Bocca

I know it’s been awhile, but I have to let you know when I have a great meal at a new place. Recently my husband and my son went with me to check out Bocca, which is in the old Shoefly spot. I like the remodel and it feels a lot more like a nice restaurant with a pretty bar, rather than a lunch place. The front door is strangely not really marked, but it is in the same place as Shoefly was if you ever went there. A nice sign on the door might make sense (and maybe a curtain or something to stop the draft from the door to some of the tables).

It was actually still Devour when we were there, and I did order it because there were some good options—I often don’t, but it seemed like a decent deal if you wanted to try a dessert. The Devour price was $45 for 3 courses. I chose the tuna appetizer which was marinated raw tuna with avocado, red onion, olives, and oranges—it had a tangy vinaigrette with some heat from a few peppers and a little truffle flavor. It was delightful and one of the most creative crudo/tartare versions I have seen in a long time. It was really good and I would easily order it again. The boys ordered the arancini ($12)—arancini are fried arborio rice balls and these are filled with gooey fontina cheese. They are served in a nice light and fresh marinara sauce and these were absolutely delightful as well. We were extremely happy at this point in the dinner and started to get nervous that maybe we had peaked.

Well, my son and I also had very good pasta dishes. The one I got with my devour was the mushroom lasagna (normally $22 on the regular menu). It was a rich white sauce-based veggie lasagna with pesto, shitake mushrooms and spinach. It was very rich and decadent, but also quite delicious. I like the way the pesto gave a hit of something to cut through the bechamel. My son got the Bolognese ($21) which was fresh tagliatelle with meat sauce and a mushroom ragout on top. The pasta was perfect and the flavor was good. I liked that even the tomato sauces were fresh and acidic. He loved it and between the three of us, it was gone pretty fast.

The only let down was the carbonara ($21), which is typically one of hub’s favorites. It is spaghetti (did not seem fresh) with guanciale, egg, black pepper and romano cheese. It is meant to be a pretty simple dish and the egg and cheese are what make it rich and decadent. This one just fell flat for some reason—the pasta itself wasn’t as good and the dish was just a little one dimensional. 

The dessert was not a star either—it was the bombolini which came with devour (usually $12), which are fried doughnuts with lemon curd. The doughnuts themselves were just a little dense and we didn’t finish them. I saw the tiramisu come out and it looked good—I would probably try this next time. And I have had friends tell me how much they liked the bombolini, so maybe it was just an off night for this particular item.

All in all though, we were really excited by the food, the menu and the place—the server was very nice as well and the wine list was interesting. We had a nice Italian Soave that we then ordered from the wine store because we enjoy it so much. I would recommend it and will happily plan a trip back, which is not something I saw often about Italian restaurants in Indy.

Bocca

122 E. 22^nd Street

Indy. 46202

317-426-2045

https://boccaindy.com/ 

Plow and Anchor - Revisit

Hubby and I wanted to check out Plow and Anchor again now that they’ve been open awhile and settled into their groove. They definitely are—the service was spot on all night, drinks delivered quickly and food paced perfectly. I was also happy to see the place so busy—it was Devour Downtown and I am sure that helped bring people in. I then ended up meeting some girlfriends there a week or two later for lunch—so, bonus, you get two meals in one post.

We started with an order of the salmon tartare ($9)(I’ve been wanting to order this since I have seen it on the menu). It was delicious. Super fresh chopped raw salmon, mixed with lots of capers and dill (hubby isn’t as big a fan of dill, but I loved it). Lots of lemon and some crème fraiche dollops alongside. The salty housemade fingerling chips went great with it, even though you need to eat them like a garnish on your fork because they’re too small and delicate to scoop with. There was a raw quail egg on top as well adding a luscious creamy texture to the whole thing. It was as good, if not better, than I expected and I will be hard pressed not to order it every time it’s on the menu. It’s a little on the smaller side—we shared it, but I could easily eat it on my own.

The fried fish tacos ($5 each) were great as well. We ordered two and we were each glad we got our own. Lightly battered lake trout (I think the fish changes though) was tender and juicy and topped with so much deliciousness—lots of dressed cabbage, guacamole, harissa adobo sauce, as well as crema. There was exactly the right amount of ingredients to make for a perfectly balanced taco, both in textures and juiciness, but also with spice and acid. They served a lime wedge alongside and you didn’t really even need it (and you know that’s saying something coming from me). Another hard to pass up item for me.

