Si (aka Scholar's Inn) - one more time

*****SI IS OUT OF BUSINESS*****

I was headed to a show at the Murat the other night with a friend and we weren’t sure exactly when we could get downtown and where we would eat. Before it closed, Elements would have been my go to locale, but had to figure out something else. We decided to go back to Si (aka Scholar’s Inn) because the menu had changed a bit and there were a few interesting things on it.

Because we sort of just got down there when we could, and because it was a Wednesday, we decided to just wing it without a reservation. Upon entering, and meeting the hostess, we were given the eye roll/heavy sigh when we told her we didn’t have a reservation. Have I mentioned how snooty host/esses are one of my big pet peeves? They are literally the first human impression in a restaurant. And nothing gets me in a bad mood faster before I have even put a bite of food in my mouth than someone who seems annoyed by my very presence. If you can’t accommodate us, I understand. Tell us. We’ll go somewhere else.

Anyhow, we got seated, and ordered some wine. We decided to share one of the flatbreads for a starter because I have never had one here and was intrigued. We got the Zesty BLT flatbread with Applewood smoked bacon, manchego cheese, heirloom tomatoes, arugula with lime cilantro yogurt. It was pretty good—particularly the parts with really crispy crust (the four middle pieces). The end pieces were thicker and not as crispy. The arugula was nicely dressed with the yogurt. And the bacon was yummy. I hate it when you get dry tasteless bacon, but this was nice and properly crisp and chewy at the same time with good flavor.

Strangely, although there are 3 steaks on the menu (and I was in the mood for steak), they were out of 2 of them (the filet and the N.Y. strip steak) which was sort of a bummer because I liked the sound of the sides with the strip. (Wondering how a restaurant is out of both their high end steaks, but oh well) So I sort of had to settle for the skirt steak which I think I had the last time I was there. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was a generous portion (4 pieces of meat) served with corn, sweet pepper, black bean and cucumber relish. The meat itself was marinated in a lime, cilantro, and cumin marinade. You could taste all the flavors and I appreciate that. The meat was just a little too tough for me (hence why I would have preferred one of the others). And some starch would be nice.

So my friend got the mushroom ravioli which was described as goat cheese shallot ravioli with a shitake and oyster mushroom sauce. I had a bit of this as well, and it was also just ok. “Meh” was how my friend described it. What I didn’t understand was where the shitakes were. All I saw on top (and there were lots of mushrooms) were brown button mushrooms. And I wasn’t aware of oyster mushrooms either. There was also some flavor in the seasoning that couldn’t be placed exactly, that my friend was not a big fan of.

Si does have a nice bread service, with a nice warm loaf of bread and good better. One of the benefits of having your own bakehouse I guess. As I have said before, I do like the interior of this place physically. It is very modern and stylish. I have had some issues with the staff at this place (one example noted above), which seems to be a problem at many restaurants around here. Our server was fine, a bit distant, but she answered all our questions and was attentive enough that our glasses never ran dry. The menu only changes slightly from time to time as far as I can tell, and I get bored with the same stuff all the time.

Overall, it was just an ok experience, with the flatbread being the best thing we had. Well, that and the concert after.

Scholar’s Inn/Si
725 Mass Ave
Indy, 46204
317-536-0707
http://www.scholarsinn.com/

Ruth’s Keystone Café

I reported the other day on Twitter that I had drove by Ruth’s Keystone Café, and for a nice change of pace, saw some good news—it was re-opening after being closed suddenly in July. It was a place I ate several times, and I guess I sort of took it for granted, so I wanted to make sure and support it once it re-opened. So the BFF and I met there for lunch on what was their 4th day open.

The menu is very similar to what it was before, many of the same items, and certainly all the favorite ones (at least for me). It is paired down a bit, and has been re-printed on nice new shiny laminated cards. One of my favorite changes is that they have a nice section of combos (e.g. soup and salad, soup and sandwich or salad and sandwich) and you can get a petite portion of ANY of their salads with the combo. This is exactly what I needed at this place because there is a salad I really like (the warm wild mushroom) and several sandwiches I like as well. So I had the sandwich/salad combo with the mushroom salad and half of their Cobb sandwich. Perfect.

The salad is a salad of spinach leaves topped with warm mushrooms (mostly the brown button type), blue cheese and walnuts and served with a yummy truffle vinaigrette. There was so much of the toppings that I didn’t even end up eating all of them after going through all the spinach. But it is a really nice, hearty salad. And it is nice to be able to get something warm when the weather is starting to get a little cold.

