R Bistro- Revisit

It has been a little while since we’ve been to R Bistro. We keep an eye on the menu in general and when some friends invited us to join them, we went.  Overall, I really like R Bistro—it is one of the standard good restaurants in Indy.  The menu changes weekly, and there are some ups and downs with that kind of constant change, but largely it is fairly consistent in its quality.

I liked the sound of the pork belly taco ($9) with red cabbage slaw and ordered that for my starter as did someone else at my table.  Unfortunately, after ordering it, our server came out and informed us they had only one left and were switching it to rabbit.  I took the bullet and got the rabbit. In general I like rabbit fine, but honestly, in a taco, I can’t say it is preferable.  The taco was exactly the same set up—the meat in the soft shell with some lightly pickled carrots and cucumbers (a sort of giardiniera) with a nice crunchy fresh red cabbage and ripe mango slaw on the side.  But the meat itself, while fairly tender, didn’t have a lot of flavor. I probably just should have switched to something else.  I had a bite of my friend’s pork belly and it was much tastier. I am sure it came together more as a dish with that pork in it than the rabbit.

For my main dish though, wow, I had the most amazing thing.  It was actually a starter as well, but I ordered it for my entrée.  It was ricotta gnocchi with roasted oyster mushrooms and wild ramp pesto ($9.95). It was so, so good. It was one of those dishes that was so good that I HAD to share it with my friends just so they could taste it, even though I really, really didn’t want to if you know what I mean. (Luckily I didn’t have to share with hubby because he had ordered it as an appetizer).  The gnocchi was so tender, and lightly seared and then the mushrooms—well, it said they were roasted, but it must have been in some sort of animal fat because man, they were so freaking good. Slightly crispy and delicious.  And the pesto had some serious flavor—enough garlic the dish almost had a slight heat to it, if you know what I mean. I loved it. I seriously considered ordering another plateful for dessert.

Hubby had the roasted chicken leg (which was the whole leg—thigh and drumstick) with sausage and creamy polenta in a red wine sauce ($22).  I think we were both surprised by how sweet the dish was—there was a fruit sauce on top (currants I think).  The chicken was nice and tender but was dominated by the very sweet sauce from the fruit that wasn’t mentioned in the menu description.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the dish, other than it wasn’t our taste and he probably would have ordered something else had he known.

There was rhubarb cobbler on the menu ($6.75) which meant it had to be ordered. Three of us ordered it actually. I liked it. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but the rhubarb part of it was very nice—it was still pretty tart, which is how it should be. And when you mixed it with the sweet cobbler part (ok, I would say it was more like a shortcake or something) and some ice cream, you got the sweetness you needed and it was tasty.

One of the biggest disappointments on this night for me was the service (again) (I know, I’m like a broken record).  But it really kind of bummed me out, because R Bistro, for me, has always been a restaurant with impeccable service. But again, we were a party of 6, with an auto 19% gratuity, and well, I won’t bore you with my feelings on the topic again, but let’s just say I am seriously considering not going out with more than 5 people ever again.  We didn’t have drinks for at least 15-20 minutes and some friends of ours who came in after us (a party of 2) were in and out in significantly less time.  Ok, enough said.

I like R Bistro and Indy is lucky to have a consistently good restaurant like this.  I love the ever-changing menu, and that so much is seasonal and local. I am going to go with the fact that this service experience was a fluke (although this is the first time I have been with more than 4 people).  I love that the place was still full even after being open for so many years.  It’s a place I would certainly never write off. Damn, especially after that gnocchi.

R Bistro

888 Massachusetts Ave

Indy 46202

317/423-0312

www.rbistro.com 

Zoobilation 2011

It has been a couple of years since we’ve been to Zoobilation, but we were able to get there this year—it’s always fun to people watch at this event, particularly later in the evening.  I also ate a ton of different things, but here were some of the highlights that stuck out in my mind:

Tilapia ceviche from Adobo.  Maybe because it was so hot, but the cold dishes were hitting the spot.  This ceviche was light and limey with a hint of heat from jalapeno, and had a perfect slice of avocado on the plate. 

Shrimp, octopus and tuna ceviche with avocado, cucumber, cilantro, tomato, soy and yuzu from H20. It was served on a tortilla chip and the flavor was great.  I also like that it was easy to eat—not so big that you made a mess, and it was easy to walk and eat it.  Handling your drink and a plate with a fork got to be a little challenging sometimes—especially when you are trying to take pictures of it on top of everything else.  And I noticed it is on the menu tonight at H20, so you can go check it out yourself if you want.

