Thanksgiving 2011

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So I hear some of you are looking for places to go out to eat for Thanksgiving—so I have compiled a list of restaurants that are open for Thanksgiving for you.  I have tried to check into most of them, but do me a favor and call them to verify they are open (and to check the hours) if you plan on going. 

I wish you all a great Thanksgiving—how can you go wrong with a holiday that is centered around eating?

P.S. Let me know if you know of other places and I will add them to the list!

Cheers!

Erin

120 West at the Hilton 120 W. Market Street 972-0600

Bella Vita Circle Center Mall 822-9840

Buca di Beppo (all locations) 35 North Illinois Street, 632-2822; 6045 E. 82^nd Street, 842-8666

Champps  Circle Center 951-0033

Chef Mike’s Charcoal Grill, 7102 Woodland Drive, Indy, 295-9490

Claddagh Irish Pub 234 S. Meridian St, 822-6274; 3835 E. 96th Street; 569-3663; 2539 Futura Park Way, Suite 150, Plainfield, 838-9917

Conrad Indianapolis 40 West Washington

Fleming’s Steakhouse, 8487 Union Chapel Road, 466-0175

Great American Grill at the Hilton Garden Inn (also at the Airport location) 10 E. Market St. 955.9700

Grill 39 (Marriott), 11925 North Meridian, Carmel, 814-2550

Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites 120 W. Market St. 822.5914

The Jazz Kitchen, 5377 North College, 253-4900

Kincaid’s, 14159 Clay Terrace Blvd, Carmel, 575-9005

Palomino 49 W. Maryland St. 974.0400

One South at the Hyatt  1 S. Capitol Ave. 632.1234

McCormick and Schmick’s 110 N. Illinois St. 631.9500

Osteria Pronto (JW Mariott) 10 South West Street, 860-5777

Pullman’s at Crowne Plaza 123 W. Louisiana St. 236.7470The Propylaeum 1410 North Delaware Street 638.7881

Rick’s Café Boatyard, 4050 Dandy Trail, 290-9300

Scotty’s Brewhouse/Thr3e Wisemen (no Thanksgiving dinner, but regular menu from 4-9) 3905 East 96^th

Street, 1021 Broad Ripple Ave.  574-0101, 255-5151

Severin Bar & Grill restaurant - Omni Severin Hotel 40 W. Jackson Place 396.3623

Weber Grill Restaurant  10 N. Illinois St. 636.7600

Turner’s Restaurant at the Canterbury Hotel 123 S. Illinois St. 634.3000

The Capital Grille 40 W. Washington St. 423.8790

Shula’s Steak House in Westin 50 S. Capitol Ave. 231-3962

Road Trip: The Bristol-Chicago

On our final night of our last trip to Chicago we went to the Bristol after getting several recommendations for it from people whose judgment I generally trust when it comes to food.  Again, it is another place that doesn’t take reservations, and we got there shortly after opening to find it still empty. So we strolled the neighborhood a bit and came back.  It was pleasantly full, but we still got a nice table.  By the time we left, it was heaving.  And it was a beautiful night and they had the front windows completely open. It was completely lovely (with the exception of a bunch of guys sitting at the communal table wearing backwards baseball caps. I mean, it is a somewhat casual restaurant, but have a little respect for meal time. I’m not asking for a jacket or tie, but baseball hats at dinner? It annoyed me a little.)

So we sat down and were told that we needed to put in our entire order at once, but they would bring out things as they were ready. But we could order a snack course to munch on while we looked over the menu and made our decisions.  We were down to the monkey bread (which I had read a lot about) and the duck fat frites (how could you go wrong there?).  At the advice of our server, we got the monkey bread ($5).  It was served warm with a dill butter sauce and had dill cooked throughout. Ok, I had heard a lot about this bread online and was intrigued. But honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan—the bread was a little dry even with the butter. And hubby confirmed something that he already knew; he is not a fan of dill in many things.

