Txuleta Basque Cider House

When we were in Toronto this summer, we took the kids to this Spanish tapas place and the kids loved it, so when they heard that Brugge (one of their favorite Indy places) had opened a Spanish place right above Brugge, they were excited to try it. Txuleta serves pinxtos, not tapas, as well as “snacks,” some sharable tapas (they just list them as “for the table),” and then some full-sized dishes. So what’s the difference between pinxtos and tapas you ask? I didn’t really know myself, so I looked it up. Turns out pinxtos are items that are skewered on bread. So there you go.

Naturally we wanted to try lots of things, and it’s fairly easy to do here. For snacks, we had olives ($6), the brandada ($11) and the Serrano ham ($9). The olives and ham were the clear winners here. The olives had a great unique acidic kick—much sharper than many, and they went well with everything else. We are a family of olive lovers, and these will always be ordered. The Serrano ham was also quite delicious. We have had some bad luck with this at other places, but this is a good one. It’s supple and has lots of flavor. They served some nice bread slices with it as well as some almonds, various fruits and a bit of quince paste. Very tasty—and a really nice combo. Would love to see the cheese plate as well. Next time we may need a combo cheese/meat.  The brandada was the only let down of the snacks. It’s meant to be salt cod mixed with potatoes—which it was, but it was pretty heavy on the potatoes it seemed—couldn’t really taste the cod that much. And I would have liked something to eat with it—bread or something to dip in there. It was an awkward thing to share with just a small bowl. Some of the toast that came with the Serrano would be ideal. Unfortunately the brandada came first before we had the bread that came with the ham. 

The pinxtos were the star of the night though. We had several and they were all really good. I liked these the best because they were the most composed dishes and had great flavor combos. My favorite was probably the ribeye ($9). It had a chunk of ribeye on top of the bread, as well as a little ball of fried goat cheese, some fried chips, and an almond picada sauce. The sauce is made with almond and parsley—it looked like a chimichurri. It was very tasty.

My next favorite item was probably the polenta pinxtos ($5). This had a hunk of crispy polenta and another little ball of fried cheese. I really liked the marinated mushroom and tomato at the top of the stick as well. It was really tasty. I would easily get both again.

We also had the shrimp a la plancha pinxtos ($6) with creamed fennel and lemon confit. This one was good too, although I liked the other ones better. Hubby was a big fan though. The shrimp was cooked just right though and was nice and buttery and not rubbery. The creamed fennel was good and I like the idea of the lemon, although I could have used a bit more of the lemon flavor.

We also had the patatas bravas ($8) because my kids always want fried potatoes. These were the least exciting things of the evening I would say and most went uneaten. They were drizzled with a red salsa and aioli. They needed a little extra sauce, which they happily brought us. My son did order the kid’s hanger steak as well, and it was very good (and a great deal at $8). It was served with matchstick fries, which were better than the bravas, and which also come as a dish to share for $5. I would go in this direction if you want some fried potatoes with your meal.

Finally, we were intrigued to try the Basque burnt cheesecake ($8). It is a slice of cheesecake that quite literally seems to have the top and side charred. It was unique and pretty tasty. I liked that it wasn’t overly sweet. Again, it’s a unique flavor, but a good one overall.

They are also making their own ciders, which I didn’t try because I am generally not a huge fan. But you can also get the usual Brugge beers and wines, so everyone can be happy. You can (obviously) also now take kids up there. This is something totally new for Indy, and I am happy to see it. On the whole, the food is very, very good. I am excited to go back and try some more things, particularly more of the pinxtos. Let me know if you have been and have favorites.

Txuleta Basque Cider House

1011 East Westfield Blvd

Indy 46220

317/919-3555

www.txuletaindy.com 

Brugge Brasserie- Revisit (the crepe edition)

One of our good family friends recently moved away—one of those families you meet (we got to know them because our sons were friends starting in kindergarten) and the stars align because everyone likes everyone. Husbands, wives, kids etc. Plus they were neighbors. Anyway, we’ve all been a little sad because they recently moved to Texas—but before they did, I took my friend out for lunch—actually she took me out to lunch. But I asked her to choose a place she’ll miss when she leaves and she wanted Brugge. Naturally, I had no problem with that.

