Meridian - Revisit

It had been ages since hubby and I had been to Meridian. It was one of those nights where we were struggling to figure out where we wanted to go. It seemed like a good time to go back.

The place is a very nice interior. I have to say, not very crowded these days—there were people there, but for a weekend, it was not that busy. Our server was very nice and they bring you warm toasty rolls pretty quick, which are soft, and maybe just a little sweet, and very delicious, especially with the totally soft butter they bring as well.

We started with a couple of appetizers—the fried oysters ($16), because, well, I guess there’s a reason they’ve been on the menu since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of Meridian). They’re quite good. There are several small oysters fried very well and crispy. They’re still doing a play on Rockefeller with creamed spinach underneath, dots of hollandaise sauce and a large dot of Sriracha as well They then top the oysters with crumbles of bacon. These have pretty much always been good, and still are, but make me wonder if maybe a little variation would be good.

We also had the current version of the beef tartare, which they have had some version of the last few times we’ve been. This one was described as a poke, which I associate with a slightly larger dice. This one was still pretty fine I think, but it’s just semantics I guess. We were intrigued to get this one because of the flavorings with it—it was seasoned with lemongrass, ginger, mint, pickled shitakes and served with fried wontons. It was really good. I really enjoyed the pickly taste and even softer texture of the mushrooms. I liked the Asian flavors as well. This was a very well executed dish.

We then shared a Brussels salad ($10). They split it in the kitchen for us, which was nice, and it wasn’t ridiculously huge, which was also nice, but I wasn’t wowed by the salad itself. It was shaved Brussels sprouts, apple slices, radicchio, golden raisins, pine nuts, manchego and gastrique.  Many of the sprouts themselves were sliced a little too thickly, making them too tough to eat, since they were raw. The other ingredients were fine, but the salad just didn’t really come together as a cohesive whole for me.

We were more lured in by the apps on this night, so we just got two more for our dinner. We had the pork belly ($12) and the smoked trout ($16). These were both fine, but neither were as good as the first two we had. I appreciated that the pork belly was cut into nice cubes, giving you the full range of the pork without giving that overly gelatinous thing that sometimes happens with pork belly. These were more like a nice cube of bacon. The bread cubes were a little much with it though. There was remoulade all on the bottom of the plate, which was fine. The fried green tomatoes seemed to get a little lost, and that acid would have been nice. 

The fish was really pretty mediocre—the fish was dry and didn’t have a lot of flavor. Loved the little baby quail egg deviled eggs, but that was about it here. Honestly, I didn’t eat much more than a couple of bites.

Oh, but the side of mac and cheese was really delicious—totally worth ordering—super creamy and with a nice buttery crumb topping. This was worth taking the extra home. And it’s a big portion, so there will likely be some left.

Even though I know I said I liked the older dishes on the menu the best, I still feel like Meridian may be in need of a bit of some menu updates. They need to do something to distinguish themselves again if they want to stay up there with the nicer restaurants around town. There’s a reason we don’t think of it very often when we have a date night, and it’s that it just doesn’t have an interesting menu, particularly since it hardly changes… just my two cents.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com 

Meridian - Revisit

For Mother’s Day, my family took me to Meridian. They were offering a special brunch menu, and we hadn’t been since the new chef (Dean Sample) took over so I was kind of excited for it. I have really enjoyed Meridian the last few years and was anxious to see if the new chef had started putting his own spin on things.

We ordered some fried oysters ($15.50) to start. A version of these has been on the menu since the restaurant opened, and has varied a bit from chef to chef. These were one of my favorite versions, mainly because the oysters were small bits (honestly can’t say they were all small oysters and maybe have actually been cut into smaller sizes) but they were really good—juicy inside and with the right amount of crunchy coating outside. There was a swipe of spinach puree underneath and a swipe of hollandaise. A couple of dollops of Sriracha alongside were nice to zip it up if you wanted too. The thing that made these so good was how perfectly the oysters were cooked though. The boys split a Caesar salad ($7.75) as well, and it was one of the better ones I have had in town (I am extremely picky about Caesar salads). It was tossed in an appropriate amount of a nice and zippy dressing.

