Big Lug - Revisit

I met a friend for lunch at Big Lug the other day. I have been wanting to get back and try their Nashville hot chicken since the first time I went—when I just got a bite of my friend’s. We met over there and I ordered the hot chicken sandwich (well, I got the slider size) ($6). Our server once again warned me that it was really hot, even if you ordered mild. So mild is what I ordered. I didn’t love the side salad last time, which is often my go to side, so I went with fries this time. The sandwich is topped with a piece of the seasoned fried chicken breast, shredded lettuce, pickles and green goddess dressing. I really enjoyed it. I feel like maybe they over warn just a little bit as far as the heat. I do not love super spicy things that hurt your mouth, but this was a tasty sandwich. I also like the way the pickles and the dressing cut the heat a bit. Sort of like blue cheese dressing with buffalo wings. I also really enjoyed the fries—those are good fries. Nice and crisp and great dipped in the side of the green goddess dressing that I asked for (you know how I am with wanting to dip my fries in something besides ketchup).

My friend had a combo with a half a goose melt ($7) and a half version of the “Willie’s Special” salad ($6). That goose melt is quite delicious as well. If you like Smoking Goose meats, you’re going to like this sandwich. There’s capacollo, city ham, mortadella, chopped romaine, parmesan vinaigrette, and Muenster cheese.  It’s all on a toasty sub roll. I love the vinaigrette dressing with all this wonderfully rich meat and cheese—it is the thing that makes this sandwich special. And it’s the kind of thing that makes casual restaurant food stand out. The salad looked fine—I didn’t try it since it was the same chicken I had (only it was hot). The salad also came with mixed greens, black bean corn salsa, diced mozzarella, avocado and Frito salt. It’s dressed with ranch.

Honestly, for a place that specializes mainly in sandwiches, I really like it. They are taking basic ideas and elevating them just enough to make them unique. It’s the kind of place that would be a great place to take my kids for dinner, but sadly it’s an adult only restaurant. I’d be curious to know why kids can’t sit upstairs (although I haven’t been up there to see it). It’s kind of a shame, because it probably isn’t a place I’d go on date night; so for now, it’s going to probably remain a lunch option for me. I’m so glad to have it in Nora though, where we have such a lack of good independent options.

Who has been and tried some of the specials option at Big Lug? I’m curious about them.

Big Lug Canteen

1435 East 86^th Street

Indy  46240

317/672-3503

www.biglugcanteen.com 

Big Lug Canteen

The other day my twitter lit up with people telling me about how much they were liking Big Lug Canteen, so I quickly added it to my list of places to try. I was having a subcommittee meeting with some other moms from school regarding a school fundraising night, so I made the suggestion that we try it. They were game.

This is the newest creation from Ed Sahm and Scott Ellis.  It’s a 21 and over place and they are making beer in there. I like the way the menu is set up, and you have to appreciate their humor about it—“We Make Some Decent Food For You.”

And they’re right. It’s not totally different from what you might get at Sahm’s, but everything is elevated just a bit. I had a “slider” under the “knots” section of the menu. I chose the chicken B.L.A.T. The knots refer to the buns which have a knot shape swirled into them. The buns are really good. A little bit denser than a typical burger bun, but still soft. The chicken breast was seasoned and grilled. It was topped with lettuce, tomato, bacon, herb mayo and avocado. The chicken was good—not too tough. The name “slider” is a bit of a misnomer though—these are sandwiches and one is enough for a meal (especially since they come with a side), at least for me. I was kinda sad because I wanted to try more things, but I enjoyed my slider. For my side I had a salad with blue cheese dressing—the dressing was very good, I liked dipping my sandwich in it as well as my salad. On the salad itself, there were some big hunks of cucumber, which I would skip next time (I am not a fan of cucumber) and the greens were maybe a little heavy on the iceberg, but the dressing and the sandwich were very good.

I was intrigued to try the Nashville fried chicken (they have mild and hot) but after reading the warnings on the menu and hearing it again from the server, I was worried they would be too hot—I don’t like it when you can’t even taste food because it’s too spicy. One of my friends said she loved spicy things though and went for it. She got the  “Willie’s Special” salad with the Nashville fried chicken—she even went with the hot version. It also came with mixed greens, black bean corn salsa, mozzarella, avocado and Fritos salt ($10 for a full, $6 for a half). She was kind enough to let me try a bit of the chicken and it was really tasty—it was spicy, but honestly even I could handle it—it feels like most of the heat is coming from cayenne. I would totally order it (I would get the mild though). The chicken was nice and tender. I would really like to try the Nashville chicken slider—it comes with the same bun as my sandwich and also pickles, chopped romaine and green goddess dressing. It sounds like it would be excellent and based on my little bite, I think it would be. That is on my list for next time.

