Ale Emporium - Revisit

It had been awhile since we’d been Ale Emporium, and recently I bid on a gift certificate at a fundraiser and won, so it was a good time. Our gift card was for a large pizza and large wings, so we grabbed some friends and went. They have so many flavors of wings, but we decided to just stick with the classic buffalo version. I like that they give you a good mix of drumsticks and flats, because hubby and I really like the flats. I can’t say there was anything particularly exceptional about them, but they were solid wings. I sort of wished for a bit more buffalo sauce—it was mainly on the bottom of the bowl and they weren’t tossed too much. The blue cheese dressing  was really tasty. We also had some ranch, but I stuck with the blue cheese. (Wings are $8 for 1 pound, $15 for 2 pounds and $26 for 4 pounds).

The pizza was more of a fan favorite—hubby really liked it. We got the thin crust, but it was still pretty deep with toppings…not really what you think of as “thin.” On half we had mushrooms and red onions (my choice) and the other side we had mushroom, red onions, pepperoni and sausage. It is really, really cheesy—they put a ton of cheese on their pizza. So this is kind of a preference thing. Hubby and one of our friends really liked it. It had a great taste, but almost a little too much cheese for me (I know, that sounds crazy). I just feel like the cheese gets a little gloppy, especially after it has cooled a bit. Hubby on the other hand, was talking about that pizza all night. He also really liked the sausage—he said it had a lot of flavor and was just the right size pieces. I did like the flavor of the sauce for sure. The whole thing reminds me of a more old school pizza flavor if that makes any sense. I couldn’t really eat more than a couple of pieces though with all that cheese—like I said, it is almost a deep-dish version of a thin crust pizza.

Service was fast too. The place was completely jammed, and we were on a deadline for an event afterwards and it all came out with more than enough time to spare. Our server was super friendly, and we got drink refills quickly. And if you like your beer nice and cold, this is the place for it.  No kids allowed in the Castleton location jut FYI.

Clearly, they are no hurting for business based on how huge it is and how busy it was. Nice to see an old school independent place still doing so well. But what are your favorite items here? I am not sure I am sold on eating the pizza or wings a lot. 

Ale Emporium

8617 Allisonville Road

Indy.  46250

317/842-1333

www.ale-emporium.com 

Ale Emporium - Revisit

I had a rare weekday lunch opportunity with hubby the other day, but he needed to stay close to home because he had limited time, and we were a little stumped as usual. As we started to drive somewhere else, we passed Ale Emporium and hubby was excited because he had never been. I wanted to try the wings since so many people recommended them after my last visit. I also didn’t realize that the big room that we sat in last time was not the only room and that there’s a smaller, slightly cozier bar area at the far south end of the building. I liked the vibe in this part of the restaurant a lot better.

Like I said, I wanted wings, but was totally overwhelmed by the amount of choices of types and flavors of them. (I am going to need your help here people). I asked our server about a couple of them but she was pretty vague in describing them so I just went with classic buffalo style. I had the small order, which is 2 pounds ($11.99). I had them with blue cheese dressing (you can choose this or ranch). The wings were outstanding for sure. I was so pleased to discover that something everyone had told me was so good really lived up to the hype. The wings are not breaded or anything—they are just deep fried and have wonderful crisp skin. They are then dipped in the sauce—but not overwhelmed by it, and the wings are nice and meaty and not dried out at all. I’d say they are definitely some of the best in town. I look forward to trying some of the other flavors—so you guys please tell me which ones are the best.

Hubby had the lunch combo of salad and a (large) slice of pizza ($8). First of all, when they say large, they are serious. The large slice of pizza is really like 2 regular slices. He had mushroom and sausage. The pizza is good here—I like the flavor of the marinara and the crust. It’s a pretty bready crust (still need to try the thin crust) though, and very filling. The salad was good—I appreciated that it wasn’t all crappy iceberg lettuce—there was a bit of shredded cheese and some toasty croutons as well. It was the same blue cheese dressing we had with the wings—a little tangier than most and with some big hunks of blue cheese mixed in. All in all, not bad for a pub pizza. 

The service was pretty efficient—we had to get there and back home within an hour and we did --just barely. They certainly do a good lunch business in there. I look forward to going back to try some of the other wing flavors.

Ale Emporium

8617 Allisonville Rd

Indy 46250

317/842-1333

www.ale-emporium.com

Ale Emporium

After hearing about it from several of you, I met my friend wibia (us bloggers have to stick together after all) for lunch at Ale Emporium so that I could finally try their pizza (apparently I am on a pizza quest now). They have some nice lunch specials with a slice of pizza and a salad, but I really wanted to try the deep dish pizza (that’s what you guys keep telling me anyway) so we ordered a pizza to share (you can’t get the deep dish with the lunch special).

Ale Emporium is an interesting place—much bigger inside than I thought looking at it and extremely casual—it is essentially a bar (don’t bring the kids) with lots of high bar tables. Thankfully they have made one large side of the room non-smoking.

I can’t talk about too much because really, all we had was the pizza (well, and a couple of beers, I mean it is called Ale Emporium right?)—it takes awhile to make a whole deep dish pizza, but I was expecting that—and actually it didn’t take as long as what I would have thought.  Also, our server was attentive and helpful even though it was her first day.

So on to the pizza, I got spinach and mushroom on my half (which for some reason I have decided is the classic deep dish toppings for me--probably because of Zachary’s pizza in Berkeley).  Anyway, it is certainly generous, we shared a small ($16.50) (of course, he had to have sausage on his half, claiming my choices were too girly) and it was a lot of food (at least for me).  There were 6 pieces total.  So overall, I liked it o.k.  It was a little more gooey and sloppy than I thought it would be—but the crust was strong enough to hold up to the toppings.  I guess the deep dish pies I have had in the past were more self contained when you put a piece on your plate.  This one kind of oozed all over. The crust has a sort of almost thick pastry-like texture and I liked the slight flakiness.  I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more spinach and mushrooms in there—clearly the spinach was just some leaves thrown in, not a substantial amount.  I couldn’t really taste either of my chosen toppings that much.  What you tasted was the pretty thick crust and the significant amount of cheese and to a lesser extent, the sauce, but it was a good sauce with decent seasoning.  And at least the crust was hearty enough to stand up to it.  Wibia did say that he thought the deep dish pizza was better when it was bigger—that the proportions were better, and I can see that as a possibility.  Although, I would need a small army to eat an even bigger one.

I am intrigued by the thin crust too though—because the sauce and crust flavors were generally good. I am curious to know what the thin crust is like.  Who has had it?  And which do you like better? 

Ale Emporium

8617 Allisonville

Indy  46202

317/842-1333

http://ale-emporium.com/