The thing she likes there and always orders (we have gone many times as families together) is one of the crepes. I almost always split mussels, but since I didn’t have anyone to split them with, I decided to go with a crepe as well. I don’t think I have ever had one that I can remember except for a dessert crepe (I LOVE the sugar and butter crepe). I ordered the scrambled egg crepe ($11). It is a large crepe folded over and stuffed with scrambled eggs, roasted tomatoes, beer-braised caramelized onions and Swiss cheese.

I really enjoyed it a lot. I love their scrambled eggs—I always steal bites from my son’s steak and eggs when we go there with the kids (he gets his eggs scrambled), They’re seasoned really well—and the tomatoes were just the right kick of acid, but were also soft and melty along with the cheese and onions. The crepe itself is very very thin and light and not totally overstuffed, which is how I like it. I thought it was interesting that my friend’s crepe came open in a bowl with all the stuff inside. Makes me wonder if every crepe is served differently. Mine came with a little bit of dressed greens on the side. If we didn’t get this next part, it would be a pretty healthy lunch I think.

But naturally we had to get some fries too, because well, it’s Brugge. And they have the best fries in Indy. For real. (Seriously, you need to tell me if you think there are better fries out there, because I need to know about them). The fries are just so damn good. A medium thick cut and fried til they’re just starting to get a teeny bit dark. And so many sauces (we had aioli and blue cheese).

Honestly, as much as I love the mussels at Brugge (and have you ever tried the fish and chips or the chicken fingers from the kids menu? Delish also), I think I might start craving this crepe as well (and maybe others on the menu, although I really liked this combo of flavors). It made for a very tasty lunch for sure. Even under the sad circumstances.

Brugge Brasserie

1011 A East Westfield Blvd.

Indy 46220

317-255-0978

www.bruggebrasserie.com 

Brugge Brasserie - Revisit

This is just a quick update on Brugge because I have reviewed it several times in the past and in general, am a pretty big fan.  We pretty much always get mussels ($19.95)—our current favorite flavor being the blue cheese and bacon.  I really like that no matter how heavy handed or light handed the cook is with the seasonings on any particular day, you can always taste both of those ingredients—and there are always big hunks of blue cheese scattered throughout to fish out of the broth.  This is what we had this time, as well as the last few times I have been with various people, and they have always been good.  Their frites are some of the best in Indy.  They are super crunchy and fresh. I am also still stuck on my favorite frites sauces, the aiolis (I like both, but particularly the raw garlic one), the blue cheese and the sherry vinegar with sea salt. 

This trip though, my 6 year old ordered the steak frites which is a hanger steak served with a big pile of their frites on top.  ($16.95) (You can also get it with fried eggs which also sounds amazing.)  I had heard this steak was good from other people, but had never gotten around to ordering it because I love the mussels so much.  My son is a steak guy though and we figured between the three of us we could share it all.  The steak was really quite good—hanger steak definitely has a slightly tougher consistency than something like a filet, but it was cooked perfectly and had a great flavor.  It was fairly heavily seasoned on the outside with a spice rub, which we thought was great, but my 6 year old is a bit of a purist.  I think if we got it plain, he would have enjoyed it more.

For the first time on this visit we also sat up on the upper deck—I really enjoyed this. There were a couple of tables in the shade and I love that you can see over the top of many of the buildings to big old walnut trees which I assume are along the river.  The tree top view is a much nicer one than the deck below.

Brugge is certainly a fairly regular place for us.  Well, it is for hubby and me at least, we are still working on the kids.  They are coming along slowly but surely though.

Brugge Brasserie

1011 A East Westfield Blvd.

Indy 46220

317-255-0978

www.bruggebrasserie.com

Brugge Brasserie - Revisit

I have reviewed Brugge a couple of times, and it is a place I frequent for lunch actually, but since I almost always get the same thing—mussels and frites, doesn’t seem like I can really re-review it.  This time, I found out about something worth mentioning (even though I still got the mussels and frites—one of my favorite things) so I figured I should do a little update.