I didn’t try the beer, because you know me, I’m a wine girl (they do have a few wine selections). Remember this place is 21 and over though, which is sort of too bad, it would be a good place to take the kids and it is pretty darn close to my house. I look forward to going back though, and it’s a nice addition to Nora.

Big Lug Canteen

1435 East 86^th Street

Indy  46240

317/672-3503

www.biglugcanteen.com 

The North End

I have ventured over to Ryan Nelson’s new place, The North End, a couple of times since it opened—the first time for lunch and the second time for dinner. First of all, judging by the Monday night crowd at dinnertime, this neighborhood has been desperate for somewhere like this to go. It’s nice not to have Nora continue to be such a desert of independent, casual restaurants. So much fast food in this area.

At my lunch I had the Carolina pulled pork sandwich ($8), which came with 1 side. I went with potato salad because that is usually my go to with barbecue. The pork was okay. It’s the kind of pulled pork that has a lot of the crisp “bark” on it. So it kind of depends on whether you like that or not. They serve 4 sauces—a sweet molasses based sauce, a classic BBQ sauce, a spicier version and a vinegar/mustard-based sauce. You needed the sauce for sure to get the pork juicy. The sandwiches also come dressed with a house made cole slaw, which is a bit creamy and has a bit of vinegar. It was nice with the meat and sauce I thought.  Was it my favorite pulled pork? No, it’s a tad dry for me. The potato salad is a write off though, it was also super dry and bland. Just seemed liked chunks of potato with a bit of mustard. Needed some creaminess and some more zip.  I appreciated the wedge of boiled egg to mix in, but still could have used a little more pizazz. On both visits, I had the cornbread as a dessert ($3 as a separate side). It’s very sweet and topped with a nice mound of maple Bourbon butter. I really enjoyed it as a small dessert though (and so did my son). The first time they served it in a little iron skillet, which gave it a little more crisp edges, which I liked. They didn’t on the second visit. 

At dinner, we were with another family, and took the opportunity to try a bunch of the appetizers, which all sounded very appealing. Probably my favorite was the smoked Alaskan salmon dip ($8)—it was a creamy dip with lots of salmon in it as well as capers and chives. It was seasoned well and was served with thick housemade potato chips. A great combination. And when I squeezed a couple of lemons from the broiled oysters on top, it was perfection.

The oysters  ($12 for 6) themselves weren’t bad. They were small oysters (my favorite) but were almost overwhelmed by the amount of broiled parmesan cheese on top. The cheese had sort of hardened into one large piece of cheese on top on some of them and a lot of the garlic butter had spilled out of the oysters before they were served. For the price point, I think I would just stick with the salmon dip.

Based on several recommendations, we also had the house battered onion rings with remoulade ($7). These were my biggest disappointment of the appetizers. These are the really big kind of onion rings, which don’t tend to be my favorite kind anyway, but if they have a really nice crunchy batter, I won’t care. Here, the batter wasn’t crunchy at all—very soft. I liked the drizzled remoulade that was on them (although didn’t help with the softness) and asked for some more on the side. I don’t know, maybe it was just an off night on these because like I said, a lot of people have recommended them to me.

For dinner, I wanted to try something new and went with the chicken ($15). It is a half roasted chicken and was spectacular. The smoked meat was so tender--it was amazing. The skin on the chicken was crisp and seasoned. Dipping the meat in the sauces was barely even necessary, but I enjoyed all of them. A bit of classic mixed with spicy is probably my favorite, but I went back and forth with the mustard sauce because I liked the acidity of it. After my son had eaten half his pulled pork sandwich, he tried my chicken and then proceeded to pick it to the bone. Every time we drive by now, he asks when we will go back and get more of the chicken.

For sides this time (the entrées come with 2 sides), I had the mac and cheese and the collard greens. The collards were good. Tender with the right amount of porky bits and vinegar. The mac and cheese is also very good (probably my favorite side if I were choosing). It was creamy and topped with a slightly sweet, slightly smoky, rib jam that gave it extra texture and depth. Although my son had the fries as his side, which were tossed in bone marrow butter and jalapenos and they were quite delicious as well. Decadent, but good. They were certainly hubby’s favorite side.

Speaking of, hubby decided to go with another of the appetizers as his main dish, the shrimp and grits ($10). He figured he would eat off our plates, and he did. The shrimp and grits were good as well. The shrimp wasn’t overcooked and the grits were cheesy with white cheddar mixed in. There were some hunks of tasso ham and some fresh tomatoes as well. It was a large appetizer for sure. 

All in all, I think now that I have been a few times and found a couple of things we all really like, it will be a nice family-friendly place to put in the rotation that is near us. I can tell you what my son and I will be splitting—that chicken. Delicious.

The North End

1250 E. 86^th Street

Indy  46240

317/614-7427

http://thenorthendbbq.com/