Liter House

Hubby and I went to Liter House the other night. We had been before, but there’s been some chef shake ups, so I wanted to wait to write about it until the new chef had been in charge for bit. The current chef is Adam Ditter, formerly of Longbranch and the Vanguard. You can see some of his Longbranch/Asian influences on some of the specials, such as the one I ordered, but overall the menu maintains its German theme.

We started with the potato latkes topped with raclette cheese and sauerkraut ($10). This was a generous serving and so, so good. There were a couple of large crispy potato pancakes topped with the melted creamy cheese and then some caramelized sauerkraut and onions. This was such a good combo with the crispy edges of the potatoes, the creamy richness of the cheese and the acid from the sauerkraut. I would totally get this again. They also do a version with mortadella instead of the cheese, but I don’t know how you would pass up the cheese.

Hubby ordered the pork schnitzel ($18). This was an intensely tender piece of fried pork tenderloin topped with a creamy mushroom sauce and homemade spaetzle. Wow, this was such a great dish. The spaetzle was tender and held up really well to that mushroom sauce. It was a great combo. Everything was cooked just right, and I was impressed. Luckily hubby was up for sharing, because I ate a fair amount of his.

I ordered one of the specials of the night, which was the mapo tofu ($14) Let’s face it. I will order mapo tofu just about any time I see it on a menu. German restaurant? No exception. So it’s hunks of tofu on rice with a sauce that had black beans, garlic and a hot Chinese sauce that was so hot, it was almost too much for me. I have had the chef’s version of this dish at his other restaurants, but I feel like this was the hottest one yet! Definitely a lasting residue of spiciness with this one. I love this dish and general, and this one was well done, but it was to the point heat-wise that I would likely not order it again here because it detracted from the taste of everything else (luckily that creamy sauce on the schnitzel helped). If you really like super spicy though, I would go for it. Also, they might want to warn people about the heat level.

We had some time to kill before we picked up our daughter, so decided to have a dessert as well. We had the chocolate cheesecake with pretzel crust and blueberry beer compote ($8). Wow, another great combination of flavors with the sweet cheesecake, the salty pretzel crumbs, and the tart compote. Get a little but in every bite and it was perfect.  I appreciated how all the food overall was so well balanced.

Hubby was also happy to see more German style beers and appreciated the price points as well. He had the Dunkel for $6 and was pleased. Our service was very good, and the crowd was pleasant. It was busy but not ridiculously loud. I also really appreciated the fact that it was the proper (warm) temperature in there for a winter night. I hate freezing in restaurants and I always seem to whether it is summer or winter. My only complaint about the atmosphere is that we were seated at a high-top table in the bar and the either the stools are too short for the table or the table is too tall for the stools. I felt like I needed a booster seat. As it was, I sat on my foot all night to prop me up a bit. 

I have also heard that they are working on opening a Texas-style smokehouse in the back and I look forward to trying that when it opens as well. 

Overall though, I was very impressed and look forward to trying more things on the menu. What have been your favorite things?

Liter House

5301 N Wintrhop Ave

Indianapolis, IN 46220

463/221-2800

www.literhouse.com