Bella Vita

This is the time of the year that makes you want waterfront dining I guess...and since options are somewhat limited here in the middle of the country, we were intrigued to try out Bella Vita on Geist Reservoir. Years ago, when we first moved here, a friend told me it was her favorite place for date night and I always kept it on the list, but only now finally got around to trying it.

This was a time when I checked out the menu before going in and was a little excited by the fact that even though it is Italian (and I think I have mentioned how I have yet to find an Italian place I love in this town), it had a wider menu than the standard alfredo and red sauce and pasta all smothered with cheese that you see a lot around here. It also sits right on the marina at Geist and has a nice view of the lake. We really enjoyed the setting and were hoping for the best.

We decided to start with the beef carpaccio and the truffle fries. The carpaccio was described as thin beef with parmesan cheese, capers and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I am not sure why they decided that they needed to take the carpaccio and turn it into crostinis, but it was not carpaccio. It was toasted bread with melted cheese topped with thinly sliced raw beef, roasted red peppers, large slices of parmesan and a couple of capers and a fairly heavy dash of balsamic syrup. When we ordered this, we wanted something light. This was certainly not light. And the biggest pet peeve about the whole plate was the roasted red peppers, which brings me to my next point. When you are making your menu, if there is some ingredient that will dramatically change the flavor of the dish, such as roasted red peppers, please list them in the ingredients. Especially when you take great care to list every other ingredient. Because for me, a roasted red pepper is a dominating flavor, and also happens to be one that neither I nor hubby particularly like. So basically it was pepper flavored beef on bread (hubby says more like pepper flavored bread since the delicacy of the meat flavor was totally lost). And the balsamic was a little heavy too, so the delicacy of the flavor of the meat (which was pretty thin, although not as thin as I would have liked) was completely lost between the peppers and the balsamic.

The other appetizer we ordered, the truffle fries, were even worse. So they were called “fries” but they were obviously not fried, and now looking back at the menu, they are actually baked, and there was nothing remotely crispy about them. They were also slightly undercooked, so there was the added benefit of not only not being crispy, but being too firm as well. There was some cheese melted on top, and apparently some truffle oil drizzled there too, although I didn’t taste it. Although, I didn’t really taste much of this dish because they were not good. Don’t call something “fries” unless they are. And ewww, don't serve ketchup with truffle fries.

Luckily for hubby, he ordered a pasta dish that turned out to be pretty good. It was “Papardelle Oceano.” These were large wide noodles with crab and shrimp in a basil cream sauce. I had some of it and it was enjoyable and worth ordering. The bites of crab were fresh and not at all stringy the way crab mixed in dishes like this often is. Hubby was quite pleased and felt that the restaurant had redeemed itself somewhat, although h is entrée was supposed to come with a salad which never came.

I had a spinach salad with blue cheese, boiled egg, pancetta and pinenuts (and unmentioned shredded carrots, not my fave). It was tossed lightly with a creamy parmesan dressing. I was let down with the salad as well. There was an enormous amount of spinach and what appeared to be no toppings. But as I dug down (which took some effort with all that spinach), there was actually quite a bit of blue cheese buried at the bottom (not as much of the pancetta and pinenuts). Because the salad was seriously underdressed for the amount of spinach, I asked for some extra on the side. Once I sort of dug out the goodies and added the extra dressing, it wasn’t bad. But I only ate probably a quarter of it.

The last annoying thing about this place is that the service was pretty slow. I think they may have been a bit understaffed for the crowd, as I only saw about three servers outside and it was filling up, including many large parties. For instance, the bread they brought to every table (except ours) turned out to be very good, but we had to ask for it and didn’t get it until the end of the meal. Like I said, hubby said his pasta was one of the better pasta dishes he has had in the City, and because of the view alone, we may go back one day. But for me, it won’t be based on the food or the service.

Bella Vita
11699 Fall Creek Blvd
Fishers 46256
317/598-9011
www.bellavitaatthemarina.com

Mississippi Belle

Finally we found the fried chicken place we were looking for the other day. I am not sure why it was so difficult considering when we were at Marco’s we could have stood at their door and looked straight at it. For some reason I thought it was on Keystone, so we were looking in the wrong place. Anyhow, this time we came prepared with the actual address (always helpful) and very easily went straight to Mississippi Belle where my fried chicken quest could continue.

The interior of this place is decorated much like a large scale version of your Grandma’s house in the 70s. Friendly though, once someone noticed we were there. Since there were menus on the tables, we assumed we were just supposed to sit anywhere, which we did. I think there were only a couple of people working and the first 5-10 minutes we were there, they were apparently cooking or something. Anyway, once we were spotted, we were quickly served and our order taken. And we did not wait long at all for our food.

