Rick's Cafe Boatyard-Brunch

It was Sunday, it was sunny, so we decided to try brunch at Rick’s Café Boatyard with the kids and the Grandparents. They’re on opentable, so we made a reservation online (I recommend a reservation here) and headed over. (If you haven’t checked out opentable.com, it is a great way to get online reservations at most Indy restaurants and even other cities like Chicago and San Francisco—where I started using it). This is one of the few true waterside restaurants in town, and by that I mean, one of the few situated on a decent sized body of water (i.e. Eagle Creek). Definitely a large portion of the draw for me is the ambiance, and not as much the food.

One of the things I like about this place for brunch is that they do have a brunch menu with breakfast-y type items, but you can also order off the regular menu if you aren’t in the mood for breakfast items. But in the interest of reviewing something different, I decided to go for it and try the one of the brunch items, the Eggs Chesapeake. This is a version of Eggs Benedict served on top of crab cakes instead of English Muffins and Canadian bacon. I ordered this at the recommendation of our server (he said it was his favorite brunch item). It wasn’t bad, and the crab cakes had a fair amount of crab in them, but the seasoning was a little heavy handed I thought. The eggs were perfectly poached and the hollandaise pretty good as well. They were served with “breakfast potatoes” which were home fries. Home fries have to be really special to excite me (I am a hash brown girl for breakfast) and these weren’t really doing anything for me. I did have some of my Mom’s Seafood frittata as well which is basically a round omelette with shrimp and crab in it and a Mornay sauce on top. It was not bad either, the shrimps, when you came across them, were tasty. But nothing that made you want to run back and order it again. I don’t know, maybe my Dad was right; maybe seafood and breakfast don’t go together. He ordered the regular eggs benedict and seemed to enjoy them (again, they seem to have egg poaching down).

Hubby had the blackened catfish (from the regular menu) and thought it had sat under a heat lamp a bit and was a bit dry. The kids seemed to enjoy their meals, and except for somewhat slow service near the end, a decent meal was had by all. Again, I think the main draw here is the atmosphere and not the food. You feel like you’re at one of those seafood places you go when you’re on vacation with a great view. They have a nice deck and I would like to go eat out there one of these days when the weather gets nicer.

Rick’s Café Boatyard
Eagle Creek Reservoir
4050 Dandy Trail
Indy, 46204
317-290-9300
www.rickscafeboatyard.com

Another Favorite, Gone.

Well, just read the news on Feed Me/Drink Me that now Elements has suddenly closed its doors for good. Well, crap.

This was one of the best restaurants in Indy, one that managed to change its menu just about every day and prepare high quality food every day it was open. But it, much like many other local places around here, are shockingly empty many nights. I know many of my readers truly care about good food and creating a City in which we can be proud of our own culinary creativity (and not some nationwide chain that sells the same mediocre food in every one of its 10 million locations), which is why I am saying this again, just like after L'explorateur closed, GET YOUR BUTT OUT THERE AND SUPPORT OUR LOCAL TALENT. Whatever your favorite is, make a reservation for tonight or this weekend. If you don't know where to go, email me, I'll be happy to tell you! I know, it costs money, just like it costs the restaurants money to keep the doors open. If you can't afford a big meal, support a smaller restaurant or go and order a lovely appetizer or two--most places around here you can certainly make a meal out of apps! And trust me, the restaurants will be happy to have you.

I really, really don't want to be repeating this post on another single locally owned restaurant around here (particularly ones I like so much!) Let's make the next non-review post one celebrating some good news about new restaurants! (Hint, hint, any of you wandering local chefs ready to put down roots yet?)

Send me a post and tell me where you are going to go this week. Let's celebrate our favorite independents!

Euphoria-April Revisit

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

Wow, I have been doing well lately with some amazing meals . Ok, I know I review this place more than a lot of places, but well, it is one of my favorite places, and hey, it’s my blog right? And seriously people, if you haven’t been, go and give it a try.

First though, in the interest of my complete honesty and total full disclosure, I must tell you all that this is a restaurant where I know, and am friendly with, much of the staff, so my meals there are in no way anonymous. Not that I think they treat me any differently from anyone else, and not that I would ever be anything but truthful in my review, but I thought I should let you know.