Lobster voodoo from Ruth’s Chris. These were two small pieces of deep fried lobster tail that were coated in a spicy voodoo sauce.  They had quite an impressive set up with deep fryers behind the booth.  This was one hubby went back to for 3 helpings throughout the night.

Baked snow crab rolls from Sensu.  These were nice bite sized items as well—just one piece of a sushi roll with snow crab and Dynamite sauce (chili, garlic and mayo) and crunchy bits of tempura.  It was rolled with rice paper.  This was a really nice bite as well—and I was excited to get to try this because we had just been to Sensu and almost ordered this on their menu and hadn’t.  (P.S. Look for my full review of Sensu on Monday).

Dessert-wise I had several things I really liked.  The sticky toffee pudding from R Bistro was outstanding—sort of like a dense spice cake topped with a caramel sauce. (This won one of the best of the best awards.  I also really enjoyed the dark chocolate tartlets which were filled with caramel and sprinkled with sea salt from Circle City Sweets and the chocolate cake shooters with buttercream frosting and a bit of raspberry from Cakes by Cathy—that may have been the moistest cake I have ever eaten.

Circle City Sweets

I was happy to see a lot fewer sliders than 2 years ago when we went. There was a really good variety of different types of things served in different styles.  I didn’t eat every single thing there, but I got a pretty healthy sampling of most of the things.  It was also fun to see a lot of our City’s great chefs all together in one place. 

If you went, tell me what you liked or didn’t and your overall impressions of the night.  It looked like a lot of people were having a lot of fun, even if they were all pretty sweaty!

Zoobilation 2011 (next year’s date is June 8^th)

Indianapolis Zoo

1200 West Washington Street

Indy, 46222

317/630-2001

http://www.indianapoliszoo.com/

R Bistro - Revisit

It has been awhile since we have been to R Bistro, and we do usually really like this place. As I have mentioned before, it is just a matter of getting the right menu that we both want to go eat, and we go.

On this night, we shared the pan fried crab cake with Old Bay seasoning and creamy sauce and the mitzuna salad with poached egg and pancetta for our starters. Both were very good. I sort of have a bias against crab cakes because they are usually not very good, but this one was. Very crabby and seasoned nicely. The sauce was a tangy creamy sauce, with a touch of heat. And it was just one cake-properly sized for an appetizer in my opinion.

The salad was also very good. A nice amount of the mitzuna greens (similar to arugula with its peppery flavor, but a bit milder) topped with a slice of caramelized apple topped with a round of pan fried pancetta. And a perfectly poached egg, appropriately runny, right in the middle of the salad. This was a very well done salad. Maybe a tad underdressed, but with the runny center of the egg, it came together. The apple was a nice touch to give a slightly sweet flavor to the rich and salty bacon and egg flavor. I thought there was a little too much of the apple, and did not eat all of it, but just some small bites with the other items. The pancetta was perfectly crisp and the salad was also the right size. We enjoyed both items a lot, but probably thought the crab cake edged the salad out a tiny bit. (Ok, hubby thinks the crab cake edged it out a lot, but we disagree on this).

For my main, I had the Alaskan halibut with sweet potatoes, arugula and lime butter sauce. I will start by saying that the fish was perfectly cooked, and was not dry and all. The lime butter sauce was simple, but perfect for the fish. Buttery and tangy with the lime flavor and some lime zest. The arugula complimented it as well. I was not a big fan of the sweet potato aspect of the dish, it just didn’t seem to add anything and they didn’t really have a lot of flavor. And maybe because they seem sort of fall-ish to me, and I am so excited about spring foods, they just weren’t doing it for me. But the rest of the dish was quite nice. Not amazing, actually fairly simple, but well prepared and well seasoned.

Hubby had the quail and sausage braised with grapes on blue cheese and walnut polenta. Hubby loves his little birds, and he thought the quail was very well done. He did not however think the accompaniments added much to it, although he liked them all with the sausage. He said the quail could stand alone. The sausage he liked with the grapes and polenta, although he did not remember any blue cheese flavor there.