We quickly flagged down our server and added some frites to the order instead (we had already placed our order) ($7).  Now these are great. Fresh cut fries that are medium sized, perfectly crispy, with the extra rich taste from the duck fat.  They were served with housemade ketchup and a garlic aioli.  I loved the aioli, it was nice and garlicky, but I was surprised at how much I also liked the ketchup.  Usually I am not a fan of ketchup with fancy type frites, but this sauce had more of a unique flavor. It was tasty.

One of the other things we got at the same time we got the frites was a plate of head on prawns that were sliced in half long-ways, grilled and covered in an anchovy butter sauce and tarragon ($19).  These were the best prawns I have had in a long, long time. Seriously. They were so good. You could taste the seared flavor, but they weren’t blackened all over, and the salty butter sauce was so good to dredge them (or maybe a rouge frite) through.  You could suck the little bit of head meat out too, giving that extra fatty bit that you rarely get in regular prawns that have been de-headed. The light tarragon flavor (slightly like licorice) was also a great accent.

The raviolo ($12) was good as well, although nothing was as good as those prawns.  The raviolo was a large piece of homemade pasta filled with ricotta inside as well as a runny egg yolk.  It was covered in a brown butter sauce.  When you cut into it, the yolk made a luscious rich sauce when combined with the ricotta.  We also had the roasted bone marrow ($14) at hubby’s request—one of his favorite things.  These were nice because the bones were sliced in half, making the marrow easier to get to.  It was served with toasted sliced bread and a wonderful shallot jam—it was slightly sweet, and slightly tangy, making it perfect with the insanely rich marrow.  And I liked that they gave you a little dish so you could use it in whatever proportion you wanted.

Our least favorite savory item by far was the flatbread (I know, what is WRONG with me? Why do I keep ordering flatbread?) ($11).  It was a crispy whole wheat crust topped with braised kale, white anchovies and a mild white cheese.  The kale was too strong tasting and the anchovies were too fishy.  We have had white anchovies other places and I always imagine them as the super fresh, not fishy tasting ones I have had before.  Sadly, these were not those. And I don’t know that I have had good white anchovies since Europe.  I also really like kale, but this was just too much bitterness. For me, this dish just did not come together. We barely ate any of it.

Dessert though—whoa, was it good.  They did their homemade version of nutter butter cookies with a chocolate sabayon to dip them in ($8).  The cookies were so good—the crunchy parts of the cookies were so light and studded with some little bits of peanuts.  And in proper form, they were filled with peanut butter cream.  The sabayon was a rich dark chocolate—almost like a hot fudge consistency, only it wasn’t hot—it is basically like a custard. I couldn’t decide if I liked them better together or apart—the cookies were the star for me though.

All in all, this was a great dining experience and wrapped up what was an awesome, but insanely filling, weekend in Chicago (which is how it should be right?).  I would (and have since) recommended The Bristol to others and look forward to returning myself at some point.  Especially when they start taking reservations!

The Bristol

2152 North Damen

Chicago, IL  60647

773/862-5555

www.thebristolchicago.com

Mug n Bun

Hubby and I ended up at Mug n Bun the other day because frankly, we were trying to go somewhere else and it was out of business.  I knew Mug n Bun was nearby and it had been on the list for awhile (admittedly the part of the list I often just ignore a lot of the time).  It was my first time, and I didn’t realize this is a true drive-in still.  They have picnic tables and in your car service.  There is also a little building they have added next door, but literally, they make the food at the drive-in and carry it across the parking lot.  Luckily it was a decent day, so we sat out at the picnic tables.  Neither hubby nor I are particularly keen on eating in the car.

So I have read a lot of positive things about this place, and I appreciate the fact that this place is a kind of a legend and it has been around forever, but let’s face it, they are serving pretty much everything straight from the freezer.  I even asked, and was told by our server that the only things made in house are the onion rings, the root beer and the chili sauce for the dogs.  So why would you drive across town for a frozen tenderloin you could get a million places?  That’s my question.

