Illinois Street Food Emporium

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

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

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

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

Some Guys Pizza

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shanghai Lil for Dim Sum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Murphy's Steakhouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ram Restaurant & Brewery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eddie Merlot's

I know it isn’t too often that I review steak places as they all seem so similar to me—I like steak, but when I go out, I guess I tend to prefer to get things that aren’t so easy (and so much cheaper) to cook at home. Anyway, we were celebrating a couple of birthdays and it was their choice, so Eddie Merlot’s it was. I was interested to try it, as even though it is a chain, my understanding is that it started here in Indiana and I have heard pretty good things about it.

To start with, I do enjoy a complimentary valet, particularly when it is so cold, but I always wonder why valets exist only in the places that don’t really need them (i.e. have a big parking lot) and not places that could use them (like downtown). But that’s a whole other thing. Anyway, it is different from the typical steakhouse décor in that it is done in lighter wood, rather than the typical dark men’s club look that a lot of steakhouses have. I have heard it described as a steakhouse for women and that seems about right (as far as the décor goes).

Our server was very friendly, and although when asked, was well versed on the menu, he seemed to lack confidence in what he told us, even though whenever we asked his opinion, he seemed to be right. And although he was very friendly, the service was not top notch, partially I think, because the table next to us was ordering everything off the menu requiring extra work by a server (flambés, etc.)

But as for the food, the menu is quite extensive and takes a while to get through. The bread service they bring is really good—one of the best around. A nice loaf of warm French bread with soft butter. As for our meals, we wanted to try several of the side dishes with the main meal, and since they are “family style” (read, huge) we just opted for an order of the blue cheese potato chips to start. They were a very large serving of homemade potato chips with crumbled blue cheese and a blue cheese sauce. They were quite unmemorable I thought. The chips were too hard and thick and the sauce just wasn’t exciting. I ate a few and gave up on them.

We all ordered various cuts of steak, I ordered a filet with a blue cheese crust and hubby ordered the ribeye. The steaks were pretty good—hubby’s ribeye was a lot better than my filet. I think maybe it is because their steaks are aged, and when you age a filet, I find it often makes it too dry, even when it is still very medium rare. Since it doesn’t have a lot of fat, a good filet needs the juiciness to give it good flavor. Hubby’s ribeye was really good and didn’t suffer as much because the added fat made the steak more flavorful.

We were having a hard time deciding on the sides, so we ended up with several. We had the macaroni with cheese with lobster (you can get it with or without lobster), truffle fries, creamed spinach and the mashed potatoes with lobster and lobster butter (again, you can get it with or without). Our server told us the mac and cheese was better and he was right. It was pretty good—definitely the best starch on the table. Not as good as the lobster mac and cheese at Capital Grille however. The spinach was also very good—rich but still very spinachy. The mashed potatoes were only ok because of the lobster and lobster butter—the potatoes on their own were a little too dry and pasty I thought. The worst thing on the menu was the truffle fries. Just when I thought everyone in this City had perfected good fries, I have been proven wrong again. The fries were so soft they were pretty much inedible. The truffle oil probably only increased the problem, but it was hard to tell because there wasn’t much truffle scent to them (again much better at Capital Grille). The sides are all enormous, probably the biggest I have seen at a steakhouse yet, so you certainly should not order as much starch as we did (although I am glad we did because if we had just gotten the fries or mashed potatoes, I would have been very disappointed.)

We did try several desserts—one nice thing is on your birthday, you get a free dessert (out of about 3 choices). It was not my birthday however, and I ordered the s'mores dessert (not one of the free choices). I love a good s’more and this was a fun dessert. It was a graham cracker crust with a chocolate layer and then marshmallow cream and mini marshmallows broiled on top. I did enjoy it, but had a hard time eating much after all the other food. The dessert portions are not quite as hugely generous as the sides, but they are still certainly big enough for sharing. A nice touch with the coffee service is that they broght a little tray with cream and sugar and also whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening, mainly due to the company, but also partially due to the food. It wasn’t the best steakhouse experience I have had, but certainly not the worst either.