Ok, enough of that and onto the food. Overall, this is one of the best meals I have had (in Indy) in awhile (well, that and my last R Bistro meal, but you already know about that). So I had seen on the web that Chef Gates had put morels on the menu, so I needed to get in there (oh how I love morels). The menu had already changed, but the morels were still being used—of course, I ordered the item containing them for my starter. It was a spinach salad with bacon-Sherry vinaigrette, nice hearty hunks of blue cheese, red onions and of course, the aforementioned, crispy fried, morels. This salad came together beautifully. The dressing was pleasingly tangy and in proper amounts. Simply, I loved it. Hubby had the duck confit for his starter (seriously, that was a starter?). It was huge and hubby loved it. He was literally sucking the meat off the bones at the end, manners be damned. It was served over roasted asparagus and according to him, was perfectly cooked.

For our main course, we shared the skate (have I mentioned lately how much I love skate?) which was done in the classic Meuniere style (with lots of yummy lemon butter and capers on top) and served alongside house made linguine in a very light tomato sauce. I have also mentioned this before I think, but the Chef does fresh pasta so well, I am always happy when I get something with a side of pasta. You know it will be good. We also got a small order of the mussels from the bar menu which are also always good---I have told you about them before, but they are served with sliced garlic and topped with roasted tomatoes. And they are fresh, unlike certain restaurants around here apparently. Also, new to the bar menu are the skate fries which are fried strips of breaded skate, that sounded quite intriguing. Have I mentioned how much I love skate? I will say that entrees here are certainly big enough to share, and I find you can easily make a dinner of two appetizers.

We were so full that we passed on dessert (even the cheese) and just sat and digested with an extra glass of wineto share. I am happy to report though that not only was the food top to bottom outstanding, but the service was more polished than I have ever experienced while eating in the dining room. We happily recognized our server as a former L’explorateur server and service was attentive without being obnoxious. The wine was cold, the service good and the food amazing. Seriously, overall, this was one of the best meals I have had in since living in Indy. And this is a place with an ever-changing menu with amazing seasonal creations. Support our creative, inventive chefs who are still passionate about what they are doing and go have dinner!

Euphoria (and hey, they even have signs outside now!)
337 West 11th Street
Indy, 46202
317-955-2389
http://www.indycanal.com/

Update: 4/24: did another visit (after seeing Elements go under we wanted to be sure and support our faves) for dinner tonight and had a great meal and great service. Yummy steak tartare and the halibut with morel nage and spring veggies. Delish! The best patio in town too.

Chicago

Just got back from a big city escape and had some amazing food in Chicago so I thought I'd give you a brief taste, so to speak. We ate at several great places including North Pond, a craftsman inspired building in the middle of Lincoln Park (if you go make sure you know exactly where it is, or that your cabbie does or you may have trouble finding it). It reminds me a lot of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Same feel on the inside and same seasonal menu idea. Some of the standouts on the Spring tasting menu were the olive oil poached halibut with lots of fresh spring veggies (hello early fava beans and baby artichokes!) and a wonderful saddle of lamb with another delicious veggie mix including beautiful asparagus and a sheep's milk ricotta tortelloni on the side.

Had lunch at a great "Gastopub" (where do they come up with this stuff?) called The Gage, right on Michigan Avenue across form the Art Institute. Had an AMAZING truffled egg sandwich--thick slices of boiled egg in a super rich truffle mayo with lots of arugula on a great baguette--oh and don't forget a side of tiny roasted fingerlings with blue cheese. This place is certainly on the repeat visit list. (They also serve dinner). And it was PACKED by the time we left with a 30 minute wait for lunch (they do take reservations though).

Finally, we had dinner at L2O, also in Lincoln Park. This place is superb. The service is impeccable (I mean, they drove us back to our hotel in their town car when we asked them to call us a cab), the ambiance is very modern, but also warm. Some of the items that really stood out were the bread selection first of all--6 different housemade breads (and the teeny tiny rosemary croissants, I could eat about 20 of them) and housemade butter which was so good (I don't think I have had housemade butter in a restaurant since I lived in Europe). The second course was the most unforgettable for me and hubby--we actually shared them equally. We had the peekytoe crab in a foie gras emulsion (can you say rich and decadent in all the right ways) and the housemade papardelle imprinted with parsley leaves (beautiful and delicious) with asparagus and morels in parmesan foam. Wow. Also, a standout--hubby's seared pork belly with a truffle sauce and little rounds of yukon gold potatoes stuffed with cheese. Perfectly crisp on the outside and just delicious!

