L'explorateur (again)

****This restaurant is closed as of January 2009****

I can't help it. I know I have blogged quite a bit about L'explorateur, but we had a perfect meal there this week. The day was lovely, the service was great and the food was outstanding!

Were were served an amuse bouche of a slice of fried zucchini with a remoulade sauce. It was good, but could've used a sprinkle of salt on top. As for the things we actually ordered, we started with some of the L'ex classics, the scallop ceviche, which I am completely addicted to, and the yellowfin tuna "pizza" which is a small flatbread with anchovy aioli, the tuna, thinly sliced, and some olives and microgreens. They were both amazing! The ceviche contained scallops, avocado, cilantro, habanero, and cucumber with house made chips. Oh, and lots of lime juice. Cucumbers aren't my favorite thing, but I ate around them (interestingly, they don't always put the cukes in, it does make for nice variety that it isn't always exactly the same).

We both had the skate for our main. I have mentioned before how much I love skate (as does hubby) so when it is on a menu (which isn't that often around here), we almost always both order it. I loved that it wasn't the classic preparation that we have had many times. It was lightly floured (and I think had some egg in the crust too), pan fried and served over a mix of chopped asparagus and morels all in a brown butter sauce and over a swash of miso paste. May sound a little strange, but it was richly delicious.

We had a bottle of the Principessa Gavi with the meal which was also perfect (for some reason with this wine, it is either really good, or somewhat skunky). Since we were on such a roll, we decided to go for dessert. We went with another L'ex classic, the banana pot de creme with dark chocolate genache. We have had this before and weren't as impressed as we were this time. I don't know if it was slightly different or if it was just the high of the rest of the meal that made it seem so good, but it was very good. We also asked if they had glasses of moscato d'asti for dessert and were told they only had it by the bottle. We ordered a glass of Riesling to split instead. When the waiter brought the wine, it was actually moscato d'asti. It was funny because he didn't mention it, but obviously, they had decided to open a bottle for us. So we ordered another glass (lower alcohol content you know!).

This is a restaurant that we really need in Indy and I hope it continues to do well! It is the most edgy restaurant I think we have and the food is fresh and outstanding. Rumor has it the chef is looking to move the restaurant downtown. I would still go just as much and hopefully maybe even more people will discover it and enjoy it as I do.


L'exlorateur
6523 Ferguson Street
Indy 46220
317-726-6906
www.dinelex.com