Fire by the Monon - Revisit

The family and I were trying to think of somewhere new or newish nearby and settled on Fire by the Monon—a place we ate at ages ago, but since I have been repeatedly told about the “Greuben” sandwich by several readers, felt needed a revisit. And we didn’t have reservations anywhere on a Saturday, so we thought we could pop in. It worked out well, although the place was nearly full when we got there (when we left, there was a wait).

My kids are soft pretzel fanatics (they could probably write a whole blog about soft pretzels around Indy) so we got the pretzels to start ($8.95). The server was kind enough to ask if we wanted an extra one since it only came with three per order and there were four of us. We did. It comes with beer cheese, as seems to be the trend these days, and is a trend that I really like. Gone is the neon yellow nacho cheese. Beer cheese is often homemade (it appears to be here based on the non-uniform texture of it) and has a more interesting flavor than nacho cheese. Guessing it comes from the beer. This one was good and very appealing to the kids, although I would have liked a bit more of the beer part. I have made beer cheese myself and I know you can get large flavor variations based on the type of beer used—maybe something a little stronger would be better (they use Sun King Cream ale). It was still tasty though—lots of gouda and white cheddar. The pretzels were fine. I can’t say they stood out for any particular reason and I can’t say I thought they were making these in house. But a perfectly acceptable dipping mechanism.

Hubby and I did split the greuben ($12.95) and it was delicious. It was a large piece of fried grouper on grilled marble rye and topped with Swiss cheese, red cabbage slaw and Russian dressing.  The bread was very nicely toasted and the inside of the sandwich was great—the fish stayed nice and crisp but had moisture from the sauce and the cheese. I don’t know that I would call it what I think of as “Russian dressing”—I had a side of it with my fries, which were good—it was more of a cross between Thousand Island and remoulade. Tasty with the fries too. We both really enjoyed the sandwich and it was more than large enough to share as a main dish for us. 

However, when we ordered, we weren’t sure it would be big enough so we also ordered the “dirty mac and cheese” ($8.95) from the appetizer menu. It is made with rotini pasta and has smoked pulled pork and white cheddar cheese. It is a very large, very sharable dish—so big that we barely made a dent in it. If you want to get it, I would recommend it as a side dish for at least four people with other things—it is extremely rich. And very smoky from the pulled pork. We really didn’t need it with the other things we have, and honestly, while there was nothing wrong with it, I don’t think I would order it again.

My daughter had the hickory salmon topped with dill butter ($16.95). It had a nice flavor and the fish was cooked decently—they gave an ample amount of the dill butter—it was served in a cold pat on top of the fish, which was a little strange I thought, but it did melt nicely as the meal progressed. She wasn’t a fan of the lumpy-type potatoes served on the side. But she ate all the fish.

My son ordered a burger from the kid’s menu, but wouldn’t do it again. Across the board we find burgers on kid’s menus to be dry and overcooked. Maybe because of their smaller size.

Overall, it’s a decent family place to go. And hubby has already decided if we go back, he just wants to share the “greuben” and split the pretzels with the kids. So to those who recommended that sandwich, we thank you! Service was fine, although getting drinks was a touch slow. Our server was very friendly though and the food was served quickly. Who out there is a regular?

Fire by the Monon

6523 Ferguson Street

Indy  46220

317/602-8590

www.firebythemonon.com 

Fire By the Monon

Just when I said I wouldn’t order another flatbread (seriously, most places should just call them “inferior pizzas”) we took the kids to Fire by the Monon where pretty much the only appetizers they have are flatbreads and salads, so we broke the rule and went with the “blue blaze” flatbread ($8.95).  It was a thin crust flatbread with thinly sliced grilled steak, rosemary, caramelized onions, blue cheese (gorgonzola to be precise) and tomatoes.  And you know, it wasn’t bad.  The ingredients were good and made a nice flavor combination. The steak was tender (seems like it was probably marinated to keep it as tender as it was), even though it was closer to medium than I would prefer.  There was ample blue cheese so that you could really taste it, and the onions (not a lot of color on them for caramelized though) and tomatoes were good-- adding the deeper cooked onion flavor and the fresh acidic flavor from the tomato.  The crust was probably the weakest link, although not horrible.  It tasted pretty good (sort of reminded me of a larger, flatter pita) and was grilled.  It wasn’t particularly crispy, although, it was hard to tell if that was what they were going for or not in this case.

Hubby and I shared two things for our dinner—the Hearth Spinach salad ($8.95) and the pulled pork sandwich ($9.95)(they call it the “Tug of War”).  They were both also pretty good.  The sandwich was probably the best thing we had.  The salad was spinach leaves with black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes and red onions with a slightly sweet chipotle dressing.  There was a sliced boiled egg across the top as well. The dressing is slightly warm, as are the veggies, causing the leaves to wilt slightly.  I actually like this slightly wilted thing with a salad (when it is intentional), and with spinach in particular, because it makes the leaves more tender.  The flavor of the dressing was good—slightly spicy, a little sweet, and could stand up to the hearty spinach.  The egg was a nice touch to add something slightly soft—acting as sort of a substitute cheese component in the salad (and who doesn’t love a little cheese in their salad) as well as some additional protein.

The sandwich was pulled pork in a smoky barbeque sauce with red cabbage slaw, a hefty slice of smoked Gouda and more of the caramelized onions.  We chose the beer battered onion rings as our side and they were served with a side of remoulade sauce.  There was also a little dish of shredded pickles, which I appreciated, because I love pickles.  The sandwiches are served on either a multi-grain bun or Brioche and we chose the multi-grain.  The bun was really delicious with the other toppings, because it really stood up to them without being too soft, but was too hard and grainy the way some multi-grain buns can be.  The pork was tender and had a good flavor—I really liked it with the little pickles on top, and the Gouda added more smokiness which is tasty in barbeque.  I found the addition of cheese interesting on this kind of sandwich, adding a touch of creaminess too, although if it was a little more melted, it might have been better.  The onion rings were good, and were certainly the preferred side item at our table.  Our son had a grilled cheese with fries, and the fries were certainly nothing special.

We also shared desserts—the kids chose the molten chocolate cake (what a surprise) which was a little bundt type cake covered in a warm fudgey sauce.  It tasted pretty much like you expected. It was chocolatey and rich, and really messy (that’s the Mom in me).  The kids enjoyed it for sure, but they will like anything that is made of chocolate.

Hubby and I split the blackberry cobbler which was okay.  I would have liked a touch more crust on top—it was mostly filling and ice cream, and not a lot of the crust which is typically my favorite part of these kinds of desserts.

Service was reasonable.  Not super speedy or friendly, but certainly not unfriendly either.  We sat outside and the kids enjoyed the fact that they gave them sidewalk chalk to color on the ground while they waited.  I just briefly walked through the inside, although I had been inside many times as its incarnation as L’exploreteur.  I was surprised to see they added another bar at the front end of the restaurant, making both ends bars.  There is only one small dining area that is appropriate for families (and this particular room was hubby’s least favorite when we ate at L’ex).  I was surprised I guess because I had read that the owners opened this restaurant to be a good alternative in Broad Ripple for families.  In the warm weather you’re fine because there is plenty of outside seating, but just looking at the inside makes it look like they are attempting to attract more of a bar crowd.  They were very busy, even on a weeknight, and people were waiting for outside tables by the time we left.  They have obviously figured something out to get people to this slightly out of the way location.  It's good to see an independent so busy. 

Fire by the Monon

6523 Ferguson Street

Indy  46220

317/602-8590

www.firebythemonon.com