For our mains, I had the ricotta gnocchi ($18) and hubby the duck entrée. They were both very good. We argued over which was better. I liked that even though the gnocchi was rich and creamy, there was a fair amount of lemon and other flavors as well. There was arugula, which gave it some pepperiness, the lemon zest as I mentioned, and some mushrooms giving it different texture from the creamy gnocchi and earthy flavors. It was still so rich I couldn’t finish it all, but really tasty. Hubby’s duck dish had a layer of crispy seared fingerling potatoes topped with wonderfully cooked duck (nice and pink) and N’duja sausage, which now may be one of hubby’s favorite things—it’s a softer sausage and added a salty kick to the dish. It was topped with a runny egg and a corn/herby sauce. There was also a saffron aioli underneath that added just the right amount of tanginess. A really well executed dish.  Hubby couldn’t stop talking about it while he was eating it.

I really wanted to try a cheese course for dessert because we hadn’t to date, so we did. Overall, it was a really nice job. There were five different cheeses, in varying flavor profiles and firmness. I liked that there was a couple of blues, because they are some of my favorite kinds to eat at dessert with something sweet—like the preserves they served here. The bread was also good, although maybe a little thinner and more toasted would have been ideal. My only complaint was that as much as I love olives, I don’t feel like they belong on a dessert cheese board. Give me some nuts or dried fruit. Leave the olives for an appetizer cheese board.

A week or so later when I met some girlfriends for lunch, it was all I could do to not order the fish tacos for lunch, but I was able to resist when I saw the lobster roll ($19) on the menu. You know I love a lobster roll. I did not manage to not get the salmon tartare and split that again with one of my friends as an appetizer. As delicious as the first time. I could eat this all day. When I got my lobster roll, I questioned it. The lobster just looked plain, not like I was expecting. However, there was aioli hiding under the lettuce (normally the lobster is tossed in it) and there was a seasoned butter that seemed to be mixed with the lobster meat as well. The wedge of lemon also helped. They dressed it more like a po boy with lettuce, pickles and red onions. Like I said, different from what I was expecting, but still good. As good as the tacos? No, but I’m glad I tried it. 

I also had a bite of a friend’s broccoli bisque ($7) and enjoyed that as well. It was a chunky soup, the way I like it. Hunks of broccoli and Portobello mushrooms. Loved the fried leeks on top. There was also a Serrano ham and melon plate ($8) that was simple and tasty—the melon sweet and the pork salty. There was a bit of balsamic and some pieces of fresh basil. The kind of bites that just taste like summer. A bite of another friend’s BLT ($10) was not as successful—it was one of those sandwiches that were too big and sloppy to eat without getting frustrated. I think they should lose the third piece of bread and try to make a more cohesive sandwich on this one. Great ingredients—Goose bacon, guacamole, egg, tomato, lettuce and aioli—but just a mess to eat.

All in all, I’m psyched to have Plow and Anchor to add to my “favorite restaurants” rotation. It is good to have the list expanding again instead of shrinking.

Plow and Anchor

43 E. 9^th Street

Indy  46219

317/964-0538

http://plowandanchor.com/

Devour Downtown Summer 2011

Tomorrow starts this Summer's Devour Downtown (wow, time flies).  As usual, lots of great downtown restaurants are participating but I am starting to become a little jaded about which places are really a good deal.  So many of them are close to the three courses for $30 price point anyway.  So this week I am going to hit up one of the steakhouses I think--I know they are usually a good deal (and I appreciate the slightly reduced portions).  I do like that there are some new places and ideas this year--Sensu is new to Devour and is actually doing 4 courses. Harry & Izzy's is doing a separate vegetarian option.  Several places are also doing lunch specials.

What are your plans?  Do you still think Devour Downtown is a good deal?  Where are your top choices for dinner (or lunch)?  I want to hear where you plan to go, and how it tastes afterwards.

Euphoria- Revist (Devour Downtown)

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

Wow. Seriously, this was a great meal.  One of those kinds of meals that make you know that you are getting to experience food from a chef who really gets it. We hadn’t been back to Euphoria since the last visit which was marred by really off service.  And frankly, when I suggested it for this last Saturday of Devour Downtown, hubby said, “fine, but if the service is as bad as it was last time, I am never going back.”  But both the Devour menu and the regular menu looked so good, I was willing to take the chance because in the past I have always had very good food from Chef Denman.

Let me start by saying just for full disclosure, I am not anonymous in the restaurant—the Chef knows who I am and always comes over to chat with us while we are there.   Our server was new to us though, and right away impressed us with his professionalism.  He was attentive and knowledgeable but left us alone when we wanted to be left alone.  Our service all night was great.  So already, we were starting off better.

Anyway, we decided hubby would get the Devour menu and I would order off the regular menu (there was skate!).  So I ordered the phyllo wrapped goat cheese appetizer ($10). It came with a salad of green apples, fennel, red onion and in a citrusy vinaigrette. This was amazing. Seriously.  First, it was beautiful—the phyllo wrapped the creamy goat cheese in a dramatic way and the salad was a bit tart but with a bit of bite from the onions—it went perfectly with the goat cheese and the crispy bits of phyllo.  I would get this again in a heartbeat.