Anyway, even though it wasn't an Indy restaurant experience, I thought, hey, Chicago's not that far away and I just had to write about these meals. What a great culinary experience! (Sorry there are no photos--I really wanted to take them, but hubby refused to let me) We're thinking the next time we go, we are going to take the kids and do some of the family sightseeing stuff--anyone have any suggestions for good restaurants in Chicago where you can take kids? I would love to hear them!

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive
Chicago, IL 60657
773-477-5845
http://www.northpondrestaurant.com/

The Gage
24 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60603
312-372-4243
http://www.thegagechicago.com/

L2O
2300 Lincoln Park West
Chicago, IL 60614
773-868-0002
http://www.l2orestaurant.com/

Taiwan Tea House

I finally got over to the Taiwan Tea House after a near miss once before (FYI, they are closed on Mondays). It has been on my list for awhile, and has been recommended by a few readers. It is one of those places in the middle of a strip mall that you may drive by 100 times and not even notice. But it is worth a stop.

The Taiwan Tea House has an extensive tea list (go figure) as well as the various fruit smoothie type drinks. You can also add Boba (or tapioca pearls) to your tea for an additional charge. I went with a friend and we settled on one of the green tea choices and perused the menu. I noticed several different fried chicken entrees (fried chicken which was whole pieces of chicken and popcorn chicken which was described as well, nuggets.) I was just curious about this because I had never seen so much fried chicken on a Chinese menu. There are lots of different other options though with shrimp, chicken or beef and plenty of veggie options as well.

For our lunch, we ordered 2 different chicken dishes just to try out different seasonings, etc. We ordered the chicken with asparagus (you can order it with whichever meat you want) as well as the Mapo sauce chicken (again you can get whatever meat you want). I also ordered a shrimp and chive cake appetizer just to see what it was like.

We were first brought a bowl of soup and our tea. The soup wasn’t overly exciting—just a thickened chicken broth with some veggies. But it was included with the meal which was nice. My shrimp and chive cakes were only ok—the shrimp were teeny tiny and sparse--they were really more like green onion cakes than anything else. They were lightly fried and very hot. They definitely had a strong flavor of greens. If they had had a bit more shrimp, I would probably order it again, but as it stands, I probably won’t. There are also several other appetizer options including several dumplings, which are always a favorite of mine, so next time we’ll try some of those. Interestingly, they also came out after the first main dish had been served, even though listed as an appetizer.

The real stars here are the main dishes, the chicken and rice. They give you a very nice sized portion of chicken and vegetables served with a bowl sized serving of steamed rice. All the ingredients they are using are very fresh tasting, the chicken is all white meat and the quality is top notch. This is especially true when you consider that the dishes average $6.99 for the meat & veggies, soup and rice. Oh, and they put two little crispy crab rangoons on each plate which I really enjoyed. Usually crab rangoon is not my favorite thing, but these were light and didn’t have too much cream cheese.

The chicken and asparagus (shown here) was good and delicate tasting, again, the ingredients fresh and tasty, with quite a bit of asparagus as well as broccoli mixed in, but this dish wasn’t as good as the second dish we ordered, the Mapo chicken. When I asked what it was, it was described as a spicy sauce and I think he mentioned something about beans. Anyway, this sauce was certainly more flavorful and not really spicy, although you could see some red pepper flakes in it. I really liked it and of all the dishes, it was my favorite. It was served with lots of onions and broccoli and some red peppers and celery.

While I am not one to generally order the most spicy things in say, a Mexican place, I find Chinese “spicy” is usually not really that spicy and actually just more flavorful. I am sure it is different if you actually eat in China, but in the places I have eaten, I have found this a pretty universal truth.

Now, I have read very unkind things about service at this restaurant but I found the service to be very prompt and pretty friendly (a bit of awkwardness over asking for some explanations of dishes due to a slight language barrier—and the menu has pretty much no descriptions of the dishes, but otherwise, quite courteous). Our pot of tea was refilled with fresh hot water at least 3 times (you get a nice pot of tea with lots of loose tea and they just pour some more hot water over it occasionally) and we were pleasantly thanked as we left. I actually commented to my friend that the service here was better than half the restaurants in this City.

