The Barking Dog Cafe- Revisit

****THE BARKING DOG IS CLOSED******

I am often asked about what “my favorite” restaurants are—for lunch, for dinner, for fish, for sushi, whatever. Barking Dog is a place that my family eats very regularly. When schedules allow (which is less often than I’d like), we’re here nearly every Saturday for lunch.

We all have our favorite dishes, but they also always have specials. Hubby often orders the specials and I get my usual and we share. My regular is the “Jeff’s single cheeseburger.” It’s a super thin burger with crispy edges that hang outside the bun and is topped with (wait, actually, it's underneath the patty) shredded lettuce, super thin onions, special sauce, pickles, ketchup and mustard. I have written about this burger before and it is my favorite thin burger in Indy. In the past, people have told me they didn’t like the bun because it was too flimsy—now they are serving their burgers on Amelia’s brioche buns, so that is no longer a problem. The bun is definitely denser and holds up well to all the toppings. I love this burger. My daughter also gets the burger every time (although with less of the toppings, which are partly what makes this burger, so I don’t recommend it. All the flavors together are just right.)

We also tend to get a side of fries—they are nice and crisp and I always get the side of the olive aioli with them. I love the little chunks of olives in there. It’s just the perfect salty/slightly tangy dip for fries.

The clam chowder is also really good and if we’re splurging, hubby and I will sometimes split a cup as well. I think it is probably the best New England classic clam chowder in Indy. This is my son’s favorite and he often makes his whole meal out of it. It’s a thick creamy version with some nice chunks of clam and potato.

double decker tenderloin

On this visit, the special was cod fingers and chips, which hubby got. He often goes with something fried here—one of his favorites is the fried oyster roll. We have also shared the double decker tenderloin sandwich as a special and it was also delicious. Oh! And we love the buffalo chicken sandwich when they’re doing that. Anyway, the fish fingers were good—nice fresh fish with a light tempura batter. They were served with a nice spicy remoulade sauce and a portion of fries. I can’t say I preferred them over my burger though. Hubby is better about trying something new here though.

The prices are maybe a bit higher than other lunch places (sorry I don’t have them listed out, but I hardly even look at the menu anymore and they’re not online), but for us, it’s worth it. It’s a true mom and pop shop with the married couple running the place (he cooks, she works out front with a server) and it’s one of our favorites for lunch. So there you go.

Barking Dog Café 

115 East 49^th Street

Indy  46203

317/924-2233

www.barkingdogindy.com 

The Barking Dog Café

****THE BARKING DOG IS CLOSED******

Several people in the last few months keep telling me I needed to try the Barking Dog for a burger.  I have been there a few times, but have usually mainly focused on the seafood-type items because they seem to really highlight them on the menu (East coast shrimp, crab and lobster rolls).  This time though, I went in with the directive of getting a burger. And part of whatever hubby ordered. (And an FYI, this place was also featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives).

Hubby started with a cup of the clam chowder, which is my Dad’s favorite thing here (my parents really like this place).  I think this is probably the best clam chowder I have had in Indy.  It is a more cream based type than some I have had (some are more sort of potato based and more like a stew if you know what I mean).  This one has a great flavor and a lot of pieces of clam (one of the benefits to all the clam dishes they offer on the menu I am sure).  It didn’t need anything except a few oyster crackers thrown in.

I ordered “Jeff’s ‘thin and crispy on the edges’ single cheeseburger” with everything—well almost, I had them hold the lettuce.  The burger was a very large, but very thin patty with melted cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup, Dijon mustard and special sauce.  It was great. Really, really good.  The beef was exactly as described, with a nice crispy edge (which I love).  The onions were super thin (almost shaved) so they were not over-powering but gave a nice crispy bite.  I also really liked the pickles on the burgers—they were a little thicker cut than many.  The special sauce was sort of like a slightly spicy Thousand Island dressing and while I normally wouldn’t put this on a burger, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  In fact, when we went back with the kids a week or so later, I got the exact same thing and enjoyed it just as much, if not more.  A side note, I loved the fact that they specifically don’t offer tomatoes this time of year because they recognize that what they can offer are just not good.

Hubby had the crab roll on this fist visit.  I think this is probably pretty authentic New England-style crab roll, and the crab was nice big lumps of crab meat.  The “roll” part was a nicely toasted thick piece of bread wrapped around—this is pretty true to the rolls I have had on the East coast.  However, what I didn’t like about it was the seasoning on the crab itself—or should I say lack of seasoning. It seemed like it was pretty much just mayo, which to be fair, may be a very traditional way to eat them, but when I make them, I like to jazz them up a bit—some lemon, some Dijon, a little hot sauce, some chives.  We did get a couple of lemon wedges and squeeze them over the top which helped a lot.  The ingredients were all good though, but it couldn’t compare to the taste of the burger.