The mussels were just as good as always, maybe even a little better.  I usually get the classic Provencal style which is mussels cooked with white wine, garlic, butter, shallots and lots of herbs.  This particular day we got the bonus plan on seasoning.  Every once in awhile they are under seasoned, but this time, there was a lot of seasoning which is nice, because with mussels, a lot of it falls to the bottom of the bucket (which is a great place to dip the French bread they give you along with).  The mussels only come in a two pound serving, which in my opinion is plenty for 2 people to share, and with the slightly larger frites, is a great lunch.  For dinner, I would probably want an appetizer too.

And the frites are some of the best around as far as I am concerned.  The frites are cooked a bit darker than most, and have a lot of rich potato-ey flavor. I like that they serve them in paper cones which helps keep the frites stay warm even to the last ones. You also get to choose from all the delicious sauces that for dipping.  We always upgrade from the medium size order that comes with the mussels to the large and get three sauces.  We always get the aioli (garlicky mayo) and the blue cheese and then vary up our third sauce.  We got the sweet chili this time, which was a nice change, but more sweet than chili for me.

But the thing we had that I was surprised at was my son’s lunch.  He had ordered fish and chips, but they hadn’t gotten their fish in for the week yet, so we switched to chicken fingers instead (“doigt de poulet” on their kids menu).  Wow. These things were awesome!  Probably the best chicken fingers I have ever had, not that I am calling myself an expert, but I have had a few in my day.  They were obviously made and battered in house.  They were white meat strips dipped in a tempu style beer batter.  The batter was amazing. It was so light and crispy and with just the little bit of yeasty kick from the beer.  I can only imagine how good the fish and chips must be.  The flavor of it reminded me of my all time favorite deep fried seafood place in California, Barbara’s Fish Trap (they are so old school they don’t even have a website I can link you to).  And they both come with a nice sized portion of those fries. Sadly, they are only on the kids menu though (both of them).  I am seriously wondering if they would serve an adult portion of them….  If not, bring your kids in and share them. If you don’t have a kid, borrow one (I am sure their parents would happily lend them to you and have a meal out to themselves!).

Brugge Brasserie

1011 A East Westfield Blvd.

Indy 46220

317-255-0978

http://www.bruggebrasserie.com/

Brugge Brasserie- Lunch

The last time I ate a Brugge, I had a great meal for dinner. I didn’t really realize until recently they served lunch, so I met a friend over there the other day. Now Brugge is sort of known for their mussels, which are very good, but since you can only get 2 pounds at a time, I thought I would try something else.

However, I would love to see a separate lunch portion of mussels for the menu at lunchtime. Brugge’s menu is exactly the same for lunch and dinner, which makes sense for the sandwiches and crepes, since they are more of a size to go either way. But I don’t think 2 pounds of mussels is probably an appropriate lunch portion (at least not for me—even at dinner that is enough to share I think). Not to mention $19 seems a little steep for lunch. Maybe offer a lunch portion of them so that people can still enjoy them and not be overwhelmed by the amount of food and the price if they don’t have someone to share with.

But, regardless, it was a good opportunity to try something new and I was torn between a crepe and a sandwich. Honestly, what sold me was the fact that the sandwiches come with frites and the crepes come with salad. If you have ever eaten at Brugge, you know how yummy their frites are (but don’t get me wrong, the salads I have had are good too). And even when you get them just as a side with a sandwich, they serve them with your choice of 2 dipping sauces. So I got the Portobello mushroom sandwich with glazed sweet onions and Dijon and crème fraiche. These sandwiches are really large. My only complaint is that while the bread is tasty, it may be a little big for me—a little too much bread in relation to the amount of toppings on the sandwich. And difficult to get the whole thing in your mouth. But the mushrooms and other toppings were tasty and the amount of fries is really generous. I got the fresh garlic aioli and the blue cheese dipping sauces and was really happy with both (even though I think the aioli is my perennial fave). But there was no way I could eat the whole thing (or even all the fries) and neither did my friend (she also got a sandwich and frites).

