Tuesday, September 8, 2015

B Spot

The fam and I hit B Spot the other day. I was kind of psyched about the idea of a hopefully good fancy burger place pretty near us. And I had generally heard good things (with a couple of notable exceptions), so it was time for me to decide for myself. If you aren’t aware, this is a project of celebrity Chef Michael Symon. Apparently the crowds were pretty fierce when it first opened, but we walked right in early on a Friday evening.

Their thing is all their main dishes start with a “B.” They have burgers, brats and bologna sandwiches (ok, and also big salads). I ordered a burger—the “Thin Lizzy” ($8.99). The thin lizzy is a beef burger with griddled onions, mayo, dill pickles and cheddar cheese. The quality of the meat is very good and they cook it properly to order (there’s even a chart on the menu to show you what’s what.) My problem with the burger is how soggy the bottom bun got within a couple of minutes. The burgers are thick and need a good bun to hold up to it. I’m not sure if it’s because my burger was medium rare and juicier than a more well-done burger might be, but it kind of bummed me out. I think I would ask for some lettuce on the bottom next time or something to try and prevent it.

My daughter had a build your own turkey burger (the base is $7.99 plus toppings) with provolone and cilantro. Actually, I was a little surprised at how good this was—I imagine a turkey burger as totally dried out, but this was not at all. It was very tender. Surprisingly so. She was quite pleased with her choice.

Hubby had the “New School” bologna sandwich ($7.49), which I liked more than he did. It is interesting—they take a really thick slice of bologna and score it with a knife, which keeps it from getting tough and hard to bite into (if you can imagine a piece of inch thick bologna that’s been fried on its own, it might be too much). It also was nicely tender and I liked all the toppings pretty much. It had Russian dressing, pickled red onions, sweet hot pickles and a sunny side up egg. There was something that had a slightly odd taste to it that hubby didn’t love. I am not sure if it was from the pickled onions or the sweet hot pickles, but it put him off a little. I thought it was tasty though, and loved the way the egg added to the dish. But then again, don’t I always?

We had Lola fries ($3.99) and onion rings ($6.99). The sandwiches don’t come with sides, so you need to order them if you want them. And I think you do. I really liked the fries—they fry them in lard, so that should really be all you need to know about that to know they’re going to taste good, but I also liked the sprinkle of rosemary. I asked for a side of blue cheese dressing to dip them in, and all was right with the world. Hubby loved the onion rings the best, and they were good as well—the batter was super hot and crisp. They are just really thick, which are not my favorite kind—because sometimes when you take a bite of them, the onion slithers out of the breading. They’re knife and fork onion rings for me. But they did taste good.

Um, have I mentioned the s’mores milkshake ($6.99)? It was the seasonal shake special when we were there and both my kids had it. And it was delicious. Really delicious. They served it with toasty marshmallow stuff on top, which they then slowly stir in as the pour the shake into a class. So you get little sips throughout with that toasty marshmallow flavor. They are also huge—you can easily get two full glasses out of one shake, so I would recommend sharing. We ended up bringing two full shakes home, stuck them in the fridge, where they turned into delicious ice cream later.

They also have a pickle bar. That’s right you heard me right. A whole bar full of pickled items that you have full access to. So that can’t be a bad thing right? Service was friendly, although pretty slow at times, particularly when you wanted a drink refill. They do have food runners, so even though it was hard to get the server’s attention, the food came out in a pretty timely fashion (getting it ordered on the other hand was another story). 

It’s a place with some really great burger meat. I really enjoyed the sides as well. They just need to work on service and figure out how to keep the buns from getting so soggy. It’s a good place to take kids though, and they do have a nice patio (need to work on some sun blockage there though based on where it is located during sunset). I know some of you guys have been-- what do you think?