We also shared a side of fries—they offer a choice of homemade chipotle ketchup or kalamata rosemary aioli (yay!). Of course we got the aioli because this is my favorite kind of thing to dip a fry in.  They were also really good. The fries are nice and crisp (a darkish brown color) but thinner than a lot of homemade fries.  The homemade slaw on the side was also one of hubby’s favorite things—it did have a nice spicy flavor and tasted like it had some of the housemade sweet pickles in it that are served as a garnish with the sandwiches.

As I said, we went back for lunch a little over a week later and took the kids this time.  They wanted a burger (with cheese only) so I made them split one because they are a pretty good size and so often they leave so much food when we go out.  Well, they loved the burger and pretty much inhaled their halves.  We had to order another one for them to share, which they also polished off.  Suffice it to say, they are big fans of the place.

I had the burger again, but hubby ordered the clam plate on this visit.  It is a huge plate of fried clam strips which we chose to have with remoulade (you can also have cocktail sauce).  These were good as well—the clams were tender and battered and fried.  They served them with some lemon wedges which I really liked squeezed over the top.  I am not so sure about the remoulade—it seemed almost like more of a tartar sauce than a remoulade, but the clams were pretty tasty on their own (I would probably try the cocktail sauce if I got them again).  But still, the burger was the thing that was at the top of my list.

It’s a cute little place on 49^th Street near Penn, and has a large glassed in front with some great light coming in—the downside is when it is cold outside, it is difficult to keep it warm inside. Our first visit we were pretty close to the front and when the door opened, there was a cold burst.  The second visit was more comfortable because we were near the back and they seemed to have the heat really pumping.  Our server (on both occasions) was super friendly and incredibly enthusiastic about the menu and food.  A cup of clam chowder, a burger, and some of those fries is a great lunch for sure.  And it may be one of my kids’ new favorite places.  So have you been? What do you think?

The Barking Dog Café

115 East 49^th Street

Indy 46205

317/924-2233

www.barkingdogindy.com

The Barking Dog Café

****THE BARKING DOG IS CLOSED******

The Barking Dog is a place my parents really like for lunch. They love the clam chowder and have been here several times. The restaurant itself is a little storefront on 49th Street near Pennsylvania. For lunch, they generally specialize in New England seafood type things, like the clam chowder, lobster and shrimp rolls, and fried clams. They also serve dinner a few nights a week (Thursday-Saturday until 9:00 and Tuesday and Wednesday until 7:00). For a change of pace, I went with the folks to give dinner a try.

They offer some of the stand-by lunch items (clams and a burger for instance) as well as a rotating menu of various bistro items. They are serving each entrée from the dinner menu with an amuse of soup and a salad.

The amuse was the soup of the day, which was French mushroom bisque which was a rich creamy puree of mushroom with cream and sherry. Very rich, but tasty, and the small portion was just right.

The salad was very good, a small plate of mixed greens with some slivers of green apple, sliced grapes, pecans, and some nice chunks of good blue cheese—I love fruit combined with blue cheese. And a tangy vinaigrette to top it off was really good.

For my main course, I chose the scallops wrapped in phyllo and served over a mushroom cream sauce and a side of asparagus. The scallops were a nice size and were cooked well (i.e. not to death) and I really enjoyed the variety of texture between the velvety smooth scallop and the crunchy phyllo—reminded me of a favorite scallop dish I used to get in SF which was scallops wrapped in thin slices of potato and fried. Anyway, the scallops were described as topped with truffle oil. I did not taste that at all (and I love truffle oil). However, I think really, what they could have used, was a hit of brightness from a squeeze of lemon (which I asked for and which helped quite a bit) or maybe to be served with a different sauce that wasn’t so rich—all the richness of flavor made the dish a bit one dimensional. But with a few tweaks, it could be really good. The asparagus was described on the menu as “sautéed” but I think it was just steamed, not sautéed.

My Dad ordered the steak frites though, and this was a big disappointment—the meat came out and was very overcooked (and it was pretty apparent from the time it was set down). We didn’t really have the time to have a new steak cooked, so Dad ate some and took the rest home for the dog (who is not so discriminating). Dad was glad he had ordered a cup of the clam chowder to start (even with the soup amuse) because it was his favorite part of the meal. The frites (which we had also ordered a side order of) were not so hot either, particularly when there are so many places around here doing them so well these days. They were not crispy at all and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The kalamata aioli served with them was pretty good though.

The service is pretty good—our server did take some off our bill for the overcooked steak, but I think one server for the whole place (even though it is small) may not be enough when the place is crowded (which is was when we left.)

Oh, and a note about wine—they do not have a liquor license but do welcome BYOB. Just be sure and bring your own glasses and corkscrew, as they are not allowed to help with any of that.

All in all, I think this place is really trying, and at least they are experimenting with some things other people aren’t doing—and I like the emphasis on seafood. I think maybe I will try lunch next time and see how it goes.

The Barking Dog Café
115 East 49th Street
Indy 46205
317-924-2233
www.barkingdogindy.com