I also really liked the actual dishware—they were quite lovely and sturdy, not the typical ware you might find in your run of the mill restaurant supply company (and I used to work at one so I am familiar!) I will certainly be returning for lunch or carry out. They also serve dinner but do not have a liquor license—so no way will I get hubby there for dinner (plus it is a little sparse décor-wise in my opinion for dinner, but that’s just me). I think it would also be a great place for kids as there are many items that kids would probably like. If you can’t get them to eat regular stir fry, I am sure they would probably like the popcorn chicken or noodles. All in all, this place is a great value for high quality and tasty Chinese food. Give it a go. And hey, what is your favorite Chinese place? Let me know. I'll add it to my list to try!

Taiwan Tea House
4040 East 82nd Street
Indy 46250
317-598-9733

R Bistro

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
Finally! We had a meal in a restaurant in which everything came together. R Bistro is one of the few restaurants around that just exudes professionalism with just about everything that goes on from the hostess, to the servers, to the food itself. You are greeted promptly and like they are actually happy to have you (no eye rolling involved) and seated at a table that isn’t right next to the only other seated table in the place, and promptly greeted by your server who asks if you want tap water before it is poured. I tend to like sparkling water myself (as does hubby) but once the water is already poured, I just let it go.

So I got my sparkling water, ordered some wine and decided what to get. I asked the server some questions about the menu, which he answered with great knowledge of each item. I have never had a server here who wasn’t extremely knowledgeable about the menu, and very professional. I think I understand why they put their names on the menu now. I should say we generally walk in knowing what we want, because we get the changing weekly menus emailed to us. Whenever we see one we both like, we know we have to go, because whatever it is, if it is ingredients you like, when it is cooked at R Bistro, you can be confident it will be cooked well. My only problem is sometimes it can be awhile (particularly in the fall and winter I find) before I see a menu that really strikes my fancy.

This menu, however, struck a cord with both of us, and there were several items I could have happily chosen. But I decided on the scallops appetizer which was perfectly seared and caramelized scallops (three of them) served a top a crisp tortilla with avocado spread, which were layered on top of chopped tomatoes and drizzled with a sort of chimichurri-type sauce that was just delicious. All the components worked so well together to make an outstanding dish. Hubby had one and agreed.

Hubby started with the lamb carpaccio which I had a bit of, which was also super good. Carpaccio is generally very thinly sliced raw meat served with different things on top. I am not sure, I think this lamb may have been flash seared before being sliced, but no matter, it was perfectly tender and flavorful. It was served with R Bistro’s take on traditional tartare accompaniments, capers, mustard aioli, diced cornichons (I think) and diced onion. I had a hard time deciding which I liked better.

For my main, I had the clams with spicy sausage, fennel and fettuccine. When I saw this dish on the menu, I flashed back to a meal I had at some little dive in Portugal which consisted of clams and small pieces of sausage in a spicy, smoky broth. It was one of those things I stumbled on and never have forgotten, so I was anxious to try this dish. It was different, not as brothy, and the pasta made it more of a pasta dish, but it was still really good. I liked that the sausage was more like a ragu on the pasta than really big pieces of sausage (of which I am generally not a fan). The flavors were more delicate but just as good, if in a different way.

Hubby had the quail and also really liked it—I had a small bite and it was nice. It was served with warm potato salad and amazing bacony Swiss chard.

Anyway, it bears repeating, thank you R Bistro for producing a consistently high quality, wonderful dining experience in this City (including making the customer feel welcome). And thank you for caring enough to change the menu every week—there are so few restaurants in Indy that change their menus enough and nothing gets me more excited than knowing the next time I come, the food will be completely different, but consistently good!

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy, 46204
317-423-0312
http://www.rbistro.com/

Binford Café

Again we stumbled onto this place because we were trying to go somewhere else a reader had recommended that wasn’t open (seems to be happening a lot lately). It is a little breakfast/lunch spot I have noticed driving along Binford a number of times.

It was a Sunday lunchtime when we went, with the kids, and the place was almost full, but there were a couple tables still available. The menu is very basic, and very breakfast oriented (especially on Sunday actually, because they don’t serve anything on the lunch menu except some basics like grilled cheese (my daughter was happy)). So I figured I should probably go for breakfast and just got the full on bacon and eggs, hash browns and toast. It was fine, but a lot like what you would make at home, no better really. And the hash browns were clearly the frozen kind that weren’t cooked quite crispy enough.

Hubby had biscuits and gravy and I could tell he wasn’t a huge fan because he was pushing a lot of it around on his plate. He said the gravy was really peppery.