I was enticed by the crab cake benedict ($29) they were offering that day—it was kind of a deconstructed version and was mostly crab cakes—but I saw someone else get it as we sat down and the nice round poached egg attracted my attention. It was a good dish—but again was mostly focused on the crab cakes, which were nice and crabby, but pretty dense and filling. There was no way I would finish both. And sadly my egg was punctured and therefore deflated when it arrived. It still tasted good, but wasn’t as visually appealing. The crab cakes were served on top of slices of bread with what was I think more of the spinach puree, but the bread just increased the overfilling nature of the dish. The asparagus alongside was cooked and seasoned nicely. The whole thing was drizzled with a nice lemony hollandaise and some crumbled bacon (in retrospect, the flavors were pretty similar to the oysters).

Honestly, the best thing on the table entrée-wise was the burger ($22.50). Wow, that thing was delicious. It was beef topped with Fisher Farms ham, a fried egg, Gruyere cheese and garlic mayo. The soft eggy Brioche bun is perfect (the dinner rolls are just smaller versions and were a huge hit with my kids)—it’s soft yet holds up to all the toppings and the very medium rare meat that hubby had on his burger. You can get the burger on the menu all the time, although the egg, which was SOOO good—just runny enough without soaking the sandwich—I think was only available because it was a “brunch.” The variation of using Gruyere was great—and with the ham as well, it was like a really good ham and cheese sandwich on a burger. The burger here is worth going for by itself. The fries were fine, although not as crisp and as memorable as I remember them being in the past.

Cross section of the burger

All in all, we had a nice brunch and my kids were on extra good behavior for me. The food and service were good, nothing was spilled and we had a really kick ass burger (thank goodness for a hubby who goes halfsies on entrées).  The kids were only bummed because we couldn’t get dessert because of nut issues. But I was pretty darn full anyway. I am interested to see what the regular dinner menu is like—will have to give it a try here soon. Anyone been since the new chef started?

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com 

Meridian-Revisit

Hubby got to choose dinner the other night and wanted to go back to Meridian. The last few meals we have had there have been very good, so we were anxious to see what was new on the menu.

We couldn’t decide what to get, so we started with two appetizers—the steak tartare (we just can’t help ourselves)($13.75) and the smoked salmon crab cake ($14).  I think the steak tartare that Meridian is doing is one of the best in town (and one of the only).  It has lots of salty capers mixed in as well as a garlic mayo, which makes it very creamy. They serve it with a lemon wedge that needs to be squeezed on giving it just the right amount of acid. And I love those crispy chickpeas. I just wish they served a few more of the buttery house crackers with it because hubby and I were fighting over them. Ours was missing the advertised quail egg, but honestly, while I love egg with tartare (and almost anything), it was just as good without it.

The salmon cake was also very good. The cake itself was not overly dense, and not filled up with breadcrumbs. What made the dish for me though were the fried pickled green tomatoes. What a great extra tangy kick to a fried green tomato. The pickling also made it less firm than fried green tomatoes tend to be, and I really liked it. They were great with the salmon cake and the tomato remoulade. A little bit of each ingredient on your fork made for a delicious bite.

Because the appetizers were what looked so good, we decided to split a salad and an entrée as well. We split the Boston bibb salad with buttermilk dressing, blue cheese, bacon and a large cornbread crouton ($8.75)(the picture you see is a half). Ingredient-wise, I liked everything about this salad. My only gripe was that there wasn’t really enough dressing for it. It’s funny, I tend to prefer creamy dressings to be drizzled and not tossed, but often they don’t give you enough. It’s a fine line. I liked the lightness of the crouton though.

For our main dish, we really were undecided, but I loved that in general they have a lot of seafood on the menu. Nearly half the entrées are seafood-based. We ended up settling on the pepper-crusted tuna ($36.00). The tuna was beautiful and perfectly cooked just seared on the edges.  Considering the picture you see is just half an order, it was a very generous amount of fish. I am not sure I could do an entire entrée here. All of the things I saw coming out of the kitchen were quite large. The sides were sort of a play on a Nicoise salad—but this one involved sautéed kale, olives, and sautéed red onions. There was a lemon oregano citronette sauce (an emulsified lemon vinaigrette). I loved the red onions and olives with the fish, and I liked the kale—although I thought its strong flavor was a little overwhelming for the fish. I preferred eating them separately. And I found my quail egg here, although they put it on hubby’s plate. I promptly took it and split it. I mean, fair is fair right?

We had the classic Meridian donuts ($7.75) that have been on the menu awhile. But nothing else was jumping out at us and we just wanted a little something. They are little mini donuts and donut holes that are fresh fried and coated in cinnamon sugar. They serve them with a little cup of malted coffee cream to dip in (it is more like a custard and not like a liquid). Personally, I like dipping them into the cream and then back in for more sugar. They are really good and nice if you don’t want a huge dessert. Plus, easy to share.

