Spoke and Steele

Recently hubby and I were looking around for a good date night spot and I was somewhat uninspired by the menus I was looking at. It’s partly the season and that I didn’t want anything heavy…I just wanted something lighter and brighter even though it was Fall. Spoke and Steele has been a place I keep meaning to get back to try again since I knew that Greg Hardesty had a hand in creating the menu and when I looked at the menu and the abundance of seafood on there, I was sold. 

It’s an interesting menu—there are some definite Hardesty-ish menu items (remember that endive salad that came from Elements and then would pop up on the Recess menu?). And a big hearty burger. But there are also some interesting Asian influences as well as Cajun influences as well. All things that make me happy. The current head chef is Erin Gillum, which is a new name for me, but I like her ideas on paper.

At the recommendation of our server (who was very helpful and professional), we started with the biscuits with Vermont creamery slated butter and local honey ($7 for 2). Loved the creamery butter with just the right amount of salt, but I can’t say the biscuits on their own were super special. I mean, nothing wrong with a solid biscuit, but these could have used some gravy or something to really take them to the next level (maybe on the breakfast menu?). The butter and honey together added nice flavor though. We ended up just sharing one and taking the other one home.

The biscuits actually came out with the lobster and shrimp potstickers ($19), which were the clear highlight of the meal for me. But this course also reminds me of one of the things I would be vocal about when ordering—the timing and spacing of items. The food came out really fast and the salad was one of the last courses, which is not what we wanted. So if you go and you would like a more spaced out meal, I would order one or two things at a time and if there is something you want to start, let them know. Anyway, back to the potstickers—so, so good. There were 5 of them, stuffed with lobster and shrimp in a light wonton wrapper that was perfectly seared on one side. The broth though—wow—full of ginger, miso and soy—and topped with some peppers. I instantly wanted a second order, but hubby restrained me. The only complaint I had about these was I wished they were just a little warmer, but even so, I inhaled them. And then we dipped our biscuit inappropriately into the broth.

The next course we got were the pork belly and shrimp bao ($16). I love a good stuffed bun, but these were a bit of a miss for us just based on execution. They were 4 large buns—2 were filled with a large piece of shrimp and 2 with a small piece of pork belly. The meat quality of both was very good—the shrimp had nice flavor and was plentiful to fill the bun. The pork, while tasty, and perfectly crisped on the outside was way too small for the large bun. There was just one small maybe two inch by two-inch piece in mine and it was dwarfed by the bun and the excessive amount of spicy mayo. These could be perfected for sure. First, the amount of filling should match the bun. So either more filling or less bun. Then, less mayo—just a drizzle would be plenty as it is very rich (I would add a little acid to this as well). And finally, while I really liked the pickled cucumbers—and they are the things that make these little buns to me—you couldn’t really taste them due to being overwhelmed by the other ingredients. But like I said, there is definitely room for improvement. And I appreciate that they are doing something different. 

The next (and originally, we thought last) course was the endive salad ($11) and the broiled oysters ($20). Like I said, ideally, I would have liked my salad in the first course, but maybe that’s just me. The salad is described on the menu as having endive, blue cheese, candied pecans, granny smith apples and white wine vinaigrette. So the heavy drizzle of balsamic was a bit of a surprise but it was fine. You couldn’t really get much of the white wine vinaigrette flavor though. Loved the combo overall though-some of my favorite combination of things in a salad. It was well-dressed and topped with lots of goodies.

At this time we also got the broiled oysters which were 6 small oysters (I so much prefer them on the small side) topped with Cajun butter and parmesan cheese. They gave you a nice juicy piece of lemon to squeeze over them as well, which was the perfect addition. I prefer my oysters cooked, and these were cooked just right. Gave the oysters even a little more creaminess. Totally worth ordering. 

At this point we felt like we could use one more dish, and hubby was forcing me to try something new (because I really wanted more potstickers!) so we went with the “deconstructed sushi roll” ($24) from the raw section of the menu. This was interesting—it was a patty of rice that was seared on the sides like a crab cake, adding some extra texture. It was topped with some slices of avocado (would have loved a few more) and then ahi tuna marinated and cut into cubes. There were two crunchy spicy chili shrimp on the side. There was a bunch more of that spicy mayo on the bottom of the dish as well. Again, the mayo was a little over the top for me—super thick and rich, but the rest of the dish was really good. The shrimp were cooked just right and I liked the other ingredients combined together for a nice little bite.

Our server was excellent as well and knowledgeable about the menu. She also immediately brought a new bottle of wine when the one we ordered tasted off. No questions asked. I appreciate what seems to be a well-trained staff (although I would like the pacing to go just a bit slower). It's pretty loud in there when it is busy (which it was) so we were happy to be in a table near the bar without too many around us).

