Pogue's Run Grocer- Deli

I am doing an internship right now on the Near Eastside and had the opportunity to eat lunch at Pogue’s Run Grocer. It’s a little grocery store, but they also have a deli in there and a couple of tables and chairs. I’m guessing they mostly do carry out though, which is what I did. The deli has a pretty extensive list of sandwiches including vegan and vegetarian options. Being neither of these, I opted for one of the meat-filled choices.

The Tuscan turkey sandwich ($6.89) is Boar’s Head Tuscan turkey sliced with provolone, green peppers, lettuce, kalamata olives and basil mayo. I didn’t get the green peppers, because I can’t stand green bell peppers, but man oh man was this sandwich good. It’s one of those sandwiches that although it was quite large, I had a hard time not finishing the whole thing (ok, let’s be honest, I did finish the whole thing. I also got a giant pickle, which they quartered for me. Also delicious.

It had lots of the basil aioli on there, and you know how I feel about a well-sauced sandwich. It adds great moisture but also a ton of flavor, especially a sauce like this. Add the kalamata olives which are chopped up small and very plentiful and you have a killer sandwich. The turkey was sliced nice and thin and was tender (Boar’s Head is always good lunch meat). They press it in a panini press so everything squishes down a bit and the cheese gets melty. I am telling you, I am sitting here writing this thinking I need to get this sandwich tomorrow. For real. It’s basically an ideal sandwich for me between the aioli and the olives (and it’s warm, as I am not a huge fan of cold sandwiches usually).

Check out this place for a quick sandwich next time you’re over this way. It’s a worth a stop. And I am totally getting one this week.

Pogue’s Run Grocer

2828 East 10^th Street

Indianapolis, IN 46201

317/426-4963

http://poguesrungrocer.org/ 

Love Handle - Quick Revisit

Quick trip back to Love Handle. Met my friend Suzanne and had a little smorgasbord of treats.

We got two of the pork belly sliders ($3 each), which were the housemade biscuits with smoked pork belly, American cheese and pickled fresno chiles. This was a nice little snack and a nice combo of flavors. Parts of the pork belly were a touch fatty for me, but I am finding that is kind of a universal problem with pork belly these days. Maybe it’s just me. Loved the bit of cheese melted on top as well as the pickled chiles, lending heat and acid.

My favorite thing was the straight up (vegetarian) biscuits and gravy. Last time I had this with meat and an egg added, and I have to say, I loved the pure flavor of the mushroom-based gravy on its own. It was delicious. And pickled onions on top. Very nice. I would eat this again and again.

The last thing we had was by far the prettiest, and the most unusual—it was “buck rarebit” ($6) which was a nice piece of bread topped with melted fontina cheese, shiitake pate, raspberry preserves, and a pickled egg yolk. Look how pretty. We were more split on this one….while I loved the runny yolk, I thought the sweetness of the preserves dominated the dish. Suzanne loved the sweetness with the cheese and egg. I guess it just depends on how much you go in for jam.

A very cool place (and I mean that figuratively and literally—the place is darn cold on a cold day) with super nice people doing super interesting dishes. The prices are very reasonable as well. I love that there are eggs all over the menu too. Check it out.

Love Handle

2829 East 10^th Street

Indy 46201

317/430-5004

www.facebook.com/LoveHandleIndy 

La Parada - Revisit

Quickie post—met a friend for lunch at La Parada the other day. He was craving Mexican food so we ended up there. I have been several times for tacos, but if I’m quite honest the last couple of times the tacos have let me down a bit. Not sure what it was, but they just didn’t wow me like they did the first couple of times.

So, since one of my current favorite things to order in a Mexican place is chilaquiles (this should surprise no one since they involve eggs generally) and they had them on the menu (really though, is there anything remotely Mexican that is not on this menu? It’s ridiculously huge), this is what I ordered--chilaquiles with eggs ($8.99)

Anyhow, the server asked me if I wanted green or red sauce and I couldn’t decide, so she did it half and half for me. That was nice. And as it turned out, I liked the green side better, a bit of acidic flavor and just a little more flavor in general. The only thing a little weird was that the eggs were just fried and placed on the side. I kinda like ‘em mixed in with my tortillas and sauce. I did it myself, but it just wasn’t the same. Tasted ok, but not my favorite version.

We also had chips and salsa (I mean you get that free). They salsa they give you is good, just the right amount of fresh flavor and chunkiness. We had some queso dip as well. It was just average. And not quite hot enough to start. But she happily microwaved it for us.