Eddie Merlot’s
3645 East 96th Street
Indy 46240
317-846-8303
www.eddiemerlots.com

E Miracle

****THIS RESTAURANT HAS MOVED****
Looking to get out of the usual, and because a friend or two recommended it, we headed over to E Miracle in Fishers for lunch. It is one of those restaurants in a strip mall that you may drive by a million times and not know it is there. Inside though it is quite large and has a separate section to do Korean barbeque on the table which I haven’t seen since living in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it until we had already sat down and ordered or else I would have probably ordered that. It is something that is normally done there at dinner time, but the very friendly waiter told us they would happily do it for lunch as well (after all, it is raw meat they bring out for you to cook and season yourself, how hard can that be for them?).

But we ordered a Korean lunch box from the lunch menu. I ordered the chicken bulgogi and I also tried the beef bulgogi that one of my dining companions had. They came with Kim chi, fried rice (I tried it, but ordered steamed myself) and 4 pieces of California rolls. Which brings me to one of the interesting points of this menu, it really a half Korean, half Japanese (well really more than half Japanese) menu. They have lots of sushi and rolls and apparently a sushi chef who is quite talented from what I have read. However, I didn’t try the Japanese portion of the menu (other than the California rolls).

I sort wished I had though after having my bulgogi. The chicken and pork versions of this traditional dish were described as much more spicy and consisted of cut up pieces of chicken breast that were liberally doused in a red spicy sauce. The chicken was a little too dry and the sauce, while spicy, lacked much depth in my mind.

The beef bulgogi (which is really how bulgogi is traditionally served apparently) was described as not spicy and marinated pieces of beef. It was not covered in the sauce and was better than the chicken I thought, but still not overly exciting.

The fried rice was fairly unmemorable and the steamed rice a bit too hard (I think it had been sitting a bit too long). The California rolls were standard Hoosier versions of the classic with “Krab” sticks, avocado and slices of cucumber. The Kim chi (which is spicy fermented cabbage) was ok too, but nothing worth writing home about. Hubby liked it much more than I did though. (Actually, I should note that I think all of the others I ate with on this day enjoyed the food more than I did.)

Although this lunch was pretty uninspiring, I would like to go back to this place and try my own Korean barbeque on the grills and see how it is….I did do this a few times in Oakland when I worked there and besides for all the male lawyers I was with assuming I should do all the cooking, it was quite tasty. I am not going to write this place off yet, but if you go for lunch, try the dinner menu or go for sushi—hopefully it will be more interesting. I will let you know.

E Miracle
11003 Allisonville Road
Fishers, 46038
317-570-6666
(no website I could find)(But for fun, here’s a link to a site on the dos and don’ts of Korean BBQ: http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2005/04/korean_barbecue.html)

Kincaid's-Mini Update

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
Just a quick note to say we hit Kincaid's again for lunch this weekend (what can I say, there's a shoe store up there I really like for the kids). As usual, it was very good. Tried the fish tacos this time and they were outstanding. Crispy fish with a flavorful slaw type topping and a really delicious pico de gallo, which was almost like a chunky guacamole (there were nice chunks of avocado in there)and an extra side of chipotle lime sour cream sauce (there is some already on the bottom of the tacos). These were really good, and I know from many comments I have received that I have a fair amount of readers who like fish tacos, so I thought I'd do a quick re-visit post.

It's a hike, but well worth it, even though it is a chain. I wish it was nearer my house.

Kincaid’s
14159 Clay Terrace Blvd
Carmel, 46032
317-575-9005
http://www.kincaids.com/

The Barking Dog Café

****THE BARKING DOG IS CLOSED******

The Barking Dog is a place my parents really like for lunch. They love the clam chowder and have been here several times. The restaurant itself is a little storefront on 49th Street near Pennsylvania. For lunch, they generally specialize in New England seafood type things, like the clam chowder, lobster and shrimp rolls, and fried clams. They also serve dinner a few nights a week (Thursday-Saturday until 9:00 and Tuesday and Wednesday until 7:00). For a change of pace, I went with the folks to give dinner a try.

They offer some of the stand-by lunch items (clams and a burger for instance) as well as a rotating menu of various bistro items. They are serving each entrée from the dinner menu with an amuse of soup and a salad.