At this point, we felt like we had enough to eat and we were generally very pleased with dinner. There are so many things I would like to try (along with my potstickers) on future visits. I love all the shellfish on the menu---am intrigued by items like pickled shrimp with pimento cheese and the Brussels sprouts salad with crab and shrimp. Let me know if you have been and if so, what items you have tried—good or bad. I need to build my next order. 

Spoke and Steele

123 Illinois Street

Indy 46225

317/737-1616

www.spokeandsteele.com 

Spoke and Steele

Anchovies

Always game to try a new place, hubby and I decided to hit up Spoke and Steele, the new restaurant in the new Le Meridian hotel downtown. It’s in the old Canterbury spot, but you would never know they were the same place. It was a touch sad for me, because hubby and I spent our wedding night at the Canterbury, but change is the only constant right? Anyway, the new digs have changed things around, putting the clean and maybe somewhat sparse dining area in the front of the building, and utilizing the big pictures windows onto the street as part of the dining room. The woodwork’s been painted white and it has a much more modern feel. It may feel kinda cold and generic too.

It’s early days for this place, but I would say the service needs a fair amount of polishing—actually maybe some straightforward training. Our server was extremely friendly, but offered little help with the menu and never came to fill our wine (the bottle was brought to us already opened). I heard another server giving a lot more detail about the food, including explaining that there is a cheese and charcuterie option that is not on the printed menu. (Also, I find it strange that it is not on the menu as it is a major portion of the online menu and much of the press surrounding the opening of the place).

Food-wise, I think the menu could use some rearranging also. There is a section called “shareable city plates,” a section called “small plates” and then one called “large plates.” You would think that the sharable plate section would be more things that are, well, sharable items you would want to eat to start your dinner. Several of them came across as things that would be more properly termed side dishes—a shareable portion of a side dish, yes, but not something you would want to share as your only app. The one exception to this, and one of the highlights of our meal, was the fried white anchovies with shishito peppers ($10). It was an interesting dish—if you ate just an anchovy or a pepper on its own, it was nothing exciting, but a bite of each one and some of the Cholula citrus aioli was a wonderful combination. The peppers aren’t spicy, but gave a soft, slightly pickled contrast with the very crunchy anchovies. And the aioli flavored with a good amount of citrus and hot sauce was exactly the right complement. Again this was what I expected with a shareable plate. 

The other shareable plate we got was the roasted asparagus with salsa verde, prosciutto and a poached egg. Typically, this is the kind of dish I am drawn to, but sadly this one had little flavor even with the salsa verde. I was hoping for more of a flavor punch. If I had this as a side dish with an entrée, I probably wouldn’t have minded as much, but a plate of roasted asparagus as an appetizer just seemed out of place. Side note—the dishes on the small plates section are all soups or salads, no other appetizer options.

We guessed that these sharable plates would be fairly large based on the price points, and they were, so we ordered one main to share with a side of the Mormon Funeral potatoes ($11), which was also from the sharable plates section, and not the side dish section (confused yet?). The main dish we had was the seared crispy bass with corn pudding, Brussels sprouts leaves and marinated tomatoes ($32). I loved the bright fresh colors of this dish and the fish and the corn pudding were well done. The fish had a nice crispy skin, and the corn pudding just a touch of sweetness. The marinated tomatoes tasted as if they were marinated in pure salt—I had one and almost spit it out, and I have a pretty high salt threshold. I chugged my water after that one. Not sure what happened there--maybe the lid fell off the salt shaker, but they were inedible. And this may be a flavor combo best left to summer when the tomatoes are a bit riper. If they were ripe and less salty, it would have been a nice hit of acid. As it was, we left them all, and everything that they touched, on the plate. The Mormon funeral potatoes were really quite good. They hit that “something your Gramma would have made” spot in your palate. They were shredded cheesy potatoes cooked with mushroom cream and topped with crispy cornflake crumbs. The menu said they were topped with pickled ramps—I am pretty sure they were just green onions, but regardless, I really enjoyed the pickled flavor of the white part of the onion with the rich, decadent potatoes. The green parts become too chewy and hard to eat, and don’t hold the pickle flavor as much. Maybe just using the white part would be better—or even something like shallots that would be easier to eat. Great flavors together though. Again, it made a great side dish, but not sure I would want to eat a pan of this as a starter.

At this point, we decided to skip dessert, because nothing really jumped out at us. I think there is some hope for this place—a few of the dishes were interesting, but there were a few too many misses both food an service-wise to make me want to rush back. And the atmosphere wasn't really wooing me either. By the way, what is that room to the left of the restaurant as you come in? Lounge? Bar? I'm just not really sure. Maybe I'm old, but I kinda miss the natural wood from the Canterbury days. Anyhow, we'll see, maybe we'll give it another go in a few months when hopefully things are a little smoother...

Spoke and Steele

123 S. Illinois Street

Indy 46225

317/737-1616

www.spokeandsteele.com