Livery--Revisit

We had a family night out the other night and one of the places the kids repeatedly ask for is Livery. Everyone really likes it and it’s one of the places when people ask me where to eat on Mass Ave, I always recommend.

Anyhow, it had been awhile since we had been and one thing we all knew was that we wanted was empanadas. It was just a matter of which flavor, how many, and at what stage of the meal. The negotiations began. So we ended up settling on getting a couple of appetizers and then including a bunch of empanadas with some main dishes and sharing it all.

To start we had the carnitas taquitos ($10) and the artichokes ($9). There were two fairly large taquitos filled with carnitas meat and topped with Amarillo gastrique. There was a little escabeche salad with it and some guacamole. Everyone gave this dish great reviews. The taquitos were nice and crunchy and I really liked eating them with the creamy salad. Hubby loved the salad on its own and ate it all even after the taquitos were gone. I agreed, it was a well composed dish.

The artichokes were also very good. They were grilled half artichokes that had a chili vinaigrette and a grilled lemon served alongside. I loved it with the squeeze of the really juicy lemon. Another great, really well composed dish—and the oil and the acid from the vinaigrette and lemon really accentuated the artichoke and that is something that is often a challenge for restaurants to pull off in my experience. Both appetizers were enjoyed and devoured.

For dinner we had chicken, lamb, and mushroom empanadas ($9 for three).  We ordered a lot of them and our server sort of gave us the side eye about it, but whatever. Our family loves the chicken empanadas and this time was no exception. They are stuffed with seasoned chicken, tomato, and beans, and served with what they call an avocado salsa but is basically like a light guacamole. They also serve a little kale salad on the side with the empanadas. Again, the chicken is one of our standard orders. We tried the lamb for the first time, which was ground lamb in a tomato-based sauce and served with a poblano crema. These were also really good and I would say table-wise, they were probably the favorite over the mushroom, although hubby and I really liked the mushrooms ones as well. They had huitlacoche and white cheddar inside with the mushrooms and were served with a jalapeno crema. We also got some of the bean puree that usually comes with the cheese empanadas at my daughter’s request.  I was really torn about which I liked best. I’d be hard pressed not to get them all. They do a great job with empanadas. 

I was also really impressed with what appeared to be a new menu item to me—the potato tart ($15). It is a crustless tart of crispy sliced potatoes that was topped with burrata cheese, mushrooms, arugula, tomatoes and tomato crema. I loved the slightly smoky flavor in the potatoes and the nice amount of acid from tomatoes. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this dish, but we were very pleased. 

We also had the skirt steak with polenta/Manchego fries, broccolini, tomato crema and jalapeno butter ($18). The steak was seasoned and cooked very well and was a generous dish that was also a crowd favorite, but a particular favorite of my steak-loving son.

All in all, while we always have enjoyed Livery, food-wise, this was top to bottom one of our best meals. The service was a little slow and absent at times, but otherwise, we had a good experience. And it is nice to see it routinely busy, as it deserves to be. I was also happy to see some variation in the menu as well, even if certain things don’t change. What are your favorite of the empanadas?

Livery

720 N. College

Indy 46202

317/383-0330

http://www.livery-restaurant.com/ 

Vida - Revisit

I was excited to try Vida again—I mean, we had such a good experience the first time; we were intrigued to see if it would hold up. So we went with friends (all the better to try more things with) and went in for our second go round.

Right away, we noticed the service was a bit off. Our server couldn’t get to us. It was fine; another server apologized and took our drink order. Our server stopped by to say he would be there when he could but that he was really busy. He assured us an amuse bouche would be served to us soon. Anyhow, we looked over the menu and made our negotiations and eventually got our order in.

We started with the charcuterie plate ($14 for the small) and the crab and octopus roll ($16). We were torn about whether to go with the large or small charcuterie, and settled on the small. Other than needing a little more of the toasty (and delicious) bread, there was more than enough for the four of us. There were a lot of good, and interesting things on the board. There was morcilla (a blood sausage), ‘ndjua (spicy spreadable pork), and some lovely crunchy chicharones. How can you not like crispy fried pork skin? There was also prosciutto and another salame. They did a great job with the accompaniments here as well.  There were a couple of types of mustard and some nice pickled veggies—lots of red onions, my favorite.

The crab and octopus roll was also very good. It was wrapped in exactly ripe avocado, and was a little light on the crab and octopus filling, but it tasted wonderful. It was a light appetizer, and honestly, I could have easily eaten at least half of it on my own. Let’s face it, I would happily eat the whole thing on my own.

At this point we got the amuse, which was kind of weird after we had already started eating our first course (it’s supposed to be a tease for your palate), Anyhow, I can’t remember what it was at this point, but we ate it up.

The entrées came next—I had the salmon ($29). It was lovely—really really good. It was a thin piece of salmon that was seared really crisp. When I first saw it, I was worried that it would be dry, but it was moist inside but just wonderfully crispy outside. It was served with asparagus, artichokes, yellow tomatoes and Nicoise olives. Ok, it also helped that those are all some of my favorite things, but this dish was great. There was great acid balance, which is my thing.

The server had convinced hubby to get the New York strip steak ($39) because he just kept talking about how great it is. Hubby rarely orders steaks out, and even more rarely is wooed by a NY strip, but he was convinced. And this was an outstanding steak. While nicely marbled, it was still really tender and not chewy. It was served on a bright Béarnaise sauce and topped with these light and wonderful pommes soufflé. We had these before at an old line restaurant in Cincinnati and these were just as good. Almost like a 3D potato chip. Another wonderful dish.

Our friends had the shrimp dumplings ($26)(which we had the first time and really enjoyed) and the short rib dish, which was also really good—the two men kept negotiating bites of their dishes with each other. 

We also got dessert this time. Those little doughnuts with the Bourbon caramel sauce? Outstanding.  Their pastry chef is doing inventive things and you should really try one of the desserts when you’re there.

Well, I think if anything I was more impressed with the food this time because there were no dishes that I thought were inferior. I will say the service was nowhere near as good as it was on that first visit, but it wasn’t horrible. They were definitely a bit in the weeds on this particular night though. I’m really happy to have Vida on the Indy list of cool and really good restaurants to recommend. I just hope the food stays as good as it has been on my first couple of visits.

Vida

601 East New York Street

Indy 46202

317/420-2323

www.vida-restaurant.com