Anyway, we got the root beer ($1.50) and the onion rings ($2.90) because they are the specialty and made there.  Hubby ordered the tenderloin (everyone else seemed to be ordering it around us) ($3.60) and I got the special burger ($3.30).  I did enjoy the root beer. I haven’t had a root beer in probably 20 something years and it tasted good. Served in a frosty mug with no ice, I can appreciate the appeal of something like this.  The order of onion rings was huge! So glad we just got one to share and not the “family size” hubby was contemplating.  I can’t even imagine how big that would have been.  So the rings were battered in a tempura-type batter and, while they weren’t bad, I can’t say they really wowed me either.  The batter was a little too doughy and there was a bit too much of it.  And honestly, they could have stood to have been a little warmer.  I can see how if they were done perfectly, they could be very good. Too bad they weren’t.  I also wonder about the huge list of other fried side items they have on the menu and why they can’t make some of them freshly as well.  They had mushrooms and zucchini among other things and I bet they could taste pretty good fried in that same batter.

So the tenderloin was one of those kinds that you just know is pre-made and frozen even without the server telling you so because it is so uniformly round.  It was fine. As in, not bad for basically a fast food tenderloin.  But when I recently heard of someone from out of town wanting to base their tenderloin experience on a Mug n Bun sandwich, I pleaded with them to try a different one.  There are so many great ones, and this is not the one to experience a tenderloin for the first time (speaking of which, where would you tell someone who has never had one to go?).

My special burger was a burger patty with cheese and bacon served on toast.  Sounded good to me, and again, it was fine, in a fast food kind of way.  What can I say about it?  It was your basic burger--the bacon was pretty good.   If I had to choose between the two, though, I would say hubby’s tenderloin was probably better. But honestly, neither stood out for anything.

So I can see how this place could be fun in the summer sitting outside—even though the place is a little  run down honestly.   It is more about an old school atmosphere I think than it is about the food.  I should say there were quite a few people there, even in the not so warm weather.  And I guess if you lived nearby, and wanted fast food type food, at least it is locally owned.  And our server was very very friendly.  But I find it sad that the place has basically turned into a restaurant that just takes stuff out of a bag and fries it.  I bet once, when it first opened, everything was made fresh, and I bet it was tasty. 

Mug n Bun

5211 West 10^th

Indy 46224

317/244-5669

www.mug-n-bun.com

H2O - Revisit

****H2O is CLOSED********

So it has been awhile since I reviewed H2O, and while I know I have done it before, I felt like it was time for an update. And I actually got some sushi this time, and since, ahem, a few people have gone completely insane over the fact that I have reviewed this place without reviewing the sushi; I figured this was a good time.  We were in the mood and got a couple rolls. We also had my sister and her husband with us, so we could order a little more than we usually do.

But first, one of my favorite go to dishes at H2O is the tuna tartar appetizer ($14).  I think I have even discussed it before in my review, but it is yummy and something I crave on a regular basis.  It is tuna with chives, cilantro, and radish and marinated in lemon, soy and ginger.  The fish is super fresh and the marinade and seasonings give it a nice texture variation as well as a light, but distinctive Asian flavor.  They serve it with crispy wonton chips and I just love it. I could eat it all the time.

The next thing we had were the rolls.  We had the serpent roll ($13.50) which was a special. It was delicious.  It had a lot going on, but an impressive combination of flavors.  Inside it was spicy tuna, romaine and crunchy onions and it was wrapped with eel, avocado, spicy sauce and bonito.  It was more of a gooey type of roll, which is probably not truly traditional, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the spiciness from the tuna and the sauce, the soft eel and avocado on top and the little crunch from the onions and lettuce.  I would get this one again.

