Vida -- Revisit

This past weekend was our wedding anniversary, and we really wanted to go to Vida, even though I didn’t think they had outside seating (which they actually do—at least 4 tables that I saw). Anyway, we went for it hoping that the spacing would be good and hoping for good air filtration. We were the only ones inside for the first half of our meal, and after that the tables were very well spaced apart. I am still nervous about eating inside, but as the weather gets colder, I am starting to consider it. How are you guys feeling about dining in a restaurant?

Anyway, hubby got the 4 course (which is $65), in which you pick 4 courses from the menu, or you can go the a la carte option, which is what I did and then we split everything. But first, they brought us an amuse bouche that was cold soba noodles with a little bit of tuna and some carrots and fish eggs—I have had this flavor combo before here at Vida—and I love the sesame flavor here and the kick of salt from the fish and eggs. I could easily eat a whole appetizer of this.

Our first ordered course was the Hamachi crudo (a la carte is $16), which was two large but thin slices of raw hamachi with slices of perfectly ripe mango, a little avocado mousse, sliced radish, habanero onion and cilantro. This was so good. I wasn’t sure how I felt about mango because it really needs to be just perfect, but it was. And the dish was salted/seasoned just perfectly too. The fish almost melted in your mouth.

Our next course was the wall greens salad ($12) and the crispy chicken thigh ($12). The salad was a good mixed salad with some of my favorite things—blue cheese, nuts, sliced figs and a tangy vinaigrette. The lettuce was soft and supple (and I assume came from their wall of greens, based on the name). The chicken was even better though because you got a little of a similar salad aspect, but with a slight sweet, slight spicy perfectly tender fried chicken thigh underneath. And the flowers on top made it look like art. Art that tasted delicious.

For the main dishes we had the ribeye ($42 a la carte) and the cacio e pepe cappelliti ($28 a la carte). Hubby wanted the ribeye really badly after having a bite of someone else’s the last time we were there. He was not disappointed. There were roasted potatoes and black truffle gnocchi and a few Brussel Sprouts leaves on top. It was rich and delicious. The pasta was soooo good. It was little stuffed pastas with Trillium cheese, crispy roasted broccoli, slices of pecorino cheese and black pepper. Fresh pasta is so worth it—and the cheese inside was delicious. The most amazing part was the broth it sat in that was rich and buttery with just a hint of lemon. The waiter brought us some extra freshly made focaccia for soaking it up and it was much appreciated (oh yeah, the complimentary bread plate is always awesome too—this one had the herb focaccia and zucchini bread).

Finally, we had the ricotta doughnuts ($11 a la carte) which I think have been on the menu since the start. And there’s a reason. They are little like beignet-sized doughnuts with a bourbon maple glaze, candied bacon and caramel ice cream. Seriously, a perfect mix of sweet, rich and salty and savory all at the same time. And one of the best dessert wine lists in town (just ask). 

Our service was also spot on, and it is one of the nicer feeling atmospheres in the city. And I love the extra space between tables. I know it’s not cost effective, but I would love it we could maintain some of it even post-pandemic for having more private conversations. 

Overall, one of the best meals I have had since I can remember. I am already thinking about how I can plan some private dinners in some of the private spaces for some even safer dinners. Seriously, this is probably one of Indy’s best fine dining places right now. Check it out and don’t let them close!

Vida

601 East New York Street

Indy 46202

317/420-2323

www.vida-restaurant.com 

Vida - Revisit

Hubby and I had a date night on our own and decided to go back to Vida—we hadn’t been since my birthday in December. I made a reservation (one of my favorite things about this place is that you can book it ahead) and asked to sit in the bar side. We had never sat there and I really enjoyed it—the tables seem spaced a little better and it has a more relaxed atmosphere. It’s a pretty room too.

They first brought us a amuse bouche that was quite delicious. It was a cube of sticky rice topped with a little bit of spicy tuna, kimchi and wasabi. It was a great little bite. Loved the way they made the rice into a cube.

They have changed the menu a bit since I was there and now you can get a four-course meal for $65, or you can order a la carte.  We kind of picked a few from the various sections and shared. The first course section is really just a few bites—not really meant for sharing. We did though.