Friend's burrito

Overall, it was fine, but not something I am going to crave to try again soon. So where can I get some good chilaquiles in Indy? I mean besides Delicia at brunch, because those are delicious.

La Parada

1642 East New York Street

Indy   46201

317/917-0095

Love Handle

At our last lunch at Milktooth, @indyfoodswap and I decided we needed to try Love Handle asap. We planned a date to go a couple of weeks later.  It’s over on the east side—sort of Irvington-ish I guess, but a little on the less developed end of 10^th Street. Right across is Pogue’s Run Grocery though, and I was happy to check it out for the first time as well. I left there with a nice bag of local products.

Anyhow, Love Handle is a cute little place, maybe slightly on the sparse side décor-wise, but is not without its charm nonetheless. It’s certainly not a fancy place. We were there early for lunch, but they also serve breakfast, so we did a little of both and tried a couple of things. This place is all about the cured meats for sure, one of the chef/proprietors (Chris and Ally Benedyk) once worked at Goose the Market before opening a shop in Milwaukee and then back again in Indy. You’ll see lots of cured meat on the ever-changing menu for sure.

The meat was the star in “The Hardesty,” ($10) which I assume is named for our own local chef Greg Hardesty? Anyhow, the smoked beef brisket was cut real thin and stacked with peppers, onions and Taleggio cheese. I loved the slightly stinky, but super creamy cheese with this hearty meat—and I really enjoyed the smashed flat baguette the sandwich was served on. This addition of such a distinctive cheese made this sandwich extra special. The sandwiches all came with a side of the house pork fat popcorn, which was probably my least favorite thing—seemed sort of flat to me, but we still managed to eat it all.

Like I said, it was on the early side, so we also got the biscuits and gravy with crimini mushrooms and hatch chilis ($6), which I think is vegetarian. But we added bacon (+2) and a jellied egg yolk (+$2), thereby killing that aspect of it. It wasn’t a huge dish, but it had a lot of flavor. There was a lot of stuff going on in that little bowl. At the bottom was a fresh biscuit topped with the mushroom gravy. And that was all topped with pieces of slightly chewy bacon pieces and the egg yolk—which like something I have never quite had before. But it had a runny yolk in the center of the aspic-type substance, so I was content. Honestly it was almost too much to get the taste of everything. I would like to try the biscuits and gravy on their own but still get the bacon and egg on the side. Oh yeah, and it was all topped with pickled red onions, so again, happy. 

I feel like this is like no place we really have in Indy. It’s an extremely creative menu, but it’s also a much more casual and homey feeling place than say somewhere like Milktooth. More rustic fare, and certainly more meat (and even more specifically, on the day I was there, organ meat)-centric. Everything was well done though, and I would like to go back and try some other things.

If you’re looking for a super casual, but warm atmosphere (and the owners are super nice), with some extremely unique food (for Indy anyhow), check this place out. And then report back. 

Love Handle

2829 East 10^th Street

Indy 46201

317/430-5004

www.facebook.com/LoveHandleIndy 

Egg Roll #1

Egg Roll #1 has been on my list For-EVER. So I finally got motivated to go. I was in the mood for pho, heard theirs was good and convinced the BFF to check it out with me. It’s a bit of a hike for me, but I am always willing to travel for a food adventure.

The first thing that sort of surprised me was how sort of new the place looked. It was much larger and more modern than the sort of dive spot I was imagining. When you walk in, there’s a large counter where you order. I appreciate the large pictures to the right of the register of most of the menu items as well in case you aren’t sure what they all are. They do a lot of different stuff—Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food, but I was always told about the Vietnamese food being good, so that was the direction I was going.

I felt like in a place called “Egg Roll #1,” that it would be just wrong to go in there and not order an egg roll right? There was a Vietnamese option on the menu (item # 1) ($3.95 for 3) so I ordered those as well as a bowl of Pho. I got the Pho Tai to be exact ($7.25) which is the rare beef pho.

I thought the egg rolls were just okay, actually, which was kind of a bummer. They were filled with what seemed to be ground pork and some veggies as well. They were wrapped in rice paper and fried. They were on the smaller side and cooked very, very crisp. I don’t know—even with the seasoned fish sauce to dip them in. One of those items that aren’t worth the calories for me.

My pho was good—I mean, it was solid pho. It had all the required ingredients—beef broth, lots of noodles, onions, thin slices of beef and onions and hunks of scallions. You got the side plate with a lot of bean sprouts, a few pieces of jalapeno and some Thai basil (no cilantro, boo). There was a little bit of cilantro on top of the soup, but none on the side plate. There is a little area by the front register where you can get some extra onion/cilantro mix (and more limes! Yay!) so I did that.

