Next Door-revisit

I have started a job not too far from SoBro, so that is my go to lunch area when I can sneak away. I met my friend Suzanne at Next Door this week because I thought it was about time for me to try it again after a less than stellar first experience. 

We met just before noon, and I was surprised to find it not very busy. On my first visit, the place was packed. I didn’t have time for a long lunch, so we jumped right to entrées. Based on the server’s recommendation, I went with the chicken sandwich ($9.95 +$2 upgrade to fries). It sounded good—all the things that typically elevate a chicken sandwich—avocado, herb aioli etc. It also had lettuce and tomato and red onion. And a bun. A very large puffy bun that was a little dense for me. It was kind of hard to eat for me because the sandwich ended up being so big. I ended up eating it kind of open-faced and took the tomato and some of the lettuce off. I wished for a little more aioli and asked for it. I initially got it for my fries but used it for the sandwich as well. It was good on the fries, and I like the whole shoestring fries thing, I just wished they were a little hotter. But they were tasty dipped in the aioli. And I wished the aioli was a little brighter. It had a lot of herbs but could have maybe used some lemon. Or garlic. Or both. An ok sandwich that I likely would not order again.

I also had a bite of Suzanne’s honey Sriracha crispy shrimp bowl ($16.95). It was fried shrimp served on top of brown rice, charred broccolini, pickled daikon, carrots and cilantro slaw. She has had this dish a few times and has had mixed results, but when she had it and it was really good, she really liked it. I thought the shrimp were cooked nicely—they had a nice crunch to them and a slight sweetness I assume from the honey. There was a distinct taste of sesame oil to the dish, which I like. We both agreed it needed just a little bit more something—maybe just a little soy.  Not quite enough of the pickled flavor to balance it out. Overall though, it was certainly the more interesting dish of the two. A few more shrimp would have been nice, particularly at that price point for lunch. 

All in all, I can’t say this visit really changed my opinion about Next Door. It’s not bad, but it isn’t a place that makes me want to rush back anytime soon. Or possibly ever. 

That being said, tell me your favorite places to eat in SoBro and that area, and what your favorite dishes are… I am always looking for inspiration.

Next Door

4573 N. College Ave

Indy  46205

317/643-3480

www.nextdooreatery.com 

Next Door

The family and I finally got around to trying Next Door, the other new Kimbal Musk restaurant. This one is in SoBro. I have always thought this location just called out for a restaurant—it pretty much looked like an old diner, so I was glad to see something interesting go in here.

We went for lunch (although I think their menu is the same at all meals). Wanting to try a lot of things, we ordered a couple of shareable items to start. We had the chips and guacamole ($8.95) and the buffalo chicken bites ($10.95). We were excited when we saw the chips—they sort of reminded us of the flour tortilla chips from Nada, which we all love. But these were not as tasty and needed salt. They were fine but not super exciting. Sadly, the same could be said of the guac. It definitely needed salt, and a little lime, and maybe some heat would have helped too. It was just kind of bland. The buffalo chicken bites were good. Nice slightly spicy flavor from the buffalo sauce that was tempered by the creamy dressing and chunks of blue cheese. I liked the flavor from some thin slices of celery and celery greens as well. I guess if I were going to improve the dish, the only thing I would suggest is that the pieces of chicken might be slightly bigger—they were a tad on the dry side. But ultimately, this ended up being my favorite dish on the table.  Hubby and I also had a house margarita ($7.50) and I have to say, it wasn’t very good—it was very light and had little flavor going on. I rarely meet a margarita that I just don’t like, but this was one.

For our main, hubby and I wanted to split a Cuban sandwich ($9.95) but were told only upon ordering it that they were out (hint, might want to tell people this at the very beginning of the service). We last minute changed to the “Merlin’s Carolina pork” sandwich ($11.95). This sandwich has pork in mustard BBQ sauce, pickles, crispy onions, and cole slaw. So, this sandwich suffered from dryness too. You could barely tell there was sauce on the pork, and there seemed to be more crispy onions than there was pork. I liked the idea of fried onions on the sandwich, but in this case, they sort of just added to the dry factor. I asked for a side of sauce, which I eventually got, and this made the sandwich bearable, but still not particularly good. They serve the sandwiches with chips and dressed greens. Both were fine, but nothing that stood out.

My son had the burger ($10.95). It comes topped with white cheddar and with the traditional garnishes on the side. They did not ask how he wanted it cooked, and it was cooked pretty well done. So guess what? Also, dry. Of the main dishes, it was probably the best one, but still not great. They really ought to cook it to order, or else cook it closer to medium.

The worst of the entrées was my daughter’s ancho chile chicken bowl ($13.95). If I thought the other dishes came across as dry, this one took the cake. It was mainly rice topped with shredded chicken—both of these things pretty dry. There were some tortilla strips on top, a bit of corn, beans, and peppers and then the whole thing was very lightly drizzled with lime crema. There was nowhere near enough of this crema to bring the moisture this dish needed. The few bites she ended up eating, she had with some of the leftover guacamole. The chicken wasn’t particularly flavorful either. This was definitely a pass.

We thought we should try dessert just to give every course a chance. The only option was a gluten free chocolate chip cookie, so we went ahead and took a pass on this, considering we had homemade gluten-full chocolate chip cookies at home. 

Ok you guys, I wanted to like this place, and it’s really cute, but there was nothing that made me want to go back. Even the service was up and down. For instance, it took a solid 15-20 minutes to get our appetizers, but then we got our entrées within five minutes of getting the apps, even though we ordered them separately and later. It took awhile to get that side of sauce for our sandwich, and to get extra plates and things like this. We sat outside, which was lovely, but inside seemed pretty loud. The only thing I would consider ordering again were the buffalo chicken bites. So, if you have found something you love, please let me know. Otherwise, I am unlikely to return.

Next Door

4573 North College Ave

Indy 46205

317/643-3480

www.nextdooreatery.com 

Noise rating: 4 bells (out of 5) inside, quieter outside.