I ordered the tuna ($18) for my first course and hubby the guanciale ($15). You guys know I love my tuna dishes, but this was one of the best one I’ve had in awhile. It was just three slices of wasabi-crusted tuna with a little mound of buckwheat soba noodles topped with honey sesame vinaigrette and some pickled red onions. Wow—I loved the crunch of the wasabi peas (I think that’s what they were) that were crushed up and used as the crust on the tuna—they gave it crunch and a kick of flavor. I also really loved the noodles on the side—the vinaigrette gave them a really nice acidic flavor. Just a really well put together dish. My stomach is growling writing about it and I had a hard time giving hubby a piece (but I did).

His first course was also really delicious and really well crafted. It was toasted focaccia bread topped with thinly sliced guanciale (which is jowl bacon) and really equally thin slices of manchego cheese. The bread was topped with tomato herb butter and on top of the meat and cheese was some frisee and fig mostarda. Really good.

For the next course, we split the heirloom tomato salad ($12). This was also very good. There were nice chunks of tomatoes, large pieces of burrata cheese, some focaccia croutons, red onion, several herbs and a parmesan crisp. This was also well composed, and had a nice refreshing flavor. The croutons were a little hard to cut because they were so crunchy, but other than that, it was very good.

Speaking of croutons, the complimentary bread basket (which seemingly comes at random times at different tables from my observation—ours came after apps but before salads) is always good at Vida. This night they had little brioche loaves and blueberry friendship bread. And nice and creamy, spreadable butter. Both were delicious.

For our main dishes, I ordered the tortelloni ($24) and hubby the lamb chops ($38). My tortelloni was outstanding. There were several large tortelloni filled with mascarpone and alongside little crispy fried potatoes, asparagus, candied red onion in a sage brown butter sauce and topped with lots of shaved truffles. As soon as I walked into the restaurant and smelled the truffles I knew I was going to have to order whatever it was. It was such a cool combination of flavors. The only bad part of the dish was the asparagus, which was really thick and really woody. 

Hubby’s lamb chops were served with fire roasted cherry tomatoes, green beans and a tahini sauce. The flavor of the dish was really good—you got a real nicely roasted flavor. The chops themselves were a little fatty (and therefore chewy) for me however.

We ended up splitting one dessert. Vida has a great young pastry chef and it would almost feel wrong not to get something (yes, I am giving you an excuse about why you must order something when you’re there). We went with the ricotta doughnuts at hubby’s choice (I think they’ve had some version of this since opening) and we were certainly not disappointed. They had a bourbon maple glaze; candied bacon, maple cream and brown butter ice cream alongside. This was like the flavors of pancakes and bacon for breakfast taken to an amazing level. So good. They also have one of the best (if not the best) dessert wine lists by the glass of any restaurant in Indy if you’re into that sort of thing (I am).

So if it’s a nice meal you want with excellent food, this is one of your top choices right now in Indy. Really good.

Vida

601 East New York Street

Indy 46202

317/420-2323

www.vida-restaurant.com 

Vida - Revisit

I was excited to try Vida again—I mean, we had such a good experience the first time; we were intrigued to see if it would hold up. So we went with friends (all the better to try more things with) and went in for our second go round.

Right away, we noticed the service was a bit off. Our server couldn’t get to us. It was fine; another server apologized and took our drink order. Our server stopped by to say he would be there when he could but that he was really busy. He assured us an amuse bouche would be served to us soon. Anyhow, we looked over the menu and made our negotiations and eventually got our order in.

We started with the charcuterie plate ($14 for the small) and the crab and octopus roll ($16). We were torn about whether to go with the large or small charcuterie, and settled on the small. Other than needing a little more of the toasty (and delicious) bread, there was more than enough for the four of us. There were a lot of good, and interesting things on the board. There was morcilla (a blood sausage), ‘ndjua (spicy spreadable pork), and some lovely crunchy chicharones. How can you not like crispy fried pork skin? There was also prosciutto and another salame. They did a great job with the accompaniments here as well.  There were a couple of types of mustard and some nice pickled veggies—lots of red onions, my favorite.

The crab and octopus roll was also very good. It was wrapped in exactly ripe avocado, and was a little light on the crab and octopus filling, but it tasted wonderful. It was a light appetizer, and honestly, I could have easily eaten at least half of it on my own. Let’s face it, I would happily eat the whole thing on my own.

