The Libertine - Revisit

We recently met some friends at the Libertine for dinner. Hubby and I hadn’t been in many months and felt like it was time to get back in there and see what was cooking.

To start with, our service was pretty spotty. The first round of cocktails came fairly fast, but after that, flagging her down for another round was very challenging (and the place was never full while we were there). We ordered a bottle of wine and then were told after 10 minutes or so that they didn’t have it (same thing happened last time we were there). Then we ordered another one and waited about 15-20 minutes for them to “find it.” It would be nice with Libertine’s fairly small wine list (which incidentally I think is a very nice wine list), if they at least penciled things out when they run out.

Anyway, we were with our “order like a drunken sailor” friends, and we did just that. I was glad to get to try a large portion of the menu to get a good overview of what’s offered there right now.  My favorite first course was the bone marrow. They were large bones cut length-wise and super easy to scoop out the marrow. They were salted nicely and had the perfect accompanying micro greens and celery leaf salad. It was really acidic which was perfect with the buttery bone marrow. The sliced toasted pieces of bread were the perfect thickness and had the right amount of crunch and softness as well. My only complaint was I could have used a bit more of the salad. Mainly because I liked it so much.

We also liked the fried potato wedges—they were lightly battered and stuck in a glass with a “local cheese fondue” and harissa (hot pepper paste). They were cooked just right and were hot. The bottoms that were stuck into the dip were a little soggy though. I probably would prefer them served separately, but I can appreciate the ease of this serving technique.

We also had the chickpea fritters with pureed eggplant and fried capers. I loved the eggplant puree that was spread under the fritters. It carried the acidic flavor here and was necessary with the fritters, which were kind of dry and basic without it.  They had a decent nutty flavor, but I was scooping up every last bit of the eggplant that I could to go with them to add moisture and balance.

We had the bacon flight, which is always good. You can’t really go wrong with the lovely bacon from Smoking Goose. They have changed the presentation into a little pot with all the bacon on top—it’s not quite as crisp but whether that is a bad or good thing depends on your taste in bacon. I enjoyed it and the sauces served alongside, even though you barely need them with that tasty bacon.

The least successful starter by far (yes, I’m only on starters) was the octopus in vinaigrette. They were whole baby octopuses that tasted like they were grilled, but other than that had very little flavor. They were too chewy, I am guessing just cooked too much, and while I enjoyed the vinaigrette at the bottom of the bowl, it didn’t stick on the octopus. This one was a big miss for all of us.

We continued on with our wanton ordering of food, moving on to the more “main dish” things (mostly just differentiated by price). The best thing here was the meatloaf sandwich. Funny, our friends ordered this and I was really glad—and it would not have been something I ever would have ordered on my own. It was a thick slab of meatloaf with melty cheese on top—the bread was toasted and had a thick coating of a spicy version of 1000 Island dressing. The meatloaf was moist, and I liked the gooey cheese and zesty sauce. It was really tasty.

The fresh chorizo with polenta was kind of mixed. The silky smooth polenta (think like almost liquidy grits) were wonderful. Buttery, and just the perfect consistency. The chorizo was bland and had none of the kick you expect. It was also maybe cooked a little too much, drying it out a bit. Would have loved to see this dish with another protein. Maybe some seafood.

The goat cheese tart was pretty straightforward-- a tart shell with some creamy goat cheese inside. There were maybe 5-6 slivers of apple on top, and some onion jam on the side, but there was nothing else texturally going on inside. Would have loved to have something else to give it some kind of texture, other than from the crust. The charred onion jam was a nice slightly sweet/slightly smoky flavor and the Brandy sauce drizzled on top some sweetness, but it just called out for something to give it that texture and to make it a truly savory dish. It almost seemed like more of a dessert.

The roasted cauliflower with mint, lemon, red pepper flakes and onions were good. It was roasted just to the point in which the vegetable was cooked al dente, but had a nice charred flavor on the outside. The combination of spicy and acidic flavors with it was nice as well. I particularly liked it with a squeeze of lemon that they served alongside. Would I want to order this alone as my main dish? No. Did I enjoy it as a kind of side dish? Yes.

We also ordered the country-fried sweetbreads—the menu lists the sweetbreads with smoked ham hock, beans and cornbread. What it didn’t mention was the thick strong mustard sauce that was all over the dish. The sweetbreads, while fried crunchy, were mushy with all the sauce—and there was no way to really taste much else because it was just so mustardy. The little cornbread croutons were spared though and were sweet. I would love to see this dish with a drizzle of the mustard somewhere (not on the fried pieces of sweetbread). As it was, it was one of our least favorites.