I like Meridian. It has become one of our go-to standards for consistently good food.  I like the space and while it is usually busy enough, it isn’t so crowded or noisy that it overwhelms. The service is professional, if not a little stuffy, but our server certainly knew what he was talking about and I appreciate the little things like having your plates split for you in the kitchen. It is certainly a fixture in our rotation.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com 

Meridian - Revisit

My in-laws were in town, and when we have a chance to go out to dinner with them without the kids, we try and let them pick a place that they want to go—this time they really wanted to try Meridian and we were happy to oblige.  I was surprised how hard it was to get a reservation on the night we went, but as it turned out there was a Butler game and various theater events, so that was the reason why.  

I wasn’t even going to write about the meal because it hasn’t been that long since I wrote about it—but by the end of the meal, we were all sufficiently impressed that I felt like it merited a new post (this also explains why there aren’t as many pictures) (and sorry they're so dark). 

Hubby and I started with the beef tartare ($13.75)—so far it is the best version I have found in Indy in a restaurant (although this one was definitely smaller than the last time we had it). There was the beef, with a decent amount of capers and onions mixed in, some garlic mayo and little crunchy chickpeas with diced tomatoes. There is also a raw quail egg on top.  Everything mixed together (keep those crispy chickpeas to themselves though so they don’t get mushy) is great. And if you squeeze them lemon wedge they serve with it on top, it is near perfection.  You have the salty taste of the capers and chickpeas with the acid from the lemon and the tomatoes and the extra creaminess of the egg and the mayo and well, it just is really well balanced. I like the crisp grilled flatbread they serve with it as well. It has a little flavor to it but doesn’t detract from the rest of the ingredients.

My in-laws had the fried oysters Rockefeller ($12.25) which have been on the menu as long as I can remember.  These were really good this night—the oysters were small and very crispy.  You got a little smokiness from the small pieces of bacon and there was just a touch of creamed spinach and some hot sauce.  A classic dish that Meridian is still doing very well.

Hubby and I shared a salad—it was Bibb lettuce, sliced Fuji apples, walnuts and Danish blue cheese with a herb walnut vinaigrette ($8.75). It was really good. I appreciated that they split it for us in the kitchen so that we got an even amount of the goodies and dressing.  It had just the right amount of toppings in relation to the lettuce, and the right amount of dressing as well. Blue cheese and walnuts are one of my favorite combos, so this was a great salad for me. Hubby liked it a lot as well.

Hubby had the salmon entrée ($26.50) (well, we shared our entrees) and it was outstanding. Probably the best dish on the table.  It was Skuna Bay salmon with a potato hash, leek fondue, and asparagus and artichokes.  Hubby asked for the salmon to be cooked medium rare, which they did perfectly.  The potato hash was little fried diced potatoes which were still hot and crunchy (yay! texture!) and then the leek fondue gave it a little creamy sauce and the bits of artichoke and asparagus the right amount of veg.  The sauce had a distinct lemony flavor (yay! acid!).  All ingredients I love and it all went perfectly together. I would get this again in a heartbeat.

The dish I ordered was actually the biggest disappointment of the evening. It was actually a starter on the menu.  They called it “Bacon and eggs” ($13.25) and it was a slice of pork belly, cheddar grits, a sunny side up egg and sweet and sour Brussels Sprouts.  I was kind of excited about this dish because I had a similar thing last time with eggs and grits and shrimp that was really nice. The addition of the sweet and sour Brussels sprouts had me intrigued.  The egg was good and the grits were good—but the pork belly was quite dry and the Brussels sprouts were just not cooked enough. They were seared on the edges, but they were just too hard. It was a bummer because I think this could be a really cool combo. Maybe if they par cooked the sprouts or something.

My mother-in-law had the turbot (which is a mild, white fish) ($42) and it was also very good. I only had a couple of bites so it is hard for me to discuss it too much—and there was a lot going on. There was the fish, prosciutto wrapped prawns, beets, leeks, asparagus I think and kumquats. I loved the kumquats—they were sliced really thin and definitely gave it that tangy bite that I like.  I was a little surprised by how much more expensive it was than the rest of the entrées when I glanced at the bill, and that they didn’t mention the price when they told us about it.  But maybe I am just being picky (and I wasn’t paying so I guess I shouldn’t complain).  I also had a bite of my father-in-law’s boar Bolognese that was also very good.  I am a sucker for fresh pasta. We all shared a side of the fries as well, which are really, really good fries.