My sandwich was the Ruth’s Cobb with shredded chicken breast, avocado, aioli, bacon and blue cheese. They have changed the style of this sandwich (and quite possibly all of them I think) to be panini type sandwiches—sliced bread with the ingredients inside and then pressed and toasted in the panini press. I found it nice to have all the ingredients slightly warm and the bread nice and toasty and not too thick, but if you are looking for the buns they used to have, you might be disappointed. I also liked that they have put more of the choice ingredients on the sandwiches, as that was my big gripe before. There was much more blue cheese and avocado, and this makes me happy. And the bacon was really tasty too. Let’s hope they keep it up!

The BFF had one of her old time favorites—the potato omelet and said she thought it was even better than before as well.

I talked to our server who said they have been quite busy since re-opening and hope that it continues this way. If this is a place you liked before and neglected, or a place you have never been to, give it a try. Support one of our better local lunch spots!

Ruth’s Keystone Café
3443 East 86th Street
Indy 46240
317-466-0770

Light Housekeeping

Hi all you wonderful people,

A couple of little friendly reminders:

1. Regarding comments: I love your comments and I want to post them all, but I can only post your thoughts and opinions on my reviews or the restaurants I discuss. Please don't state things that might be health code violations and/or labor violations because I don't feel like I can post such things responsibly (e.g. "there was a bug in my food" or "this place gave me food poisoning.") unless you can link me to an actual complaint that has been filed. I was a lawyer in a former life and these kinda things make me a little squeamish. Also, please don't personally attack anyone (i.e. name names). I just don't like it. Too personal. My comment policy is posted in the lower right-hand corner of my blog. So if you didn't see your comment published, you can look and see why--feel free to resubmit it (or send me an email and ask me and I will tell you why I didn't post it). I hate it when I can't publish comments!

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Thanks for reading!

Erin

Dragon House Chinese Eatery

I love twitter. I didn’t think I would, but the other day I was sort of stuck in Fishers for a few hours, and I realized if I could find a decent place to eat that had wifi, I could actually get something accomplished all while eating my lunch. So I posted a tweet asking for any recommendations, and thanks to @Indytina, I ended up at Dragon House at 116th and Allisonville.

I think this place is sort of known for its buffets (they offer one for lunch and one for dinner) but I am not generally a buffet kind of gal generally so I ordered off the menu. You order at the front and then take a seat and they bring it out to you. This place seems to be doing a pretty good business as it was more than half full on a random Wednesday and it is pretty big. I always like to see that in a place. The interior is not the surprising warm interior you sometimes find in strip malls, it is pretty bare bones, truly reminds you of a Chinese place you might see in a China town. Nothing fancy about it.

Anyway, I ordered the garlic chicken lunch special, which comes with steamed rice (you can substitute fried rice for an extra $.50), and 2 veggie spring rolls. The lady at the front also asked me how spicy I wanted it (it was designated on the menu as a spicy item anyway). I told her medium just to see what that meant since usually I don’t find Chinese food to be very spicy. The chicken was all white meat and was served with a massive amount of veggies, including carrots, broccoli, baby corn, red and green peppers, cabbage and yummy mushrooms. You know what? It was pretty good. I liked it. Sort of an old fashioned Chinese place with all the old school things on the menu—moo goo gai pan, sweet and sour pork, chicken chow mein, the works. But the food is fresh, and my garlic chicken actually had some heat to it after a couple bites. The spring rolls were also quite tasty and crisp and were a nice little side dish. And the amount of food you get for $5.25 is pretty generous.

I actually quite liked this place and would gladly go again. If I lived closer, I might even get it frequently. Good food at a great price. And clearly the buffet is a big draw if you’re into that. And hey, there’s a cute Korean place next door called Café Korea that looked a little intriguing too—anyone been there?

And thanks again to Twitter and @Indytina! And hey, remember, I am there too --@indyrestscene

Dragon House Chinese Eatery
7260 Fishers Crossing Drive
Fishers, IN 46038
317-594-8663
www.dragonhousefishers.com

Viet Bistro

I really like Vietnamese food and really miss it since moving from SF. I know there are several on the east and west sides, but this place is right near my house and I have been meaning to try it. It’s another one of those strip mall places with a semi-pleasant interior.