In contrast, the other roll we had was much lighter in flavor. It was the seafood delight ($13).  Inside the roll was shrimp, jalapeno, cilantro and avocado and it was wrapped with crab and super thin lime slices and topped with a ginger sauce.  While totally different,  I enjoyed this one too.  I really liked the fresh citrus kick from the lime and the slight spice from the ginger and a little kick from the jalapeno. If I had to choose, I probably liked the decadence of the serpent roll the best though.  

We then had tacos—one is a regular on the menu (and a regular for us) and the other was a special.  The carne asada tacos ($12) were the special and they were really tasty.  It was marinated Wagyu flat iron steak with salsa, queso fresco, radish, onion and cilantro.  They were served with a side of pickled veggies that were really nice to put on top for a bit of tanginess.  There were pickled jalapenos, carrots and onions. I really liked the onions.  There were two tacos served in doubled up soft corn tortillas.  The beef was flavorful and really tender—not cooked to death.   You could really taste the meat through the other things, because the toppings were not over the top.

One of the carne asada tacos

 The other tacos we had were the grilled shrimp tacos ($10). While similar in theory, these had different fillings and are one of our perennial favorites.  The shrimp are perfectly grilled and not tough, and they are inside a soft flour tortilla that is also filled with shredded cabbage, guacamole, radish, cilantro, sour cream and a yuzu adobo sauce.  They have a slightly smoky flavor and are much creamier than the beef ones because of that cream, guacamole and sauce.  But they still have a bit of crunch from the veggies.  I have had them several times and have always thoroughly enjoyed them—they are also 2 to an order.

Of course we had to have “the cookie” for dessert served with the espresso whipped cream.  This is still one of the best cookies I have ever eaten—a rich, warm, chewy oatmeal type cookie with pecans and even a bit of coconut I think.  If you go to H2O for the first time, these are a requirement.  It was a first visit for my sister and her husband and while they enjoyed everything, they really seemed to love the cookies. 

This has been one of my favorite places to eat in Indy since I first went, and continues to be.  If you haven’t been, and even if you don’t like sushi, you should give it a try.  The sushi is great, and so are all the other wonderful things on the menu.

H2O Sushi

1912 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/254-0677

www.h2osushibar.com  (P.S. So happy to see the updated website and the daily menus.)

Tony Sacco's

We found ourselves at Clay Terrace the other day and I saw there was a place we hadn’t tried there yet, and I always of course feel it is my duty to try them all (well, usually anyway). We had our son with us, so pizza seemed a good option. And I don’t think hubby would ever turn down pizza.

The place was pretty empty when we got there on a Saturday for lunch—it is pretty large inside.  Our server was really nice and very attentive.  We ordered the garlic rotoli to start ($5).  This is a bowl of 8 garlic rolls.  They are basically like dinner rolls that are sitting in a basil flavored olive oil and topped with parmesan cheese and fresh basil.  The menu described them as coming with a “basil dipping sauce” but what they mean is the oil in the bottom of the bowl, not a separate dipping sauce (we asked).  They serve them with marinara and nacho cheese sauce.  I guess I was sort of hoping for a garlic knot experience, but these are much softer and we were missing the garlic butter with them.  They were ok, but nothing special.  Not sure you really need a dipping sauce, but the ones we got were pretty average. And if you got too much of the oil, well, they were just oily.

I like that this place states that they don’t freeze, fry or microwave anything, and that they make their marinara daily, and I was excited to try the pizza which is cooked in a 1000 degree coal fired oven.  According to the menu, cooking the pizza this way gives it a unique flavor, but honestly, I didn’t really get much of a high heat flavor—the crust was not singed or blackened at all.  We ordered a small (12 inch) pizza with our classic-- mushrooms and red onion on top ($13.50).  This is a good sized pizza for a small I thought.  The crust, while not really apparent that it had been cooked in any unique way, wasn’t bad—it was chewy and crispy at the same time.  But honestly, there was nothing about the rest of the pie that made me have any desire to want to go back.  The mushrooms are supposedly roasted, but came across with a slightly slimy texture, like the canned type.  And I would think roasting would add some extra flavor, but the mushrooms just didn’t seem to have a lot.  The onion was fine, nicely sliced very thin, but the cheese (which the menu says is a mix of mozzarella and Romano cheese) didn’t have a lot of flavor, and was super stringy and a bit rubbery. 