Like I said, it was decent pho, but it certainly wasn’t the most flavorful broth I’ve had. It helped after I threw the peppers in, as well as some Sriracha and soy.  After it sat a bit and the flavors of the peppers and basil kind of melted into the broth, it got better for sure. It’s the kind of thing/place that if it were in my neighborhood, it might be a solid pho option. But being so far away, it’s probably not going to hit my radar again although I am interested to know if the Thai stuff is good. Some of the pictures on the wall were intriguing.

The BFF had a small bowl of hot and sour soup ($2.75) and another dish off the Vietnamese menu, the name of which I cannot recall (#15 perhaps?). It was egg noodles on the bottom with sautéed pork and shrimp on top. It was a decent dish too—even if the pork and shrimp were a touch on the tough side. I actually thought the hot and sour soup was egg drop soup when they first set it down. It was heavy on the egg and not a lot of other stuff in the soup. It was also heavy on the sour part of the flavor and not so heavy on the hot part. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really hot and sour soup to me.

It was an enjoyable lunch, and I am always up for trying something new. Did anything blow me away? No. Can you find better pho around town? Yes. But it’s not a bad option if this is your side of town. The place did a decent business and while the staff was very business-like, they also came around to check on you and make sure you didn’t need drink refills.

So who else has been here? You know I want to hear what you think is good.

Egg Roll #1

4576 S. Emerson

Indy  46203

317/787-2225

www.eggroll1.com 

Sunrise Café - Revisit and New Location

On those occasions when hubby and I wake up after a long night and really want a good greasy breakfast, we often debate where to go—it’s frustrating in this town because often, on the weekends, breakfast places tend to be so dang busy.

For years, my extended family routinely went to Sunrise Café over by the Fashion Mall. A couple of years ago, the space was taken over by First Watch. After a few months of being displaced (although they have other locations around town), Sunrise re-opened at 71^st and Shadeland. My parents now frequent the new location regularly, but for some reason, hubby and I have only been a few times, and I have to say, the last time was just ok. The food is very much the same as the original location, I’d say. The interior suffers a bit compared to the all-wood sports theme of the last locale, now being a large space with fewer tables, and sparse décor. And the few wood-based sports items they brought from the old locale, just look strange now on the stark walls (and are generally pretty well worn). The service is still friendly and fast, and there’s never been a wait at the new location. So, we appreciate that we can pretty much always go get that kind of breakfast whenever we want.

On this past visit, hubby and I both had the basic breakfast—two eggs (we both like them over easy), bacon (ok, or sausage, but I always get bacon), hash browns, and your choice of homemade toast ($8.99).  This place has cooked a few eggs in their day, and cooked our eggs just right—nice and runny. I’ve had some ups and downs with the bacon here, but this bacon was really tasty. Crisp enough and more importantly, had that salty bacony flavor. There is nothing worse to me than tasteless bacon. And you see it a touch too much. The hash browns are well, hash browns. They're my favorite breakfast potatoes and not many people do them around town. They were crispy and I was happy. I like their toast as well—I go for the sourdough. They pre-butter too, although I question how much “butter” in actually in there.  Like I said, this place qualifies as a greasy spoon type breakfast, but I like it.

If you’re looking for a straightforward breakfast without a wait, this is a good place to keep in mind. It’s not going to blow your mind, and it isn’t trendy, but it’s solid.

Sunrise Café

7387 North Shadeland Ave

Indianapolis, IN 46150

317/288-5303

The Legend

I was out to lunch with my parents, and told them to choose the place—my Dad has been after me for years to try The Legend because he really likes it, and because he grew up in Irvington and wanted to show me around his old ‘hood. I wasn’t avoiding The Legend, but just hadn’t made it over there yet.

After looking over the menu, and hearing the specials, I decided to go with one of their classic dishes—Dad’s Crunchy chicken (which comes with 2 sides) ($7). After discussing my own Dad’s love of their mac and cheese, I decided to get two sides of mac and cheese—one of the original and one of the pepper jack version. I have to say I was won over with the flavors (usually my Dad and I don’t agree on restaurants). The chicken had a nicely seasoned breadcrumb coating with a fair amount of flavor. If I had to complain about anything, it is just that the word “crunchy” in the title is a bit of a misnomer--it was not really crunchy at all. But it was very tender and very tasty and I would get it again. As for the mac and cheese, they were both good, but I would say that like my Dad, I preferred the original one. It isn’t anything fancy—but just really good creamy mac and cheese made with real cheese—not the processed kind. I liked the pepper jack version as well, but the classic just hit home. 