Anyhow, the BFF and I were the first ones there, and were alone for much of our meal, although by the time we left there were several tables. I ordered an appetizer for us to share to start—the Bo tai chanh, or thinly sliced rare beef with onion and lemon juice. This was quite tasty. It was thin sliced, quite rare beef topped with a mound of very thinly sliced lemony onions and some spices on top. It was served with light crispy rice crackers that snap crackled and popped when you put anything moist on top (and there was also a slightly spicy sauce to pour over the top). I took a picture of the entire dish as well as one cracker all put together, because you couldn’t even see the beef for all the onions on the serving plate. Overall, this was my favorite thing I had and would order this again. A nice combination of flavors and the crispy crackers were a little addicting. They added a great texture to the soft meat.

For my entrée, I ordered the hu tiu ga, or thin rice noodle soup with chicken. The ingredients were all very fresh, but this soup seemed to lack any real spark. It would be a nice comforting soup to eat if you don’t feel well, but was a little too bland for me, even when I added several different types of seasonings and sauces. The chicken was nice pieces of white meat that were not overcooked, but again, the sum of the parts was just a little too boring. There was also a massive amount of noodles--you could certainly make several meals out of this bowl of soup. My friend had the clay pot rice with chicken and felt the same way about it—just nothing exciting.

It sort of bummed me out because the thing I like about Vietnamese cuisine is the unique flavors that the cuisine has as compared to other Asian foods. However, with the exception of the appetizer, there was nothing really special about it for me.

Viet Bistro
5763 E. 86th Street
Indy 46250
317/598-1899

Bijou Restaurant - Lebanon

Before we had actually moved back to Indy, I had heard about this place from my sister—her boss at the time thought it was the best restaurant in the Indianapolis area. So I was intrigued to say the least. But the downside was it is in Lebanon which seemed so far away just for dinner. After mapquesting it, we realized, while distance-wise it was farther, time-wise, it was really about the same from our house as it is to go to some of the farther places downtown. And it was our anniversary, so it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a go (although our big anniversary celebration is coming up next week in Chicago, but that’s another post!) One note though, I probably would stick to going here on a Saturday night from Indy unless you go later, because I imagine traffic is pretty bad during rush hour.

To start with, it is chef owned and operated, which I think seems to make a restaurant more of a labor of love, and I tend to find that things come together better all around in these circumstances. I also love the homey, but upscale atmosphere of the interior of Bijou. The restaurant is set on the town square in downtown Lebanon, looking right onto the front of the courthouse. Sadly, this downtown looks a little forlorn, like so many small town downtowns, but the restaurant itself seems to be doing fine. It reminds me of a lot of the small family owned places we used to go to in Europe—it is a couple of store fronts wide, but with dark wood and white tablecloths. The place has been there awhile, and you can tell, but thankfully, wasn’t decorated in the 80s, if you know what I mean.

Anyhow, our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the food and the wines, although he was a bit over-worked I think. There were a few pauses in service that might have been just a little too long. But we were enjoying ourselves, and our wine, so we didn’t mind.

We each started with an appetizer, which we shared and they were both totally outstanding. Mine was the lobster feuilleté which was beautifully cooked (read perfectly tender) pieces of lobster meat (and a lot of it) topped with a piece of puff pastry. And there was actually a bit of the pastry underneath the meat as well. The lobster was all in a Champagne cream sauce. It was rich and decadent and really, just perfect.

Hubby ordered (and again we shared) the oysters Bijou which were wonderful, small, tender Blue Point oysters served in their shells with bacon and a Chardonnay cream sauce (and there was a super thin slice of bread underneath the oyster making it all stay together).These were outstanding as well. I had a hard time deciding which was better and went back and forth, but in the end I think I liked the lobster better, although I would quite happily get either one (or both!) again.

We also decided to split one of their salads because they sounded good. We settled on the spinach salad with onion and Roquefort and served with a tangy lemon vinaigrette. I appreciated that they split it for us and that each salad had the appropriate amount of toppings. This was a simple salad, but one of the best I have had in a while. The Roquefort was truly Roquefort. It was super high quality cheese and you could really taste it. Not those tasteless blue cheese crumbles you get a lot of places. This was proper cheese. Proper French cheese. And I loved the vinaigrette, and the fact that there was the exact right amount of it, even on a split salad. No obligatory “warm bacon vinaigrette” here. And it was delicious.