Well, we were obviously here for the fried chicken, but there are other main dishes on the menu as well. For lunch, they offer baked chicken, meatloaf, ribs and a couple forms of roast beef, as well as a few other things. Each plate comes with 2 sides and “hot water corn bread.” With the intention of sharing, I got the all white plate and hubby had the all dark meat. We shared the sides of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and fried cabbage.

But let’s start with the cornbread. So I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with “hot water cornbread,” but these were kind of yummy. They were like little discs of fried corn bread batter, almost like a fried biscuit in their consistency. They were quite crunchy on the outside, until about half way through where they were more soft and doughy. I enjoyed them, although I had a desire for something sweet (apple butter maybe?), or even some sweet cream butter to put on them. Hubby really liked them.

But on to the heart of the matter, the chicken. In a word, it was good. Very good in fact. This chicken is pan fried, not deep fried, so it doesn’t have the super thick crust like some does, but the crust itself was crisp and had a lot of flavor. This was what I found lacking at some other places--there was no seasoning on the chicken. Mississippi Belle had a good amount of seasoning—you could see it on the skin. The breast was probably one of the more tender I have had when it comes to fried chicken, which is very hard to pull off. While I probably love the crust at MCL the best, the meat there is often a bit too dried out. This was not the case here. And the wing was even better. I had some of the dark meat and it was (naturally) moister as well. All in all, this chicken is up there for me. Has the homemade flavor, and is not cooked to death. Like I said, this is not battered in anyway, but the skin is seasoned and fried crisp.
The sides were also quite good. Hubby continues to talk about the mashed potatoes and gravy. He really liked the gravy. (“It tastes like someone actually made it!”) Now I am not a gravy person when it comes to potatoes, but I didn’t think to ask for it without and so did have some. It was pretty good as far as gravy goes for me. But I am getting the potatoes next time without it. The potatoes were creamy and tasted like potatoes.

The mac and cheese was really good I thought. Not the bright orange variety—elbow noodles with a slightly more “found in nature” type coloring, a creamy yellow. And you could see the flecks of pepper in it. Hubby thought it looked like macaroni salad when he first saw it, and initially thought it was cold. But it wasn’t. But that gives you an idea of what it looks like. It was really tasty. Nice and creamy and again, well seasoned. I would get this again in a heartbeat.
The cabbage wasn’t bad, but wasn’t super exciting (and I do generally like cooked cabbage). I am not sure what part was “fried” tasted more like boiled to me, but it had a little more flavor to it I guess than just pure boiled cabbage, but not that much. I enjoyed it ok, but I am not sure I would get it again.

I am excited to have this place around (and not that far from home). From now on when I want to get a bunch of chicken, I am going to get it carry out from here. I like knowing it is freshly made, and the sides aren’t coming out of some corporate container that was shipped in from somewhere else. And I think my kids will love this place—this is their kind of cuisine. And I will enjoy taking them somewhere local as well.

So I guess in conclusion, while I probably still think MCL has my favorite fried chicken when it is fresh and cooked perfectly (which maybe happens maybe about 60% of the time), this is up there. A completely different style, but for what it is, it is very well done.

Mississippi Belle
2170 East 54th Street
Indy 46220
317/466-0522

Shelbi Street Café

We continued our tour of Fountain Square the other day with a visit to Shelbi Street Café for lunch. We wanted something new and a couple of my readers had recommended it. You know, as we parked around the corner and walked into the café, I was thinking how much I really like Fountain Square because it feels like a part of a city with history. Not to get too preachy, but our downtown, while it has its beauty for sure, sometimes depresses me for the fact that on so many streets there are nothing but chain restaurants as far as the eye can see. Recently I had a person email me coming from out of town who was staying right downtown and wanted a recommendation for a restaurant that was walking distance, not a chain, and kid friendly (and good). Honestly, I had to tell her if she really wanted something good, her best bet was a cab. And then, take it to Fountain Square. There are lots of options that met her criteria. Anyhow, I am off point again, but this really bugs me.

But as to Shelbi Street Café, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. The menu features mainly salads, pizzas and sandwiches for lunch. I debated between trying one of the pizzas and one of the sandwiches and in the end I went for the Portobello mushroom sandwich because it was the one that most appealed to me at the moment. It had grilled portabella mushrooms, grilled zucchini, yellow squash, caramelized onion, tomato, guacamole and chipotle mayo (well that is what the menu said anyhow). It was served on focaccia. Ok, first of all, there was no guacamole on this puppy. And you know how I like my avocado. So that was a little disappointing. And the sandwich was really tall. It was so tall I had to take a few layers of veggies off just to get it in my mouth. And sadly, while the mushroom was pretty tasty, the bun was pretty soggy from all the juices from it and the other things --especially the bottom of the bread. The caramelized onion was nice, but the chipotle mayo didn’t have enough flavor to really be noticed. The tomato was a good addition for little acidity, but as usual, would have been better if it was riper. I was also asked whether I wanted fruit or sautéed veggies as a side and said fruit (how may veggies does a girl need on a plate?) and still got veggies. When I got our server’s attention, he did bring me out some fruit, but it took a few minutes. I did try the veggies (squash, asparagus, zucchini, and carrots) and they were pretty good. Hubby enjoyed them and ate all of his. I commented that I sort of like these healthy options as a side, and while hubby liked eating them, he said it just isn’t right to not serve chips or fries with a sandwich. So there’s one man’s opinion on that.