B Spot
2727 East 86th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46240
317/802-7678

12 comments:

  1. We sat inside but the sun was *blinding* for most of our dinner there. We had the Porky Fries or something? I can't remember if that's what they were called but they were fries with pulled pork, cheese and jalepenos and they were super good. My husband had the Yo Burger, which had provolone, salami and another italian meat, maybe cappicola? I had the classic and they were all just fine, not super great but not bad. The service was pretty iffy, we got our app before our drinks and when I asked about it, the server told me the bartender was 'all by himself' and 'super busy', which I thought was kind of weird. I loved the Lolo fries and overall, I preferred the drinks and apps/sides to the burger itself.

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    1. It is crazy how bright the sun is on the patio, and just inside the restaurant too. I am assuming they will deal with this issue at some point. And I think I agree baou the burgers vs sides etc.

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  2. I had first eaten at one in Strongsville, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) and was a big fan. I did the make-your-own when it opened here, with a medium-rare burger, capicola, arugula, and a sunny side up egg -- I couldn't have been happier. It's a go-to for me, and I LOVE the fries. I wish I could drink the milkshakes, but as I get older they tend to be too rich for my stomach.

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    1. agreed on the milkshakes--i can only have a sip these days!

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  3. I had the same experience with the soggy bun on a thin Lizzy (medium well). I ended up eating most of it with a fork and discarding the bun. Fries and onion rings were good too but nothing special enough to make me return.

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    1. the bun thing was a bummer. And I agree, I'm torn about wanting to go back.

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  4. I went for lunch last month and enjoyed it. Service was slow, but mostly because our waiter was very friendly and chatty (but not in an annoying way). I had the Fun Guy burger (onions, mushrooms and blue cheese) with Russian dressing, and it was a really good burger - and I don't even really like burgers that much. Honestly, though, they had me at "pickle bar." The beer list is solid, too. I'm assuming it's the same, but I had the stadium brat at his outpost inside FirstEnergy stadium in Cleveland and it was very tasty. Glad to hear that about the milkshake sizes. I'm headed back with the kids soon and I know they'll want to partake!

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  5. Thin spread of mayo helps block the juices from the bun. Definitely an important piece of a great burger...here's hoping they figure it out!

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  6. My family went to B.Spot the first weekend it opened and walked right in. The service was extremely slow and we waited during every part of our meal. We tried the fries and pork appetizer and I wasn't impressed with the pork or the appetizer in general. I forget which burger I had but it had bacon and a fried egg. The fried egg was perfectly cooked but the bacon wasn't very crispy at all - just kind of limp. The burger tasted good and I did like the buns. I had the s'mores milkshake and it was too chocolately for me, although I loved the toasted marshmallow on top. My kids and husband were satisfied with their burgers and they enjoyed the Lola fries. My husband had the apple pie shake with the bacon and it was wonderful! We will be returning since my husband is a huge Michael Symon fan and has eaten at all his restaurants. We went to Kuma a couple of weeks after B.Spot and enjoyed the burgers at Kuma more than B.Spot. There were many unique combinations at Kuma and we enjoyed the hand-cut fries also. Considering we're closer to Kuma than B.Spot, I know which one will get more of our business.

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  7. Hubby and I went for a late lunch a few weeks ago, weather was perfect for the patio and large umbrellas worked fine to block the glare. Service was very good, but they were probably only half-full. OMG that S'mores milkshake was to die for. I appreciated the extra-wide straw. My husband had the apple pie bacon shake with bourbon which he loved. The onion rings were very good, thick cut yet not too crunchy and the breading managed to hang on. Burgers were good, not great. Looking forward to another trip and another shake!

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  8. My wife and I have been a few times, and while there's nothing that really stands out about the food, we found the wait staff... interesting. On the first visit, our server had a kind of "ex-con" feel about him. There's nothing wrong with that at all (bravo if he really came from a re-entry program), but it was noticeable - his commentary about not drinking, partying in a former life, etc. On the second visit, my wife ordered a drink at the bar and the bartender said when putting it on the counter, "Here you go, loser!" He then had an embarrassed look, like he didn't mean to say it, it just came out. Could he have had tourette's? Other servers seem unusually... odd, too. Anyone else get a strange feeling about the wait staff?

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