Thr3e Wisemen -- Revisit

Every time we go to Biscuits for chilaquiles (and it’s fairly regularly), hubby always says, “one of these days, we need to go back to Three Wisemen.” So the other day, when we were debating a lunch choice, and my family refused to go for chilaquiles, that’s where we headed.

We started with an order of the Zoe pretzels ($7), which are pretzels made from pizza dough—they are kind of like breadsticks, but that are prepared with a pretzel finish. Not sure if they boil them and the whole nine yards, but that are coated in salt and they were tasty. We had the beer mustard sauce and the nacho cheese sauce. The beer mustard was pretty strong, and the nacho cheese was pretty basic, but a little of them together in the same bite was a really good flavor. They really need a beer cheese, and all would be perfect. But I basically kind of made my own.

Next, we shared a wedge salad ($8). So in the picture you see just half of one (with tomatoes on the side, because that's my son's half). Pretty big huh? Anyway, I love the fact that they actually use romaine lettuce instead of iceberg. I know iceberg is traditional, but this makes it easier to eat and easier to get a bite with all the toppings. Iceberg wedges always seem to end up with just a lot of undressed lettuce. Also, in a move that made her one of my favorite servers, our server just automatically brought us an extra side of dressing. This was awesome. I nearly always end up asking for extra dressing with a wedge, and I didn’t have to. They also brought the split salad each with its own breadstick and dressing. I thought the salad was very good and would happily eat it again.

Hubby and I split a pizza ($10). You can either get the thin crust the normal way or hand-tossed for an upcharge. We really like a thin crust, so we just got it the regular way and topped with red onion and mushrooms. They put a good amount of toppings on it, and I like their cheese mix—but sadly, the middle of the crust suffered a bit from being soggy—it could have used a few more minutes in the oven I think. It still tasted good, but the texture was just off a bit.  My son had the hot ham and cheese sandwich ($10) and seemed to like it fine. They use nice looking ham—looks like it is pretty good quality. I can’t speak to it personally, because I didn’t try it. The chips are good as well.

Overall, I think Three Wisemen is a good place to keep in mind. I might just ask that they cook my pizza a tad longer than normal—then it would have been nearly perfect. And I would totally get that wedge again.

Thr3e Wisemen 

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

www.thr3ewisemen.com 

Thr3e Wisemen - Revisit

Hubby and I thought we would have brunch recently on a weekend day—you know one of those days when it was freaking gorgeous outside? Ha! Apparently so did half of Indy. They were all in Broad Ripple looking for brunch. So, we hopped into Thr3e Wisemen instead—they had just opened for lunch and weren’t so crowded (finding parking was still a challenge though).

We had to adjust our minds to pizza and such rather than eggs, but that was fine. We were just happy to not have to wait an hour for a table. We ordered the chop chop salad ($8.99) and some breadsticks ($4.99) to start. I actually really like the breadsticks at Thr3e Wisemen—I can’t say there is something that makes them stand out, but the dough has a nice chewy texture and a good taste to it (apparently there’s a little beer in the dough)—I like that they brush them with garlic butter as well. I also like that you can get a side of the garlic butter sauce to dip in as well as the standard marinara and nacho cheese. We had garlic butter and nacho cheese—both are good. Interestingly, the nacho cheese has a little more spiciness to it than most. As far as a processed cheese dip goes, this is one of the better ones.

I like the chop chop salad—they come and toss it tableside. I have noticed that it has gone the way of many chop salads in this town though with the amount of non-lettuce ingredients. It is meant to have bacon, red onion, pepperoni, mozzarella, goat cheese, mushrooms and spinach mixed into the lettuce. You could certainly find a fair amount of the spinach, pepperoni and the mushrooms, but I only had one bit of bacon and I am pretty sure there was no goat cheese in our salad (one of my favorite things). Like I said they toss it tableside in a house vinaigrette, which is tasty, but it needed a little more than what they gave.

