Zest!- Breakfast

*****ZEST IS OUT OF BUSINESS******

On a breakfast kick lately, and after asking on facebook and twitter the other day about biscuits and gravy, a large number of you guys mentioned Zest and I have always wanted to go for full-on breakfast, so we packed up the kids and prepared for a wait. It was a Saturday and I expected a long wait, but it wasn’t too bad at all. They were very busy, with lots of large parties, but the service was pretty efficient considering.

I ordered the Fletcher’s Biscuit sandwich (as did my son) ($4.95). I had mine with bacon and avocado, he had his with sausage. They do a really great job with this—you get a huge fluffy biscuit stuffed with a ton of scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of meat. The scrambled eggs were nice and moist—just as they should be, and they give you enough of them that they kind of tumble off the biscuit and practically make another order of scrambled eggs. The bacon is from Smoking Goose and was great. I had a side of cowboy potatoes ($2.95) as well. These things are rich and decedent and delicious. They are diced potatoes, with a seasoning mix, cheese and what I am guessing is a fair amount of sour cream, giving them that slightly tangy flavor—and making the sauce fairly smooth. 

Hubby ordered a half order of the biscuits and gravy ($5.95). It is interesting looking because it has an almost pink, or maybe orange tint to the gravy, which I’m guessing  comes from the “secret mix of spices” that are listed on the menu (and I am guessing are some of the same seasonings used in the cowboy potatoes). The menu also says they use Goose sausage, but unfortunately, the hunks of sausage were pretty dried out (same was true in my son’s biscuit sandwich). The biscuits were light and fluffy and the gravy looked very appealing, but for all the “secret spices” I didn’t really think there was a lot of kick (or even flavor) to it. You certainly get a lot of food here though, even with just a half order.

My daughter had one of Zest’s other signature items—the Crème Brûlée French Toast ($5.95 for half order). OK, if I thought the cowboy potatoes were decadent, man, this dish is crazy. It is seriously like eating an exceptionally moist cake that has been turned into French toast. Lots of vanilla flavor, plus maple syrup drizzled on top and a side of bacon. I have a hard time eating things that are purely sweet for a meal, and couldn’t eat more than a bite or two, but I can see how this could be a favorite of people who do.

I have eaten a fair amount of meals at Zest, and most have been pretty good. Prepare yourself to a good amount of very rich food here that’s for sure—not the place to go if you’re watching your diet or anything. My personal opinion is that they excel the most at breakfast. 

Zest Exciting Food Creations

1134 East 54^th Street

Indy  46220

317/466-1853

www.zestexcitingfood.com 

U.S. Adventures - New Orleans

We just got back from what was kind of a whirlwind trip to New Orleans—it was crazy because the kids were there with us and we did a lot of sightseeing, visiting with members of hubby’s family who lived down there, as well as trying to fit in some adult time to eat at some of the amazing restaurants as well.  I am not going to do a full post about each restaurant, just some of the highlights and lowlights of each.

The first thing we did we when got to town was go to lunch—everyone was starving. We hit up Joey K’s on Magazine Street near where we were staying. It is a friendly neighborhood kid friendly spot that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives awhile back.  I had my first po boy (shrimp) ($8.50) and it hit the spot.  Lots of fried shrimp, mayo, lettuce and pickles. And of course, the perfect roll.  After eating it, I realized how lucky we are to have B’s Po Boy here in town because they were remarkably similar. My son had a fried soft shell crab ($16.95) that was also quite good.

Our first night, we hit one of the old school standards—Commander’s Palace.  This is the restaurant where Emeril got his start.  It is a bit stuffy and we had the kids with us, so they lost a bit of patience with it—especially since the service was pretty slow.  I was kind of surprised honestly. My first course was by far the best, and was quite delicious—it was spicy shrimp remoulade ($9.50).  It was wild white shrimp that were boiled crab boil style and served with hearts of palm, tomato and lettuce with a spicy lemon vinaigrette.  The shrimp were perfectly cooked and tender and had a zippiness to them from the seasoning.  Honestly, the rest of the meal was fairly disappointing—well my taste of hubby’s turtle soup was ok if you are into that kind of thing.  Tasted heavily of the Sherry they pour in at the end.