Hubby had the smoked salmon cannoli with fennel and grapefruit.  This was a very inventive dish—the dish was served cold, and the crispy cannoli were stuffed with smoked salmon and fennel with crushed pistachios on the end—they  were served with a little salad of arugula with a creamy dressing. Hubby can’t eat grapefruit, so he had them leave it off. However, it was all really nice together and one of the more unique takes on smoked salmon.  The grapefruit probably would have been a great addition though, adding a bit of acidity.  At this point we were fighting over whose app was better (it was mine by the way).

We were also served a little middle course of the sweetbreads that are on the menu.  They are crispy fried with creamed sauerkraut, smoked grapes, arugula and hazelnuts.  Wow, these were outstanding as well.  The creamed sauerkraut’s accent was on the creamy, with just a teeny hint of the sauerkraut flavor.  The grapes were really good with a bit of the sauerkraut and the sweetbread, and the nuts adding just a little texture.  It was a perfect combination.

I had the skate wing with angel hair pasta, preserved lemon pesto, fried cauliflower and watercress ($22).  The skate was well seasoned and cooked just right (it was seared). I liked a bite of it, and its mild flavor, with a bit of the lemony pasta and a little bit of the crunchy fried cauliflower.  The cauliflower tasted like it was crusted with a panko-type crust.  It was a very large portion for me and I couldn’t finish it, but we both really enjoyed it.  I love seeing skate on a menu, which is a member of the ray family, and is a very tender white fish (or ray).  If you haven’t had it, and like thinner flaky fish, and you see skate on a menu, give it a try.  I have rarely had it dried out, and it seems to remain juicy when other fish often seem overcooked.

Hubby had the flatiron steak from the devour menu, which was sliced, served on top of whipped cauliflower and with pickled turnips.  The meat was really smoky flavored and perfectly medium rare.  The smooth cauliflower (that looked basically like mashed potatoes and worked as a starch in the same way) and vinegary turnips were also a unique and well planned variation in texture and taste.  And for a devour menu, the portion was just as large as my non-devour entrée.  When you consider the same steak (albeit with different sides) is $28, Devour is a great deal here.

We shared hubby’s Devour dessert—the hazelnut mousse cake with caramelized hazelnuts—it was just the right amount of choclately flavor, without being too much.  The mousse was light, and the caramelized hazelnuts were like a bit of hazelnut brittle on top.

So when we got there at 6:30, the place was nearly empty which surprised me for a Saturday Devour evening.  By the time we left, it was much busier, but probably not more than 75% full.  So it made me wonder, those of you who have been and not been back, why? And those who haven’t gone? Why not?  This is certainly one of the steals for Devour Downtown, and with some great, unusual things on the Devour menu (unlike a lot of places).  Since our service was spot on, I am back to thinking this is one of the best restaurants we have in Indy.  I sat there and felt like I could be in any city in the country and would have thought this was a damn good meal.  Better than any I have had in quite awhile. Chef Denman has a tremendous amount of finesse in her cooking, and her skills and talent are shining through.

Euphoria

337 West 11^th Street

Indy  46202

317/966-2389

www.creationcafeandeuphoria.com (and they have even been working on the website!)

Mesh: Revisit (Devour Downtown)

I love the idea of devour downtown, it is a great way to potentially get to try restaurants that you might otherwise think are too expensive.  Generally, the concept is for two weeks in the winter, and two in late summer, you get three courses at various restaurants for $30.  A lot of the downtown restaurants participate and I think it garners a fair amount of business based on the buzz I see online (and the crowds).

Hubby and I were torn about where to go to try a devour downtown menu, and while several looked good (and several not as much), we decided to go back to Mesh, give the devour menu a try and at the same time, see if the quality was as high as our first visit.

You can see the devour menu here, and I thought it looked interesting (although it was slightly different once you got into the restaurant).  Here’s the thing though, once you sit down and price out the individual items from the regular menu (salad $6, dessert, $7, and while the entrée I ordered isn’t on the regular menu, another chicken dish is for $17, and hubby’s was $16).  This equals $30 or less and you get to choose exactly what you want.  That isn’t really a special deal.  I realize that this is a good thing that Mesh’s prices are more reasonable than some, and I appreciate this, but for devour, it seems like maybe they could throw in something else to make it a deal.  A cup of soup, a glass of wine maybe? Something else.  Although, maybe if you ordered the swordfish option that was on the devour menu, you would bump the value up a bit, but I am not a huge fan of swordfish.  It seems like if you are really trying to get a good value during these weeks, you might be better off at some of the more expensive places like the steakhouses, Euphoria, or Oceanaire.  Anyway, that’s my 2 cents about devour downtown menus.