All in all, while it wasn’t our best R Bistro experience, it was a very nice meal. We had good service and good food on a beautiful spring day.

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy 46202
317/423-0312
www.rbistro.com

R Bistro- October 2009

Hubby and I got an unexpected babysitter the other night and were at a loss for somewhere good. We decided on what is probably one of the best places left around here these days—R Bistro. We always check the menu first though-it changes weekly and sometimes it sounds so good, and other times not as much.

Anyhow, this menu looked pretty good. Since I have reviewed this place quite a few times, I won’t go into the ambiance and service too much, but suffice it to say I like that this restaurant is very professionally run and the fact that you feel like people know what they are doing. It has a sort of quiet confidence that I really appreciate. I also like that there are also always other people there no matter what time you go.

I started with the Asian pear, endive, tamari pecans and blue cheese salad. It was lovely in its presentation. (By the way, sorry my only pictures are sort of dark, I was trying to not be too obvious). The flavor combination of the pears and blue cheese was great—I love fruit with blue cheese and the pears were perfectly ripe. The peppery-ness of the greens was great and the sweet and slightly spicy flavor of the pecans was a nice counter balance. Hubby really enjoyed it too

For my main course I had one of the starters on the menu, the New Orleans shrimp remoulade with fried green tomatoes (hubby also had this for his appetizer). These were really good. When I eat shrimp so perfectly prepared, I think 2 things: 1) why doesn’t R Bistro have more shellfish on their menu; and 2) why can’t more restaurants do such a good job with shrimp? They were perfectly tender, in a tasty remoulade sauce alongside a couple of good size fried green tomatoes. The tomatoes were the right amount of tartness to balance out the shrimp and I really enjoyed this dish.

Hubby had the grilled elk steak with tomato watercress relish and warm potato and preserved shallot salad. He was really torn between this and the duck that night and decided to go with the elk because he had had a lot of duck recently. Our server told us that it would be prepared to medium rare because any more well done would have made the meat tough. Now this was fine, because this is how we like meat, and this is how it was prepared, but unfortunately, the meat was still a bit too tough for my taste. Not sure why—other very lean red meats like bison don’t seem to have the same problem, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed this as my main dish because of this problem. The sides were pretty good, I liked the watercress and tomato combo, although I found the potatoes a little bland. I was glad I had my shrimp on this one.

We also had the apple tart which was pretty good too—I don’t often order dessert at R Bistro but since I had two appetizers we decided to share one this time. Like I said, it wasn’t bad, but nothing out of this world or anything. I have always found desserts to be R Bistro’s weakest link, which is one of the reasons I rarely order one.

But if you want to go to a restaurant that is consistently producing good quality, and creative, ever-changing dishes, R Bistro is one of your only bets in this City, and one of the best.

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy 46202
317/423-0312
http://www.rbistro.com/

R Bistro- Lunch

As much as I love R Bistro when I have been there for dinner, I had never made it over for lunch. I stopped in the other day with a friend for a quick bite. I have to say, based on that sandwich alone (not having had anything else on the menu), so far, I think I prefer dinner.

I had the Applewood smoked bacon, watercress, avocado and tomato chutney panini which was served with a small side salad. The bacon itself is really yummy, but I found the overall taste of the sandwich to be too sweet for my taste—I know chutney is sweet, but this was a little over the top for me. And there was quite a bit of it (as opposed to the avocado which was much more sparingly used (I personally would’ve liked a bit more, but I am an avocado freak). I would have appreciated something to balance out all that sweetness, maybe some zippy blue cheese or a tart dressing on the watercress. Like I said, the bacon was good, and I ended up just picking out all the bacon on half the sandwich and eating it after I ate the first half.

The side salad was just mixed greens with what tasted like a bit of lemon and oil over it, but not enough dressing to really taste. It’s too bad too because if it had been dressed with more of the tangy dressing, it probably would have balanced the sandwich a bit.

My friend had the Indiana tomato, white cheddar and fennel marmalade sandwich and later when I asked her how it was, she said, she had wished she had ordered what I had because hers was so sweet.

There was a special on this day—scallop ceviche. I really debated whether to get it or the sandwich, as I really love scallop ceviche (I so miss the scallop ceviche at L’explorateur), but I had read the menu so many times and really wanted to try the sandwich so I got it. I wish I had gotten the ceviche. Oh well. Live and learn. And if you don’t like so much sweetness with your lunch, skip these sandwiches and try something else on the menu (there are several really nice sounding things).