We randomly stopped into a little outdoor place in the French Market section of the Quarter for lunch the next day called the Market Café.  We were with a bunch of hubby’s family members (and kids) and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the music.  I had my doubts about this place when I saw it—seemed like a tourist trap kind of place, but hubby and I split a fried seafood platter ($20.95) and it was really good. Catfish, shrimp and oysters—all cooked nice and crunchy outside but tender inside. The shrimp were probably my favorite.

We had our first really good dinner that night at Mr. B’s.  They are known for their barbecued shrimp ($26), which we shared an order of and which lived up to the hype.  If you aren’t aware, barbecue shrimp in New Orleans is shrimp cooked in a sauce that contains Worcestershire sauce, butter, and tons of herbs and spices.  We also shared an appetizer of their fried oysters ($10.25) with the table and they were probably the best thing we had that night—super fresh, super crunchy oysters sitting in their shells which were filled with bacon horseradish hollandaise.  And I really liked the cool old school bistro-ish vibe.

Lunch the next day was with friends at Borgne, which is a John Besh restaurant. We had some really good food here, although it is a restaurant in a hotel and the atmosphere is a little generic.  We had a bunch of stuff—my favorites were probably the slow smoked pork empanadas ($9). They were served with a  creamy, tangy dipping sauce and were tasty.  I also liked the creamy oyster spaghetti with garlic and bottarga ($20) just for something different.  The oysters were really tender and delicious, and I have to say, I always prefer them cooked.

Dinner was at Root which was a restaurant several people had recommended to me—it is a very modern place located in the Warehouse District. It has a very hip urban feel to it and a very hipster-ish clientele.  Honestly, this was the biggest letdown food-wise for me.  They have a nice charcuterie menu, and we had a couple of things (face bacon and rillettes) and I appreciated all the cool accompaniments that came along side (many pickled items).  Probably the most memorable was the blueberry mustard that came in the little tube (as in like toothpaste). Apparently, they have something different in the tube each day and they squeeze a little out and leave the rest of the tube there for you to use.  First time I have seen that (and it tasted good too).  The rest of the food wasn’t that great taste-wise, although also likewise inventive—there were avocado dippin’ dots on my watermelon salad and the scallops our friend ordered came in a cigar box filled with cigar smoke (not so sure how I feel about that, not being a fan of cigar smoke).  An interesting experience for sure, but not one I would likely repeat.

Our last dinner was the best—it was at Bayona.  There were some clear standout food items, but everything about the experience was just really nice, even when certain food items weren’t as memorable.  The restaurant is in the French Quarter and has an old school feel and I loved our server—she chatted with us quite a bit and genuinely seemed to like her job and where she worked.  The items that stand out in my mind were an appetizer we all shared—the toasted bread with goat cheese and this wonderful mushroom mixture with Madeira. Simple, but perfectly executed. I am so going to try and duplicate this one at home. (I just found the recipe here.) Hubby had an amazing sweetbread appetizer with a Sherry vinaigrette sauce that also had the perfect mix of acid and savory flavors—and the sweetbreads were perfectly crisp.  It was a perfect way to end our trip with a great meal, wine and friends.

Oh…and there were beignets at Café Du Monde of course…

One of the things I noticed about New Orleans that I loved—the people.  Everyone, and I mean, everyone, wants to tell you where to eat and what their favorite restaurants are.  The people I met all had an obvious love of their City and were more than happy to share it with you.  It is a physically beautiful City as well. Hubby and I are already planning our next trip---this one without kids so we can really relax and just eat and wander the streets. I would love to hear about all your favorite places.

Live Oaks in the Garden District

Cemetery

Mardi Gras Heads

Joey K’s

3001 Magazine Street

New Orleans, LA 70115

504/891-0997

www.joeyksrestaurant.com

Commander’s Palace

1403 Washington Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70130

504/899-8221

www.commanderspalace.com

The Market Café

1000 Decatur Street

New Orleans, LA 70116

504/527-5000

http://www.marketcafenola.com/

Mr. B’s Bistro

201 Royal Street

New Orleans, LA 70130

504/523-2078

http://www.mrbsbistro.com/

Borgne

601 Loyola Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70113

504/613-3860

http://www.borgnerestaurant.com/

Root

200 Julia Street

New Orleans, LA 70130

505/252-9480

www.rootnola.com

Bayona

430 Dauphine Street

New Orleans, LA 70112

504/525-4455

http://www.bayona.com/

Café du Monde

800 Decatur Street

New Orleans, LA 70116

504/535-4544

www.cafedumonde.com

Jersey’s Café

This place is interesting. It was featured awhile back on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and apparently was very overwhelmed for awhile.  When I was doing a little research beforehand about the place, nearly all the comments were about how slow it was.  I am not sure if the business has died down a bit since the show first aired, or if they have just gotten a handle on it.  It certainly isn’t fast, that’s for sure, but I thought the wait was reasonable (about 25 minutes to get our food).  Maybe that was just because I was expecting so much longer. Our server was also really nice I thought which also probably helped.

