Common House Supper Club

If you haven’t heard about Common House, it’s a pop-up supper club run by Alan and Audra Sternberg (he was formerly the chef at Cerulean and the founding chef at Field Brewing). Recently they started doing these pop ups (usually at Ukiyo as far as I can tell) and some friends asked us to go. The menu looked good and we bought tickets. If you call it “Simply Summer,” I will have a hard time passing that by. The entire dinner cost about $90 per person (drinks additional).

The first three courses were amazing. Truly. First was a scallop “tamale,” This was so tasty, it was basically a scallop mixture with whole chunks of scallop that was cooked like a tamale (steamed in a corn husk). Loved the texture of this and the delicate flavor, but also the broth underneath with leeks, scallions and corn dashi. This was unique and it was really good. 

Next came grilled squash salad, which if I am honest, was the one I was least excited about, but which turned out to be one of my favorites for sure. There were various types of squash that was lightly cooked with sweet onions and then tossed in a slightly acidic fish sauce-based sauce—at least that’s how I remember it. It was so good—just the right amount of umami. I loved this one.

The third course was tempura skate wing sitting in a tomato butter with powdered ramp powder. I love skate—truly love it. Skate is the wing of a type of ray in case you haven’t had it before. This was the first time I have had it tempura battered and it was fantastic. Super light and crispy. Clearly a great way to do skate. 

The next course was poached chicken with a strawberry miso side, with chicken fat and pine. This one was good but didn’t stand out the way the first courses had. I liked the crispy edge to the chicken though. I also liked the corn stuffed pasta for the next course with octopus slices and tomato, even though by this point, I was getting full and pasta was a tough one!

The next one lost me. I love tuna, but this “ember roasted” albacore with squid ink bbq, carrot and Thai basil wasn’t doing it for me. The preparation of the fish was such that it had a sort of caramelized crust on top, but the fish got so tough that you could really barely cut it. The last savory course was brisket with egg yolk steak sauce and bok choy. Honestly, but this time I was just purely stuffed. I had a bite or two but had to throw in the towel. I did like that sauce though.

The dessert was interesting, but again, I just tasted it because I was so full at this point. It was rice pudding with honeycomb candy, fermented pine honey, and blueberry sherbet. Interesting flavors and I really liked the texture variation from the light, but crunchy honeycomb in the creamy rest of the dessert. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. Would I prefer maybe a 4-5 course meal next time? Yes.  I was losing steam toward the end. But I would definitely do a next time. I hope to see a restaurant in this couple’s future. 

Common House

https://www.commonhouseindy.com/

twitter and Instagram: @commonhouseindy

Ukiyo- Revisit

This week hubby and I had a date night and decided on Ukiyo. I was interested to see how the menu had shifted now that we are going into summer. I was not disappointed. First of all, one of the first things they told us were the specials which included soft-shell crab. So instantly, I was happy.

We ordered two soft-shell crabs (there was one per order) ($13 each). Loved the pickled ramps with it—added a saltiness to the crabs that was tasty. They were just lightly fried with corn starch—a very light batter. These were super meaty crabs too—love it when you get a nice bite of crab with the crunchy soft shell. I will admit, I did dip it into some of the sauce from the gyoza—which was a soy/vinegar sauce with a bit of heat.

So those vegetable gyozas ($15) were also so good. They were wontons stuffed with scallions, mushrooms and glass noodles—it was minced inside so it still came across similar in consistency to a pork dumpling even though it was veggie. The filling was super flavorful and the dumpling itself was perfectly seared on one side. Like I said, the slightly spicy vinegar soy dipping sauce was really, really good. I could sit and eat those little dumplings all day. And I am glad to see they finally have dumplings on the menu. Maybe they will do a seafood one someday—that would be so good too.

We had the negiyaki ($13) as well which was a potato, leek, and green onion pancake with a ginger miso sauce and a fried sunny side up egg and fish flakes on top. I enjoyed the flavor of this one a lot, but the stringiness of the leeks and green onions made the texture a little off for me. That egg was perfect though.

We also had the tuna nigiri tasting flight ($16), which was a fun thing to try—you got one piece each of the lean tuna, the fatty tuna, and the really fatty belly tuna. Honestly, I probably liked the first two the best—and even that lean piece just melted in your mouth. The belly tuna was actually a little too fatty for me—made it a little chewy. But hubby loved it. Although he did say he would be perfectly content with either of the first two as well. It was fun to compare them.