So this was not a repeatable place for us-- there was about this place that stood out in a good way.  I’m curious if you guys have been here, and what you thought about it.

Tony Sacco’s

Clay Terrace Blvd, Suite 150

Carmel, IN 46032

317/574-3473

www.tonysaccos.com

Road Trip: The Purple Pig-Chicago

Continuing on our all reservation-free eating binge in Chicago, we hit Purple Pig one day for lunch.  They open at 11:30 for lunch and if you get there right around that time, you shouldn’t have a problem. Well, we didn’t although the outside patio was open as well.  The place does fill up quickly.  I like that it is a good restaurant located right on Michigan Avenue, as it can often be hard to find a good meal in that area—and since so many of the hotels are there, we often find ourselves there.

The theme here is “cheese, swine and wine,” and with a name like purple pig, we knew we had to have some of all of those things. It is also a small plates/sharing kind of place, and we were excited to try lots of things. Hubby instantly declared a need for the fried pig’s ear dish ($8).  The dish was slivers of crispy fried pig’s ear with crispy kale, pickled banana peppers and a lovely sunny side up fried egg on top.  This dish was spectacular.  The pork was crunchy and salty, the peppers vinegary, and the kale added a nice lighter, crunchy kick and slight bitterness.  Of course adding a runny yolky egg on top is only going to make it better.  This was a perfect combination.   This would be an absolute must order if we go back to Purple Pig.

We also had a nice plate of sliced Serrano ham ($8). It was good—not the best I have had and certainly not the worst.  How to describe it other than it is a nice salty cured ham.  I really did enjoy laying slices of it on top of the fried Manchego ($8) that we also got.  Now that was a nice flavor combo.  I liked the way our server described the fried cheese as “swanky cheese sticks” and she was right.  Manchego inherently has more flavor than mozzarella and the insides were really liquidy.  They were served on top of a sweet fruit preserve made from quince.  A bit of the cheese with some quince and then some of the Serrano—well, that was great together.

We also ordered the fried Brussels sprouts ($6).  This was the other really outstanding item we had.  They were the leaves pulled off individually and deep fried (not breaded, just the leaves themselves).  They were light and super crispy and tossed with chili flakes, lemon and thyme.  Wow. Simple, but so so good. And there was just the right amount of lemon to give them the right balance of acid with heat from the chili and every now and then you would get just a hint of the thyme. I would insist on ordering these again as well if we go back and they are on the menu. 

Our least favorite item was the olive oil poached tuna with large white lima beans ($8).  The tuna was cooked through, but was still tender and had the moistness from the olive oil and lots of seasoning from fresh herbs.  The beans, well, I don’t know, large beans like this often tend to just seem bland to me and these were no exception. Actually, the entire dish, especially compared to the others, just seemed bland. It didn’t have the amazing balance of varying flavors that made many of the other things stand out.


I had also read about this dessert that another blogger was talking about, so I really wanted to try it. It was a Nutella Panini ($6).  It was basically a sandwich made with Nutella, marshmallow, and banana.  It was heavily dusted with powdered sugar. I should have known better, but it was way way too sweet for us.  I had a couple bites, but that was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth for quite awhile. Well, at least until dinner.

The Purple Pig

500 N. Michigan Ave

Chicago, IL 60611

312/464-1744

www.thepurplepigchicago.com 

La Paix Café

I noticed this place the other day after hubby and I had lunch nearby—it is a little strange with its combo of crepes, smoothies and tons of frozen yogurt (self serve).  So, I was interested in the crepes, but I am just curious, what is deal with the re-birth of frozen yogurt places?  I love that people think they are eating something healthy after they have added a pound of candy and toppings to it.  Also reminds me of that Seinfeld episode about  “fat free” frozen yogurt. Anyone ever see that one?  We all know that “fat free” does not equal healthy anyway right?