Oh, and wait, I almost forgot the bread. Oh my. Warm perfect French baguettes. Just when you thought it might be impossible to find. There they are. In Lebanon. And the butter was delicious too—had a bit of salt and was perfect with the bread. I’m serious. You may think bread and butter sounds obvious, but I think it is tough to find a decent bread service around here. Man, it was hard to not eat too much. And they were happy to refill as much as you wanted. Oh! And I almost forgot the little palate cleanser that was sent out. Really superb passionfruit sorbet. I love passionfruit and this was really good. I really could have had a bowl for dessert. But I appreciate the palate cleanser. I think this is the first Indiana restaurant in which I have been served one.

Ok, unfortunately, this is the point where things got a little disappointing. The entrées were just ok. I was torn between the walleye in a lemon cream sauce or the shrimp and crab Normandie. Based on the waiter’s recommendation (he did say they were both very good though), I tried the shrimp and crab Normandie. This dish was large shrimp curled around a bit of what was basically crab cake mixture and set into a cream sauce with a touch of chipotle. The shrimp were cooked pretty well, but the crab cake mixture was disappointing and the sauce was just too blah. The whole thing needed a shot of acid of some sort (lemon perhaps would be an obvious choice) to bump it out of its flat, purely rich flavor. I wished I would have ordered the fish. The other thing that annoyed me (and is a pet peeve of mine) is that while each entrée is served with its own starch (mine was couscous which was fine, but plain, although in a heart shape), every single entrée is served with the same vegetable of the day. I know, I am sure this is much easier for the restaurant, and I get that. But I would almost rather not have it, then to have a one-side fits all type of thing. In a restaurant as nice as this, if you can’t pair something special, then just don’t do it. In case you are wondering, the side dish was a ratatouille with tomatoes and eggplant and then some broccoli with cheese sauce. Not that I am opposed to any of these things on their own, just the pairing of the same thing with every dish. And they didn’t add anything to the protein.

Hubby had the duck with Grand Marnier demiglaze. He felt about the same way about his as I did about mine. His was almost too sweet and thus, also sort of one dimensional. He said a bit of salt helped a bit. Some of the duck was a bit overcooked (even though they told us the kitchen cooks it medium rare and that is also how hubby likes it.). It was locally sourced, and I appreciate that. The starch on his plate was a shredded potato casserole, which he said reminded him of his Grandma’s and was his favorite part of the meal. Same veg obviously.

So I really liked about 78% of this meal, and will certainly go back. I may very well order two appetizers the next time (possibly the two we had actually, they were so good, although there were some other good sounding appetizers as well) along with my own salad. Or I may try one of the red meat dishes; I bet they can pull of a pretty good steak. Oh, and lots of that bread. And next time, dessert. The dessert menu was very tempting. And based on the two truffles we got for our anniversary, I bet dessert will be good. This place is a little gem, not perfect, but really enjoyable nonetheless.

Bijou Restaurant
111 West Main Street
Lebanon, IN 46052
765/482-7090
http://www.bijourestaurant.net/

Puccini's

Just a quickie little review of our recent meal from Puccini’s. Puccini’s is another one of those pizza places that seems to do pretty well.. and it has several locations, including some outside Indiana.

Now the pizza we got, we have gotten before and really, is the sole reason I order from Puccini’s on occasion. Well, that and my kids LOVE their kid’s pastas.

So the pizza we get is called “twice baked” and has a regular pizza crust, sliced new potatoes, nice crispy bacon, smoked gouda cheese and green onions. And instead of a red sauce, it has a buttermilk ranch-type dressing. It is extremely rich, and a little decadent, but quite tasty nonetheless. The bacon is perfectly cooked (i.e. crispy) and really flavorful and I really like that the sauce is different. And the green onions add a little crunch to the texture that is nice. Really, though, if it was a regular pizza, I would find the crust to be unimpressive because it is pretty thick and doughy. But the way this pizza is, and the fact that the flavors are so atypical, makes you feel like you are eating an open faced sandwich or something. I like this pizza, but I wouldn’t order a traditional one here.

I have to say though, I really like that they offer several different pasta dishes on the kids menus and my kids love this place. We often get carry out of just the kids items when we have a babysitter. My daughter prefers the spinach/cheese ravioli with marinara. Her only complaint is that there are only 3 raviolis and she could clearly eat more. My son likes the fettucine alfredo and I have to say, they give you an enormous portion of that. He will eat it for several days. I included them in the pictures just to give you some idea.