Lastly, we had the crab fat fried rice ($17). This might have been hubby’s favorite thing of the evening. I loved the way they put the warm egg yolk in the middle of it to mix in to the rice, which cooked it a little bit more, but still stayed runny, as opposed to scrambling them into the rice. It gave it a luxurious creamy texture. And you can’t go wrong with the big chunks of crab in there. There was also a sweet/tanginess from yuzu and saltiness from miso. 

All in all, this was the best meal I have had at Ukiyo to date. I have always enjoyed it, but I feel like the menu is continuing to evolve and it has been for the better. If you have yet to check it out, now is the time. And hopefully they will still have the soft-shell crab.

 Ukiyo

4907 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/384-1048

www.ukiyoindy.com 

Ukiyo -- revisit

Recently I met a friend for lunch at Ukiyo. It has been quite a while since I was there, and the cold days make ramen sound good. I was happy when we got there to see they have sort of condensed the lunch and dinner menu into one and include ramen for both. I love the new small plates format as well. Of course, they still have the full sushi menu, but the rest is focused on shareable plates.

At lunch I had a half portion of the pork shoyu ramen ($9) and my friend the half order of chicken ramen ($9). They also have a vegetarian option, and I love that they offer the half portions, because I think they are plenty big. Plus, then you don’t feel like you’re over ordering if you want to try something else, which we did. The ramen is good—it is not spicy at all but has a nice depth of flavor in the broth. They were both on the mild side, but all the ingredients were tasty—I liked the fact that the slices of pork in mine weren’t fatty and were very tender. The only bad part of the ramen was in my friend’s chicken version. The pieces of chicken suffered from being a little gristly. 

We also had the bacon and cheese okonomiyaki ($10), which was the standout. So glad I ordered this, and the feeling was held by my friend as well. So okonomiyaki are Japanese pancakes made with shredded scallions and cabbage, and I believe some mountain yam was in there. Plus, of course, the bacon and cheese. There was a sauce drizzled on top and bonito flakes. This was the reason that I went back less than a week later with my daughter. That pancake was so tasty. Lots of flavors in there, lots of umami as they say. Seriously, next time you go, give it a try. It is rich though, so you will want to share it.

So at dinner, we ordered it again, and enjoyed it just as much except that it came at the very end of our meal and we had overordered and were getting pretty full. The first thing that came out was their version of tuna tartare called maguro zuke ($16). It is large cubes of tuna with chunks of nagaimo, which is a type of Japanese yam. These chunks are raw and it has a really interesting light and crunchy texture that is a cool contrast to the tuna. Not going to lie though, I would rather have more of the tuna and a little less of the yam. There were also some Chrysanthemum greens. It had a light shoyu sauce, that was maybe just a little light for my taste. I appreciate the freshness of the fish etc., but I would have loved a little more of the salty flavor of the sauce. 

We also had a hot chicken bun to share ($3), which was also quite delicious. I love a good Japanese bun, and this was a good one. The bun itself was really tender and I appreciated that it wasn’t as fat as some I have had, so it had a good ratio of bun to fried chicken. The crispy coating on the fried chicken was so crisp it just shattered when you bit into it. It was coated in a kind of hot honey sauce that didn’t feel ridiculously hot at first but built up in your mouth. Add some pickles, and you have a great little bite. 

We also shared the pork katsu donburi ($14), which I also really enjoyed. The pork was breaded and fried crisp, egg, and these melty sweet soy onions. It was all served on top of steamed rice. A really nice dish with crunchy bits and lots of smooth silky texture as well. It had a good, slightly sweet flavor, but also with the hit of soy. We both really enjoyed this. 

We also felt like we should order a sushi roll as well, since well, it’s a sushi place right? My daughter picked the crab, avocado and salmon roll ($17). The ingredients are some of the freshest around, and I love the actual crab in there—but I guess maybe I am realizing that I like some of the gooey sauces on my sushi. This one had a very light sauce on top, but honestly, it was so light, it isn’t particularly memorable to me. I get letting the fish shine, but I like a little burst of flavor too I guess. Bottom line, I think there’s a lot more flavor in the small plates, and I would probably just stick with that part of the menu on future visits. It is certainly the part of the menu that lures me back in.