Hubby enjoyed his Philly Cheese steak quite a bit more than I enjoyed my sandwich. I had a bite and it was pretty good. Still nothing that was jumping out at me as something I would go back for though. It was lots of beef and onions on more of the focaccia (slightly nontraditional I guess).
The people were really nice in this place and honestly, I wanted to like it. Hubby certainly liked it better than I. But with so many great choices in Fountain Square, this would probably not be one I headed back to anytime soon.

Shelbi Street Café
1105 Shelby Street
Indy 46203
317/687-4857
www.fountainsquareindy.com

Oakley's- Lunch Revisit

Hubby and I hadn’t been to Oakley’s in awhile, and we hadn’t been there for lunch together since before we moved to Indy (we went one week when we were house hunting). I was hoping for one of their incredible soups to strike my fancy, but alas it wasn’t to be. (I think it is time to take butternut squash off the menu by the way—it’s almost May). The soup of the day was black bean which never has really gotten me excited so I went a different direction and decided to revisit the tarts.

I have a thing for puff pastry which the tarts are made on, and even though the last one I had was a little too pizza-ish in flavor, I thought I would give it another go. This time I had the chicken tart which was puff pastry with a bit of tomato coulis type topping, thin sliced chicken breast, a large round of mozzarella, and pesto and balsamic glaze drizzled about. It was served with a small side salad.
This tart was excellent. Really good. This time the tomato did not overwhelm the other flavors. The chicken was really tender and moist, the cheese added a great texture and richness and the pesto and the balsamic made it for me. These two things were excellent and added just the right amount of unique flavors that let you know you were in a skilled chef’s hands. The pesto did not overpower but just added the fresh green taste and the balsamic gave it the perfect sweet and tart balance. The side salad was basic, and dressed with vinaigrette. Didn’t wow me, but it was fine. But hubby had a couple bites of my tart and was quite jealous.
Hubby had the salmon pot pie which he had quite fond memories of from our first visit 4 years ago. He couldn’t remember if it was the same, but he wasn’t quite as impressed this time. It was a lovely presentation—served in a little cast iron pot it was the creamy salmon mixture with cauliflower, pearl onions at the bottom topped with more of the puff pastry as well as some sort of lemony pesto and artichokes which was a little heavily seasoned for hubby. This was one of those cases where the presentation was beautiful—hubby said he thinks Chef Oakley is one of the best platers in Indy and I tend to agree. But sometimes too many layers can lead to too much going on (wow, never thought I would say that, I do love my layers of flavor). But there was something on top he didn’t care for too much. Once he got down into the salmon part he enjoyed it much more than whatever was on the top. I had a bit of the bottom—it was very creamy and rich and had a nice flavor. But mine was better.

Hubby was also happy to see they had wine by the quartino and not just by the glass. You know, one glass just isn’t quite enough, but 2 is too much for lunch. A quartino is technically a third of a bottle, so just a slightly bigger glass (they call it a glass and a half). I loved in England they had two sizes of glasses everywhere, small and large, and they had lines on the glasses to measure that you got exactly that amount every time. I think it must have been regulated by the government or something. You never got those crappy small pours on the first glass like you so often do around here in order to entice you to order the second glass.

Anyway, it was a great lunch, we sat outside on the sidewalk in full sun and it was gorgeous. The food was good, the service was good, and so was the ambience. I was a little concerned that there was only one other table there at lunch, but maybe they make up for it at dinner.

Oakley’s Bistro
1464 west 86th Street
Indy 46260
317/824-1231
www.oakleysbistro.com (and by the way, one of the better websites around for local restaurants too. Well done.)

The Garrison Brunch

Ok, I have to admit, I have been itching to try this place since one of you guys mentioned they have really good fried chicken (I told you, I have a little problem with fried chicken). And because it is known for its Sunday brunch buffet, I always think of it when it’s some sort of brunchy holiday like Easter or Mother’s Day. But on these days, it is nearly impossible to get a reservation. So I decided to just pick a random Sunday, invite the family, and have a nice family brunch on some non-holiday Sunday.