You can eat at the restaurant, but seems a little sparse to me, and I think that most people must carry out, because there usually aren’t many people in there when I pick up. They do deliver as well though, but sometimes can be slow (although on the night we ordered we had it in less than 15 minutes!).

Puccini’s Smiling Teeth
Clearwater Crossing (and several locations)
Northwest corner of 82nd and Dean
Indy 46240
317-842-4028
www.puccinissmilingteeth.com

Euphoria minus a chef

***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.****

Well, damn, it looks like one of my favorite chefs in the City, Brad Gates, has left Euphoria to pursue his own business in catering. I know, I for one, will miss him at Euphoria. Of course I wish him well in his endeavors and will have to come up with some events to have catered!

While Euphoria has been one of my favorite restaurants since I started blogging, it has always struggled a bit business-wise (from my purely unscientific observations) and this loss makes me wonder for its future. Hopefully, it will find its groove because it would be a shame to lose yet another of our few fine dining establishments. If you eat there from here on out, shoot me a line and let me know how it went. And of course, I am sure I will get back there myself one of these days to see what's up.

In the meantime, if you are interested in Brad Gates, you can find him on twitter @Gates_Catering.

When Eddie Met Salad

Things have been a bit hectic as of late, but I did manage to get out to lunch with the BFF. Based on some twitter recommendations we tried out When Eddie Met Salad. I do like a good salad. They also have soups, wraps and sandwiches.

So basically, this place reminds me of a salad taqueria. You get in a line, and order either one of their salads, or you can build your own (or you can order your sandwich, etc) and they assembly line make it in front of you, a la Subway. I ordered the Cobb Salad listed on their menu (minus the ham) and a cup of broccoli cheese soup. So basically the salad was their “house mix” of lettuces which is iceberg and romaine. They squirt some dressing on the leaves and then put the toppings on top. They do have a lot of choices of ingredients, and my salad had turkey, bacon, blue cheese, finely shredded cheddar, egg, mushrooms, diced red onion and avocado. I ordered the avocado ranch dressing.

Well, as for the toppings, I wasn’t overly impressed. None of them seemed overly high quality and the ones that were the highest price point items (blue cheese and avocado) were put on in skimpy portions. The little slivers of avocado on top were pretty lame I thought. But there were plenty of mushrooms and red onions (too much red onion really for a proper mix). The turkey was just regular lunch meat that they chopped up (the exact meat used on my friend’s sandwich) and the bacon was under cooked and had virtually no flavor.

Now, I realize that a Cobb is traditionally served this way, with the toppings on the top, but I still like a tossed salad. And all the salads at this place are served in the same manner. An improvement might be a “toss option” where they actually toss it for you. Because there isn’t enough room in the bowl to toss it yourself. I liked the dressing—a more interesting take on just your straight Ranch.

The concept behind this place isn’t bad—I like the idea of lots of different kinds of salads made to order—but the execution was lacking. They were fast, but the ingredients weren’t the best and the proportions were off. I do like that they offer 2 sizes of salads, small and regular, because I don’t need a huge portion. And the soup wasn’t bad. Not great, but not bad.

Also, there is a serious design flaw in the 96th street location. The line to order is right in the same spot where the only trash cans are to bus your trays, and the soda fountain to fill up your own drinks. Nothing like fighting people with their dirty dishes and empty cups just to get in line. I don’t know, maybe if I worked next door, I would maybe stop in here every once in awhile for a quick lunch, but probably not very often. When I asked my friend what her thoughts were, she told me, “if the place I really wanted to go was closed, I’d go to this place again.” So there ya go.

When Eddie Met Salad
3855 E. 96th Street (and several other locations)
Indy, 46240
317-574-1926
www.wheneddiemetsalad.com

Goose the Market- Revisit

It has been awhile since we have been to Goose the Market and we really liked it the first time. We always forget about it for lunch just because it isn’t quite downtown, and it isn’t quite not downtown ya know? So we generally are thinking of somewhere that is downtown or somewhere that isn’t when going through our choices.