All in all, it’s a great addition and I like that we have a lunch and dinner place with such an interesting Japanese menu. I like that you are no longer limited to only ramen for lunch and that you can get ramen at dinner and have more options than just sushi as well. It’s funny, because my first review I thought the sushi was the star compared to the other dishes we had, but now I think my opinion has flip flopped.

I am excited to see how the menu keeps evolving and changing with the seasons. I look forward to checking it out again soon. Let me know your menu favorites.

Ukiyo

4907 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/384-1048

www.ukiyoindy.com 

Ukiyo

I was excited to try Neal Brown’s new restaurant venture, Ukiyo. I have been a couple of times, but am mainly focusing this post on the most recent visit, as the first one was very soon after they opened and I like to wait a bit longer than that before I write about a place. We were with another couple, which was nice so we could order more items.

First of all, I really like what they have done with the space. They took the old Recess which was always sort of industrial in its feel and warmed it up with some texture and color variations. The sushi bar area is light and bright and the main part of the restaurant is dark and more dramatic. I was happy to sit in the sushi bar area this time because it was still light, and it made my pictures prettier. It’s pretty dark in the main room. But it gives it a nice ambiance,

We started with the salmon tartare ($12), the octopus “dumplings” ($10) and the fried chicken kaaragge ($12). That fried chicken is great. I have had it both times and once for lunch (review to come) and it’s always been delicious. It is pieces of fried thigh meat, which is very crisply fried and it is lightly tossed in a honey sauce and sprinkled with matcha powder. It is an interesting combination of flavors. I always think I won’t love that much sweetness in a savory course, but this is balanced nicely and the chicken is just so well done. Definitely a must order. As far as the others, the salmon tartare is beautiful and bright, but is not seasoned a lot. The melt in your mouth fish was just crying out for some acid. But then again, you know me, that’s how I am. I just would have liked to see a little more to it that what it was. The toasted bread underneath was very good—light and soft but toasty too. As for the the octopus dumplings, I think they are misnamed. When I am in an Asian restaurant and I read the word “dumplings” on a menu, I am expected soft wonton-wrapped bundles filled with something. These are actually more like fried balls of dough that are dotted with bits of octopus inside. They are more like a bread ball and less like a dumpling. It’s a matter of preference I guess, but they weren’t my favorite thing, but maybe if I had expected something different, I would have enjoyed them more. I did enjoy the bonito flakes waving in the air on top. I think that’s always a very cool effect.

From there we went on to order sushi. We got the ”Hachiman,” ($15) which is farm raised blue fin tuna roll, which was avocado on the inside and chunks of the tuna on top. We also had the “Izanami” ($12), which was spicy shrimp kaarage and Japanese mayo. Finally, we had the “Uke mocha” ($19), which was crab and avocado inside and salmon on top. I think the sushi is certainly the star here based on what I have had. Both times the rolls were my favorite part for sure. Even the “designer rolls” are pretty simple though, and the fish is certainly the focus. They aren’t hiding the quality with showy things like lighting it on fire, and they aren’t dousing it with sauce. I’m not saying I don’t like a good gooey roll when I am in the right mood, but these were nice in their simpliciy. I am trying to think which was my favorite of the rolls we have had and I might say the shrimp kaarage because I liked the texture variation. But they were all good. Again, they are on the simple side (there was certainly a part of me that was thinking a little thin slice of lemon or a touch of jalapeno would have jazzed it up a little), but hey, I’m not the chef. Fish-wise, it is some of the best and freshest in town. 

As we ordered the sushi, we also decided to add one more hot dish to our order. We ordered the barbecued catfish on our server’s recommendation. Honestly, as it turned out, I was so glad we ordered this one—it may have been my favorite all around item of the evening. It was catfish sort of done in the style of barbecued eel (which they don’t serve because it is endangered, which I respect). This dish was great. Nice sticky rice, lots of scallions and several nice pieces of very tender catfish in a slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce. I would happily eat this whole bowl myself. There’s always a next time right?

Overall, I feel like Ukiyo is still finding its exact groove, but it is off to a nice start, and it’s a place we need in Indy. I hope they keep tweaking things and I am hoping maybe one day there will also be some full-on dumplings on the menu because they’re one of my favorite things and now that they’ve said the word I really want them. But in the meantime, get the sushi and the catfish and the fried chicken. You’ll be happy. I will say I was a little surprised they weren’t busier on a Friday night, but it’s certainly a place worth checking out. And they take reservations! So that’s always a plus.

Ukiyo

4907 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/384-1048

www.ukiyoindy.com