Hubby and I shared a different dessert this time (often being lured in by the fresh doughnuts which are always good). We had the butterscotch brulee ($7) which was a butterscotch pudding that was caramelized on top. My favorite part was when you dug down into it; you came up with bits of shortbread cookies. That was a nice surprise and we both enjoyed it.

Overall, I think Meridian is doing some really good food.  The place was jam packed. I have always loved the interior, and our service was great on this visit.  In fact, at one point when the air conditioning actually came on next to our table (and it was cold outside) I asked our server if she could ask them to turn it off and she actually did.  Usually they kind of look at you and say they will try and nothing changes. I was impressed.

Meridian is going back into our rotation.  Have you been lately? What did you think?

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com

Meridian - Revisit

Hubby and I realized we hadn’t yet been to Meridian since the chef change, and after a friend texted me about the steak tartare she was eating there, I knew it was time.  I am a sucker for steak tartare (or tuna tartare, or whatever tartare).

Hubby and I took advantage of the lovely weather we were having (hello, autumn, I have missed you) and sat out on their patio. Alone for quite awhile (the place was just not very busy), but it was still lovely.  We were mostly excited by the appetizers, which if you read a lot you know is often the case, and decided to split several.  We started with the prime beef tartare (I think it was around $12) which was very good.  The beef was, well, raw and nice and tender and flavorful, and when you added the egg yolk on top, it turned into a wonderful creamy mix.  You need something to cut the richness, and there was some capers and onion mixed with the meat.  It was served on top of a horseradish cream, which was the right amount of heat to help as well, although I wished there had been just a little more of it.  The ripe bits of tomatoes were a nice acidic complement as well, and we LOVED the crispy fried garbanzo beans.  We only regretted sort of stirring them in a little too soon, because they lost their crispness and they had been so great when you bit into a crispy one.  Next time (and I will get it again if it is on the menu) I would scoot them aside and parcel them out with each bite.  The flatbread served with it had a nice flavor too and the crispy edges were my favorite part.  I would love them to be a little crispier as I am partial to things like potato chips with my tartare, but that’s just my own preference.  You really didn’t care that much about the vehicle since the rest of it was so good.

We then got two more appetizers to share—the shrimp and grits ($13.25) and the hot/cold smoked salmon ($11.50).  The shrimp also featured an egg, a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg that was quite honestly the highlight of the dish.  Not to say the rest wasn’t good, because it was—the whole dish was great. There were two large shrimp on top of nice creamy grits with thin asparagus spears, melted leeks (one of my other favorite ingredients), that egg and little prosciutto. It was like a perfect breakfast—a little ham, a little egg, and some grits. Oh and shrimp. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to not get this again as well.

Hubby says the salmon was one of the menu items that has been on the Meridian menu for awhile, but honestly I can’t tell you if he is right or not.  I can tell you that we enjoyed it although probably not quite as much as the other two dishes.  It is ball of herby creamy cheese with the hot smoked salmon mixed in—it has that smokier flavor.  Layered around the ball was the cold smoked salmon making a lovely presentation. The salmon was on top of red onion marmalade and drizzled with herb oil. I liked the marmalade for a little bit of sweet and tartness with the smoky salmon. It was served with nicely oiled and toasted sliced of bread, which was nice and thin to maintain all the flavor of the salmon.  It is a very generous portion and probably a better portion to share with more than 2 people—it was the only thing we didn’t finish (and lick the plate).  We also had a side of the fries ($5.50), which are really quite good.  Our server told me one of their secrets is using a little sugar with the salt.  They didn't taste sweet to me at all, but they were really good--fresh and crisp and plenty salty. They didn't really need the ketchup that came with them and they were good for dipping up leftover sauce from the other plates.

We had the classic Meridian dessert-- one which I know has been on the menu for awhile because I have had it before—the fresh made doughnuts.  As always, you can’t really go wrong with freshly made hot doughnuts.  They are shaken in cinnamon sugar and served with malted coffee to dip in.  It’s a good one to share and hit the spot for a sweet ending, even if they aren’t mind blowing or anything.