The Garrison is located at Fort Harrison state park in one of the historic buildings. It is a lovely setting and the restaurant overlooks a bit of the golf course. There is a nice deck that had a few tables on it. It was too cold the day we were there, but hopefully they let you sit out there when the weather is warmer.

We made our reservation for 11:00 and at the time, I didn’t realize that is when they open. There were people lined up to get in at 11:00 (without reservations). Slightly annoyingly, they didn’t open at 11:00 promptly, but shortly after. But we had a very large group (16) and they had set up a very nice table with carafes of water, iced tea and lemonade which I thought was a nice touch. They serve other drinks (including mimosas) that you can order from a server.

So the spread here is Midwestern cuisine—a giant buffet of breakfast and lunch items. Breakfast-wise, there were scrambled eggs with cheese, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, eggs Benedict, French toast and a omelet and waffle making station. Lunch-wise there was fried chicken, fried catfish, pork tenderloin slices, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and au gratin potatoes, a couple of veggies (think corn and green beans), and cherry cobbler as well as a carving station with ham, roast beef, and a whole salmon. There was also a case with warm bread items (biscuits, dinner rolls, etc).

Separately, there was a full fruit and salad bar, and a large table full of various desserts (mainly cakes and pies), and my kids’ favorite part—a little kids cart (at their level) with chicken strips, pizza, more of the mac and cheese, and cookies. They just liked the idea of being able to “help themselves” (sort of) even though I think several of the adult items were the things they actually ate.

So I tried several things, and I will say, I did enjoy the fried chicken. It was especially good when you got it right when they brought it out and it was steaming hot. The dark meat and wings were the best I think because they were slightly moister (although even the breasts weren’t bad). There was nice seasoning on the crust giving it a nice flavor. The catfish was not bad (a few too many bones in my piece). I also enjoyed the eggs Benedict—I was surprised at how runny the yolks still were considering it was a buffet. The flavor was nice, although they were a tad dry (not quite enough Hollandaise). The mashed potatoes were quite creamy and had a bit of cheese, and the mac and cheese wasn’t bad either. The carved roast beef was far too done for me, but the jus served alongside had a nice, purely meaty flavor. The salmon, while fully cooked through, was still quite moist since it was the whole fish. Several people at the table really enjoyed it.

I found the desserts sort of blah, even though the spread looked very impressive. But there were a lot of the same cheesecake with slightly different toppings and a lot of cream pies. I tried several, and none of them really stood out to me. The kids certainly enjoyed them though, even though I was a little nervous about my son with the nut allergy as there were quite a few things that were obviously peanut/nut oriented on the table (and I am pretty sure some of the cookies on the kids cart were peanut butter which was a little scary) But he stuck with chocolate cake and was fine.

All in all, we had a nice meal and my teenage/20 something nephews certainly got their money’s worth! And it is nice to be able to have a big family gathering and people can just get what they want when they want. The food was all a little better than what I expected, but not so good that I crave any one thing. But I am sure at some point we will go back—and maybe a hike through Fort Ben after.

The Garrison
6002 North Post Road
Indy 46216
317543-9592
www.garrisonresort.com

Sandra Rice and Noodle

After sitting and watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations in which he visited Vietnam the other night on the DVR, I declared that the next day we were trying one of the Vietnamese places that have been recommended to me. Up until he got to the part where they dined on bugs and songbirds, I wanted everything he ate. So we sort of flipped a coin between the two places on the list, and landed at Sandra Rice and Noodles on the east side.

This is one of those little strip mall restaurants, but I like the way people are finally figuring out how to make them feel a little warmer inside. Use some warm colors (here shades of brown) and skip the stark white walls. The woman who helped us (Sandra I presume?) was exceedingly friendly and helpful. When we got there (fairly early in the lunch hour) there was only one other table. By the time we left, the place was full and several people had come in for carry out.

We wanted to try several things, and the prices are pretty reasonable, so we did. We ordered the starter of egg rolls (which were more like the fried spring rolls, but usually in Vietnamese cuisine spring rolls are not fried, so maybe that is why they called them egg rolls). These were the thin crispy rolls filled with a bit of meat (pork and shrimp), glass noodles and green onions. They were served with the traditional slightly spicy Vietnamese sauce. These were nice—very crispy and quite plentiful for the $4 price tag.

We ordered two dishes to share, the lemongrass chicken lunch special (recommended by our server) and the beef Pho. The lemongrass chicken lunch special included a starter of a small bowl of soup and one soft spring roll (wrapped in rice paper). The soup was the chicken and rice soup, which was one of my favorite things to eat when I was pregnant with my daughter. It is a chicken broth based soup, with some chunks of veggies (carrot and celery) and super soft and fat pieces of rice in it. I think I enjoyed this soup maybe more than the Pho actually. It was tasty and comforting. The soft spring roll was nice too, although I think I prefer the crunchy ones for the variety in texture.
The main dish, the lemongrass chicken, unfortunately, was pretty disappointing, mainly because the chicken was so overcooked. It was tough and dry, and some pieces bordered on gristly. The flavor of the lemongrass sauce was nice—the sweet tangy flavor of the lemongrass with a nice underlying spicy kick that built slowly as you ate it, but it couldn’t make up for the chicken. And there wasn’t much else to this dish besides the rice (a little cilantro on top) so there was nothing to really distract from the chicken.

