Sangiovese

Recently when my in-laws were visiting, we decided to try Sangiovese again. We had not eaten there since they moved to Ironworks. I never loved it when it was at its old location, but I heard a few things from a few different people that inspired me to want to try it again so we did. 

We started with the torta di caprino ($14), which is described as a goat cheese pie served with a rosemary cream sauce, roasted red peppers and crostini. I will admit, it didn’t jump out at me on the menu, or when it was served (my daughter was the one who really pushed for it), but I was pleasantly surprised when I took a bite. First of all the crostini was done really well—nice and crisp with parmesan baked on, but still light—you didn’t feel like you were going to break your teeth on it. And I was pleasantly surprised by the texture and flavor of the cheese. It wasn’t just like cold goat cheese, which is what it looked like. It was creamy, and had much more depth than what I was expecting. I was trying to eat a little healthy on this night, but this pulled me back in for several bites.

Possibly my favorite item of the evening though was the insalata mista ($9) that I split with hubby. A salad, I know. It was mixed greens that were topped with marinated tomatoes and Gorgonzola. These little tomatoes showed up on multiple items and are delicious. This is such a better way of serving tomatoes in the winter. Add some kick to them by marinating them a bit. The salad was dressed—like every single leaf was dressed—with a creamy balsamic vinaigrette. It was a fabulous little salad, and I appreciated that it actually had enough dressing on it!

Like I said, I was trying to be a little healthy on this particular night, so instead of pasta, I ordered the half roasted chicken ($16), which is listed as a house specialty. It is marinated in rosemary, lemon and garlic olive oil. It was quite good actually, although with all the oil and the roasted potatoes on the side, not sure it was super healthy. I really enjoyed the rosemary flavor. I also liked that they also used zucchini in the vegetable mix, as it is a veggie that can be cooked in a variety of ways, and usually come out good. I find many side veggies are either over or under- cooked and almost serve the purpose of being a garnish more than a part of the meal. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal though and would likely order the chicken again. And you could easily split it with someone.

Hubby ordered the special seafood pasta, which had a lobster cream sauce and several types of seafood in it. There were scallops and shrimp and some fish I believe. He enjoyed it and I liked that the sauce did have a rich seafood flavor. No way I could have finished even a third of it though—the portion was generous and the sauce was so rich.

My son had the lasagna ($18) and seemed content. He likes lasagna and ate a fair amount, and said it was one of the better ones he had. My daughter ordered the tortellini alla effie ($21), which was tortellini with shrimp and spinach in a vodka tomato cream sauce. She said it was fine, but nothing special. Based on my one bite, I tend to agree. All in all, as far as pasta at the table went, I would say hubby’s special won. My mother in law had a fish special that was very, very good. Looking back, maybe the protein heavier dishes were the star, although I really loved that salad! And we also had a lovely bottle of Italian wine that I really enjoyed as well. The service was also on point, and all in all the meal was quite pleasant. You know how I feel about Italian food in Indy, but there's a good chance I will return to Sangiovese.

Sangiovese

2727 East 86^th Street

Indy 46240

317/757-5913

www.sangioveseristorante.com 

Sangiovese

The View



Every so often I let hubby convince me to try Italian again.  This time it was because he had a fairly late meeting and so we wanted to go somewhere close to home because I knew I would be hungry by the time we got to dinner.  So we decided to return to Sangiovese which is very near our house.  We went once before, right after we moved here, and while we didn’t hate it, weren’t overly impressed with certain things (the mussels) and just never seemed to get around to going back.  So it had been about five years.  Sangiovese always has coupons in some of the local books, so we also finally decided to use one of them as well (and I see they are also going to be part of the “Northside Nights” restaurant week which starts this week). (P.S. there is also a "Savor the Southside" event going on at the same time on the southside.)

The other reason I let myself be convinced to give Sangiovese another try is because they have a very nice deck overlooking the river in the rear of the building.  It is one of those random strip mall restaurants that are very deceiving looking from the outside (particularly right now with a ton of construction going on there).  But the deck is lovely and actually I really like the warmth of the interior of the restaurant as well.

So we got a nice table out there with on a night when it was breezy enough that it was actually cool out there (shocking!) but still not as cold as it was inside the restaurant. Anyway, the menu was quite different from the last time we were there and we were disappointed to see the Carpaccio that used to be on the menu no longer there (although it is still on the online menu).  There was an interesting sounding calamari appetizer though—it was described as a calamari steak stacked on field greens and tomatoes with a garlic, caper, caramelized onion, and Pinot Grigio sauce ($8).  Sounds good huh?  Well unfortunately, the waiter told us it wasn’t actually being served as a steak but as rings and tentacles.  But at least it wasn’t deep fried, so we went with it anyway.  Turns out it was just rings, and they were only okay.  They were borderline chewy as calamari rings can so often be.  I really liked the sauce though—especially the caramelized onions with the sauce. I would have liked a bit more of the greens (I think there were probably only 6-8 leaves there) and the tomatoes were a disappointment (which is bad when it is August in Indiana).  The sauce was spicy with the garlic and the capers and it was a shame it didn’t all come together.

When trying to decide whether to order one of the several specials, I asked the server about the mushroom ravioli special which sounded intriguing.  I point blank asked if the ravioli was made in house and he said no.  I appreciated his honesty, but I thought that the fact that they are using frozen food service ravioli just demonstrates the problem with most Italian food in Indy.  Seriously, if someone made some from scratch, people would be blown away. And come on, it isn’t that hard. Anyway, I went with the penne alla Medici ($15) which was penne pasta with an olive oil based sauce, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers, crushed red pepper and marinated chicken breast slices based on our server’s recommendation.  You know, it tasted pretty good, because I like all those things a lot, but when you really thought about it, it would be insanely easy to make at home since most of the ingredients were jarred.  The chicken, which I am sure they cooked there, was the most disappointing part of the dish because it was dry.

Hubby ordered one of the day’s specials which was the Osso Bucco ($28) and came highly recommended as well.  And hubby loves a good Osso Bucco.  Sadly for hubby, this was not a good one.  While the meat was slow cooked and fairly tender, it had very little flavor to it.  It was interesting because it was served with a side of risotto that looked bad because it was all white and looked like it didn’t have any flavor, but in fact, it was pretty tasty and perfectly cooked.  They must have used some nice wine and stock to make it because it was delicious.

Finally we tried one of the two housemade desserts (several were not and again, it was nice that the server was on top of this issue and answered me honestly)—the tiramisu ($7).  It was quite light and had all the flavors you want in a tiramisu. You could taste the coffee, but not too much and the mascarpone.  And it had just a touch of chocolate. I would have preferred the chocolate to be powdered though, as the syrup they were using tasted suspiciously like the kind my kids make their chocolate milk with at home.

So sadly, while the service was good, and the view lovely, the food just reminded me why I rarely eat Italian food out in this City.  It just isn’t that good.  It just seems like people are lazy when it comes to making Italian food in restaurants.  Hardly anyone makes their own pasta and corners seem to be cut a little too often for my taste.  The restaurant did have a fair amount of people in it which was impressive given it was mid-week and the construction made it quite difficult to even see the restaurant is there (not to mention the fact that several of the entrances to the strip mall were closed the day we went).

But I continue to search….

P.S. Let me know if you plan on taking advantage of the north and south side restaurant weeks and how your meals are.

Sangiovese Ristorante

4110 East 82^nd Street

Indy 46240

317/596-0731

www.sangioveseristorante.com

The Deck