Lulu's Coffee and Bakehouse

Every so often I ask on twitter for favorite restaurants in an area, or cuisine, or whatever just to try and get some new motivation. The other day I asked for favorite lunch places and was surprised when one of my twitter friends suggested a place I wasn’t familiar with—Lulu’s Coffee & Bakehouse. So naturally, I had to try it.

I took the BFF and we headed for lunch. It’s a small place and you order at the counter. I was intrigued by the “Greenwich Panini” special and asked what was in it—a very nice lady from the kitchen came and was happy to explain it to me (and answer several other questions about the menu, like is there fruit in the chicken salad? (Yes)).

I went ahead and got the Greenwich Panini because it sounded interesting—it was cheddar and provolone cheese, sliced avocado, jalapeno cream cheese and a sprinkle of cilantro. It was pressed flat and served hot on sourdough bread. The sandwiches are served a la carte, so I ordered a side salad as well (my whole meal with a small bottle of Pellegrino was about $12). I liked the sandwich—it had a good amount of ripe avocado on it so that you got some in every bite and the jalapeno cream cheese added a little bit of spicy heat which made the sandwich unique. I appreciated the addition of the cilantro in theory, but in execution, you couldn’t taste it that much. The sandwich was solid and I ate it all.  The side salad was just romaine lettuce chopped up with a slice of tomato and a slice of cucumber on top. I learned most of the dressings aren’t made in house—I had the blue cheese and it was just standard bottled blue cheese. Too bad because this is the kind of place that could set itself apart by doing something like making their own dressings and using them on the sandwiches as well (apparently they do do this with their one housemade dressing which is the honey mustard).

My BFF’s sandwich was a little more straightforward, and sadly a little more boring. She had the garden sandwich ($5.09) which was wheat bread just stacked with lots of fresh veggies. There were a few black olives on it, as well as a smear of hummus, but I couldn’t really taste the hummus in the bite I had. She also had the chicken chili, which she seemed to enjoy but I didn’t try it.

They’re using fresh ingredients, and the food seems healthy. These are sort of like the kind of sandwiches you could pretty easily make at home yourself.  Not sure I would make a special trip, but if this were my home or work neighborhood, I can see stopping in for a bite. There were several kinds of quiches available as well that looked good (they even do a gluten free one with a crisp potato crust that looked pretty darn good). The people are very nice. Anyone else been there?

Lulu’s Coffee & Bakehouse

2292 West 86^th Street

Indy 46260

317/879-1995

http://www.luluscoffeeandbakehouse.com/