The amuse was the soup of the day, which was French mushroom bisque which was a rich creamy puree of mushroom with cream and sherry. Very rich, but tasty, and the small portion was just right.

The salad was very good, a small plate of mixed greens with some slivers of green apple, sliced grapes, pecans, and some nice chunks of good blue cheese—I love fruit combined with blue cheese. And a tangy vinaigrette to top it off was really good.

For my main course, I chose the scallops wrapped in phyllo and served over a mushroom cream sauce and a side of asparagus. The scallops were a nice size and were cooked well (i.e. not to death) and I really enjoyed the variety of texture between the velvety smooth scallop and the crunchy phyllo—reminded me of a favorite scallop dish I used to get in SF which was scallops wrapped in thin slices of potato and fried. Anyway, the scallops were described as topped with truffle oil. I did not taste that at all (and I love truffle oil). However, I think really, what they could have used, was a hit of brightness from a squeeze of lemon (which I asked for and which helped quite a bit) or maybe to be served with a different sauce that wasn’t so rich—all the richness of flavor made the dish a bit one dimensional. But with a few tweaks, it could be really good. The asparagus was described on the menu as “sautéed” but I think it was just steamed, not sautéed.

My Dad ordered the steak frites though, and this was a big disappointment—the meat came out and was very overcooked (and it was pretty apparent from the time it was set down). We didn’t really have the time to have a new steak cooked, so Dad ate some and took the rest home for the dog (who is not so discriminating). Dad was glad he had ordered a cup of the clam chowder to start (even with the soup amuse) because it was his favorite part of the meal. The frites (which we had also ordered a side order of) were not so hot either, particularly when there are so many places around here doing them so well these days. They were not crispy at all and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The kalamata aioli served with them was pretty good though.

The service is pretty good—our server did take some off our bill for the overcooked steak, but I think one server for the whole place (even though it is small) may not be enough when the place is crowded (which is was when we left.)

Oh, and a note about wine—they do not have a liquor license but do welcome BYOB. Just be sure and bring your own glasses and corkscrew, as they are not allowed to help with any of that.

All in all, I think this place is really trying, and at least they are experimenting with some things other people aren’t doing—and I like the emphasis on seafood. I think maybe I will try lunch next time and see how it goes.

The Barking Dog Café
115 East 49th Street
Indy 46205
317-924-2233
www.barkingdogindy.com

Elements-Lunch

****ED NOTE: AS OF APRIL 2009, ELEMENTS IS CLOSED.


Decided to live it up and hit Elements for lunch for something new. All my usual lunch places just aren’t exciting me this week. Was so glad we made the trek downtown! But hey, don’t try it any day except Friday, because that is the only day they serve lunch (and Sundays for brunch).

Hubby had the Croque Madame made with toasted brioche topped with goat cheese, sautéed pork belly (oh my, that was a crispy little bit of heaven), and an egg, sunny side up. Man, this was spectacular. I had quite a bit of it, even though I didn’t order it myself. Came with a nice little side salad, properly dressed (I have always said Elements knows how to do a salad and dress it appropriately—their dinner salads are probably the best in the City.) Our waiter told us that he has one customer that comes in every Friday for this sandwich religiously. And I can see why.

I ordered the sliders made with skirt steak, blue cheese, caramelized onions, and horseradish cream served on what I believe are the classic Elements’ dinner rolls (which I love). These two little sliders were also quite good, and I have to comment that this thin little piece of skirt steak was cooked perfectly medium rare which is something that I have found to be a problem in the past at dinner service. So kudos on that. The only thing that was somewhat challenging was it was hard to eat the sliders like a true sandwich (i.e. with you hands) because skirt steak is, by its nature, a slightly tough cut of beef, and sometimes it was hard to daintily rip the bite off with my teeth. By the end, I moved on to using a knife and fork which was much better, and probably a little more civilized looking. Good amount of blue cheese and a perfect little side salad with thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms and pinenuts.




What a nice treat for a random Friday lunch—would definitely be a fave of mine if I was a downtown worker.

Elements
415 North Alabama Street
Indy 46204
317-634-8888
http://www.elementsindy.com/