The first pizza they brought out was the wrong one (mushrooms and red pepper vs. mushrooms and red onion) but they were very apologetic and brought us a new one as quickly as possible. The manager stopped by to apologize again, which was nice—I was a little surprised they didn’t offer to buy us a drink or anything, especially since we ordered a second one due to the delay of waiting for the pizza that we wouldn’t have ordered otherwise. The pizza ($10.97) was very good. Again, I liked the chewy crust and I like that it is thin crust, but still strong enough to hold the toppings without being soggy in the middle. I really like their cheese blend as well—it has a unique flavor of its own. This is probably one of my favorite pizzas in town—particularly when you eat it there fresh from their ovens. It has a good amount of toppings and the marinara sauce has enough spice to make it taste unique and special on its own as well.

I also really like the popcorn they give you on the table as your little freebie. They even sent me home with a bag for the kids. And it was still good the next day. Thr3e Wisemen is definitely my favorite Scott Wise joint--I like the more focused menu here and I feel like more of the menu is being made in-house (although I will admit to not having been to a Scotty’s in awhile). 

Thr3e Wisemen 

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

www.thr3ewisemen.com 

Thr3e Wise Men - Revisit

We met up with some friends of ours and their kids the other night at Thr3e Wise Men (I still have a really hard time typing that name).  I have only eaten in the place once before, and it was outside and quite awhile ago, so I figured a revisit was in order (we have ordered carry out several times before).

The place was very busy and I didn’t think we would get seated right away until we saw there is a small back room as well—it feels a little removed from the restaurant, but was probably for the best given that my son and his best friend were there together.  I like how kid friendly they are at Thr3e Wisemen as well—they give them crayons as well as a little dough ball to play with, which seemed to make them all happy.  There is also fresh popcorn delivered right away which the kids love as well. The adults were happy because we had a long table and could sit down at the other end and have some adult conversation.

We started with some loaded potato chips ($6.50) which are housemade potato chips that are seasoned and topped with Maytag blue cheese cream sauce and bacon.  I was not a huge fan of these.  I don’t know if it was the seasoning on the chips, or the blue cheese sauce, but something was making the roof of my mouth burn—it just wasn’t enjoyable to me.  I also appreciate the housemade chips, but these were a little too thick for me—I prefer a thinner potato chip.  Although you certainly didn’t have to worry about them breaking under the weight of the toppings.  The kids got breadsticks and were happy.

We ordered a pizza for the kids and the Moms split a special pizza—it was a veggie pizza with white sauce, and a bunch of veggie toppings-tomatoes, spinach, onions, green peppers and mushrooms (I actually asked for ½ of it to be without green peppers, but they only gave me about 2 pieces without them).  The pizza was good though.  The crust was nice and crispy and there were a decent amount of veggies.  I enjoyed the variation from the regular red sauce (although I do like their red sauce).  The white sauce had a decent amount of garlic flavor.  I like their cheese blend as well—it isn’t rubbery they way pizza cheese can often be.

The menfolk had a pepperoni and mushroom pizza ($12) and seemed to enjoy it as well.  I was happy to see they were really on their game with getting the crust right. Occasionally the kitchen seems to have problems with consistency based on our carry out experiences—it seems like sometimes they don’t stretch it enough or something and it is too dense and the pizza is much smaller than normal.

We also shared an elephant ear ($4.50) which I really enjoyed. They take their pizza dough, deep fry it, and coat it with cinnamon and sugar. Simple, and really tasty—and I enjoy the slightly sour taste of the dough that comes from the crust (and I am guessing the beer that goes into it).  Everyone at the table, adults and kids alike, agreed on this one.

The atmosphere is totally casual and just noisy enough that it isn’t annoying, but that slightly drowns out your own loud son’s voice so he isn’t annoying others.  I liked our server, especially since she carded all of us, which I always appreciate. All in all, it’s a good option for pizza and kids, although I am still looking for my ideal pizza in this town. 

Thr3e Wise Men

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

www.thr3ewisemen.com 

Thr3e Wise Men

Thr3e Wise Men is the latest project of Scott Wise, who owns the Scotty’s Brewhouses and Scotty’s Lakehouse at Geist.  I always joke that the surest way to stir things up is to write a review of a Scotty’s enterprise. These reviews always seem to bring people out for comments. I will be interested to see if this is the case with this review.