As for the food, it was on the whole very good.  I went ahead and ordered the devour menu because I wanted this to be a review about devour downtown and started with the 725 salad with mixed greens, gorgonzola, spiced pecans and red onion served with Blackberry vinaigrette.  It was a really tasty salad.  The pecans were small pieces, more like the cheese crumbles, which at first made me think they had forgotten them, but as I ate the salad, I realized I liked them this way because you got just a bit of the flavor and crunch with each bite. It was well tossed and dressed and the dressing, while you could taste the sweetness of the fruit, was not overly sweet and was balanced by the right amount of vinegar.

Hubby had the mushroom strudel with greens on the side ($9).  It was really nice—there were several types of mixed mushrooms and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough and served with a nice salad with a tangy dressing that accented the earthy mushrooms.  And the crunchiness of phyllo is something I love—it is light, but gives that buttery flavor and crunchy texture to whatever it is wrapped around. (I love wrapping just about any kind of fish with phyllo and baking it for a super easy dinner). 

I had the chicken streusel (which was listed as chicken pot pie on the online devour menu) for my main and it was my biggest let down of the night (and also, the only non-regular menu item).  Honestly, even though you can easily make a 3 course meal off the Mesh menu for right around $30, I think they actually gave you less than your money’s worth on this one.  It was a fine portion for me, but smaller than most of their entrees.  It was basically a very similar looking strudel to hubby’s appetizer (in size and shape) but it was filled with chicken, mushrooms and mixed veggies. It was served with mashed potatoes and more veggies—carrots and a bit of asparagus and covered in a thick Sherry cream sauce.  I don’t know, it just didn’t have the depth of flavor that other things at Mesh have.  The sauce was a bit flat and the inside of the strudel needed more seasoning—even just salt or something. 

Hubby refused to get anything but the pork belly ($16) he had last time because he liked it so much then (he says he had to try it to make sure the consistency wasn’t off—uh huh, right).  Anyway, he was just as happy with it this time—the pork was well seasoned with just the right amount of fattiness to make it really taste decadent.  I really like the bacon braised endive and balsamic sauce to give just the right amount of zinginess.

Finally, we shared my devour dessert, the chocolate marjolaine.  It was pretty good—there was a firmer more cakelike layer at the bottom with a hard layer between it and a layer of mousse. Unfortunately, it was hard to break through the two layers with our silverware, so mainly we just ate the mousse off the top.  I really enjoyed the hard bits of toffee on top (think nut brittle pieces). The raspberry sorbet on the side was outstanding.  But here’s the other thing, this was more than enough dessert for both of us too—so what is the point of getting another one (and the only other option was a scoop of ice cream), when you can easily share one?  So in reality, hubby got exactly what he wanted off the menu and spent $25, which is less than devour prices.

I guess the lesson here is, don’t assume that devour downtown is always a good deal.  Check out the regular menu of the place you are considering and add it up.  I think these more mid-range restaurants need to come up with a little better deal if they are really trying to lure in people who are interested in saving money. Maybe 3 courses for $20? I’m just making suggestions, but what do you guys think about this?

As far as the restaurant goes, I did still really enjoy Mesh.  The interior is warm and inviting (although they could stand a few more two-tops upstairs that aren’t basically in the hallway—if you are going with a party of two, my recommendation is asked to be seated at a four-top in the actual dining rooms if you don’t want to feel like you are eating in the front hall) and the food is good and fairly reasonably priced for this type of menu.  The service is professional and seemingly fairly knowledgeable about the menu.  It is certainly one on my list of places I will recommend and still will be, I just wouldn’t recommend it specifically for the devour downtown menu.

Mesh

725 Massachusetts Avenue

Indy 46204

317/955-9600

www.meshonmass.com

Devour Downtown

Hey everyone-  The next two weeks are Devour Downtown and I have had a lot of feedback already about where people are headed...I really want to know where you are going and what you think.  Who has the best deals, who has the best menu items?  What menus look the most appealing if you haven't been yet?

Everyone is asking...and I can't eat at all these places in the next two weeks, so let's hear it! Where have you been? And how was it? And where do you want to go?

I am making my list.....

McCormick and Schmick's

The last time we went to McCormick and Schmicks, we were sort of impressed by how much we liked the food we had. We hadn’t been back though, and after perusing various menus online, I was convinced by this picture. It was also the last weekend of Devour Downtown, although we were never offered the menu. That was fine with us because we wanted to order from the regular menu, but I think when Devour Downtown is going on, the menu should be offered from the start.