As for the Pho, I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like it that much. I keep looking for some that is really good and I generally have the same impression of it—it just isn’t exciting. Pho is a rice noodle soup with some sort of meat (we went with the rare beef version). Ours was made with beef broth and had a bit of scallions in it. You are served a plate alongside with various things to

spice it up—bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, jalapenos, lime, hoisin sauce and hot sauce. Even after adding all of these things, I found it just ho hum. And after awhile, you feel like you are just playing with your food when you keep adding more and more stuff. And the “rare” beef slices may have been slightly pink before going in the soup, but were not at all once they were in the hot broth. I think raw slices of beef may have been a better option. These pieces ended up quite tough by the time you ate them. Who knows, maybe I am just a lazy eater. I like food to be prepared for me, and seasoned by the chef I guess. But I know that isn’t how Pho works. I guess I just need to stop ordering it.

My other problem is that I was spoiled in San Francisco with several really good, high end Vietnamese places. Places with a heavy French influence. Maybe that is more my taste. Because Sandra Rice has been recommended by many readers, and people I trust, and I just didn’t get it. If you like this place, tell me what you had; maybe we are just ordering wrong. Because I was a little sad when one of the two Vietnamese places that were out there giving me hope was such a disappointment. Oh well, there’s always option B.

Sandra Rice and Noodles
10625 Pendleton Pike
Indy 46236
317/823-8323

Santorini Greek Kitchen

I want to start by saying this is the kind of place you walk into and you feel welcome. I really like the vibe of the place—a lot of families, including the one running the place, and lots of different kind of people from those still wearing work clothes to those clearly on a date, to a young couple who must have been headed to prom. It sort of warms my heart to see all these people, particularly families in an independently-owned restaurant. And I figured it was going to be busy when I called for a reservation and was given either 5:30 or 8:30 as my options. I was back in San Fran for a second. We actually negotiated to 6:00, as long as we promised to get out of there by 7:00, because they had another table coming in. But the very nice lady on the phone was concerned we would feel too rushed and she wanted us to enjoy our meal. She needn’t have worried about the timing; this place cranks the food out quickly. We had three courses, and could have easily fit in dessert in the slightly over an hour we were there.

We had a really hard time deciding on the appetizer because there were many things that sounded good from the saganaki (or flaming goat cheese) to the fried eggplant. But, we started with an order of the spanikopita which is one of my perennial favorites. Spanikopita is a little phyllo based appetizer which is stuffed with spinach and cheese. This was quite different from most I have had, in that it was much crispier, and was hollower in the middle. Hubby and I sat and discussed whether we liked it better or not as much as other spanikopita we have tasted. He decided he liked it more because it wasn’t as heavy. I really enjoyed it, but couldn’t say I liked it more. I would certainly happily eat it again, but I sort of like the even richer versions with more layers of phyllo and more filling. But it was very different, and it was sort of difficult to compare. This was also liberally sprinkled with feta (everything was here, they use feta like other places might use parsley) and served with some very tangy tzaziki which is a tangy yogurt cucumber dip. This is one of the few times I have been served spanikopita with something to dip in, and it was nice. The tzaziki had the requisite tangy flavor, but usually there is more green in it, this was pretty much pure white.

We were next served our salads which came with every entrée (I think you could also get soup if you preferred). It was a nice Greek salad with lettuce, olives, red onion, tomatoes and lots more feta. And it was tossed with a very very tangy vinaigrette. So tangy in fact (which is sort of shocking for me) that I added a little more olive oil to it (there is olive oil and vinegar on every table). We were also given a loaf of garlicky bread from the oven which was quite crispy (bordering on close to burnt actually) and tasty. Interestingly, our second loaf was soft and a little under done so they are obviously heating them all the time. Some get left in the over a little more than others. One right in the middle would have been ideal, but I loved the very garlicky flavor.

For my main, I had the leg of lamb. It was roasted leg of lamb stuffed with large slices of garlic. Now, leg of lamb is probably my favorite lamb dish, although when I cook it at home, I tend to still keep it on the medium rare side. This was very well done. Obviously slow roasted for a long time. The flavor was nice—it retained a really nice lamb flavor and all the garlic was very soft and really good with it. The sauce on it was also nice---clearly just a pure light broth made of the meat stock and garlic and no flavor to overpower the flavor of the meat. It was served with rice pilaf, tomato-ey green beans and Greek potatoes. The sides were just ok, probably the best one being the potatoes which had a lemon flavor that added that nice tart kick to the rich garlicky lamb when eaten together. But just because it was so cooked, and a little too chewy, I probably wouldn’t order it again, although I saw several other people ordering it, and it seemed to be very popular.