Anyway, I already liked this place when I saw the fact that the menu is so much more limited than others in Scotty’s arsenal.  It is pretty much pizza, sandwiches, a salad and a few appetizers (fear not fried pickle lovers, they are there).  But the focus is pizza-type foods and beer, which they are also brewing in house.

We had put off going up till now because I had heard there are no backs on the seats in the restaurant (mostly picnic tables, but there are some tables in a banquette with backs) and we were waiting for a nice day to sit outside at the tables and chairs out there (with backs).  Hubby has back problems and gets cranky if he doesn’t have a back.  However, I will have to say, for picnic tables, they look like they are about the most comfortable ones you could imagine.  The seats are padded and the tables are topped with a thick coating so you aren’t going to have those tables that never really get clean.  I actually really liked the interior—it felt more welcoming and more family friendly than the Lakehouse which has always felt like a bar inside to me more than a Lakehouse.

But we sat outside with the kids who already instantly loved the place as soon as our server set down the bucket of popcorn which is being popped freshly near the back of the restaurant (the first smell I noticed when we walked in).  Seriously, they could eat nothing else and get fresh popcorn and be happy. They are easy.  Thr3e Wisemen doesn’t have a specific kids menu, but with pizza as a main item, most kids I know are going to be happy.

We started with an order of breadsticks ($4) and the tableside tossed salad ($7 for serving for 2).  The breadsticks were a hit with the kids as well—they were pretty good. Nothing amazing, but solid and I liked that they seemed to be brushed with some garlic butter giving them a little flavor without dipping them into anything.  They did bring their housemade marinara and the standard nacho cheese dip.  I am still waiting for someone to come up with something different to dip breadsticks into, but maybe that’s just me.  I would love just a bit more of the garlic butter on the side at Thr3e Wisemen --that would be tasty.  The marinara is pretty good though—very thick and savory in flavor, none of that over-sweetness I don’t like.

The salad was chopped lettuce with spinach, red onions, mushrooms, bacon, mozzarella and goat cheese.  We went with the house dressing which is an Italian-type vinaigrette.  It was properly dressed (tossed and dressed at the table) and served its purpose as a nice accompaniment to the pizza. The dressing leaned a bit toward the sweet side for me—I would prefer a bit more vinegary flavor, but that is probably a matter of taste.

The pizza though, wow, the pizza was really good.  Hubby and I split a small pizza with red onions and mushrooms ($11).   I appreciated that our server stopped us when we tried to order a medium, telling us she thought we would be better off with a small.  She was right.  The small is plenty big.  The crust is super thin and done the way a thin crust should be. Nice and crispy but with just a little chewiness. It had a great yeasty flavor, not sure if it is from the dough, or the fact that they use some of their home brewed beer in it.  Same marinara here—the right amount so it didn’t take over the other flavors and just the right amount of toppings.  The cheese is also a blend from a local dairy and had a little more flavor than your standard pizza mozzarella.  If you like a really thin crust type pizza, this is a place you need to try.  The kids had a cheese (with extra cheese) pizza ($9.50) and seemed to enjoy it as well.  Extra cheese may be a bit much for the crust, but they were happy.  On this subject, I think if you were to load up the crust with too much meat, it may not hold up as well either, but I could be wrong. I would love to hear from other people what they have liked on their pizzas at Thr3e Wisemen.

This is good pizza.  Hubby and I were both really happy to have found a handmade pizza with good flavor so near our house. We have a ton of pizza places around us, but we are not in love with any of them.  The pizza at Thr3e Wisemen may just fill our void for a good thin crust pizza.  We will know for sure when we see how well it travels.  But the current plan is to put it into the rotation for sure.  I am glad to see that the narrower menu has allowed for certain menu items to really shine.  The service was also very friendly and professional while still being low-key. I like that it doesn’t seem like they are trying too hard.  All around, this is a nice family friendly Broad Ripple option with some high quality menu items. (Kudos to the stools in the bathrooms for kids to reach the sinks and the fancy hand dryers).

Thr3e Wise Men (is it just me, or does the “3” in the name make it more difficult to find online?)

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

http://www.thr3ewisemen.com/