The kids had the aforementioned grilled cheese and pancakes (which they put little smiley faces on which was cute) but the pancakes were a bit soggy. And a funny thing when I asked about the banana nut pancakes on special, specifically what kind of nuts were in them (my son is allergic to some kinds), our server said, “I don’t know, it’s a mix.”

This server must be one of the owners, she was pretty much running the front of the place and she seemed like she had been doing it awhile. Her attitude was, well, quite brisk to put it nicely. None of that “how are you today” or anything like that, just straight to the point (ie, “I don’t know, it’s a mix.”)

Basically this place is a very cheap place to go and get breakfast that you could make at home if you just don’t feel like it or don’t know how to cook. The food wasn’t offensive or anything, and the bacon was pretty good actually, but you could easily do better at home if you’re so inclined.

Binford Café
6406 Rucker Road
Indy 46220
317-466-9631

Meridian-Revisit

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency. It is so important in a fine dining restaurant (I think anyway) and Meridian has some problems here. Not just from visit to visit, but even within the same meal.

This was my third trip to Meridian—the first being not so good, the second being very good and this last one, probably closely tied with the first. I am going to jump around a bit with my description of what we had, because I have to touch on the fried oysters first as my example of the consistency problem. The last time I went, hubby ordered the fried oysters and they were so good, they stuck out in my memory. We dined this night with another couple who had their own similarly good fond memories. No one wanted to share, so we ended up with 3 different orders, hubby and one of our friends ordered them for appetizers and I ordered mine as a main dish. First of all, I noticed right away how much larger the oysters are than what I remember and for me this is not necessarily a benefit. I like the small most tender ones best, not the ones as big as your head. Plus, I think the size of them just seemed to throw the proportions off because the tiny piece of bacon on top was totally lost in the hugeness of the oyster as was the creamy spinach mixture underneath. All you could really taste was the fried oyster and none of the other things that had made this dish so yummy. If you are going to use such large oysters, you need to up the amount of the other ingredients. The next problem with the oysters that arrived as appetizers was they were not crispy enough. I don’t know if the oil wasn’t hot enough or they weren’t cooked quite long enough, but they suffered. When mine came out later, luckily, I think the oil was properly heated as mine were much crispier, but again, consistency was a big issue. And again, I still think they were too big.

Before the oysters, we had ordered a plate of fried calamari that was a special on this night served with 3 sauces, Meridian’s version of a cocktail, a truffle aioli, and a remoulade. The calamari suffered from the same problem as the first round of oysters in that it wasn’t crispy enough. The calamari itself was good quality and I liked the cocktail and the truffle aioli, but a little crisper crust would have made this dish shine.

For my appetizer (I said I was skipping around a bit) I had a grilled asparagus dish served with truffle vinaigrette, blue cheese, bacon, and some little polenta cakes. It was okay, but the asparagus was the size of a small tree, and similarly woody. I tend to prefer thin tender asparagus, but maybe that is just me again. It was nicely grilled, and I liked the little polenta rectangles, but I couldn’t really taste the truffle in the dressing.

Hubby had duck and said it was actually undercooked which is unusual (seems like most kitchens tend to overcook duck vs. undercooking it.) He ordered it medium rare (what the kitchen recommended) but it was very rare. Other than that he said it was ok. Our friends split the Cajun jambalaya pasta and were not overly impressed either.

It was nice to have one of the former waiters from L’explorateur wait on us, and service was attentive but not annoying. In other words, service was very professional, the way it should be (why is this such a problem in Indy?) The interior of this restaurant is very nice, but I think it will be awhile before I will go back based on the lackluster food experience.

Meridian
5694 N. Meridian
Indy 46208
317-466-1111
www.meridianonmeridian.com

Illinois Street Food Emporium

Stopped in for a quick bite at Illinois Street Food Emporium. Have not been here since I was a kid—and honestly, I don’t think I ever actually ate in the restaurant. We always got carry out. The food is simple deli sandwiches—nothing fancy, except that many of them are served on yummy croissants that I believe are made in house. The toppings were fresh, but like I said, nothing you couldn’t put together at home, but once they are stacked up on that flaky croissant, it is worth the trip!

I had the turkey, avocado, bacon, and jack cheese. The bacon was nice and crispy and the avocado nice and ripe (although I could’ve used a bit more on my sandwich, but that’s just me). There was certainly enough of the other ingredients anyway). There was a ton of turkey, and I took a bit of it off because it made the sandwich so huge, but I ate just about every bite of that croissant. Yummy.

