lots of fresh dill which is a nice touch. It was also a bit hard to fit into my mouth frankly, because there was so much stuff on it, and when I did, lots of the fillings fell out. The bread was very good though and the quality of ingredients top notch. I think next time though, I will just get the simple preparation which is egg salad on lettuce and tomato served with crostini so I can really taste it. I substituted the kettle chips (which were also very good) for one of their specialty sides, the asparagus, tomato and blue cheese salad. This was outstanding. And those were appropriate sized chunks of blue cheese. I would certainly get this side again!

They don’t really have a kid’s menu, but were happy to make a grilled cheese and some scrambled eggs for the kids. They both seemed to enjoy it anyway once the food finally came. The tables however are quite small if you actually seat 4 people at them, which is even worse with kids who are constantly knocking into things.

After ordering I noticed the specials board which had a great sounding quiche with broccoli, boursin, and blue cheese and the special omelet of the day involved crab and artichokes which is always up my alley. Next time. (And it might help to have it pointed out since I had my back to it.)

The service was quite slow—I think it took a good 30 minutes to get our food, just enough time for my very hungry 6 year old to melt down. By the time we left, it was very busy and there was quite a wait to get a table. I am hoping during the week it may not be so bad. But all in all, the menu is very appetizing and I will definitely go back. Probably won’t subject the kids to this place again (or vice versa) though.

Hoaglin To Go
448 Massachusetts Ave
Indy, 46204
317-423-0300
http://www.hoaglinfinecatering.com/