Hubby went with the gyros and really enjoyed them. He thought the gyro meat (which is slow roasted lamb and beef combined together and then cut into thin slices) was really good and after eating it understood while the menu offers an option of a side of the gyro meat to any entrée. He enjoyed the whole dish, although wished it hadn’t been so completely covered in the tzaziki because he liked the meat on its own so much.

So as we sat enjoying this meal on this spring day, we discussed the fact that we would certainly come back even if everything we had wasn’t amazing. The food was enjoyable, there are lots of things we would like to try, and the vibe was just a happy one. And with all those singe marks on the ceiling from the saganaki; we are certainly going to have to give it a try soon.

Santorini Greek Kitchen
1417 Prospect Street
Indy 46203
317/917-1117
www.greekkitchen.dine.com

Boogie Burger

A lot of you guys have recommended Boogie Burger to me. Well, the other day, the sun was shining, and since they don’t really have a lot of seating inside, but they have a nice patio area, it seemed like a great day for it. They share the patio attached to the Monkey’s Tail bar next door, so you can sit out there on a nice day (adults only if the bar is actually open). At lunch, at least the day I was there, it was not.

So obviously, this place is a burger joint, but they also have a few other things available- chicken sandwiches, hot dogs (from King David Dogs no less), a tuna burger and even a couple of veggie burgers. Since this was my first time, I figured I better go with a straight beef burger. However, as simple as that sounds, they have lots of various ways to have your burger—with bacon and a fried egg, blue cheese and even one that has pineapple.

I went with the ‘shroom burger which is a burger with grilled mushrooms and Swiss cheese and I also got the additional option of adding the fresh Parsley and garlic mix. It was good. And the extra mix made it very garlic-y which was fine with me, although others I came into contact with may not have thought the same thing. Probably didn’t help we also had the garlic fries, but I will get to those in a sec. So the burgers are 1/3 pound patties which is a decent size—not real small, but not so big that it turns into a monster to put in your mouth (although you can get doubles and triples). They are also char grilled, and that is one of their signature things.

So to go off on that tangent for a moment, here’s the deal with me and burgers. I have come to realize that I prefer fried burgers (as in on a griddle or frying pan type surface) better than char grilled. Yes, they are probably not as healthy, but if you are eating a burger, you aren’t going for health right? I think frying them keeps more of the juices (and fat) intact, where grilling them lets it all drip out and makes for a drier consistency. Of course, the grilling also adds a distinct flavor, but it isn’t enough for me to make up for the drier meat. This is not just true at Boogie Burger, I feel the same way with things I make at home. And this is not to say I do not like grilled food, throw a steak on the grill and I am totally into it, but in that case the juices get sealed in I guess, since it isn’t all ground up to start with. I also tend to like really thin burgers (think Steak ‘n Shake and Workingman’s Friend) that are slightly crispy on the edges. You aren’t getting really thin OR crispy edges when you are cooking on a grill.

Ok, with that being said, we found our burgers a little dry. The toppings on mine made up for this on the whole, all that gooey cheese and sautéed mushrooms gave enough moisture to let the sandwich still be quite enjoyable. Hubby had a burger with cheddar, bacon and deep fried onion rings. He liked it ok, but his thoughts sort of mirrored my own. And his wasn’t as gooey, so he felt like his was even drier. The buns are super soft, and I really liked them.
We also shared an order of the garlic fries (you really ought to share, they are enormous portions) and didn’t even finish them. I liked the garlic and parsley flavor on the fries, but without it, I am afraid they wouldn’t have been very special. They were pleasantly crispy, but again, with so many good fries in this town, they didn’t stand out.

I like the homey feel of the place and many of the combos to top your burger with sounded very intriguing (I could totally do bacon and egg) and the people who work there were exceptionally friendly and accommodating. I can totally see how a place like this would do a killing in the evening after the drinking has taken off in Broad Ripple. But hey, since we are talking burgers, what’s your fave and how come?

Boogie Burger
927 East Westfield Blvd
Indy, 46220
317/255-2450
www.boogieburger.com

Marco's - Lunch

Hubby and I were driving on Keystone looking for a particular fried chicken place the other day (didn’t have the exact address on us, so we weren’t sure where it was). We couldn’t find it this day, and we were hungry so we just decided to bag it and go to Marco’s. It is one of those places we drive by a lot and have wondered about, and I didn’t even know they were open for lunch. Great patio, great day, we decided to give it a go.