The interior is much like the food, nothing fancy, and it has clearly been there a long time. As my sister said, the wooden chairs remind you of the ones you sat at in elementary school, except bigger. The service is fast (you order at the counter, pick up your drinks, and they bring it out to you shortly thereafter). Other than sandwiches, they have soups and a few specials like a quiche of the day, and a pretty large bakery selection.

Illinois Street Food Emporium
5550 N. Illinois Street
Indy, 46208
317-253-9513
http://www.eatincarryout.com/

Some Guys Pizza

I know Indy people have a thing for whatever “their” pizza is and I know Some Guys is one of those places with a loyal following who will probably be peeved by this review, but what can I say? Before we moved back to Indy years ago, Some Guys used to be one of our favorite pizzas to order when we visited too. We ordered it for awhile when we first moved back, but started trying some other things and lost interest because it seemed to be falling off (especially if you ordered it delivery or even take out). But we were going to an event nearby and hubby had enjoyed a meal there recently when I was sick, so we decided to go back to Some Guys one evening with the kids and see how it was dining in.

One of the things I don’t like about a lot of the pizza places around here is that many of the tomato sauces seem so sweet to me or something. So after looking at the choices I decided to try one of the specialty wood fired pizzas that had a pesto sauce instead of a tomato sauce. It was called the “artichoke” and it had artichokes, black olives, tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes. Hubby got a traditional pizza with mushrooms and red onions and we shared a small salad and garlic bread. The kids had a cheese pizza.

If you have eaten at Some Guys, or many of the other similar pizza places around, they all seem to have that same or similar salad with minimal lettuce, a few other pizza toppings and lots and lots of cheese (assuming it is the same cheese that goes on the pizza as well). Actually, come to think of it, the only thing in the salad that isn’t on a pizza as well is the lettuce. Anyway, it is really more like cheese and the other pizza toppings (like olives, green peppers and onions) with a bit of lettuce and a decent balsamic vinaigrette with gorgonzola in it.

The garlic bread is good, basic garlic bread and you can add cheese (we didn’t). In fact, my parents used to like to go in and just get garlic bread with cheese and a topping (like sausage), a salad, and call it a meal.

As for the pizza, I don’t know, I wasn’t overly impressed. The crust was too big and poofy and the ingredients tasted like they are just straight out of a can. In fact, the crust on hubby’s pizza (which I don’t think came out of the wood oven) was better because it wasn’t so bready. Even though my pizza had the pesto sauce, it was still a little dry and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The kids’ basic cheese pizza was probably the best of all of them because it was thin and crisp.

I will say, we had a very friendly and enthusiastic server who was super nice to the kids and gave us very generous wine pours. She alone almost makes me want to go back. Almost. But there are so many pizza places in this City, and I think several that are better. Hey, by the way, post a comment and let me know what your favorite pizza place is, I would love to hear about it.

Some Guys Pizza
6235 Allisonville Rd
Indy 46220
317/257-1364
http://www.someguyspizza.com/

Shanghai Lil for Dim Sum

****SHANGHAI LIL IS CLOSED*****

Ok, I was really making an attempt to try a new Chinese place for lunch, but we went to one, and it was closed, called another, and it was closed too. I guess Mondays aren’t good days for a Chinese lunch. I was really in the mood for Chinese though, so we decided to go back to Shanghai Lil’s and have some dim sum.

I have reviewed it before, and it is one of my haunts for dim sum. I have been there many times, and often even order it for carry out. But I figured hey, it has been awhile, and it was fun because I went with 2 friends who had never had dim sum before.

We ordered shrimp dumplings, dumplings in hot chili oil (not on the dim sum menu, but offered as an appetizer on the lunch menu), spring rolls, shrimp rolls, and the traditional buns (usually filled with pork) but that were stuffed with mushrooms and chicken. They give you a choice of teas-- oolong, green or jasmine and we chose jasmine, which I really like but one of my friends commented on the floweriness of it. I would be happy with any of the teas actually though, as these happen to be all my favorites.

