Northside Social - Revisit

Hubby and I were having a hard time deciding where to eat the other day, but we wanted a nice sit-down place, not too far, locally owned, and where we could get in without a reservation.  So we settled on Northside Social. It had been awhile, and I have heard a few good things lately—and the last dinner I had was pretty good even though it was a long time ago. I like the low country bent of the menu—southern coastal food with a fair amount of Cajun type flavors. 

I appreciate the upscale interior of this place—particularly in Broad Ripple. Sadly, it was pretty empty when we got there—although it picked up somewhat while we were there. Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. 

We started with the mushroom tart ($13). It was a tart crust topped with a whole lot of sautéed (local) mushrooms, a big slab of Capriole Kentucky Tomme cheese, petals of pickled red pearl onions and crispy fried kale. This was truly delicious. Honestly, I couldn’t get over how good it was. The buttery tart with the rich, slightly pungent cheese, earthy mushrooms and kale and the perfect hit of acid with the onions was tremendous. I would get this every time.

For our main dishes, we got the fried chicken (shocker I know) ($23) and a special pasta dish with shrimp. The fried chicken was pickle brined and buttermilk marinated and had more of a corn meal sort of breading. It was served with pimento mac and cheese and bacon braised collard greens. I loved the very mild sour flavor from the pickle and buttermilk, the crust was unbelievably crisp—normally I don’t prefer a cornmeal crust, but this was really tasty. And we didn’t eat it all that night and it was almost better the next day. I was super impressed by how moist and tender all the chicken was—even the breast, which was very large—which I find to be notoriously dry usually. The mac and cheese was a large portion and extremely decadent with pimento cheese. The collard greens weren’t bad either, although compared to everything else, they weren’t as impressive. 

Sadly, the pasta was not as tasty as everything else for me, although it was still good. It was pasta with a light buttery pesto-type sauce with spring peas, pine nuts and some large shrimp. The shrimp were not overcooked, which was nice. Hubby liked it more than I did—or I guess I just preferred the other things. 

All in all, I was quite impressed with the food we had and the various flavor profiles in each dish. If you haven’t been in a while, you might want to check it out again. 

Northside Social

6525 N. College Ave

Indy.  46220

317/253-0111

www.northsidesocial.com 

Northside Social --Revisit

We snuck out the other night to grab dinner with friends while our boys were in a  55-hour long tennis tournament (ok, it was only 5 hours, but seemed like longer). We were undecided about where to go, and I remembered that Northside Social had a new chef, Dean Sample (check out his instagram for some of the new dishes).

To be honest though, I hadn’t been in quite awhile, so while I can’t really say exactly how much of the menu had changed, but I can tell you that just about everything we had was tasty.

To start with though, it was strange when we walked in—the restaurant was only about 1/3 full but they wouldn’t seat us without a reservation. We were on a time crunch so we walked into the bar, but when we started discussing it, we thought it was weird since the restaurant was so empty, so my friend’s husband went back up and then they sat us right away. And by the time we left there were still several empty tables. Anyhow, once we were sorted, we ordered some salads and dinner. I just had a green salad ($5) with blue cheese dressing and it was solid. It had chopped up tomatoes and red onions and was mixed greens. Hubby had a Caesar ($6) and was happy.

I ordered the potato-crusted basa ($21) and I have to say, it was delicious. Basa is a tender white fish made crispy on the outside with potatoes that are crusted and then pan-fried. The fish was great, and the lemon butter sauce on the fish makes it for me. It has such nice lemon flavor and herbs on top. I love my acid for sure and I didn’t even use the extra lemon wedge on the side. The sauce was just right. It was served with brocolini and mashed potatoes underneath. The potatoes were fine, but we all ordered a side of mac and cheese ($8) to share and it might be one of the better versions in town. I like that they mix the pasta with green chilies and make the top super crunchy with breadcrumbs. It is a very good mac and cheese.

One friend ordered the spicy Spanish triggerfish ($21) and it was very tasty as well. The fish is a bit thicker and denser than the basa, but remained tender and was a good match for the heartier, spicier flavors of the spicy Spanish shrimp sauce and the ratatouille. There were these really great roasted tomatoes in there that just sort of exploded with flavor. It was a good and interesting dish.

Hubby was excited to see a cassoulet ($21) on the menu, as that is one of his favorite things. They do a pork version here. It’s basically a bean and meat casserole. He liked the dish and the pork that was in there but thought the sausage wasn’t as tasty, but he said he would totally order it again, and liked that a restaurant is actually offering it.

The portions here are good-sized and I don’t think anyone of us finished our entrées. Our server was very friendly and helpful and kept up with our drinks.

Overall, it’s a nice place to grab a more grown up dinner in Broad Ripple. The new chef seems to be mixing up the menu a bit and producing good dishes. If you haven’t been in awhile, you might want to check it out again. And let me know what you think.