We had an exceptionally friendly server who was very attentive for at least the first half of the meal, until things really starting picking up and everyone seemed to get a little harried. But we had our wine, and some nice chewy light sourdough bread to munch on. I got the tower I showed you before, the Dungeness crab with mango, avocado and orange vinaigrette. I love love love Dungeness crab and when I lived in San Francisco, a whole crab was frequently our Sunday meal. It is very challenging to find it here and I almost always order it if I see it. Of course, once I had ordered it, and started talking to hubby, I realized that it wasn’t actually Dungeness crab season (fall-winter) and I could be in trouble. Well, it was disappointing. First of all, look at my picture compared to the one on the website (and I apologize for how dark they are). Where were my big hunks of leg meat? That was a serious let down. The crab meat tasted ok, but there were no large pieces that made you feel like you were getting something really special. Furthermore, while the avocado was perfectly ripe and soft (and plentiful), the mango was not very ripe and therefore, hard and with a dull flavor. The vinaigrette was on the bottom of the tower, and there wasn’t enough to balance out the large amounts of the other ingredients. I was a little bummed with this appetizer.

Hubby had the oyster po boy which was much better than my crab tower. It was served open-faced which made it a little challenging to eat (had to be eaten with a knife and fork pretty much) but the flavors were nice. It was a nice grilled piece of bread with several perfectly fried medium sized oysters on top and the whole thing was drizzled with a pleasantly spicy remoulade. He definitely won on the appetizer that is for sure. I had several bites and while my dish wasn’t worth ordering again, this one was. I also liked the fact that they have several “small plates” that are very reasonably priced that you could get as appetizers or out of which you could make a nice tapas meal.

We shared a salad, the same salad we had last time, which is very nice. It is the house salad, and is made up of lettuce, candied walnuts and blue cheese with a nice tangy vinaigrette. We both really enjoyed this salad again (and had more than enough even with a half portion). The balance between the vinaigrette and the sweet nuts is a combination that I love, and one that I duplicate at home quite a bit.

For our main dish, we shared the phyllo wrapped halibut which was baked, and topped with a lemon butter sauce with chives. I enjoyed this dish as well. The fish may have been a teeny bit overcooked if I am being really particular, but not enough to make a huge difference. I know it can be hard to tell exactly when something is done when it is wrapped up in phyllo and baked. The fish was still fairly tender and the sauce added a nice flavor to go along with the soft interior and the crunchy phyllo, even if I would have liked a touch more of the sauce. This is another place where the sides are being phoned in I think—everyone is getting the same sides and they aren’t really that great. Very plain. I said it in my last review of this restaurant, and I have said about other places. I don’t get when restaurants put mediocre sides on a plate just to fill it up. It annoys me because I am guessing most of the time the food just ends up in the garbage which is a complete waste.

Simply because we saw this dessert walk by earlier in our meal (and hey, we split an entrée right?) we split the s’mores sundae. This was one of the bigger and more expensive desserts on the menu. And for sure, it is large enough to share. It was made up of a large brownie with rocky road ice cream on top, and marshmallow cream which was then lightly burnt on top to give it that taste of roasted marshmallows. I loved the singed marshmallow topping with the ice cream. The brownie itself wasn’t overly spectacular-- it was a little dry-- but served as a decent base on which to pile all the other stuff.

After having such a surprisingly good meal the first time I went, I was kind of let down with McCormick and Schmick’s. I do appreciate their portion sizes compared to a lot of places around town (they are much more moderately sized and priced), but I wish there was a little more attention to detail going into the food as well.

McCormick and Schmick’s
110 North Illinois Street
Indy 46204
317-631-9500
http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/

Devour Downtown 2010

Hi all-

As you know, Devour Downtown is going on through February 6th, where you can enjoy three course meals at many of our downtown restaurants for just $30.00. It is often a nice way to try restaurants that you might otherwise think are too pricey. At the request of a reader, I am making this post, asking you guys to post a comment about your devour downtown meals so that others might see some good options (and maybe some not so good ones too) for these weeks. If you have already been to a few, let us know if they were good or bad...and maybe we can all help each other out!

Cheers!

Erin

Adobo Grill - Revisit

Ok, ever since I wrote my last review of Adobo, I have wanted to go back simply because there was so much dispute over that post. I have to say, I haven’t been rushing back based on my last food experience though. But people told me I ordered the wrong things (which I still don’t think should be possible—if it is on the menu, it should be good) or that the classic stuff wasn’t any good (which I didn’t order the first time by the way) or whatever. But on the whole, it seemed like people really are defensive about it, so I figured at some point, I needed to go back.

