Monday, July 20, 2020

Provision - Revisit

So right now when I go out to eat, I only will eat outside—so finding the right combo of a nice outdoor area and good food isn’t always easy—but likely the next few posts you will read will be some of our outdoor adventures. Speaking of which, please please share any great ideas for places to try with great patios, especially places that might be new to me! And I am already getting stressed about thinking about when it gets too cold to eat outside, but I am a worrier. 

Anyhow, we wanted a higher end sit-down place where we could get a reservation for an outdoor table—it seems a lot of places won’t guarantee outside tables. But Provision was a good choice. We’ve always liked the upstairs patio and it was a beautiful night. And we could reserve it. 

The tables are nicely spaced as well, and the servers were all fully masked even before the Mayor’s orders. We started with some appetizers—the tuna tartare ($22) and the king crab toast ($36). We also got a bread basket ($7). I have had all of them before, and all of them were very good. The bread basket at Provision is one of my favorite in town—next to Vida maybe. Cunningham Group seems to put out a good bread basket. Provision’s version has baguette from Blue Dog Bakery in Louisville (if you haven’t been there, you need to go—they do make some of the best baguettes in the Midwest), pretzels, naan, cereal bread and butter as well as dipping oil. All really good. Definitely worth the price. The tuna and the crab dish have always been good and this time was no exception. I like the seasoning on the spicy tuna mix with the crunch of the rice cake underneath—there’s a slightly spicy aioli as well. I really enjoy the crab dish, which is in a buerre blanc sauce with a bit of heat and served on super buttery brioche. It’s really rich and decadent—I tried to eat it as a main dish before and it was a little much. Definitely a great thing to share with a group. And a really tasty, buttery bite.

My daughter and I shared the halibut dish that came with udon noodles, mushrooms, tosaka (a type of seaweed) and yuzu-chile glaze ($46). I appreciated that they split the dish in the kitchen so we each got our own serving. The fish was good—maybe a tad bit dry. I loved the noodles and mushrooms with the slightly tangy, slightly spicy broth. My daughter actually preferred the fish to the noodles and I liked the sides the best, so there you go. It was a good dish though. 

My son had 10-ounce Iowa premium filet ($46). He could not stop talking about how good this steak was. It was perfectly cooked and nicely seasoned (from the small bite I convinced him to give me). They give you a little portion of Robuchon potatoes, which are like equal parts mashed potatoes to butter and are always delicious. We also got a side of “loaded tater tottler” ($9). This was my least favorite thing of the night—It was sort of three large fried potato pieces with a lot of spicy mayo underneath and bacon on top. Just didn’t really come together for me somehow. But really this was the only miss of the night.  Hubby had the charred shrimp appetizer ($21) for his main and was very happy—it is perfectly grilled shrimp with avocado, curry emulsion and kimchi apple. A great blend of acid and heat and smooth richness from the avocado. They definitely know how to cook shrimp.
We also shared some desserts, which were really good—especially the Indiana sugar cream pie ($10) with Turkish coffee ice cream. Even though the kids ordered the triple chocolate tarte (love the potato chip crust)($10) and really enjoyed it, everyone was fighting over the pie.

All in all, this was a great (although pricey) meal. It was so nice to enjoy a bunch of things, all cooked really well, on a nice night outside in the fresh air. It gave a little sense of peace in what is a fairly stressful world right now. Sometimes a great meal in a great environment can make you kick back and relax a little, even with a global pandemic. I have struggled with going out at all but was really glad we did in this case.  And remember, keep the recs coming!

Provision
2721 E. 86th Street #200
Indianapolis, In 46240
317/843-6105


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