R Bistro

888 Massachusetts Ave

Indy, 46204

317-423-0312

http://www.rbistro.com/

R Bistro

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
Finally! We had a meal in a restaurant in which everything came together. R Bistro is one of the few restaurants around that just exudes professionalism with just about everything that goes on from the hostess, to the servers, to the food itself. You are greeted promptly and like they are actually happy to have you (no eye rolling involved) and seated at a table that isn’t right next to the only other seated table in the place, and promptly greeted by your server who asks if you want tap water before it is poured. I tend to like sparkling water myself (as does hubby) but once the water is already poured, I just let it go.

So I got my sparkling water, ordered some wine and decided what to get. I asked the server some questions about the menu, which he answered with great knowledge of each item. I have never had a server here who wasn’t extremely knowledgeable about the menu, and very professional. I think I understand why they put their names on the menu now. I should say we generally walk in knowing what we want, because we get the changing weekly menus emailed to us. Whenever we see one we both like, we know we have to go, because whatever it is, if it is ingredients you like, when it is cooked at R Bistro, you can be confident it will be cooked well. My only problem is sometimes it can be awhile (particularly in the fall and winter I find) before I see a menu that really strikes my fancy.

This menu, however, struck a cord with both of us, and there were several items I could have happily chosen. But I decided on the scallops appetizer which was perfectly seared and caramelized scallops (three of them) served a top a crisp tortilla with avocado spread, which were layered on top of chopped tomatoes and drizzled with a sort of chimichurri-type sauce that was just delicious. All the components worked so well together to make an outstanding dish. Hubby had one and agreed.

Hubby started with the lamb carpaccio which I had a bit of, which was also super good. Carpaccio is generally very thinly sliced raw meat served with different things on top. I am not sure, I think this lamb may have been flash seared before being sliced, but no matter, it was perfectly tender and flavorful. It was served with R Bistro’s take on traditional tartare accompaniments, capers, mustard aioli, diced cornichons (I think) and diced onion. I had a hard time deciding which I liked better.

For my main, I had the clams with spicy sausage, fennel and fettuccine. When I saw this dish on the menu, I flashed back to a meal I had at some little dive in Portugal which consisted of clams and small pieces of sausage in a spicy, smoky broth. It was one of those things I stumbled on and never have forgotten, so I was anxious to try this dish. It was different, not as brothy, and the pasta made it more of a pasta dish, but it was still really good. I liked that the sausage was more like a ragu on the pasta than really big pieces of sausage (of which I am generally not a fan). The flavors were more delicate but just as good, if in a different way.

Hubby had the quail and also really liked it—I had a small bite and it was nice. It was served with warm potato salad and amazing bacony Swiss chard.

Anyway, it bears repeating, thank you R Bistro for producing a consistently high quality, wonderful dining experience in this City (including making the customer feel welcome). And thank you for caring enough to change the menu every week—there are so few restaurants in Indy that change their menus enough and nothing gets me more excited than knowing the next time I come, the food will be completely different, but consistently good!

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy, 46204
317-423-0312
http://www.rbistro.com/

R Bistro and my love of soft shell crab

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
I have mentioned before how much I love soft shell crab. I only wish I saw it on more menus. In case you don't know, soft shell crabs are blue crabs right after they have molted their hard shells and haven't quite grown their new ones. They are caught at that point and you can eat them whole, shell (such as it is) and all. I love them. In fact, I declared to my hubby last night that they are probably one of the most perfect foods. They have the yummy tender crab inside with the little bit of crunch that normal shellfish lacks. They are almost always fried somehow, either sauteed or deep fried, just to add that much more crunch.

So when the menu came out Wednesday for R Bistro and one of the featured items was soft shell crab served with two of my other favorite summer time things, tomato and corn relish, I booked a reservation. The crab was served on top of grilled bread with some yummy spread, tomato slices, mizuna greens and bacon. The corn relish was on the side. It was one of my all time favorite things I have eaten at R Bistro.