They also brought out a little amuse bouche which was quite unexpected before a meal of little plates, but a nice touch. Our waiter explained that they do this during the week only but that it is a regular thing then. Ours included some sautéed green beans, some cold noodles in a garlicy/peanutty sauce and a little salad.
Then, the plates began arriving. The dumplings in hot chili oil are wonton style (think, the kind that come in wonton soup) dumplings stuffed with pork, shrimp, scallions and garlic in hot chili oil and served with some sautéed greens alongside. This is one of my favorite things and is an appetizer on the lunch and dinner menus, so no matter what meal I am ordering, I almost always get these. The dumplings are soft, the greens accent them beautifully and the hot chili oil isn’t really very spicy (I find this the case in Chinese in general, if it says “spicy” it isn’t usually really very spicy, which is fine with me, I prefer to taste my food, not burn my mouth). The flavors come together really well.
The other things are more basic—the shrimp dumplings, traditional for any dim sum menu are very good, just basic shrimp inside the dumpling and steamed. No sauce, no need. I like a bit of soy sauce and that’s it.

When I am eating all this soft food (the dumplings), I like to balance it with something crunchy, hence the spring rolls and shrimp rolls (also both available as appetizers at dinner). The spring rolls here are really good, they have the proper proportion of filling to crunch (sometimes there is just way too much filling and the outside isn’t crunchy enough). And there are 2 shrimps in every roll, one at each end, so if you cut it in half (to share say) both are guaranteed a shrimp. I like this. And the outside of the spring roll (and shrimp roll for that matter) are the perfect super crispy, thin shell that I like. Basically, the shrimp roll is the same idea, but just one long prawn wrapped in the same shell. They are served with a sweet and sour sauce, which I am not a huge fan of personally (too sweet for me).

The only thing that I didn’t really like was the steamed bun—these are also very traditional dim sum (like I said usually stuffed with barbequed pork) but I have never been a big fan. This one was better than the usual pork, the filling a bit more interesting, but I just don’t like the wonder bread consistency of these kinds of buns.

Shanghai Lil is definitely one of my favorite places for Chinese, and they also serve a full Japanese menu (including a fairly wide range of sushi). The downside of it is it is a bit more expensive than most Chinese, but I think partly because the quality of ingredients is higher than most. My friends seemed to enjoy it for their first time, and if you haven’t tried dim sum yet, give it a try.

Shanghai Lil
8505 Keystone Crossing
Indy 46240
317-205-9335
www.shanghai-lil.com

Murphy's Steakhouse

This place is old school. One of those places you drive by and think, I wonder what that place is like. Not in the best neighborhood (just north of 38th on Keystone) and certainly not your typical men’s club steakhouse that is so prevalent now. This is the kind of place my Grandpa would’ve loved (hell, he might have for all I know, he lived here most of his life and this place has been around in some incarnation since the 50s). Apparently, it started out as a Frisch’s Big Boy (you can see it if you really look for it) and then was converted to a steakhouse in the 60s. It has been under the same ownership since 1977 and it must look exactly the same as it has for at least that long (my guess is nothing on the inside has changed since it became a steakhouse.

I called them up to see if they were kid friendly (“Absolutely!”) and if we needed a reservation. It was Saturday, and they said it wouldn’t hurt, so we made one. At 5:30 (we were eating with the kids). When we got there, the place was jammed. I have never been to a restaurant more crowded at that time of day I don’t think. Anyway, I was glad we had reserved, we got a nice booth (I recommend requesting one). The kids loved the place instantly because of all the shamrocks. We aren’t sure if this was because it was almost St. Patrick’s, or if it was because it is an Irish establishment. They also really liked the cracker basket on the table. It has been a number of years since I have seen that, and it reminded me of the restaurants I used to eat at with my Grandparents. The kids stocked up on crackers, ordered their grilled cheeses and we figured out what to eat. In the meantime, they brought us a basket of garlic bread that was also old school and quite tasty—there was no visible garlic butter, but the bread was definitely garlic-y. One of my favorite parts of the meal.