We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and felt like with three appetizers between us, we had more than enough food.  I am imagining the entrées are huge.  I was a little concerned with their business though—the restaurant was pretty empty (including the patio) and a friend who went recently on a Saturday said the same thing.  Our server, while exceptionally knowledgeable about the food and the chef, was almost over the top in the amount of information he gave (it was a situation in which I am pretty sure he assumed we knew nothing about food which I find annoying).  But the food alone will make us return for sure.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com

Meridian - Revisit

So Meridian is one of those places that frustrates me.  I love the space, the service is very professional and the menu can be somewhat interesting.  I have yet to have an amazing meal here though.  Honestly, it had been quite awhile since I had been (about 2 years), because the last couple times were quite spotty.  But I figured it had been long enough, that there would probably be some new things on the menu, and I would give it a fresh review.

There were a few new things on the menu, but not a lot really.  The appetizers looked remarkably the same.  So, because in the past we have had the fried oysters and enjoyed them, we split them to start ($11.25).  They were as good as I have had them at Meridian, happily fried perfectly (chicken fried).  They are their version of oysters Rockefeller and the oysters sit on top of some creamed spinach and have a little sliver of bacon on top and a drizzle of Hollandaise around the plate.  The oysters were the right size (not too big, which is a complaint I made last time that got me hassled by some).  They were on it this night. If I had to say something I would change, it would only be to maybe add a bit more acid somewhere.  There was a little lemon in the Hollandaise, but not a lot, and there wasn’t a lot of the Hollandaise period.

I was excited to see skate ($25.75) on the menu, because I love it, and because it was something new to Meridian’s menu, at least since I have been there.  It was served lightly dusted with flour and pan seared, over a ragout of roasted veggies.  The veggies were great.  They had a great roasted flavor— slightly dry on the outside, but still quite tender to eat. I really liked these. The skate itself was fine, but I would have preferred it to be a little more browned on the outside. Seemed like the pan wasn’t hot enough.  The fish (or technically, ray) was cooked through, but I missed a bit more sear.  It was served on top of a Riesling mustard sauce, which sounded like a great combination to me, and wasn’t bad, but didn’t really jump out at me one way or the other.  If the skate had been cooked perfectly, this dish would have been above average, but again because of the execution, I would just call it average.

Hubby had the pork osso bucco ($27.25)and was quite excited about as something different to try.  It was served with spaetzle and red cabbage.  This dish was pretty disappointing. It was pretty tough and didn’t have a lot of flavor.  The sides did nothing to really bring it around—I thought the cabbage was okay, but it was a little sweet and was a turn off for hubby. He didn’t care for it (as I write this, I think this is a recurring problem with him and red cabbage).  The spaetzle was also just okay. Nothing wrong with it per se, but nothing exciting either.

We did at the last minute, thankfully add a side of fries ($5.50) to our order after seeing them going to another table.  The fries were quite good and the portion quite large.  They were freshly cut and fried and the ones that were a little thinner and crispier were really tasty.  These were hubby’s favorite part of the meal.

Since we shared an appetizer, we also ordered a dessert—we tried the “donuts and coffee” ($7.75). These were pretty tasty.  Freshly fried mini doughnuts that came out in a paper bag that was shook by our server (assuming there was more of the cinnamon sugar that was on the plate in there).  They were hot, and nice and chewy inside and were tasty dipped in the little cup of coffee served on the side.  They weren’t too sweet, and the portion not ridiculous. A nice thing to split to end a meal.

So the thing about Meridian is, I really want to like it, but it just doesn’t wow me. Everything we had was not bad, a few things pretty good, but nothing we had was amazing. With a few little nuanced additions to each dish, I think they could really rise above, but so far, I haven’t seen it.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com

Meridian-Revisit

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency. It is so important in a fine dining restaurant (I think anyway) and Meridian has some problems here. Not just from visit to visit, but even within the same meal.

This was my third trip to Meridian—the first being not so good, the second being very good and this last one, probably closely tied with the first. I am going to jump around a bit with my description of what we had, because I have to touch on the fried oysters first as my example of the consistency problem. The last time I went, hubby ordered the fried oysters and they were so good, they stuck out in my memory. We dined this night with another couple who had their own similarly good fond memories. No one wanted to share, so we ended up with 3 different orders, hubby and one of our friends ordered them for appetizers and I ordered mine as a main dish. First of all, I noticed right away how much larger the oysters are than what I remember and for me this is not necessarily a benefit. I like the small most tender ones best, not the ones as big as your head. Plus, I think the size of them just seemed to throw the proportions off because the tiny piece of bacon on top was totally lost in the hugeness of the oyster as was the creamy spinach mixture underneath. All you could really taste was the fried oyster and none of the other things that had made this dish so yummy. If you are going to use such large oysters, you need to up the amount of the other ingredients. The next problem with the oysters that arrived as appetizers was they were not crispy enough. I don’t know if the oil wasn’t hot enough or they weren’t cooked quite long enough, but they suffered. When mine came out later, luckily, I think the oil was properly heated as mine were much crispier, but again, consistency was a big issue. And again, I still think they were too big.