Well, I chose devour downtown as that time for a couple of reasons. I figured they would put some of their specialties on the menu, and I figured I could try several things this way as well. I also liked that according to the online menu, you get 4 courses, because they include the guacamole as well as your choice of appetizer, and you get a margarita (well, you are supposed to—they charged me for mine until I reminded them it was supposed to be part of the deal).

The first thing I noticed how enthusiastic our server was. Maybe a little too enthusiastic for my taste, but maybe I’m just jaded. But when someone says “I’ll be back to see how great everything is!,” I find it annoying. Hubby and I joked all night, is it “crappy great,” “medium great” or “actually great?” While I also think the interior of the restaurant is pretty nice and feels modern, both times I have gone, I have been seated a little table right by the bar—and if you have a bunch of 4 tops available (or even better 2-tops), don’t seat people at those teeny tiny 2-tops right next to the bus station. The overall experience was not my idea of a nice night out.

I also started off slightly annoyed food-wise when I found out they technically aren’t including the guac as part of devour downtown unless 2 people order the menu. Hubby was going to order off the regular menu, so our server acted as though they wouldn’t include it. I went ahead and ordered it anyway, fearing that based on my last experience, that it might be the only good thing on the table. I wasn’t willing to take that chance. It turned out, what they ended up doing was charging us half price for it (I found out when I got the bill) which was fine, but if you are going to put it on the devour menu, you should be prepared to deliver it. Or make a half order. As usual, the guac was great—they do a really good job with that.

Based on comments from my last post, I also ordered my margarita on the rocks instead of “up” because I like mine to last a bit longer. However, it seemed like they just added more lime juice, making for a really tart drink. Which wouldn’t have been as bad, had it not been for the fact that for my next course I ordered the ceviche of the day. The ceviche was pretty good, a classic preparation with tilapia marinated in lime, avocado, tomato and onion (slightly different from how it was listed on the menu I think). Well, when I say “avocado” I think there was one piece of avocado in the whole dish. But luckily I still had my chunky guac and I just ate some of that with it. However, my very tart margarita was not really adding much to my lime-marinated fish. It was serious lime overload. At that point, I switched to wine.

As for my main, I could have ordered any of them. They all sounded good. I let the server guide me since apparently, I ordered all wrong last time, and he directed me to the pollo al Tamarindo. It was described as a grilled half chicken in a tamarind-chipotle glaze with salsa, tomatillo guacamole and charro beans. Now, this was one of the items that had been added specially for the devour menu, and was not one of their regular dishes. Probably a good thing, because it wasn’t very good. The chicken was really dry (see, this is why I don't usually order chicken out) and the sauce just too sticky sweet. I love tamarind, because it isn’t usually just pure sweet, but this dish just did not come together even with all the other sides. And I have to say, looking around at some other tables, and the amount of this dish that remained on plates in my vicinity, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Hubby, based on reader recommendations, ordered the fish tacos and they were infinitely better than my chicken. I liked the tenderness and crunch of the fish combined with all the flavors of the pickled cabbage and chipotle cream sauce. These were a far better choice and hubby really liked them as well.

For dessert I ordered the chocolate tamal, which is a gooey kind of chocolate cake that seemed to made with corn meal (hence the tamal aspect)—which made for an interesting, slightly gritty, texture. I couldn’t decide if I loved it, or it sort of freaked me out. The flavor of the chocolate was really good anyway, and it was served with vanilla ice cream.

So all in all, my experience was slightly better than the last, but I don’t know if there will be a third review here. And I still think the guacamole is the best thing going at this place. But c’mon, Adobo lovers, I know you have something to say, so let’s hear it!

Adobo Grill
110 East Washington Street
Indy, 46204
317-822-9990
http://www.adobogrill.com/

Euphoria- Summer Devour Dowtown

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

Well, we took some friends who had never been to Euphoria for devour downtown (what? It’s a new season, and yes, I love this place). Anyway, I was interested to see what they would do for the devour downtown menu. I am really trying to eat off the $30 menus to see if restaurants are really showcasing their best. And because I want to see what I would think if I walked in for the first time specifically to try the cheaper menus.

I was glad to see that the Euphoria menu featured something besides steak (which I have seen on most of the menus) and highlighted one of the chef’s specialties, the scallops grenobloise. Another nice touch was that they were offering a wine pairing with each course for an additional $20.

Anyhow, I started with the Gruyere Salad which was red oak leaf and bibb lettuce with gruyere, croutons and a Dijon vinaigrette. I have had this salad before, and it is tasty. Properly dressed (actually tossed in the dressing) and had the cheese and croutons tossed in as well so they were nicely distributed. I kind of have a pet peeve with a lot of the restaurants in this city about salads. I hate when they give you these nice salads with great greens and then either drizzle a tiny bit of dressing on top or pile all the toppings on top in a bowl that is far too small to mix them up in. The best salads I have had are ones where you can stick your fork in, get a bite, and taste all the flavors at once. Even the dressing. This is a salad like that. Still fairly simple, but the flavors are all there in each bite.