So I guess one of the things they are known for are the Philly Cheese steak style sandwiches, and they have a ton of different variations of them on the menu, but I was intrigued by other things and went a different route.  The sandwich I had was called the “Ham and Egg” ($8.99 with a side). So it was enormous for sure, that was the first thing I noticed about it.  The bread was that really thick cut soft Vienna loaf bread.  The toppings were smoked ham (really thinly sliced), bacon, egg salad, grilled onions (they call them “onion rings”), American cheese and a pepper parmesan sauce.  I really liked this sandwich a lot.  Of course ham, bacon and eggs go perfectly together, but the ham was nice and smoky, which added nice flavor.  And the onions added some texture variation and a little more bite to the rich ingredients. The bacon was crispy and tasty too.  The egg salad was how I liked it, not too fancy, just simple eggs, mayo and salt and pepper. It was really big like everything is at this place—I only ate about half.  For my side I got the mustard potato salad (they also have red skinned potato salad) because I tend to like the kick the mustard adds, but honestly, after having a bite of my friend’s red skinned salad, his was better.  It was creamy and just had more flavor to it.  The mustard salad could have stood to be a little creamier.

My friend had the Parsippany sandwich which is a cold hoagie type sandwich—the toppings were ham, pepperoni, capicola (a pork cold cut that taste similar to prosciutto), olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, provolone cheese and a bunch of lettuce.  My bite of this was pretty tasty too—I really liked the olive tapenade with all that meat.  I didn’t really care for all the lettuce and other things piled on top—it looked like it made it hard to eat. 

All in all, my experience at Jersey’s was a good one—it does get quite crowded at lunch—we went a little early to try and avoid the crowd and did a good job.  And since it does take a little while to get your food, if you get there on the early side, you are still eating close to lunch time right?  But by the time we left, it was pretty well packed.  The menu is huge and I look forward to trying a bunch of other things on the menu there, including one of the Philly-style sandwiches (I was sort of attracted to the “Bronx Bomber.”)  Anyone been and found something they really liked? You know I want to hear all about it!

Jersey’s Café

13710 North Meridian Street

Carmel, IN  46032

317/846-7760

www.jerseyscafe.com

3 Sisters

In continuation of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives week, I recently visited 3 Sisters which was also recently featured on one of the recent Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  I had been to 3 Sisters once before, but pre-blog days, so I thought it was a good time to give it another try.  What I remembered about this place from before was that they had a pretty extensive menu, use a lot of high quality healthy ingredients, but that I hadn’t been inspired to return for several years.

The restaurant is set in an old Victorian house in Broad Ripple, and I like the homey feel and squeaky wood floors (I love a good creaky floor). The service staff was pretty friendly, although possibly a little harried.  I think the DDD publicity has been good for business.

The menu has been re-vamped since the DDD visit, with notations on the menu pointing out which items were featured.  The BFF ordered one of them, the D’Nai, which is a crusty French roll covered in house roasted ham, sautéed kale and jack cheese.  So, this sandwich is enormous. As in, you can’t pick it up and eat it; you pretty much have to use a knife and fork. And not only that, but they actually brought her a steak knife because apparently a regular knife is not enough.   I liked the flavor of the kale—giving it a distinct cooked greens taste, a little more robust than just spinach.  The flavor of the ham was interesting, drier like in sliced pork tenderloin almost, but with a decent flavor.  But it was a little too dry for me.  I really liked her side of potato salad (again, a huge portion), but with a nice mustardy flavor (you could see the grains of mustard in there). Only a little bit of celery, mostly large chunks of potatoes.