I feel like there’s been a shift at the Libertine away from being a “gastropub”-type restaurant to a just flat out cocktail bar that serves food. It was a destination for me for the food (not being a huge cocktail drinker myself) and a good one at that. The last couple meals I have had over the last year though have made me slightly less enthusiastic. The service has been a little off (the wine issues, and we constantly had to flag our server down to ask for things) and I’m sad they have changed the tables around—they used to be at an angle so if you had 4 people, you each sat on one side of the square—but now they are straight down the wall so when you are side by side with someone, it feels too close and if there’s just two of you and you sit across from each other, it feels almost too far. I am sure they have done it to conserve space, but it just seems a little awkward.  And I think the food is not as exciting as it once was. So all in all, I think a cocktail and a couple of snacks (get the bone marrow) might be the key to enjoying the Libertine in the best way.  

The Libertine

38 East Washington Street

Indy  46204

317/631-3333

www.libertineindy.com 

The Libertine

So the Libertine calls itself a “Liquor Bar.”  And they have a lovely large bar all along one wall and specialize in the whole trendy old fashioned/classic cocktails from days gone by.  Ok, so don’t be mad, but screw the cocktails.  The food at this place is the reason for going.  Everything I have been reading about this place is about how great the cocktails are or how cute the bartenders are (seriously? That’s what we’re talking about?) but I am here to tell you, the food is where it’s at (not to say either of the other statements are not true).  I don’t know, maybe everyone gets too drunk to remember the food or something, but if that’s the case, you need to lay off the booze and focus people.

The interior is beautiful—modern and calm.  While it is a bar, there is a certain grown up sensibility—not your typical loud raucous bar scene.  Of course, it wasn’t full when we stopped in midweek, so I am sure it is noisier when you go on a Friday night.  Ok, so I did have a cocktail (the screw & bolt, $11). I felt like it was sort of an obligation.  It was fine—gin, grapefruit, violet, bitter orange and tonka bean (apparently a bean that is soaked in alcohol and used as an aroma enhancer).  It was pretty, and very aromatic, but I was more than happy to move on to wine—and they have a great wine list (thanks to Lindy Brown).

Ok, enough about that, let’s talk about the food.  This was one of the best meals I have had in Indy in awhile.  We had a lot of different items and I am just going to talk about them in the order we ate them.  The first thing we had was the roasted mushroom salad ($8).  Hubby went nuts when he tasted this.  THIS is what a roasted mushroom should taste like.  They had a deep mushroom flavor, but the outsides of the mushrooms were slightly crisp from the heat and they were served with crispy little fried chickpeas which gave a true crunch to mix with the earthy, dark mushrooms.  It was served over a brown butter cauliflower puree that was rich and buttery.  What a great combination.  There is no way we could not order this again.

The next two dishes we had came at the same time—the chicken liver pâté ($9) and the duck meatballs ($12).  I love the play on chicken and waffles with the chicken liver pâté.  There were two waffles topped with very generous slices of the pâté, and they sat on top of a hot pepper sauce.  Bourbon maple syrup was brought out alongside.  Our server poured some on top and left the bottle in case we wanted to add more (which I will have to say, we did—it was really delicious).  I liked the blend of flavors between the hot pepper sauce underneath, the sweetness of the syrup (and slight sweetness of the waffles) and then the pure, smooth intense liver flavor.  Really nice.  As for the meatballs, well, as I told someone recently, I have never met a meatball that really stole my heart-- and these weren’t really an exception to the rule.  I ordered them because I was intrigued by the crispy gnocchi underneath them and the egg yolk on top, but all in all, this was probably my least favorite thing I had all evening.  But it wasn’t bad at all; it just didn’t blow me away like some of the other things.

At this point, we were torn about ordering more, but when I asked about the one-eyed jack ($8), I was sold.  Wow. Wow. Wow. I loved this thing.  It was basically a fancy egg in the hole, but it was so good.  It was buttery garlicky airy bread that was cooked in fat (hmm, was it duck and pork fat? I can’t remember).  Think of like the most amazing garlic bread you could ever have.  And then cut a little hole in it and put an egg in there and cook it, but just enough that the yolk explodes when you cut into it.  It was served with some soft roasted garlic alongside and a small dish of fig butter.  The fig butter was good, but honestly, I didn’t even need to add it to make this dish spectacular. 

Ok, now we were sort of on a food high and were really excited so we figured, let’s get one more thing.  A dessert of sorts.  I don’t think they have any actual dessert items (at least I didn’t hear of any) and since we often like cheese for dessert, we went with the Stilton cheesecake to finish ($9).  Wow. Again.  This was really unlike anything either of us had ever had.  It was almost more the consistency of an exceptionally light quiche and then deeply flavored with the blue cheese.  And alongside was the perfect accompaniment—and apple-thyme chutney with some crunchy pecan bits on top. There was also a fresh apple salad on top giving it just a bit of tartness.  I love fruit and nuts with my blue cheese.  And I loved that they got all the flavor profiles into this one dish. Again, not sure hubby would let me pass on this one if it is still on the menu when we go back. And not sure I’d want to.