The first thing I noticed was how crowded it was for lunch. Not full, but the patio was about half full, the restaurant was about half full, and even the bar was half full. It was a beautiful (if windy) day and we chose the patio. We were seated right next to a little fountain which I appreciated because it drown out a little of the busy traffic noise from 54th and Keystone.

We were promptly waited on by a very friendly and attentive server. Marco’s is an Italian place, but their lunch menu, while it includes several Italian dishes, mainly features regular soup , salad and sandwich lunch items. Honestly, the menu wasn’t overly exciting to me, but as we walked in hubby spied a pork tenderloin sandwich being served to another table and declared that is what he was getting. I had a hard time choosing just because nothing was really inspiring me, but I ended up going with a chicken and mozzarella Panini with tomatoes and avocado. Also, for my side, I had a cup of the creamy broccoli soup. I was assured it, as well as everything else there, was homemade.

The soup was pretty good. I liked it better than my sandwich actually. It was a creamy soup, but with several chunks of veggies including carrots and celery, and a nice broccoli flavor. It had a touch of cheese in it, so it was pretty rich, but just a cup of it hit the spot. I would order soup here again for sure.

My sandwich, on the other hand, was just mediocre. The chicken part of it was nice. It wasn’t too dried out, and even though it was a whole piece of lightly seasoned chicken breast, it was maybe pounded a bit, so it wasn’t too thick. The mozzarella was pretty good, it said fresh, so I was sort of expecting it to be a bit softer I guess. It just seemed like regular firm mozzarella (melted) to me. The avocado was mostly brown which was a bit of a turn off, and the tomatoes, as usual, were not ripe. The bread was nicely toasted in the Panini press, but all in all, I would not get this sandwich again based on this experience.

Hubby had the pork tenderloin sandwich which was much better than mine. It was the way we like them, not so thin that it is totally dried out and hanging over the bun. And the bun itself was perfect and the same size as the tenderloin (which was big). Just some mayo and onions on top and it was quite delicious. I had several bites of it, and it was certainly one of the better tenderloins I have had, and I would even think of ordering it should we return.

So would I go back to Marco’s? Well it is certainly on the radar now, and I know hubby is going to want to go back for another tenderloin.

Marco’s
2380 East 54th Street
Indy 46220
317/251-7000

R Bistro - Revisit

It has been awhile since we have been to R Bistro, and we do usually really like this place. As I have mentioned before, it is just a matter of getting the right menu that we both want to go eat, and we go.

On this night, we shared the pan fried crab cake with Old Bay seasoning and creamy sauce and the mitzuna salad with poached egg and pancetta for our starters. Both were very good. I sort of have a bias against crab cakes because they are usually not very good, but this one was. Very crabby and seasoned nicely. The sauce was a tangy creamy sauce, with a touch of heat. And it was just one cake-properly sized for an appetizer in my opinion.

The salad was also very good. A nice amount of the mitzuna greens (similar to arugula with its peppery flavor, but a bit milder) topped with a slice of caramelized apple topped with a round of pan fried pancetta. And a perfectly poached egg, appropriately runny, right in the middle of the salad. This was a very well done salad. Maybe a tad underdressed, but with the runny center of the egg, it came together. The apple was a nice touch to give a slightly sweet flavor to the rich and salty bacon and egg flavor. I thought there was a little too much of the apple, and did not eat all of it, but just some small bites with the other items. The pancetta was perfectly crisp and the salad was also the right size. We enjoyed both items a lot, but probably thought the crab cake edged the salad out a tiny bit. (Ok, hubby thinks the crab cake edged it out a lot, but we disagree on this).

For my main, I had the Alaskan halibut with sweet potatoes, arugula and lime butter sauce. I will start by saying that the fish was perfectly cooked, and was not dry and all. The lime butter sauce was simple, but perfect for the fish. Buttery and tangy with the lime flavor and some lime zest. The arugula complimented it as well. I was not a big fan of the sweet potato aspect of the dish, it just didn’t seem to add anything and they didn’t really have a lot of flavor. And maybe because they seem sort of fall-ish to me, and I am so excited about spring foods, they just weren’t doing it for me. But the rest of the dish was quite nice. Not amazing, actually fairly simple, but well prepared and well seasoned.

Hubby had the quail and sausage braised with grapes on blue cheese and walnut polenta. Hubby loves his little birds, and he thought the quail was very well done. He did not however think the accompaniments added much to it, although he liked them all with the sausage. He said the quail could stand alone. The sausage he liked with the grapes and polenta, although he did not remember any blue cheese flavor there.

All in all, while it wasn’t our best R Bistro experience, it was a very nice meal. We had good service and good food on a beautiful spring day.