So for my entrée, I went with breakfast because we were eating on the early side of lunch.  It was the “Mom” scramble with 3 eggs, red onions, “exotic” mushrooms, avocado, and Swiss cheese (around $7).  See-- all those things, good.  Together, they are also good, but not blow you away good—the exotic mushrooms were seemingly mostly Portobello and creminis, and there was a little too much red onion in there for me—and really big chunks of it.  But I tend to like a scramble better than an omelet because they are less dried out, and that was the case here.  It came with a side of toast, which was warm and heavily buttered (I chose sourdough from the list of options). Again, it ended up being quite a large portion.

I also got a side of the powerhouse potatoes ($3 for the small (!) portion), which I enjoyed—they were like home fried potatoes with lots of herbs, onions, garlic, bits of tofu and cheese on top.  They were tasty, and I enjoyed the herby kick to them.  So often breakfast potatoes are very bland.  The onions and garlic livened them up as well, but were better than the onions in my scramble because they were smaller and more cooked.  They were served with an extremely fresh tasting salsa on the side that was awesome on its own and awesome with the potatoes—totally took the potatoes to a higher level with the acidity and slight spiciness.  I was glad I went with the small portion though (they have two sizes), because there is no way I could finish these (even with help from BFF) let alone any more.

Which brings me back to the whole enormous thing. I get a fair amount of grief for complaining that portions are too large, but seriously, these were insane.  Normally, when I want feedback on a lunch I have with the BFF, I email her later and ask her for her comments. This time, an email was waiting for me when I got home in which she said while she thought the food tasted pretty good, that the portions were so ridiculously large that they must be throwing a ton of food away, which bothered her.  And this place reminds me of a place that could easily be in Berkeley—very hippy-ish. Lots of vegetarian and even vegan options and lots of healthy veggies mixed into everything.  So it sort of seems slightly incongruous that they put this kind of pile of food in front of you.  But maybe it’s just me.  My advice would be to go with a compatible friend and split a couple things. There will be more than enough.

So overall, my take on 3 Sisters was pretty similar to my first visit—I appreciate the variety, healthy fresh food and care going into the food.  It is hearty, and will certainly fill you up.  A good option for breakfast  or lunch if you like ‘em large.  Again, out of this world?  I would say no.

3 Sisters Café

6360 Guilford Avenue

Indy  46220

317/257-5556

http://www.3sisterscafein.com/

Zest - Revisit

*****ZEST IS OUT OF BUSINESS******

I have decided it’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives week on my blog.  Indy has been lucky enough to have several of its local restaurants featured on the show in the last several months, and Zest is the most recent episode, set to air tonight (May 9^th). Later in the week I am reviewing another recent restaurant to have been featured already.  Anyway, I have reviewed Zest a couple of times before, but thought a revisit would be a timely post.  I am curious as to how being featured on DDD increases business—from what I have heard and seen, it seems to help increase business immensely, and since they feature local places cooking fresh food, I am all for it.  But I would love to hear from people in some of these places as to just how much it has helped.

So the BFF and I headed in for lunch the other day—I was in the mood for something fairly light (which can be somewhat challenging with Zest, hard to pass on their macaroni and cheese) but I started with a cup of their soup of the day, which was a tortilla/avocado soup ($3.95) and went with the sampler plate of 3 of their signature deli salads ($8.95).  I really liked the soup.  It was a chicken broth based soup, with nice pieces of white meat chicken, radishes, scallions, crispy tortilla strips, a lime wedge and a couple good hunks of avocado on top.  It had a really great spicy flavor, without burning.  The radishes added a peppery flavor and I was impressed with how the tortillas still had a bit of crispness to them when you ate it—they obviously must put them in right as they are serving it.  They also gave it a bit of fullness, as well as a little bit of corn flavor.  The squeezed lime wedge gave a little sour acid to the soup and the avocado on top was the perfect silky buttery topping to the other things.  I haven’t seen this one before on the menu. I hope it is recurring.

I tried the deviled egg salad, the blue cheese chicken salad and the ahi tuna salad as my 3 choices in my salad plate. There was one smallish scoop of each one on top of nice fresh greens.  I would have loved some light vinaigrette on the greens, but maybe you are supposed to just eat them with the salads—I still think it would be improved with just a bit of dressing though.  I have had the deviled egg salad before—I think it is made with Dijon mustard so it has a little kick to it.  There is dill in there as well as lots of egg.  If you want an egg salad with a twist, this is a good one.  I have also had it on a sandwich special with bacon and other toppings that was really good as well.  The blue cheese chicken salad may have been my favorite of the three though—it had shredded chicken with very fine crumble of blue cheese, grape halves, and nuts (pretty sure they were pecans, although they were pretty small pieces).  It was a really nice combination of flavors—the kind of thing I often put on a salad myself—blue cheese and nuts with something a little sweet.  The sweet grapes and the blue cheese are natural companions.  If I was making it, I would put more blue cheese in it, but that’s me.