Northside Social

6525 North College Ave 

Indy 46220

317/253-0111

www.northsidesocial.com 

Northside Social- Revisit

I have a group of women that I meet once a month for dinner—we generally eat at places with fairly approachable menus because, a certain one of us is picky (no names--you know who you are). We decided to try Northside Social since it was Chow Down Midtown, and who doesn’t love a deal right? This one is actually a decent one—you got two dinners for $50. You pick from a list of appetizers to share as well as a dessert to share and then you pick from a list of entrées, and you choose your own here.

We chose the flatbread with cheese, arugula, sundried tomatoes, and shaved parmesan. It was very large for sure. It’s too bad we ordered two of them at the table because we didn’t even finish half. I like arugula and parm together and I liked the texture from the tomatoes, but I wished for some light dressing or even some lemons to squeeze on top. The menu described it as arugula salad, but I would just call it plain arugula. There was a touch of Brie on the flatbread, but I would have liked a little more, or something to jazz it up. 

For my main dish, I chose the mac and cheese. They had a fish dish, chicken, short ribs and a ravioli dish as well. The mac and cheese was pretty darn good. It was a huge portion too—I don’t think they are downsizing their Chow Down meals. It had a lot of stuff going on—several kinds of cheese as well as bacon, pancetta and crispy prosciutto. It had lots of nice varying texture and a hearty, meaty taste from all that pork. The top was sprinkled liberally with breadcrumbs that were nice and toasty. There were also chopped shallots in there as well, that helped vary the flavor even more. If mac and cheese doesn’t impress me, it’s usually because it’s just so plain that you don’t have any desire to eat more than a couple of bites. This one had so much stuff going that you felt like you were eating something more than just mac and cheese. I didn’t really find the couple slices of grilled bread necessary with this carb bomb, but there you go—I just left them. And I probably ate like a quarter of this dish—it’s really big.

One friend let me try her potato crusted base fish as well and I actually liked this one even more. I just tried a bite of the fish—it is basa, which is a white, fairly thin, flakey fish that is crusted with potato. It had a great crunch to the potato exterior and kept the fish tender and it had a nice lemony sauce giving it a nice hit of acid. I didn’t try the mashed potatoes on the side or the veg though. Honestly, I would order this again. A quick bit of a friend’s ravioli was pretty good too, although while it is called rhubarb roasted beet ravioli, it is actually regular cheese ravioli that is cooked on a sauce containing rhubarb and beets—I liked the tangy sauce with it, but the raviolis themselves were just standard. 

We got one of each of the two desserts offered on the special menu—I mostly ate the bread pudding. It was good—it was large---and pretty bready. A nice flavor, but I would have appreciated a little more of the warm pecan caramel sauce. 

They are certainly not skimping on the portions for their Chow Down menu. I don’t find the menu at Northside Social particularly interesting, but the food we had was pretty solid. And you can certainly please a variety of tastes.

Northside Social

6525 North College Ave 

Indy 46220

317/253-0111

www.northsidesocial.com 

The Local Eatery & Pub

My Dad and I laughed on the way to the place about the fact that it was pretty much a guarantee that one of us would like this place and the other would not, since we rarely tend to agree on restaurants, but they were game for trying somewhere new with me anyway.  We were on the Northside, so we figured we would check out The Local, based on a a lot of recommendations.

So it is in a strip mall at 146th and Gray Road, and is somewhat set back, which is probably somewhat of a disadvantage (and based on all the signs on the roadside saying they are open, my guess is a lot of people have no clue there is a restaurant back there).  But we knew it was there, and headed in.  The first thing I noticed was the entrance is somewhat disjointed from the place.  There is a bar side and a restaurants side with a door somewhat in the middle that hardly looks connected to either part.  But we went in and were promptly seated in the bar (I am assuming if you had a kid with you, you would be seated on the other side, although there was no one over there the day we were there).

So they sort of pride themselves on making things in house, with the exception of the tator tots that are on the menu.  So we tried a variety of things.  Let me start with the highlight of the meal--my Dad ordered the chicken fried pork tenderloin sandwich.  It was really good.  The breading a little lighter and I don't know, more loosely stuck to the meat than your usual pork tenderloin.  Not so crunchy I guess.  But this was a damn good sandwich.  The pork itself was really tender, and as my Dad pointed out, there wasn't a single bite that was fatty or gristly at all (I only had about a quarter of the sandwich).  There was a nice flavor in there too that was a little horseradish-y almost.  Not sure if they seasoned up the mayo a bit, but the sandwich had just a tiny bit of a kick.  It was served on a properly portioned soft bun with lettuce and red onion. It was well done.

Mom and I split the fried chicken drumsticks and the mushroom and goat cheese flat bread as well as some of their hand cut fries.  Interestingly, there were wings and the drumsticks on the menu, and they first brought us an order of the wings by mistake which we sent back.  But the drumsticks were way larger than the wings, and looked so much better (although I didn't try the wings).  They were regular sized legs that were fried and rolled in sauce, much like wings (we got the regular barbecue sauce) but were nice because they were so much bigger. There were 5 of them on the plate (even though the picture only shows 4).  The meat was maybe a touch dry, but the sauce was flavorful, with a smoky flavor with just a touch of heat.  They need to give you some wet wipes with these though--eating barbecue sauce coated chicken legs makes for some serious sticky fingers.  But would I order them again? Not with that tenderloin as an option.