It is also a little strange for the plasticized versions of the food on display in the window.  I haven’t seen that since Japantown in San Francisco. Never really found plasticized versions of food appealing, but maybe I am just too picky.  But even with all these warning signs, I was really hopeful about have a possibility of a good crepe close by my house. I will say the staff is exceptionally friendly—offering free samples of lots of different things.

So I had the Parisian crepe which was cheese (mozzarella I believe), ham, mushrooms and I had them add an egg (of course) and they even agreed to cook it sunny side up.  The crepe itself is quite big, and they fill them and fold them into a triangle so that I guess in theory you can hold it and eat it without a knife and fork.  You know me, that’s not my style, so I unwrapped it (as did the BFF who was joining me) at ate it on a plate.  I liked that it wasn’t overfilled, but it was maybe a bit unevenly filled—the edges had really little filling and were mainly just the crepe part.  And the fillings?  Well, they were just average.  The ham on mine (and the turkey on the BFF’s) was just plan, basic lunch meat.  It wasn’t even particularly good lunch meat.   There weren’t many mushrooms, and I am thinking they may have been canned.  They really didn’t add any flavor.  The cheese was also bland.  The egg was fine, but heck, I had added that to their combo.  This crepe lacked anything interesting about it.  I like mushrooms that are sautéed with a bit of seasoning and maybe an upgrade on the cheese and meat.  To me, this was just a fast food version of a crepe.

We also split a dessert crepe.  Again, I was underwhelmed. We had nutella and strawberries.  Even the strawberries weren’t fresh—they were in that weird gooey pie filling kind of stuff.  And there was not a lot of nutella on it.

I don’t know, maybe the draw here is the 15 or so self serve frozen yogurt dispensers.  But since I am not into that, I don’t see myself back at this place anytime soon. But I honestly still don’t get the frozen yogurt thing.

La Paix Café

8487 Union Chapel Road

Indy  46240

317/257-5828

Morton's

So Indy loves steakhouses and my son loves steak---we were out celebrating with him and decided to check out a place that I had never been and cross another one off the list.  We made a big deal out of taking him to a “fancy” steakhouse and he was excited.  As soon as you walk into Morton’s, you certainly get the old-school steakhouse vibe. The big wooden door, no windows…you walk down a flight of steps to the actual restaurant with its tuxedoed servers and white tablecloths.  The maître d' greeted my son in a very friendly way, and we started off on a nice foot. I didn’t know how they might react to a kid in the place, but he was exceptionally kind.  Our server seemed slightly less thrilled with it, but was still professional.

We were seated in a nice booth (most of the restaurant is made up of U-shaped booths). Once we sat down though, we discussed the fact that the place just feels dated with its camel colored booths and very old school feel.  I don’t know, I guess I sort of appreciate a slightly more modern feel.  Anyway, at Morton’s they do this whole presentation of the raw meat and explain that it’s all prime, and even bring a live lobster over.  In the future, I would ask to skip this, but my son enjoyed it—to a point anyway (I mean, I do not need to see a raw potato and be told about how it can be baked, or a tomato to be told how it can be sliced into salad).  We pretty much knew what we wanted though.  The men in my family are ribeye guys and were planning on splitting. I went with their “smaller” version of the filet.

But before I get into all of that, they do have a nice bread service—a big round loaf of onion bread with butter.  We all enjoyed the warm bread and butter, particularly my son, who pretty much would eat butter any way he could.  Hubby and I also split a tuna tartare appetizer ($15.50) which was quite good.  It was finely diced tuna layered with finely diced tomatoes as well as chopped avocado.  It was topped with toasty black sesame seeds and set on top what they called a Thai sauce.  There were actually two sauces on the plate. I rather enjoyed the dish, and it had a nice flavor—we were told there was peanut oil in the sauce, although it tasted heavily of sesame to me.  The ingredients were all very fresh and ripe.