The ahi tuna salad was my least favorite. It wasn’t bad, but had the least amount of unique flavors.  There were some capers—that’s about all that stands out in my mind about it.  The tuna was pretty tender.  The salads were all served with Zest’s seeded flatbreads, which were a nice accompaniment.  They have a nice earthy nutty flavor from all the seeds on top that add good texture to the smoother salads.  (You also get one with any soup, although I didn’t use it with the soup.  The tortilla strips made it unnecessary.)  I thought it was a nice sized portion, but was wondering if others would think so—I think some might complain it was a little small.  But then again, they probably wouldn’t order a salad sampler either.

BFF had a scramble (Zest’s version of omelets).  I tend to like scrambles because they don’t get as dried out as omelets.  Hers looked good and she seemed to really like it.  I did have a bite of her cowboy potatoes which are rich, creamy and decadent.

It will be interesting to see what items are featured on DDD, as their menu is quite extensive.  I know last time I was there with hubby he loved their burger and said it is one of his favorites in the city.  My guess is DDD will feature more of the unique items, but we shall see.  Would love to hear what you guys think of the episode if you watch.

Zest Exciting Food Creations
1134 E 54th Street
Indy 36220
317-466-1853
http://www.zestexcitingfood.com/

Steer-In

So the other day I was trying to go to this certain restaurant, but found it closed as I got there on Friday at lunchtime.  Luckily, as I was turning right to head toward this place, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, the sign for the Steer-In.  What luck! Somewhere that was on my list that I didn’t even know was that close by (and one of the places to soon be featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives).

The Steer-In is an old style drive in (that like most such places no longer offers the actual to your car service) but the interior looks what I imagine it has probably always looked like since it opened.  There’s a bar in the middle and two dining areas on either side.  The staff was exceptionally friendly, and although I was tempted by the fried chicken (as I always am when I see it on a menu at a place like this), I went with my server’s suggestions which were either the “twin steer” burger or the breaded pork tenderloin.  She said those items are what they are known for.  I figured since the place was called Steer-in, I’d go down that path.  Although I went with the regular steer burger, which is the same as the “twin steer” but with only one beef patty.  The burger is served shredded lettuce, tomato and “Steer in sauce.”  She asked if I wanted fries, and I said, sure, why not?

So I am a bit torn on this burger.  On the one hand, the freshly ground beef tasted fresh and was pretty juicy (and pretty sure they are cooking them on a griddle the way I prefer), but the meat itself had a higher than normal fat content and I got a couple of bites that were actually kind of gristly.  I know fat adds flavor, but this was maybe a little past the point of beneficial.  The bun was awesome—just a regular sized tender bun that was perfectly toasted with butter.  It was wonderfully crisp, but without being even a smidgeon burnt.

The other toppings added an interesting flavor, although I ended up picking the slightly underripe tomatoes off.  I enjoyed the lettuce with the “Steer In sauce.”  When asked, my server told me it was similar to Thousand Island dressing, but it was pure white and seemed more similar to a thinner mayo or even Miracle Whip to me.  But it gave the burger a unique flavor mixed (sort of like a little dressed salad on the burger) and if it hadn’t been for the couple of hard bites, I would have quite enjoyed it.

The fries were your standard crinkle cut fries, nothing special there, but they were properly cooked and done well for what they were.  The prices are very reasonable, my burger was about $3.90 with cheese and an extra dollar for the fries.  There is obviously a core group of regular customers eating here, people who come in and don’t bother looking at the menu.  It is definitely a comforting, familiar atmosphere, even for someone who has never been there.  Anyone been for breakfast or pizza?  Quite a lot of that on the menu as well.

The people working in there were very friendly and efficient.  As I paid my bill at the register, I chatted a bit with the cashier about the picture of Guy Fieri on the wall.  She told me that they had just found out that their feature on Diners Drive-ins and Dives would be featured sometime of the week between March 7^th and the 14^th.  So if you want to see it, set your DVRs!

Steer-In

5130 East 10^th Street

Indy  46219

317/356-0996

www.steerin.net