The big disappointment of the day was the flatbread. Honestly, we thought it was pretty bad.  The crust was that thin cracker-type crust which can be good when done right, but this one was really soft under the toppings and really hard on the edges.  And the "sauce" on the flatbread was basically a caramelized onion paste that was spread around on the crust.  It was topped with dollops of goat cheese and slices of what seemed like completely raw shitake mushrooms.  This thing just did not come together at all for me.  The whole thing wasn't warm enough, and the mushrooms should have been cooked.  Preferably like sauteed with some seasonings beforehand---especially if you are using this kind of a mushroom--they were really dense.  The toppings over all just came across as too dry. I don't know how you would fix this, as there were so many things going wrong with it in my mind.  My mom agreed and refused to even take the leftovers home (my parents are big leftover people).

The fries were handmade and had a nice flavor--they were maybe just a little soft for me, but on the whole, I liked them.  But again, a place only serving ketchup alongside, which seems uninspired to me.

I guess I didn't expect quite so many bar food type things on the menu---from what people were telling me, I was expecting something a little more fresh food oriented or something, and less of all the deep fried stuff.  But the tenderloin was good, worth ordering again (and with the fries). 

The Local Eatery & Pub
14655 Gray Road
Noblesville, IN 46062
317/218-3786
http://www.localeateryandpub.com/

Northside Social

As the BFF and I drove to Northside Social the other night, not sure exactly where it was, she commented to me that it must be close to the place where a friend once ran a BBQ place about 20 years ago. Turned out it wasn’t close, it was in the same location. Talk about timewarp. Smokestack Lightning was the place where I got hooked on chicken wings and mustard based barbeque sauce. Ahhh, but I am off subject again. Anyway, what a shocker to see the inside of this place all gussied up and hip-like. And apparently, quite popular. As we arrived, around 6:30, we got the last table there and it pretty much ran on a wait the entire night (and I know because we were seated right next to the host stand).

Anyway, it was nice to see a fairly new independent restaurant doing so well. They clearly are not having any trouble getting customers. I am thinking it is probably a good addition to the brewpub-heavy Broad Ripple area with its slightly more upscale menu and more modern interior. I say “slightly more upscale” because the menu is still a basic comfort food heavy one, with a few twists. There are things like pork chops, and meatloaf as well as cedar plank salmon. The menu also includes pastas and sandwiches. Kids are welcome until 9:00 and this place is so noisy, even if they are unruly, it is unlikely anyone will notice.

We started with the “black and blue” fondue appetizer which was pieces of filet, roasted tomatoes and chunks of bread served with what was billed as a blue cheese fondue. The beef was pretty good, and was not overcooked and had a nice juiciness and seasoning on it. The only problem I had with it was I got a couple bites that had enough fat in them I had to spit them out. Which happens with pretty much any cut of beef, but if you are serving cut up pieces, I would recommend trying to cut out more of the fatty bits. The tomatoes were nice and big and meaty and a nice compliment to the beef and rich fondue. The fondue wasn’t bad, but didn’t really seem blue cheesy at all. More just cheesy. Definitely could have used more blue cheese flavor for sure. I like what they were doing—and that they gave you enough wooden skewers so you didn’t re-dip the same skewer into the cheese if you were sharing. But if you ask me, it just needs a little more pizzazz to make it really good.

I had the fish in a clay pot. It was basa fish, which is a mild white fish, served in a terra cotta baking dish, in a broth with white wine, lemon, olives and more of the roasted tomatoes. The flavor of the broth was nice—you could really get the lemony flavor from the broth and the fish, well after it cooled for quite a while; it was so hot I couldn’t touch it for quite awhile-- was certainly infused with the flavors. There was a wild rice pilaf type side item which added a nice nutty flavor. The whole dish was good. It wasn’t anything out of this world. And the flavors are simple—certainly nothing complex going on here. But that’s not really what they are going for anyway, I don’t think.

The BFF had the meatloaf and was a bit underwhelmed I’d say. Which is what I would say about pretty much any meatloaf, but she is a fan of it in general. She said there was nothing special about it.

We also shared the bread pudding for dessert which I had read somewhere was very good (and I do have a weakness for good bread pudding). But this was a little too dry for my taste and only served with whipped cream on the side. Give me some good old fashioned vanilla ice cream any day. The pudding was in the shape of a square, perfectly cut from a big pan obviously, and just held its shape too well. I like it a bit mushier and free form I guess.

By the time we left, the bar was pretty much heaving and it was so noisy, it was hard to talk. But judging by the crowd which appeared to be a slightly older (older than the 20 somethings you see on Broad Ripple Avenue anyway) singles scene of sorts, I don’t think they are necessarily coming for the food. Which isn’t bad, but in my mind, isn’t so compelling this place will jump to mind when I am looking for a meal out. The prices are reasonable though. If you are one of the mobs of people eating at this place, tell me why you like it so much. Is it the food, or the scene? Just curious.

Northside Social
6525 North College Ave
Indy 46220
317/253-0111
www.northsidesocial.com