We decide to go for the “Build your own combo.” You get a choice of steak (out of several cuts). I chose the filet. You also get your choice of surf. I chose the fried lobster. I had to. I mean, fried lobster? For real? Hubby had the ribeye and the fried shrimp (you can also choose crab legs or lobster tails or fried scallops. Then you get a soup (onion or soup of the day) and a salad (green salad with choice of dressing or their “house” which was called the monster. It was romaine and iceberg with a warm bacon dressing. Not bad, hubby had it, but I preferred my little tossed salad with blue cheese (there were some nice chunks of blue cheese in there too!). Finally, you got your choice of a side—the usual suspects, baked potato, cheddar mash, hash browns (with or without onions) and a few others that have escaped me. Oh, and you can add béarnaise or mushroom sauce for free. Ok, here’s the clincher. All this food was $21.95. Crazy. Especially when you consider the lobster mashed potatoes at Eddie Merlot’s (that’s right, just the potatoes) were $18.95. The steak was pretty good—a bit overcooked. After surveying both hubby and my steaks, I would recommend ordering a degree lower than what you want. My medium rare was pretty medium. Next time I will get rare. But honestly, this steak was just about as good as some others I have had recently, and it was certainly cheaper. The béarnaise however, was not very good. I did not eat more than one taste of it. But hey, it was free. The fried lobster was also good. I really liked it as cheesy as it sounds (hubby did too). They served it with lemon and drawn butter and it was tasty. Hubby’s fried shrimp were too food service tasting—they didn’t seem made in house. I would skip those. The soup was a basic onion/beef broth with a few onions and some croutons on top—and my favorite part, who needs fancy cheese on top when you can just sprinkle some Parmesan on top with the shaker? Pretty funny. The meals all come with soup and salad though so, try it if you want. The potatoes were just fine. And a portion for one. And included in the price.

The wine list is, as you might guess, somewhat limited, but overall, not as bad as it could be considering. And the pours for glasses of wine were very generous. They also have a full bar.

All in all, this place isn’t your fancy steakhouse, and it isn’t gourmet by any stretch, but it was fun, and cheap, and they really do welcome kids. Our waitress was a Grandma who was super kind to the kids. And obviously people like it based on the crowds. And hey, in the current economy, it might be just what you need!

Murphy’s Steakhouse
4189 N. Keystone Ave
Indy 462
317/545-3707
http://www.murphyssteakhouse.com/ (and hey, there’s even a coupon on the website)

Ram Restaurant & Brewery

It wasn’t a good sign when I walked into this place and saw the article about the fact that the place used to be Indy’s Planet Hollywood (thankfully, I did not live here for this dark period)(and this place is a chain too). Anyway, we had spent the morning at the zoo with the kids, and thought we would just go into the first brewpub we passed on the way home and check out the food. The kids instantly liked the giant gumball machine filled with toys that is right inside the door, but more on that later.

Man this place is huge, and pretty empty on a random Sunday for lunch. And I didn’t order the beer, so maybe that is the draw, and not the food, but the food wasn’t very good. I did like that they offered half potions of many appetizers and just to try more than one thing, we ordered the calamari—it wasn’t bad, the calamari wasn’t chewy or anything, but the sauce (remoulade with some hot chili oil I believe?) was blah. Did nothing for the calamari. At least give me some lemons to squeeze on top or something.

For my main, ok, maybe I should have known better (hubby made fun of me for ordering it), but I ordered the seafood Cobb salad. It was described as coming with shrimp, salmon, egg, gorgonzola, avocado and cherry tomatoes. A couple of puff pasty rolls were served alongside and it was served with a tarragon vinaigrette. It was a strange thing, this salad. There were like two totally different types of shrimp—sort of larger prawn-like ones and then the typical smaller salad (aka bay) shrimp. They weren’t horrid, but it sort of made me think they were just throwing all the leftover shrimp from the day before in the fridge and putting them on the salad. And the salmon—even weirder. It was like little nuggets, and I mean, little nuggets, and various flakes, of very well-cooked (and I mean temperature-wise, not quality-wise) salmon. And it was all mixed together-the various shrimp and the salmon. I don’t know, it just didn’t seem right. The salad greens themselves were seemingly just shredded iceberg. The tarragon vinaigrette—too sweet for me. And there was no gorgonzola—did they forget it? I don’t know. And it was impossible to get the server’s attention to find out. At this point I had pretty much given up on the salad. On the bright side, there was a nice ripe half an avocado on the plate.

Hubby had the burger and fries—they were fine he said, but nothing special. Kids menu wasn’t bad and I liked the way they brought the kids “appetizers” of carrots with ranch. That was cute.

The service was pretty bad—I think our server was having a bad day or something, as she seemed really grumpy and that was only when I could find her—and this place was NOT busy, so it was a little weird.

Ok, so on the way out, I gave in and let the kids each get something from the giant gumball machine. Let’s just say that I didn’t really look at it very carefully, but maybe this gumball machine is more aimed at adults, as my 3 year old has his first shot glass.

Ram Restaurant & Brewery
140 S. Illinois
Indy 46225
317/955-9900
www.theram.com