My Dad had the meatloaf ($8), which he really likes—I had a bite and it was a nice tender meatloaf covered in gravy. If meatloaf is your thing, you would probably like this. He loves the mac and cheese so much, he made both his sides mac and cheese. My Mom ordered the special—I was really happy about this because I had really wanted to order it as well but was torn. It was a half of a sliced roast beef sandwich topped with a gorgonzola spread and red onion jam (ok, it was supposed to have cucumbers but neither mom nor I like them on our sandwiches) ($9). It also came with 2 sides. She had a Caesar salad and a cup of soup. The sandwich was good—so good that I ordered it to go for me and hubby to have for dinner (my son had a game so it was perfect). The meat was tender and mostly fairly rare, and had a nice balance between sweet (the red onion jam) and sharp (from the blue cheese). I didn’t try the salad, but the parmesan cauliflower soup my mom had was delicious. It was a totally smooth puree, but had an exceptionally rich flavor of the cheese and a hearty cauliflower taste as well. I went back for a couple more bites of this because I enjoyed it so much.

So yes, overall I think I liked this place just about as much as my Dad does. It’s a nice friendly and comfortable atmosphere and I feel like the pricing is pretty reasonable for the amount and quality of food you get. This is comfort food done well. And I got to see my Dad’s old neighborhood too. So everyone was happy.

The Legend

5614 East Washington Street

Indy 46219

317/536-2028

www.thelegendcafe.com 

Art's Skillet

Recently a rep for a new restaurant reached out to me online to ask me about reviewing several different restaurants. I don’t do scheduled reviews because I like to be anonymous, but I actually don’t mind getting these types of messages because sometimes it opens my eyes to a place I didn’t know was out there—and so it goes with Art’s Skillet. Apparently, it has only been open a couple of months, and even though it isn’t super close to me, it’s close enough to go if I think it’s a good new option.

Its right on Pendleton Pike in a building that obviously used to be some sort of chain fast food restaurant, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out which one. Nothing makes me happier though than seeing an out-of-business chain taken over by a local. I walked in and was greeted immediately and seated.

The menu is 75% breakfast and about 25% lunch items and I was in the mood for breakfast, which is listed as their specialty. My server was extremely friendly and was so enthusiastic about the place, he was practically busting at the seams. It was nice to see. The menu is also quite large and covers pretty much every aspect of breakfast. I was having a hard time making up my mind, and zeroed in on the “Art’s Favorites” section of the menu figuring if they’re his favorites, they have to be good right? I went with the Huevos con Chorizo burrito ($7.29). I knew it would probably be huge, and it was. There was a lot going on in this thing. There were light and fluffy scrambled eggs, spicy chorizo, onions, jalapenos and green peppers on the inside, and housemade salsa and lots of melted cheese on the outside. It was spicy, and hearty, and you certainly got your money’s worth of food. No way I could finish it all. You also had a choice of hash browns or peasant potatoes—I went against my server’s recommendation and got the hash browns, just because they’re hard to find in town. They were ok, nothing special—a little too crispy believe it or not (and I usually complain they’re too mushy). He said the seasoning on the peasant potatoes was better and next time, I will have to give them a try.

I really wanted to try “Art’s famous fried biscuits” as well. They are $4.95 for a full order, but they were kind enough to make me just a half order, even though it isn’t an option on the menu (and look how huge even a half order is!). Totally not what I was expecting—when I hear fried biscuits, I think the brown county ones with apple butter. These are more like chunks of actual biscuits (like are used in biscuits and gravy) that are fried and then coated in powdered sugar which turns into almost like an icing. They are sweet on their own for sure (almost like a beignet) but the honey marmalade was over the top for me. I couldn’t do it. My server suggested I dip them in the cream cheese sauce that they serve in the crepes, and I tried that and liked it better—not so sugary sweet, but honestly, I think they were probably fine on their own. I am pretty sure my kids would like these things, but I’m not sure I would eat them again. Just a little too much sweet for me.

The prices are right, the place is exceptionally neat and clean, and the owner’s story is great (he started the business after working in the restaurant industry for 22 years and then suddenly losing his job). I think next time I would just go with straightforward breakfast-bacon and eggs. I think they probably do everything pretty well, but I bet they do the usuals really well. I look forward to taking the family back and trying it again.