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy 46202
317/423-0312
www.rbistro.com

On Time Seafood

When we lived in San Francisco, one of our favorite lunch routines was dim sum. Dim sum is sort of like Chinese tapas, or little plates. Our usual spot for dim sum is Shanghai Lil’s, which is quite good (see my previous review), but I had heard there were other places to go, so I wanted to see what else was out there. It appears these days, there is just one other place (please let me know if I am mistaken) to go, which is on the west side, called On Time seafood. So off we went.

It is another one of those restaurants in a somewhat neglected strip mall. I was surprised though by how nice the interior was relative to the outside. Very, very clean, and not your standard Chinese restaurant interior. Decent upholstered chairs and a row of booths along the walls. Also, one of the first things I noticed were the fish tanks in the back, with live fish, lobsters, and get this, Dungeness crab. Wow, it was hard not to say, “screw the dim sum, let’s get a crab!” But I didn’t. But I am going back for a crab very, very soon. This is the first place I have seen live Dungeness crab in Indy and I can’t wait to eat one. These are by far my favorite.

Anyway, the dim sum, overall, was very good as well. You are given a written menu to check off what you want, as well as a nice card with pictures of all the items. Nice touch, particularly since it appeared there was only one person working in the entire place that spoke English and the place was pretty crowded. Although many of the customers were also speaking Chinese, so maybe it isn’t that necessary.

We ordered the shrimp dumplings (I am just going to use the English names here for ease of typing), the spring rolls, pan fried chive cakes, the pan fried shrimp roll, and the fried sticky rice with mixed meat. The shrimp dumplings were very good. Just your basic dumpling wrapper with whole pieces of shrimp inside. Hubby and I were discussing why it is that some are good and some are not, because they seem pretty simple. But we have had some bad ones. However, these were really good.

The next thing I tried was the pan fried chive cakes. I think these may have been my favorite. The filling was just mainly chives, but the dumpling wrapper was pan fried and had nice crisp sides to it that had a wonderful flavor. There were some other things mixed in with the chive mixture which made it quite tasty. Sometimes I have had them and they taste just too much like grass. These were superb.

The spring rolls were fine. They gave us the crunch factor we needed to balance the soft dumplings. The fillings were just standard though and a couple of the pieces of pork inside were a little gristly for me. I certainly think the spring rolls at Shanghai Lil’s are better, but these do the job.

We also had the pan fried shrimp rolls which were really good. This was more of a chewy wrapper that had a bit of filling with a bit of shrimp in it. They were then lightly pan fried. So they had a bit of chewiness to them which was nice, as well as a bit of the crunch. We both really liked these as well and put them on the “would definitely order again” list. They weren’t super shrimpy, but had a nice and more unusual flavor.


We never actually got the shrimp and cilantro dumplings. We were twice brought out a set of dumplings, sent them back the first time, because they were clearly not shrimp and cilantro (some sort of meat in there). The second time they brought out the same thing, and we just decided to eat them anyway. They were pretty good, but I didn’t think they were as good as the other things. Hubby said he would order them again if he could figure out what they were. I think, based on a process of elimination, that they may have been the Chiu Chow dumplings which are stuffed with pork and various other ingredients. They were fairly apologetic about not being able to get the other dumplings for us, and declared they must be out of them.

The final thing we had was the fried sticky rice with mixed meat. Ok, this was not good. Or I should say, we did not like it at all. As soon as it was placed on the table, I wanted it removed just for the smell. But I bucked up and took a bite, and realized the taste was right in line with the smell. Now I am very sensitive to smell, but when hubby started physically moving away from it in the booth, I knew it wasn’t just me. I can’t tell you what was in it (mixed meat apparently) and I can’t tell you what the offensive ingredient was. But after a little research, I have seen a recipe discussing the Chinese sausage giving it its characteristic “aroma” so maybe that was it. But I really don’t know. It was sort of a fermented seafood-y scent to me I think. Anyway, the owner came by and asked us if we didn’t like it (because we had barely touched it and moved it to the edge of the table) and we said no. She promptly offered to cook us something else and to take it off our bill which I thought was very professional. So many places don’t do this unless you ask. And I wasn’t going to ask, because I thought, maybe it was just something that wasn’t my taste, but that other people might like. She also, without prompting, removed the shrimp and cilantro dumplings we never got from our bill, even though we did eat the ones we did get. She was extremely apologetic right up until the moment I walked out of the door which I thought was sort of refreshing.

Now, there’s no booze at this place (not even Chinese beer) so hubby has taken it off the evening meal potential list, but they have a nice dinner menu as well with those aforementioned crabs. We’re just going to have to go split one of those for lunch one of these days. And we will do dim sum there again as well for a change of pace. We will just stay far far away from that fried sticky rice.

On Time Seafood Restaurant
3623 Commerical Drive
Indy 46222
317/293-8888