Ever since the first time we went, we knew we needed to try the “Batali,” the sandwich that was named number one in an article in Bon Appetit about sandwich shops around the country. The sandwich itself is filled with spicy coppa, soppressata, capocolla (all various forms of cured meat thinly sliced), provolone, tomato preserves, hot giardinara, marinated red onion, mayo and romaine, all served on a chewy French baguette and toasted. You would think with all these things, this would be one of those sandwiches that you couldn’t fit into your mouth. However, at Goose, all the sandwiches, regardless of the number of toppings included, are approximately the same size, and that size is reasonable—I really can’t stand sandwiches that are too fat to eat. The flavors were great together and I can see why this sandwich was recognized by Bon Appetit. There is enough cheese to balance out all that meat, and the spiciness of the giardinara with the tang of the marinated red onions (I think these onions were my favorite part of the sandwich. I wonder if you can just get a side of those?) makes this sandwich truly something special. Sounded like a lot of cured meat to me, but I was totally wrong. And I am so happy I tried it in spite of my doubts.

We also shared the “Avery,” which was face bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. Sounds sort of simple (especially compared to the “Batali”), but it was also really good. The flavors were great, the tomatoes were great, and the mayo was great. I loved the flavor of the face bacon (which I am assuming is exactly that) except there was a bit too many fatty bits that were too chewy to eat, and some edge pieces that were too hard and chewy too. But the other pieces were delicious. It was also served on the same French baguette and toasted.

We shared some of the market salad which on this day was beluga lentils, smoked trout and Greek ricotta. There were teeny dices of red pepper and red onion in there as well. The flavor combination was pretty good, but I found the salad overall a little dry.

There are also so many other tempting items in this store, it is hard to leave with just your sandwiches. I didn’t, and picked up some amazing scallops while I was there (as well as several other things). Made them into a great ceviche for dinner and hubby and I had quite a good food day.

Damn! I just saw a new sandwich on the menu—the “Hawkins”—roasted lamb leg, olive tapenade and fennel carrot slaw (have I mentioned how much I like olives?). That sounds awesome. I am going to have to get one of those soon if it is still on the menu.

The thing about Goose is, they don’t have a lot of sandwich choices, but they change them frequently (with the exception of the “Goose” and the “Batali”—I reviewed the “Goose” in my last review.) But they are not your average sandwich. And let me tell you what, this place has a gift of putting the right (and not necessarily common) flavors together and making a tremendous product.

Goose the Market
2503 N. Delaware Street
Indy 46205
317/924-4944
http://www.goosethemarket.com/

Patties of Jamaica

“Welcome My Friend” is the sign that greets you in this little hole in the wall place near 52nd and Allisonville. We drive by it every time we go downtown and have always been intrigued to check it out. We finally did the other day for lunch.

The welcoming greeting continues as you are warmly welcomed in by each and every person in the place. I am not sure if it is an extended family running it, but that was the vibe it had—you could peek back into the kitchen and see several different generations of people making the patties and watching Sanford and Son (who even know that show was still on?).

Anyway, the food is, as the Brits would say, “cheap as chips” so we decided to try lots of stuff (and having no idea exactly what some of it was). I would stay the star of the show here (and for our meal) were the patties themselves. Basically, the Jamaican version of what many countries seem to have in some form or another—similar to Spanish empanadas and Cornish pasties, they are thin baked pastry pockets that aren’t as flaky as the above mentioned versions, and not stuffed as full. They are stuffed with ground beef seasoned with onions and spices. Fairly mild in flavor but tasty. They are served with a spicy picante type sauce that zips them up a bit. They are obviously handmade (they were doing it right in front of my eyes) and for a cheap (they are $1.15 each), fast lunch, this is a good alternative to fast food.

We also tried the curried goat stew which was exactly as it said—small pieces of meat in a yellow curry sauce with potatoes (rice is extra). Nothing spectacular in my mind, but tasted like someone’s Mom’s recipe. They also have a beef stew and chicken stew.

We also got the “hard dough bread” because we had no idea what this was, and the sweet bun. Turns out they are both full loaves of bread (the hard dough bread is like $1.25 so I wasn’t expecting that). They are freshly made, the hard dough was a soft white bread good for sopping up sauce, and the sweet bread (or "bun") was an intensely flavored spice cake with raisins throughout. Would probably be great with some vanilla ice cream and some caramel sauce on top.