Many of the menu items were actually selections from other well known female chefs/cookbook authors. Alice Waters, Patricia Wells and the 2 Fat Ladies to name a few. When I saw the summer tomato pudding as an appetizer, courtesy of the 2 Fat Ladies, I knew I had to try it. I watched their show quite a bit while I lived in England and was sure it would be good knowing their propensity toward cream, butter and all things rich and delicious. I didn't even ask what exactly it was but went for it. It turned out to be a chopped and seasoned tomato mixture covered in a sort of soft tomato-ey bread crust with a bunch of stuff around it like cream fraiche, green olives, boiled egg and some more tomatoes. It was even better than expected. Light and so flavorful. I highly recommend it.

We tried dessert, thinking someone else's recipe might help in this area (as I think desserts are R Bistro's biggest weakness), but it still wasn't overly memorable. It was Alice Waters' chocolate pave, which was like a flourless chocolate cake. It was just ok, not a lot of flavor. I really need to learn from experience and just skip dessert, as everything else is usually so good.

My suggestion is to get there by Saturday and get the soft shell crab, or if you can't do that, go to R Bistro and see what's on the menu anyway. And hey, they are even on opentable.com, so it is even that much easier to make your reservation!

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy 46202
317-423-0312
http://www.rbistro.com/

R Bistro

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
Well, another fabulous dinner at R Bistro. As I think I have mentioned before, you can get on R Bistro's email list and they send out their new menu each week. This is a much anticipated event in my house (sad, huh?). Basically, every week we have one nice dinner out and we take turns choosing where. We usually have made up our mind in advance with our constant caveat, "unless there's a good R Bistro menu." You see, what we love there, we really love. Unfortunately, often the menu isn't up our alley. But this week, 2 or 3 very appealing appetizer choices and skate for a main! I love love love skate and why it isn't on more menus I don't know. (In case you don't know, skate is a type of fish, really the wing of a ray, it is delicate and flavorful, and has a sort of layered texture.) If you see if on a menu, try it.

I first had it probably 10 years ago in San Francisco and it was on menus occasionally. When we lived in England a few years back, you could get it in any grocery store and it was on lots of menus and we cooked it quite a bit at home--a favorite of Jamie Oliver and for several months, that was our only cookbook until our sea shipment arrived from the US. After moving back to San Francisco, my fishmonger would order it for me and it was becoming even more popular. Here, I have only seen it R Bistro and Oceanaire.

A funny side story, recently, I thought I would ask my fish guy at Marsh and see if he could order it, as he has special ordered other things for me in the past. He had no clue what is was, which was fine, except he got a little aggravated with me, I think because he didn't know what it was, asked me some questions and when I told him, he informed me, if it is a ray, no one should be eating it and furthermore, I specifically shouldn't eat it since I am "of childbearing age" and it probably contained mercury. Thank you Big Brother.

OK, back to R Bistro. I had a broiled shrimp appetizer on scallion pancakes with a wonderful cilantro cream. It was awesome. Hubby had the mushroom crostada which was good, but nowhere near as good as mine (I always love it when I out-order him). What the mushroom crostada lacked in brightness (really could have used a dollop of goat or blue cheese for some tang) the shrimp made up for with the tangy creme fraiche like sauce. Yum.

The skate was lightly coated and sauteed with corn meal (I actually prefer it just lightly dusted with flour, but who's asking?) and served over mashed potatoes with a bacon and I believe apple sort of vinaigrette sauce over it. The sauce had the requisite brightness to keep the dish from being too heavy or rich. Oh! Also, there was some cooked cabbage on the side which was tasty as well. For some reason, cabbage seems to be the natural accompaniment to skate. I am not sure how this pairing came to be, but it works really well.

It was nice that the chef served our entrees as well, I always like seeing the chef involved in their restaurant.

And you will never believe it, WE HAD A GOOD DESSERT. Just when I had given up hope that is was possible at R Bistro (the few I have tried have been anywhere from unmemorable to not very good), they did it! I basically stopped ordering it here (and it is generally not the highlight of any meal for me anyway). For some reason, though, ok, the waiter convinced us, we tried the rhubarb and lemon cream tart and it was quite good. Not the best dessert I have had in this city (hmmm...that may currently go to Bugg's Temple's banana tart) but very tasty.

I definitely think R Bistro is in the top 5 restaurants in our fair city. It stands out as a modern- feeling place with a menu that doesn't cater exclusively to the steak and potato crowd. It reminds me of a restaurant in San Francisco, and I think if it were there, it would do just fine, which is a mighty compliment since SF is a city of such amazing restaurants.