The Legend

I was out to lunch with my parents, and told them to choose the place—my Dad has been after me for years to try The Legend because he really likes it, and because he grew up in Irvington and wanted to show me around his old ‘hood. I wasn’t avoiding The Legend, but just hadn’t made it over there yet.

After looking over the menu, and hearing the specials, I decided to go with one of their classic dishes—Dad’s Crunchy chicken (which comes with 2 sides) ($7). After discussing my own Dad’s love of their mac and cheese, I decided to get two sides of mac and cheese—one of the original and one of the pepper jack version. I have to say I was won over with the flavors (usually my Dad and I don’t agree on restaurants). The chicken had a nicely seasoned breadcrumb coating with a fair amount of flavor. If I had to complain about anything, it is just that the word “crunchy” in the title is a bit of a misnomer--it was not really crunchy at all. But it was very tender and very tasty and I would get it again. As for the mac and cheese, they were both good, but I would say that like my Dad, I preferred the original one. It isn’t anything fancy—but just really good creamy mac and cheese made with real cheese—not the processed kind. I liked the pepper jack version as well, but the classic just hit home. 

My Dad had the meatloaf ($8), which he really likes—I had a bite and it was a nice tender meatloaf covered in gravy. If meatloaf is your thing, you would probably like this. He loves the mac and cheese so much, he made both his sides mac and cheese. My Mom ordered the special—I was really happy about this because I had really wanted to order it as well but was torn. It was a half of a sliced roast beef sandwich topped with a gorgonzola spread and red onion jam (ok, it was supposed to have cucumbers but neither mom nor I like them on our sandwiches) ($9). It also came with 2 sides. She had a Caesar salad and a cup of soup. The sandwich was good—so good that I ordered it to go for me and hubby to have for dinner (my son had a game so it was perfect). The meat was tender and mostly fairly rare, and had a nice balance between sweet (the red onion jam) and sharp (from the blue cheese). I didn’t try the salad, but the parmesan cauliflower soup my mom had was delicious. It was a totally smooth puree, but had an exceptionally rich flavor of the cheese and a hearty cauliflower taste as well. I went back for a couple more bites of this because I enjoyed it so much.

So yes, overall I think I liked this place just about as much as my Dad does. It’s a nice friendly and comfortable atmosphere and I feel like the pricing is pretty reasonable for the amount and quality of food you get. This is comfort food done well. And I got to see my Dad’s old neighborhood too. So everyone was happy.

The Legend

5614 East Washington Street

Indy 46219

317/536-2028

www.thelegendcafe.com