One of the ladies working also recommended their jerk chicken which is described as “baked” chicken on the menu. She told me I should really try it and that you get a quarter chicken (white or dark) or wings. My guess is, she’s probably right, I should try it. So next time, I think I will get that, as well as one of the patties.

So if you are looking for fast, super cheap food, and a little love at the same time, check out this place. You will feel better after leaving. (You may want to carry out though, as there are only 2 little tables in the whole place).

Patties of Jamaica
5172 Allisonville Road
Indy 46205
317-253-4006

Oh Yumm - Lunch

I have written up Oh Yumm before for dinner—I have had mixed experiences there and have heard mixed reviews from other people. Although usually the food (tapas are the only thing I tend to order for dinner) is pretty good bistro faire, I have had some pretty bad service experiences before. I like the atmosphere of the place, an intimate casual bistro right on Illinois, but after the last experience I had, I haven’t rushed back. Recently I was in the area with a friend trying to figure out what to do for lunch and I thought this would be a good opportunity to give it another chance.

I do like their lunch menu—they offer their tapas, several salads and several sandwiches as well as random other things. One of the sandwiches that sounded really good was their version of a BLT made with fried green tomatoes. Because I had just made BLTs for dinner the night before, I didn’t get it, but my friend did. You get your choice of side with the sandwiches and she chose their pomme frites.
I had some of her sandwich though and it was really tasty. Served on grilled multi-grain bread with several cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes, rosemary bacon, Bibb lettuce and pesto aioli. It was really good and a nice variation on the classic BLT that is different from any other place around here. We shared the frites and it was they were nice as well. Not the best pomme frites around, but still really tasty. I liked whatever the “house seasoning” was which gave them a little extra than just the classic salt and parsley that is common. Dipped in gorgonzola dressing, how could you not like them?

I know, it is sorta sad that I mentioned my friend’s meal before mine, but I ordered the quiche and ended up with the same experience I usually have when I order quiche. It was fine, but nothing great. I like quiche, but it has been rare that I find one that blows me away. But every so often one sounds good-- and this one had asparagus, potato and bacon-- so I get it. But it was just ok. There really wasn’t a lot of any of those ingredients in the quiche, so really, you just tasted mostly the eggy part with an occasional bite with a little bit of one of the highlighted ingredients. I had a choice of soup or spinach salad to go with it, and both sounded good (the soup of the day was corn chowder), but since we were sitting outside on a hot day, I opted for the spinach salad with gorgonzola, candied walnuts, bacon and strawberries and served with a shagbark vinaigrette. It was pretty good too. I liked having the vinaigrette on the salad to balance out the rich eggy-ness of the quiche. Is there anywhere doing amazing quiche in Indy?

There were several items on the menu that are quite tempting to me for lunch, and different from all the typical lunch items. I really want to try the French potato salad and the roasted chicken wrap. And I really want one of those fried green tomato BLTs of my own.

Anyhow, happily, our hostess and server were both extremely pleasant and efficient which was my biggest problem last time. This, combined with the fact that the menu is interesting (and changes seasonally), and some of the food was quite good, leads me to believe I will give Oh Yumm another chance even if it will likely be for lunch again.

Oh Yumm! Bistro
5615 N. Illinois
Indy, 46208
317/251-5656
www.ohyummbistro.com

Peterson's

Funny thing about our meal at Peterson’s, while it was happening, hubby and I had a great time, and a great overall experience. Later, when we compared notes, we both agreed that the experience was great, but really only about half the food was. (At any restaurant, I hesitate to talk about the food too much during a meal, because I like to enjoy the experience even if the food isn’t the best.) But the ambiance of Peterson’s is warm, the tables quiet and the service extremely professional yet friendly. You never wanted for anything (well, maybe for a few better dishes, but you can’t blame the server for that.). The wine was all very good, and the pace appropriate. This was a great comparison to Adobo for me. While obviously the food (and price point) is totally different, really good service and a decent table can really make a meal great, even if some of the food is only fair.

And I have to apologize in advance because when I went to take some pictures, I realized my camera was out of battery power, which is actually a very typical problem for me—I am a person who is always on my cell phone saying, “I gotta go! My phone’s about to die!” Annoying I know. Anyhow, it is a bit of a shame really, because the food is quite lovely.