Anyone else been there yet?

Art’s Skillet

8255 Pendleton Pike

Indy 46226

317/672-2367

www.artskillet.com 

Oriental Inn

The other night we had a babysitter midweek (because she was getting ready to move to NYC and wanted to see our kids before she went—boo! We’ll miss her!) so I cajoled hubby into driving a bit and trying Oriental Inn. Several people have recommended it over the years and I was intrigued by the things I read online.

First thing you notice is the completely old school feel of the place. This is what Chinese restaurants were like in the 70s—totally over decorated and dark wood chairs. It was straight out of central casting for Chinese restaurants. But even though you can tell it has been there a long time, and the outside is maybe a bit run down, the dining room has a ton of charm. 

It is also one of those old school menus with everything under the sun on it so it took us awhile to peruse. Our very friendly server brought us a bowl of fried wontons to munch on (a tad stale) and took our drink orders.

We had a hard time deciding what to get, but we wanted to try a couple of courses, so we got hot and sour soup ($2.25) and an order of crab Rangoon ($4.95) to start. Several of the things I had read said their crab Rangoon was good so we figured what the heck.  Eh, I didn’t really care for the soup. It wasn’t particularly hot or sour and actually had a taste that was almost like tomatoes which was weird for hot and sour soup. Our server did come by and ask if we wanted some hot sauce to put in it (and I didn’t even say anything) so maybe they’re aware.  Nice big pieces of tofu though and lots of egg flowers in there. I would try a different soup next time.

The crab Rangoon was really good though. They are fried, but I liked them because they weren’t greasy at all (can’t say the same for the complimentary wontons) and the cream cheese filling was light and tasted of crab, but wasn’t overly fishy. Hubby found them slightly addicting and ate the majority of them.

We decided to split an entrée because they looked pretty big and it was a good choice. We ordered form the “house specialties” list (anything to narrow it down) and got the Szechuan combination ($12.95). The dish as listed had beef, shrimp and scallops, although we substituted chicken for the scallops. It is served in a hot pepper garlic sauce with veggies (green pepper, carrots, onions and celery) and peanuts. My first bite just about choked me because it was so hot. I must have gotten a piece of the very spicy dried chilies that were also mixed in there. Once I paid closer attention, I made sure not to eat large pieces of them and all was good. The meat and shrimp was all very good, and the dish was very meat heavy. All of it was very tender. We were amazed how well they cooked a shrimp since so many places in this town seen to have a problem with it. As I mentioned, it had a good spice to it as well. They also do a nice job with using fresh orange slices in their presentation. We got some fried rice and some steamed rice and even though I tend to prefer steamed rice, I think it would get the fried rice here. It is not heavily seasoned so it doesn’t compete with the meat dish when eaten together. And it had just the right amount of stickiness.

Our server was super nice and was always checking in on us for drink refills. I loved that she also knew exactly what was in each dish we asked about and how it was prepared. Sometimes this is difficult information to get in a Chinese restaurant and with so many things on the menu; it is very helpful to be able to ask questions.  There was also a fair amount of people in there for a Tuesday night. Oh, and I liked that they had “dinner specials” much like typical lunch specials (they have those too) so you can get an entrée, rice, soup and something fried for a reduced price if you want. We ordered a la carte because the choices are more basic on the specials menu.

For a little dessert, they give you a fortune cookie and some fresh fruit--mine had a bit of a weird fortune. But it made me laugh anyway. If this place were closer to me, we would certainly try it more often. I am hoping to get over there for lunch one of these days too.

Side note, on the way home, I took this shot of what was a very popular hot dog cart called Garcia’s. I notice the crowd on our way to the restaurant and on the way home. When I posted a picture on instagram, a bunch of you chimed in about Garcia and his bacon wrapped dogs. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before. But now we are looking forward to trying it as well.

Oriental Inn

1421 North Arlington

Indy  46219

317/352-0398

www.orientalinnrestaurant.com

Foon Ying

The other day my son made a horrible mess in the backseat of my car (I will spare you all the details), but needless to say, I realized I needed my carpets steam cleaned fast and in a bad, bad way.  I called around to the car washes around me and they were all busy, so I ended up at 38^th and Shadeland which is a little far for me, but trust me, I was desperate.

Anyhow as I paid, the cashier told me I should go get something to eat (it was lunchtime) because it would take awhile. As we discussed my options (White Castle? No. Rally’s? No.), she mentioned the Chinese place I spied on my way in and I decided that was what I would go for. 