Before the oysters, we had ordered a plate of fried calamari that was a special on this night served with 3 sauces, Meridian’s version of a cocktail, a truffle aioli, and a remoulade. The calamari suffered from the same problem as the first round of oysters in that it wasn’t crispy enough. The calamari itself was good quality and I liked the cocktail and the truffle aioli, but a little crisper crust would have made this dish shine.

For my appetizer (I said I was skipping around a bit) I had a grilled asparagus dish served with truffle vinaigrette, blue cheese, bacon, and some little polenta cakes. It was okay, but the asparagus was the size of a small tree, and similarly woody. I tend to prefer thin tender asparagus, but maybe that is just me again. It was nicely grilled, and I liked the little polenta rectangles, but I couldn’t really taste the truffle in the dressing.

Hubby had duck and said it was actually undercooked which is unusual (seems like most kitchens tend to overcook duck vs. undercooking it.) He ordered it medium rare (what the kitchen recommended) but it was very rare. Other than that he said it was ok. Our friends split the Cajun jambalaya pasta and were not overly impressed either.

It was nice to have one of the former waiters from L’explorateur wait on us, and service was attentive but not annoying. In other words, service was very professional, the way it should be (why is this such a problem in Indy?) The interior of this restaurant is very nice, but I think it will be awhile before I will go back based on the lackluster food experience.

Meridian
5694 N. Meridian
Indy 46208
317-466-1111
www.meridianonmeridian.com

Meridian

This week I decided to go back to Meridian after I had been shortly after its opening and being fairly unimpressed. In case you don't know, Meridian is located at Westfield and Meridian, where the old Dodd's Townhouse used to be. Anyway, I knew the menu had changed and thought this would be a good time to re-try it and review it. The decor, as has been mentioned before, is really nice and warm. Reminds you of being in a really nice ski lodge with lots of faux candles. They also have outside dining.

I want to start out by saying, it has greatly improved. I was honest with our waiter about my first visit (he asked) and he told me that they were feeling as though the kinks were getting worked out and many had commented on the improved dining experience. The starters were really good. I had the mussels in sweet chili oil and hubby ordered the chef's version of oysters Rockefeller. The mussels were fresh and well prepared. Seemed a bit too sweet at first, but as the heat caught up, they seemed a bit more balanced. The oysters were outstanding. They were actually deep fried laid across a bed of cheesy spinach with a piece of bacon on top and some Hollandaise on the side. They were really good. I don't usually order oysters and I think I would order these if I go back.

Because I decided to order a starter for my main (I tried to get them to serve me a half order of their lobster carbonara but they said no.), I decided to get a salad as well. It was a properly sized (read, not enormous) spinach salad with the usual suspects, egg, mushrooms and onions and a nice warm bacon dressing. The only fault on this was it was maybe just a little too much dressing.

For my main, I ordered the appetizer of potato gnocchi with mushrooms, greens and bacon (seemed to be bacon everywhere) with balsamic. It was good. Maybe even just ok. But not bad. Hubby ordered duck. He liked it, but didn't love it as much as those oysters. We didn't try dessert for 2 reasons. Trying to watch the figure after a somewhat decadent vacation and also because the courses seemed to go a bit downhill each time, so we figured why risk it?

I will say this, I have been having a lot of bad luck with wine service lately (I have been to two restaurants that have served us very warm white wine), and I was really happy to be served a nice cold bottle of exactly what I ordered.

The server was very friendly and helpful, if not a little over-eager. He was knowledgeable and quite proud to be working there, which was nice to see. He sort of assumed we didn't know anything about food, which was maybe a little annoying, but maybe most of his customers are in that category, I don't know.

I hope the food continues to improve as much as it did between my first two visits. If so, Meridian could turn into an outstanding overall restaurant.

Meridian
5694 North Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317-466-1111
http://meridianonmeridian.com/menu.htm