Hubby and I have been here a couple of times and had actually similar experiences to this one and we keep hoping that one of these times we’ll get a meal that is spot on. But maybe it just isn’t possible. The appetizers were great. They had a rock shrimp and lobster ravioli on the menu and I was intrigued by the fact that they were priced individually at $5 each. I am thinking, this is perfect for me as usually I find portions, particularly of pasta, to be too big for me. I asked the server how big they were, and they were about as big around as an orange. He said for two people, usually people ordered two of them. Well, hubby wanted something else, so I got one. I love this concept. You get the taste, enjoy the flavors, but don’t feel like you are full before you even get your main course. The ravioli was delightfully rich, filled with butter poached lobster, rock shrimp (how come you don’t see more rock shrimp around—it really does make a great filling for pasta) mascarpone and spinach in a creamy sauce. Really good, but I certainly had enough with one.

Hubby had one of Peterson’s classic appetizers, which has been on the menu as long as I have lived here, the tempura Maine crab lobster fingers. Delicious (and hot!) pieces of the shellfish tempura battered and fried with a honey dip, and Dijon dip and dusted with chipotle dust. I had one and they were very good. The Dijon was my favorite dip. The tempura was super crispy and light.

So at this point, we are really happy. And for my main dish, I ordered a steak because they use Prime steak (the menu says the top 2% of the beef in the US) and honestly, although I certainly have not eaten at all the steakhouses in Indy (that would take months, really), I have so far found their steaks to be the best in the City. The meat is very flavorful and cooked just perfectly. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that I added the truffle butter accompaniment with it—those were some nice pieces of black truffle in there! Hubby agrees with me about their steaks and really likes the ribeye but we had agreed to split my steak (a filet) and something different so we could branch out a bit. So this is where things start to go down a bit.

Hubby ordered the halibut cheeks which were pan seared and served with a lemon caper cream sauce. The seafood dishes come with a side, which in this case were a grilled Romano and lobster polenta cake and spinach. Basically, the fish was totally overcooked. Now, I have a hard time in Indy knowing whether this was unintentional, or whether the kitchen thinks you have to cook fish to death to satisfy the Midwestern palate. Because I have been to quite a few restaurants in Indy (including fine dining restaurants) where the fish is overcooked. A friend recently told me he likes fish to be a touch overcooked, so maybe this is what the kitchen is going for. But in a City where sushi seems to thrive as well, I don’t get it. If you can eat it raw, why can’t you eat it cooked slightly less than “to death?” Someone, please explain. The flavors of the sauce were nice and would have been a fine accompaniment to a properly cooked fish dish, but as it was, it was a disappointment.

The other problem I have with Peterson’s is the side dishes. As is standard with a steak place (why did this start anyway—just to make more money?), you don’t get any sides with your steak. In the past, we have ordered several of the potato dishes (all of them actually except the baked potato) and have always been disappointed. So this time (because I do like a bit of potato with my steak) I ordered the baked potato. It was fine, but I mean really, a baked potato is so boring (but yes, I know, my own fault.)

We also ordered the corn risotto with melted leeks. Now I couldn’t remember if I had had this before, hubby said we had and it wasn’t great, but I ordered it anyway. I should have listened. It wasn’t good. As much as the fish was overcooked, the risotto was undercooked. It was crunchy. Now I know there is disagreement about how “al dente” risotto should or shouldn’t be, but I still think risotto is meant to be a dish that is creamy. The whole point of cooking it they way you do—slowly and stirring a lot is to bring out all the starch and make it creamy. “Melted leeks” are an ingredient on a menu that will almost always lure me in. These were not overly soft though and right now in Indiana the corn part should kick butt. It all just didn’t come together. Corn risotto, you are off the list. And I'll remember next time.

Like I said though, even though we were maybe not having the best second half of our dinner, we had had some wine and were really enjoying ourselves and decided to go for dessert. It was caramel apple walnut bread pudding with caramel cream sauce and vanilla ice cream. You can almost always lure hubby with anything with caramel and apple in it, so we went for it. It was okay, but nothing amazing. We did share the dessert wine flight with it though which was most enjoyable, and in retrospect, I would just skip the dessert and do the wine for dessert. Sweet enough to satisfy that craving for sure.

So even though really only about half our food was really good, what was good was really good. And the overall experience makes it worthwhile for a repeat visit to Peterson’s. We shall return.

Peterson’s
7690 East 96th Street
Fishers, IN 46038
317-598-8863
http://www.petersonsrestaurant.com/

PS You have to be 21 to enter, so don’t try and bring the kids.