I had no idea what to expect. It’s a place with those faded out pictures of meals above the counter. You order there and then you either take it to go or you can sit and eat in the dining room. Either way, you get your meals served in the same Styrofoam to go containers.  They give you a number and they call it when it’s ready. I have to say, they did have a decent customer base coming in and out the whole time I was there.

As I am prone to do in the case of a new and slightly divey Chinese place, I tried the garlic chicken ($4.75). For one, it is easy to compare from one place to another. For another, I just generally like garlic chicken.  You certainly get your money’s worth of food here. I think my Styrofoam container weighed about 3 pounds.  The chicken was decently tender and the veggies were very plentiful. Mainly broccoli and peapods with some peppers, water chestnuts and the occasional mushroom.  The sauce was a little thick and a little sweet for me though. I doused it with some soy sauce to help dull the sweetness a little (from all the signs around, you don’t want to use too much soy sauce though because they will charge you for it).

You also get a choice of soup with your lunch (seriously, this is an insane amount of food for under $5.00) and I got the hot and sour. I liked it better than the main dish—it was a good hot and sour soup. Not the best and certainly not the worst. A tiny bit too thickened for my taste, and more sour than hot, but I kind of like the sour vinegar taste in the soup and there were nice chunks of tofu and pieces of egg in there, which are my favorite parts.  They gave me a little bag of fried wontons as well with the meal, and I generally like putting them into my soup, but these were pretty stale tasting (I put them in anyway).  Just not much crunch.  It was rounded out with a fortune cookie.

This place offers a huge amount of food for a moderate price. It’s decent food with fresh veggies.  I would not seek it out, but if I ever am at that car wash again, I’d consider it (certainly better than the other options). I would try a different sauce for sure. I’d probably stick with my hot and sour soup and my fortune was pretty good as well.  And I always love an excuse to try a new place wherever it is. Feel free to recommend your favorite dive!

Foon Ying

3770 N. Shadeland Ave

Indy,  46226

317/547-2285

Oishi Sushi

A bunch of you guys really like this place and since I have been a recent sushi binge, I figured it was time to try it so I met up with my friend Suzanne to give it a go. It’s good to have friends who will travel to distant places for lunch because hubby grumbles about it. It is also good to have an open mind, because, well, the exterior of the place is a little worn out. I got there a little early, but I was greeted promptly upon entering and brought a drink right away. They have a ton of rolls on the menu, and many that sound very interesting, so I was glad to have some extra time with the menu.

I had some miso soup to start ($1.95) and it was good. I mean, rarely does a miso soup amaze me or anything, and there wasn’t anything about this one that changed that opinion. It was fine. 

For rolls, we ordered the Afghanistan Roll ($12.50), the Dinosaurs Roll ($13.95), and the Sushi in the Sky #2 Roll ($13.50).  We both really liked the Afghanistan and Dinosaurs.  The Afghanistan is unagi (eel) and avocado on the inside and is “erupting” (says the menu) with spicy shrimp tempura (in other words, the shrimp bits are on top of the rolls that have been placed on their sides. There was also a bit of masago on top (fish eggs). It was really good. Probably my favorite.  The roll itself was pretty petite though, which I like because you can fit it in your mouth and because the flavor isn’t dominated by the rice (it was actually a little crumbly though which made it a bit hard to pick up with chopsticks).  The crispy bits on top had a nice flavor, and were still nice and crunchy.

The Dinosaurs roll was fried soft shell crab inside with eel and avocado on top. Ok, so similar kind of thing to the Afghanistan, only kind of reversed, and also really good (note that they sometimes say “eel” on the menu, sometimes “unagi.”). The crab was chopped up and there was a fair amount of it inside the roll.  Nice and crunchy too.

The last roll we got was the Sushi in the Sky #2. It was ahi tuna, avocado and eel inside with torched yellowtail on the outside. The fish was all good, and I liked the middle of the roll, but the yellowtail on the outside just had too much of the “torched” taste I guess. It almost tasted like gas if you know what I mean. I think I would take a pass on the torched options in the future. We ended up sort of peeling the fish off the top and just eating the rolls. Then it was pretty good, although I still liked the others better.

All in all, this was one of the better new sushi experiences I have had in awhile. The food was good and the service was very efficient and friendly.  They were frequently refilling drinks and checking on us. I wish it wasn’t so far away from my house, I would like to go back.

Oishi Sushi

6929 East 10^th Street

Indy 46219

317/356-8880

www.indyoishi.com