As for our main dishes, as I said, my men are ribeye guys and that is what they chose to split ($45). I had the small filet ($44) and we had the garlic mashed potatoes ($10) and the sautéed mushrooms ($10.50) as sides.  Hubby had recently had the mushrooms on a business dinner at Morton’s and had really liked them.  So first of all you will notice, this place is expensive.  Yes, they are prime steaks, but that meat better be freakin’ awesome for that price.  Unfortunately, my son summed it up pretty accurately when he said, “Mommy’s filet is way better.” (I shared with him too).  The ribeye was too chewy and just not very good.  My filet on the other hand, was very well cooked and we all agreed that it was much better.  Was it worth that much money over a steak at other places?  Not so sure.  I mean, you can get a great steak at St. Elmo for $10 less AND including a starch. 

The potatoes were great though—light and fluffy and just a hint of garlic throughout.  Also, the server who delivered them gave us a nice extra pat of butter on top, making my son completely happy.  The mushrooms were a disappointment, particularly to hubby who said they were not as good as the ones he had in San Jose on his last business trip.  They were okay, but there was nothing really special about them.  T hey weren’t seasoned really in any way.  Although I think my son enjoyed the simplicity of them and ate several when he is often not a huge mushroom fan.

We also had a chocolate mousse for dessert ($10.50) which we were all very happy with.  My son chose it, but it had incredible richness for a mousse.  Sometimes I think they are too milk-chocolate-y tasting for me, but this one was great.  As you can see, we ate pretty much the whole thing.

Going along with the whole really expensive theme here, the mark up on the wine seemed a little crazy.  They had a bottle on the list that we had really enjoyed elsewhere (at The Ripple Inn actually) and it was about double the price.  That seemed a little crazy. I understand the mark ups at restaurants can be high, but when it is twice another restaurant’s price), that seems particularly decadent.  (We did not order it by the way).  We did have wine with our dinner though which made this probably one of the most expensive meals we have had in Indy (and after a quick check of the steakhouses around town, I think it is the most expensive as far as the meat goes).  And while my meal on the whole was pretty good, I can’t really say it lives up to the price.  I guess maybe this is a place for expense accounters (hence hubby’s business meals) and not the rest of us.

Morton’s The Steakhouse

41 East Washington Street

Indy  46204

317/229-4700

www.mortons.com/indianapolis

Road Trip: Frontera Grill--Chicago

Hubby and I just got back from a crazy food heavy trip to Chicago. People always look at me funny when we are there and they are asking why we are visiting, and I say, “to eat.”  Well, most people. A few of them get it.  Anyway, I nervously agreed to no reservations on this trip, and we were excited about trying several places that we had heard a lot about but never went because I hate the idea of waiting.  We did it last time with Avec and had a good experience, and decided to wing this whole trip.  I am a total planner though, and trying to figure out the best strategy for getting into these places made my stomach hurt a little.  I guess I am a little high strung.

So the first night we were torn between a couple of places, but decided to go to one of the places fairly near to where we were staying, and chose Frontera Grill.  Neither of us had been, and hubby had never been to any of the Bayless restaurants.  (I have been to Topolo before).  So here was how we handled getting a table.  The restaurant opens at 5:00.  I headed over from the hotel around 4:30, getting there about 4:40.  Amazingly, there were already about 40 or so people in line waiting, and the doors weren’t even open.  But here’s the deal—they are really organized. A nice lady came down the line getting your information. When she got to me she said we could have a table in the bar at 5:40 (later for the restaurant or outside) and I said we’d take it.  The nice thing is you don’t have to wait around—she said to check back in at 5:30 and they would give me a pager. Turned out at 5:30 they were ready for us.  And they don’t fill every table instantly so that the restaurant isn’t completely slammed all at once.  Which is pretty smart.  Eating on the early side in Chicago doesn’t really bother us though considering that it is an hour later in Indy.