Overall though, I have to say, I missed the mussels even though the sandwich was pretty good too. I love the fact that there is a place in our City that really takes mussels and frites seriously. I just wish they had a lunch portion…

Brugge Brasserie
1011 A East Westfield Blvd.
Indy 46220
317-255-0978
www.bruggebrasserie.com

Brugge Brasserie

It has been a long, long time since we have been to Brugge Brasserie, (it was pre-blog days even) and the reason was the last time we went, it wasn’t very good. This time, it was really good and I look forward to my next visit to mix it up a little bit.

First of all, it was pretty impressive how busy this place was on a Monday night. It just goes to show, a quality independent can be successful. Our server was also much friendlier than the one we had last time and was helpful in answering questions.

So, we started with the endive salad which was mixed greens with some chopped endive, candied walnuts, blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. The salad was really tasty. The blue cheese was good quality and went really well with the candied walnuts. And when they say candied, they mean it; I mean there were some bigger pieces in there that looked like pieces of walnut brittle. The salad was properly dressed and we ate every bite. If I was going to be picky, I would say it was maybe just a little too sweet, with the candied walnuts and the raspberry vinaigrette, but I still really enjoyed it (and hubby thought it was great just the way it was). It was certainly enough to share between 2 people. There was a spinach salad as well as a special salad with caramelized fennel and pear. They both sounded really good as well. Next time.




For our dinner, we ordered the mussels Provencal. One of Brugge’s specialties is the mussels and they serve them in many different flavored seasonings. The Provencal was French Chardonnay, French Butter, herbs de Provence, shallot and garlic. I certainly like all of those things and it was really hard to choose amongst the different choices. Let me start by saying, it is nice to eat at a place with enough turnover that you know you are getting fresh mussels that are correctly prepared. They are also the smaller size that I prefer (yes, boys, size does matter, and bigger isn’t always better). As far as the mussels themselves went, they were super high quality. As far as the Provencal seasonings, I would prefer a bit more flavor. I saw one big garlic clove in the pot—instead of that maybe some minced garlic and some fresh herbs would have added a bit more? And even more shallots would have been good I think. I did enjoy them though, although I will definitely try another flavor next time. Hey, I have had lots of recommendations to eat here from readers. Tell me what your favorite flavor is for the mussels—I would love to know.

The 2 pounds of mussels (again, certainly enough to share) come with a bit of French bread and an order of frites with 2 dipping sauces. The frites, I will say, were outstanding. The combination of the frites, the dipping sauce and the mussels made a fantastic combination in my mouth. Again, they give you lots of choices for dipping sauces. We went with the regular aioli (mayo with fresh garlic) and the roasted garlic aioli (with roasted garlic obviously). The roasted garlic was much milder in flavor—I really preferred the regular aioli—it had a great garlic bite. I would probably get that one again and add in a new one next time. (Again, what’s your favorite flavor)? As far as the size of the frites, the ones that came with the mussels were really enough for the two of us, although if I had had more, I certainly would have eaten them. They were great. Rated up there with the best in the city.

Now, I know it is sort of sacrilegious, but we didn’t have the beer. Brugge is known for its own brewed beer and have won awards for it I understand. What can I say? I am not a beer drinker. We had wine—and I was glad to see a new wine list with some dryer choices. Last time most of them seemed pretty sweet as I recall.

I love dessert crepes, so we had the nutella crepe. Nothing super fancy, but tasty nonetheless. It was a sweet crepe filled with nutella (a hazelnut chocolate spread if you are unaware) and drizzled with raspberry sauce and cream. Hubby wasn’t a fan of the raspberry sauce detracting from his nutella, but I liked it all together.

All in all, I am really glad we went back to Brugge after all this time. It was a thoroughly enjoyable meal. (Note--they also serve many other things besides mussels, such as crepes, soups, and regular entrees as well. So if you aren’t into mussels, there are other options, although I can’t vouch for them (not yet anyway).)

(Don’t forget to leave your comment about your favorite mussel seasoning and frites dipping sauces! I gotta figure out my game plan for next time.)

Brugge Brasserie
1011 A East Westfield Blvd.
Indy 46220
317-255-0978
www.bruggebrasserie.com