Hubby had another classic standby, the steak tartare off the bar menu. It was, as usual, yummy and huge. Seriously, that is a lot of meat. Enough for 4 people I think. It looks so pretty all layered the way it is served, but hubby always promptly mixes it all together into a yummy mash. But I am glad to see this staying on the menu, as I haven’t had it anywhere else around here where it is any good (I can only think of one other place where I have even seen it on the menu).

I had the scallops for my main. They are always perfectly seared (yes, I have had them a few times) and they are served over fingerlings from the farmers market with green beans and garlic croutons and lemon caper butter. I love the totally zip of the lemon butter. You can actually tell there is lemon (and capers too) in there. It is tangy. And that’s how I like it. The croutons are nice with it too, although mine had absorbed a bit too much of the sauce and were a little soft. I have had it before when they are really crunchy and I like the juxtaposition of the softness of the scallops with the crunch of the croutons.

The other choice on the devour menu was a roasted chicken with maitake mushrooms, polenta and a black truffle-fines herbs jus. This was a tough decision for me because I have had this before as well and it is also really tasty. One of the few places I would actually consider ordering chicken out (I hardly ever do). I think the only other place I did it often was the Slow Club in San Francisco (man, they could cook some mean chicken). But back on topic, one of my dining companions did order the chicken and she and her husband both really enjoyed it.

Hubby had the sardine appetizer for his main dish. They were grilled whole sardines with sweet cherry tomatoes, arugula and lemon-thyme vinaigrette. This was probably the only let down of the evening. Hubby ate a whole lot of whole grilled sardines in Europe and generally really likes them. Unfortunately, these were a bit too small and the bone to meat ratio a little high. The flavors were good, but it was hard to get the meat off the bones easily.

I had the chocolate cake “cappuccino” for my dessert which was a warm molten chocolate cake served in a coffee mug with a mocha-brown sugar crème fraiche. It was pretty tasty and a unique way to serve it. But I have to say, the standout dessert was the rather large cheese board we ordered. We asked the chef to put together a nice plate (we generally like the stinkier ones) when we ordered our appetizers so that they cheese could come to room temperature. I applaud Euphoria for being the only place in town with such an extensive cheese menu. And now, it is expanding even further with the addition of new cheeses from a new purveyor. I can’t even begin to tell you all the ones we had, but suffice it to say, they were good. And gooey. My only gripe was that the crackers were too flavored and detracted a bit from the cheese flavor. I like mine plain. Or maybe a little sweet. So I asked for some bread, which they nicely toasted for me, and I was set. Oh! I totally forgot about the bread thing too. One of the things that Euphoria in its current and former incarnation has struggled with (in my opinion) is the bread service. But they have started baking their own bread, and it is really good. Nice and soft with a good crust and a slightly sweet edge. Kudos to that. Come to think of it, if they could slice it super thin and then toasted it, it would be amazing with the cheese.

Ok, one last little gripe…what happened to the pasta? I love the pasta at Euphoria (and the half orders) and I miss it. What I really wanted was an order of the papardelle with local corn, pancetta and Parmesan cream that came as a side with the one side seared beef. That sounds awesome.
I do appreciate the fact that almost every dish utilizes fresh items from local Indiana farmers--if you read through the menu you will see many local farms mentioned. I know Chef Gates hits the farmers market regularly to assure fresh produce on the menu. It really makes a difference.

Hey, I just noticed on the website they are extending the devour menu through Labor Day. Now’s the time. I tell you, for $30, this menu is a steal (I mean the scallops a la carte alone are $27!). And this is a devour downtown menu that is, in fact, showcasing what this kitchen is all about.

Euphoria
337 West 11th Street
Indy, 46202
317-955-2389
http://www.indycanal.com/ (glad to see they're working on their website...although it still doesn't fit on my screen right).

Dunaway's

Sadly, I think hubby summed up this experience on the drive home. “Mediocre food with crappy service.” Several years ago we dined at Dunaway’s and had a nice meal. However, we were the only two people in the restaurant on that night, so the service sort of had to be good, but we also really enjoyed our food. We have been wanting to go back, and when I checked out their menu for Devour Downtown which is going on this week and next, and it looked good (and hey, they are even offering 4 courses for $30) so it seemed like the time was right.

