Mama Irma

As soon as I heard about Mama Irma’s opening in Fountain Square I was excited. One thing Indy seems to be lacking is Peruvian restaurants. Machu Picchu on the West side is pretty good, but I was psyched there was somewhere a little closer—and in Fountain Square which is an area I really like because of the neighborhood feel.  I was also bummed after trying to go to Peruvian Corner for the first time recently and finding it closed.

Anyway, I stopped in for lunch one day and looked over the menu. I had a really hard time deciding what to order, and I really wanted to try more than one thing, so I decided to go with a papa rellena appetizer ($5.50) and a soup ($6.25).

I loved the papa rellena. Seriously, I have been thinking about this thing since I ate it and am trying to figure out a way to get over there and eat another one. Hubby has been making fun of me about it, but I plan on getting another one very soon.  It is basically a football shaped ball of mashed potatoes that are filled with wonderfully seasoned ground beef and boiled egg pieces (the egg tasted almost like it was slightly pickled).  The whole thing is then very lightly fried, just giving it a very slightly crispy golden edge.  But my favorite part of it was the thinly shaved pickled red onions served alongside. There were also a few red pepper pieces as well.  I loved the tartness of the onions with each bite of the potato/meat mixture.  And I really appreciated that they gave you more than enough to have some with every single bite.  And I ate every single bite.  And if I got it again (which I most certainly will), I probably would not want to share.

I chose the soup, the sopa a la criolla, because it was quite a cold day and soup sounded good.  Also the menu said something like, “there’s no way you won’t like this soup,” and I appreciate confidence.  And it had a poached egg in it.  I was sold.  The soup was solid.  It was a creamy broth with spaghetti noodles, some tomato, and a lot of seasoning. And when you broke the poached egg, the yolk made it even richer and creamier.  There were also little strips of beef in it, which probably added to the flavor, but they were pretty tough. I ate a couple pieces and left the rest.  But I enjoyed the rest of it…although not as much as that papa rellena.

The place is cute and homey, although on the particular day I was there, it was not just freezing outside but also inside the place.  I had to keep my coat on throughout my meal, which is not my favorite thing to do.  The servers were all super-friendly and very enthusiastic about the food.  I am pretty sure they are making everything to order back in the kitchen though because my soup took a little while. Part of that may have been that they were quite busy, which is always a nice thing to see for such a new restaurant.  The prices were a little more expensive than I would have thought (most entrees were in the $10-15 range), particularly since they had no separate lunch menu (might be a thought).

Overall, I liked it though, and look forward to trying some of the other things.  Have you been? Tell me what you have had and liked.

Mama Irma

1058 Virginia Avenue

Indy  46203

317/423-2421