Our service was exceptional, which is another thing I have heard mixed comments about from friends and readers.  Not sure if it was just because they weren’t that busy or if maybe the other people I talked to went when it was more newly opened, or maybe we just got lucky, but we didn’t have any complaints along these lines.  Our server was also exceptionally friendly and took the time to chat with us about the food and the business.  He was down to earth and knowledgeable about the menu.

Here’s the thing.  They are getting ready to change the format of the menu to more of a traditional dinner menu with salads, apps and entrées which I am sure will be just as good food-wise, but I have to admit, I was a little sad to hear it.  I love eating in a small plates way, sharing lots of things.  If you do too, I would get over there in the next two weeks.  Although, from the way it was described, I think you will still be able to make a small plates dinner on the new menu if you are so inclined.  All I know is next time, I want to take other people with us so we can try even more things.  I really feel the need to try everything. 

So, go, have a fancy cocktail and then start hitting the food.  You won’t be disappointed.  If you have been avoiding it because you think it’s “just a bar,” don’t (that’s what hubby’s problem was and now he has informed me I can get him back there anytime I want). And I am so excited to have another great (there ARE a few) restaurant (I am calling it that even if they don’t) in downtown Indy.  Things are looking up.

The Libertine

38 East Washington Street

Indy  46204

317/631-3333

www.libertineindy.com (although nothing really on the website last time I looked)

Pizzology - Revisit

Sometimes you just have to go back to places you like so you don’t go totally insane you know? So it was a Saturday night, and we had just finished my son’s birthday party with like twelve 4 and 5 year olds running wild. We needed wine. Fast. Luckily, I had planned ahead and realized by the end of this day, we would certainly need some adult time, so I had wisely planned for a babysitter. We were so brain dead we couldn’t decide where to go but we knew we wanted something causal and good. We decided Pizzology sounded like a plan.

I really enjoy the wine list at Pizzology. I know I don’t usually talk about the wine, but Pizzology has a great menu of Italian wines that you don’t often see in restaurants (thanks mainly, I think, to Neal Brown's wife Lindy who is a Certified Sommelier). We knew we would be happy in this regard and we weren’t disappointed. We quickly ordered a bottle and began the debate over what to eat.

We started with “Tony’s Fritters.” These were something that, up to now, we hadn’t tried, but always meant to. They are zucchini fritters with fresh parmesan grated over the top and served swimming in a little bath of truffle oil. These were superb. We really liked them. The zucchini flavor was delicate and nicely highlighted by the truffle oil. There wasn’t so much of the oil that you were annoyed by it overtaking the other flavors and the fritters had just the right amount of crispness on the edges, but were still moist and light in the middle. These little fritters would be hard to pass up in the future.

We also shared a large chop salad (we were informed you get much more “bang for your buck” sharing one large ($8) rather than getting two smalls (at $4 each)). So I really enjoy the acidity in this salad mixed with the ingredients that come together to make what is essentially an ideal chop in my mind (because I really like the ingredients). There is chopped romaine, prosciutto, blue cheese, shallot, olives, and roasted tomatoes with a citrus vinaigrette with a nice kick. I will say though, this salad is not always super consistent. While 75% of the time, this salad is dead on, I have had one that was so acidic I couldn’t finish it and I have also noticed a change in the proportion of other ingredients to lettuce. It used to be that there was almost too much of the other ingredients as compared to the lettuce. Now, there is a lot less of everything else (other than maybe the blue cheese) and much more of the well dressed leaves. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing; I am just still trying to figure out exactly where the salad is going to end up.

Anyhow, it was also a tribute night to Jimi Hendrix at Pizzology. Certainly something I can get behind, so we went with the special pizza created in his honor. It included Purple Haze goat cheese with lavender and fennel pollen, purple basil, and two kinds of mushrooms... roasted trumpet and portobello I believe. It sounded interesting so we went for it since it was only offered that night. It was good. Maybe not my favorite pizza toppings ever, but quite tasty. I liked the way you got a kick of the goat cheese along with the mellow richness of the mushrooms. The purple basil added a super fresh herby crunch. But really, the real star of this show is the crust. The freshly baked, slightly irregular and a little charred crust is what makes this pizza for me. It is chewy and crunchy at the same time. The pizza is consistently good at Pizzology.

So the place was quite busy, although we got a table as soon as we walked in (one of the last though). The service was a little stressed, but ours did not suffer too much. But like I said, sitting with our bottle of wine, we were perfectly content after the day we had. As we sat there though, we discussed the fact that hubby had not yet been to Napolese (the other Neapolitan style pizza place in Indy) and that I really needed to do a revisit there as well. So guess what? That is exactly what we decided to do. Look for my revisit to Napolese next week. But in the meantime, what are your favorite Pizzology menu items or pizza toppings? I was so glad I expanded my horizons on this visit, I want to try something else new next time.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

http://www.pizzologyindy.com/