We were seated in the bar, which hubby was happy about because it has a nice warm (and loud) vibe.  It is a little darker than the main restaurant, but like I said, we thought it also felt cozier.  Service can be a little unpredictable.  It took us quite awhile to get our first drink, but once we got started, it was a little more regular.  The servers are quite busy, and not as personable as I would like, but they aren’t rude or anything.

We both got a Topolo margarita to start which was made with housemade limonada, tequila and orange liqueur ($10).  They aren’t cheap considering it is served up, martini style, but it was tasty and a nice start to the meal.  I couldn’t have drank them all night though—they were kind of tart.  We started with the chicken tacquitos ($8.50).  There were several crispy taquitos leaned up against each other. They were filled with smoked chicken, poblano peppers and black beans.  They were sitting in a hearty pool of thick, fresh guacamole which also, along with some cheese filled in the space between the taquitos.  They were drizzled with homemade sour cream and more cheese, and topped with some micro greens and a bit of salsa verde.  They also brought a side of their two housemade salsas—a red and a green.  I loved dipping the crispy tacquitos all covered with guac and that thick sour cream into a bit more of the salsa verde on the side.  These were really good. And a really nice thing to share, as there was a fair amount of them.

Next we ordered a main dish and a trio of ceviches to share.  Frontera has an entire section on the menu called the “sustainable seafood bar.”  And you may or may not have noticed the slight obsession I have with good ceviche (not always easy to find) so I figured this should be a great place to try some.  The trio ($18.50) included three of their menu choices.  My favorite was the “Coctel de Atun Tropical” which technically wasn’t called a ceviche because the fish was really raw, not cooked at all.  It was little dices of yellowfin tuna with nice hunks of avocado and tomatillo and a mango grapefruit salsa.  I didn’t see a lot of actual fruit, but it had the slightly bitter, slightly sweet flavor from both fruits.  It was good. Really good.  Next I probably liked the Ceviche Fronterizo.  It was more the traditional ceviche—it was lime marinated albacore mixed with tomatoes, cilantro, green chilies, and supposedly olives (although, as so often seems the case, I didn’t get any olive).   This fish was more cooked through, as ceviche tends to be.  It was still nice and tender though, and it hit the spot for a traditional ceviche flavor. Nothing to wow you though.  My least favorite was the Ceviche Yucateco which was shrimp and calamari that was steamed and then marinated in lime and orange.  It also was seasoned with habanero, cilantro, jicama and avocado.  The shrimp were ok, but there were only 2 pieces of the shrimp and the rest was calamari, which was tough and too chewy.  The flavors were fairly traditional, but honestly, I didn’t end up eating much of this one because I really didn’t like the texture of the calamari.

The other dish we shared was great. It was the enchiladas de Mariscos ($19) which were homemade corn tortillas stuffed with shrimp and Mahi Mahi and covered in a Veracruz style creamy tomatillo sauce and also topped with some queso fresco.  These tasted really good. The sauce had a slight smokiness to it, like maybe the tomatillos used in the sauce were roasted.  The sauce was creamy, but not overly heavy and rich.  The seafood inside was tender and you could still enjoy its flavor even with the sauce.  Even the white rice served alongside had a nice nutty taste that made it stand out.  We both really enjoyed this one.

Finally, we shared a dessert. It was goat cheese caramel flavored ice cream flavored with a little rum and served with a Mexican hot fudge sauce on the side ($7.50).  The chocolate was nice and deeply flavored—maybe some cinnamon in there and there was a generous amount of ice cream. It was a nice way to end the meal, although it didn’t blow either of us away.

I am really glad we got to check out Frontera Grill, and we certainly had a really nice experience.  The food is very well done, although not earth shattering.

Frontera Grill

445 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60610

312/661-1434

www.rickbayless.com