I did make a reservation because, even though at many restaurants in this town you probably don’t need one, I think it is nice for the restaurants to be able to plan who is coming in and sometimes, you need them. Anyhow, the restaurant was actually doing a decent business when we got there, which I took to be a good thing. However, as it turns out, most of the people there did not make a reservation and the staff was somewhat overwhelmed. There was only one server working on the main floor and bar. While she was personally nice, she was clearly in the weeds from the moment we got there. I spoke to her about it at one point, and she said it had been tough because for the last few months, during this recession, they had lost a lot of staff and now, with Devour Downtown, it looked like business was picking back up (the point of Devour Downtown right?) and they were sorely understaffed. The bussers were certainly helping as much as possible (it looked like there were 2) and delivered a lot of the food and kept the water glasses full. But it wasn’t just the front of the house, it seemed like the kitchen must be understaffed too, as the food came out ridiculously slow. I ordered the devour downtown menu, which was four courses, but didn’t get my first course for at least 35 minutes. Wine glasses ran dry and stomachs were grumbling. And it wasn’t just us, it was pretty clear it was the story across the board.

Now, if you read my blog, you know I don’t generally start out with a long rant about service, but in this case, I had to. It is the main thing that stood out unfortunately. But let’s get to the food. So, as I said, I checked out the Devour Downtown menu online, it sounded good. When I got to the restaurant, it was totally different (which has since been changed online). But no biggie, I can certainly change my order, but it sort of irritated me that I had chosen it based on the online menu, and it wasn’t accurate.

Anyhow, I do appreciate they are trying to make it different by offering the fourth course. I started with the grilled shrimp with citrus relish (pictured). Hmm. What to say? Except it wasn’t good. It was super hard and rubbery and I only ate a couple bites of the two shrimp on the plate. For my second course, there were two salad choices, although they hadn’t gotten their radicchio for the radicchio salad offered, so I got the other choice, the house salad (pictured) which was mixed field greens with roasted red peppers, pine nuts, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and gorgonzola with a balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was much better (I had mine minus the red peppers—not my fave) and the greens were nice and spicy and complemented well by the dressing. It wasn’t spectacular or anything, but a nice house salad.

Hubby chose not to order off the devour downtown menu, and just ordered off the regular menu. He chose the Piadina (pictured), which is described as Italian flatbread with taleggio, proscuitto and apple to start. First of all, it wasn’t “flat” bread at all. It was quite poofy. The server warned us that we might not like it if we don’t like strong cheese (which we do) but didn’t mention (nor did the menu) the big swipe of Dijon mustard on the bottom. The flavors that were mentioned on the menu were nice together, although the bread was not helping, it was way too bready and burnt on the edges, but the mustard was overpowering everything else. My suggestion: leave it off.

For my third course, I had the grilled dry rubbed chuck tender (pictured). (There was also a chicken dish and a salmon dish). It was pretty good. The beef was rubbed with a nice seasoning blend, grilled and served over sweet corn and a pico di gallo with peppers and red onions and a tomatillo salsa. The flavors were nice together and overall, this was probably my favorite thing. Obviously, they aren’t giving you a super high end piece of meat for this price, but they did a good job with it.

Hubby had the deconstructed nicoise salad which was seared pieces of tuna with all the stuff of a classic nicoise—green beans, potatoes, olives and tomatoes. It was sort of plain. The tuna was good quality (sushi grade yellowfin) but hubby (and I) thought it was pretty ordinary.

The dessert that came with the devour downtown menu was a nice sampler of three things (pictured): Bourbon crème brulee crème caramel and warm chocolate soufflé. It was all pretty nice. I liked the chocolate the best and the crème brulee second, and when you mixed the two together, even better. The crème caramel (like flan) was my least favorite, but not awful or anything. And the plate could have used some garnish to give it a little color. I’m just sayin’.
The interior of this place is quite nice, reminds me of some of the old inns we used to eat at in England. Wood paneling, old creaky chairs and a nice darkened interior (even when it is still so bright out). They also have an outdoor seating area on the roof which I have read many positive things about. However, we went up there to check it out on our way out (it was so hot we had no desire to sit outside) but I have to say, I wasn’t overly impressed. There are some nice views of some of downtown, if you don’t mind staring directly into the sun. Also, there are huge exhaust fans blowing what I assume is all the kitchen exhaust up and out which are pretty loud and make the atmosphere less than ideal in my opinion.

Anyway, I think the purpose behind the Devour Downtown idea is to get people into restaurants who might not normally eat there due to cost during what is a typically low period for restaurants. If they have a great experience, they’ll probably come back. However, with the current service issues at Dunaway’s, at least on the night I was there, that purpose will likely not be met. Hopefully, if they learned something from the night I was there (it was the first night of Devour Downtown after all), they have staffed up a bit, and Dunaway’s can make a stronger showing.


Dunaway’s Palazzo Ossigeno
351 S. East Street
Indy 46204
317-638-7663
http://www.dunaways.com/