The Roost

After my most ecent fried chicken binge, I got an email telling me that the Roost had really good fried chicken, and of course, as soon as I heard this, I couldn’t stop wondering about it.  So the Roost is part of the Sahm’s collection of restaurants, and is generally a breakfast place I guess, but we headed in for lunch mainly because I wanted to try the fried chicken, only to find out, that in fact they do serve dinner as well, and you can only get the fried chicken at dinner. Boo.  Not sure how I am going to make this happen for dinner since I am pretty sure they don’t have beer or wine and don’t think I will be able to convince hubby to go to dinner without it.  And Sahm’s, where you can get beer and wine, does not appear to have the fried chicken. Oh life is so complicated.

But we were there, and I have been told the Sahm’s restaurants also have a decent tenderloin, so we thought we would take advantage of this and try one (hubby ordered it) ($8.99).  I was really impressed with all the Smoking Goose meat on the menu (love to see this) and went with one of the many choices for a “melt” just so I could take advantage of it. I got “The Big City” ($7.99).  They describe their melt section of the menu as “grilled cheese nirvana” so I was excited to see how they did.  You also get a choice of a side with your meal, and I chose the homemade mac and cheese. 

The Big City is described as having the Smoking Goose city ham, smoked Gouda, mozzarella and Muenster cheeses.  I was expecting a big gooey sandwich considering all that cheese, and the fact that seems like most restaurants around here would overdo something like this, but what I actually got was a very thin sandwich—the bread itself (which is housemade by the way) was sliced very thin, and while there was a lot of the city ham, honestly I think they forgot at least one of the cheeses—the Muenster was definitely there (you could tell from the telltale red edge) but I think they must have left out the smoked gouda, I didn’t taste anything particularly smoky, and usually I am pretty attuned to this flavor.  The ham was really good.  Not like the “ham” that I never order—you know that sort of gelatinous pink stuff…I really don’t care for that kind of somewhat slimy ham.  No, this is like actual meat—with so much flavor besides just salt.  Sliced thin, and a fairly generous amount.  Honestly though, while I liked the fact that the sandwich was somewhat thin, I would have liked a little bit more cheese—it was a little dry.  Loved the pickles on the side though—thick and fresh tasting.

The mac and cheese was good—quite a large portion for a free side dish.  Honestly, I could have eaten just that as a meal.  Anyway, it was your classic elbow mac in a nice smooth cheese sauce and topped with some additional melted cheese and bread crumbs for a little crunch.  I found it a little addicting—just kept having one more bite. I did eventually stop and take the rest home which my son enjoyed for dinner.

Hubby’s tenderloin was good —the meat itself not too thin and with a nice crispy breading.  The bun made it a little hard to eat though.  It was a homemade roll and while it was tasty on its own (and nicely toasted), it was just too big to eat with the tenderloin and the onions, etc.  Even hubby gave up and just set the top of the bun aside.  I appreciate the fact that they bake nearly all their baked goods themselves, but this bun was just too much for the sandwich. He just had chips as a side (bor-ing) and they were just your standard out of the bag wavy chips.

It does make me somewhat intrigued to try the fried chicken though, since the fried part of the tenderloin was pretty good.  The Roost is mainly a breakfast oriented place though, and I am now also putting it on the list to add as a potential breakfast spot.  Have you guys been in there?  Tell me what you like for breakfast (and please, tell me if you’ve had the fried chicken!).

The Roost

7371 East 116^th Street

Fishers, IN  46038

317/842-3735

http://www.sahms.com/locations/the-roost/