At this point we got the amuse, which was kind of weird after we had already started eating our first course (it’s supposed to be a tease for your palate), Anyhow, I can’t remember what it was at this point, but we ate it up.

The entrées came next—I had the salmon ($29). It was lovely—really really good. It was a thin piece of salmon that was seared really crisp. When I first saw it, I was worried that it would be dry, but it was moist inside but just wonderfully crispy outside. It was served with asparagus, artichokes, yellow tomatoes and Nicoise olives. Ok, it also helped that those are all some of my favorite things, but this dish was great. There was great acid balance, which is my thing.

The server had convinced hubby to get the New York strip steak ($39) because he just kept talking about how great it is. Hubby rarely orders steaks out, and even more rarely is wooed by a NY strip, but he was convinced. And this was an outstanding steak. While nicely marbled, it was still really tender and not chewy. It was served on a bright Béarnaise sauce and topped with these light and wonderful pommes soufflé. We had these before at an old line restaurant in Cincinnati and these were just as good. Almost like a 3D potato chip. Another wonderful dish.

Our friends had the shrimp dumplings ($26)(which we had the first time and really enjoyed) and the short rib dish, which was also really good—the two men kept negotiating bites of their dishes with each other. 

We also got dessert this time. Those little doughnuts with the Bourbon caramel sauce? Outstanding.  Their pastry chef is doing inventive things and you should really try one of the desserts when you’re there.

Well, I think if anything I was more impressed with the food this time because there were no dishes that I thought were inferior. I will say the service was nowhere near as good as it was on that first visit, but it wasn’t horrible. They were definitely a bit in the weeds on this particular night though. I’m really happy to have Vida on the Indy list of cool and really good restaurants to recommend. I just hope the food stays as good as it has been on my first couple of visits.

Vida

601 East New York Street

Indy 46202

317/420-2323

www.vida-restaurant.com 

Vida

Hubby and I have been excited about all the new places opening right now—seems like these things happen in waves. A friend of mine was posting pictures and comments about his meal at Vida on Facebook and instagram and after seeing them, I booked a reservation for us.

The first thing you notice about this new Cunningham Group restaurant is how nice it is. It feels like you could be walking into a nice restaurant anywhere in the country—from San Francisco to New York. Love the open kitchen and the lovely wall of herbs and greens. I hope they are better at keeping that up than I am at my house because that adds an incredible touch. I was also impressed with the staff—they  had clearly been trained properly and it showed. They even had a sommelier who came around to help with wine choices if desired (and a decent wine list to boot). 

The restaurant is broken down into a slightly more casual (and more lively) bar side and a more formal (but still very warm feeling) dining room. We were seated on the dining room side. I loved the enthusiasm of our server as he explained the menu and some of his favorite items. We started with a drink and shortly after were brought a bread basket. This was one of the best bread baskets I have had in Indy in ages. There was a tiny loaf of brioche, a nice piece of focaccia and then a pumpernickel biscuit. That brioche and focaccia were simply fantastic. And a nice crock of whipped and softened butter. Makes all the difference. They also brought a little amuse of a sweet potato puree that was made nicely savory with some flakes of salt.

For our first course we had the tuna crudo ($16), which was very good. Our server explained that they have a way of slightly aging the tuna, which gave it a deeper flavor. There was a lot of creativity in the things alongside (and underneath) it as well. There were slightly chewy, slightly crunch little rice cakes, Tandoori flavored ‘nduja, pieces of shrimp that had a slightly curried flavor and a couple of pieces of blood orange that added a wonderful hit of acid. I wished for a couple more slivers of this though, just to have a piece with each piece of the tuna. It was all lightly dressed with soy. A wonderful combination of flavors as well as textures.

For our salad, we split the “winter density” lettuce salad ($12). Our server explained it as a kind of deconstructed Caesar, but I would just describe it as delicious. There was some slightly dense lettuce leaves next to a piece of toasted Brioche bread that had a perfectly runny egg cooked into it. There were large, super thin slices of cheese underneath it adding a great saltiness, and the dressing, called “bolzanese,” was creamy and rich with a nice flavor from the chives. It had enough acid in it as well to not fall flat. I loved this salad. We ate every little crumb.

We shared two main dishes, the shrimp dumplings ($26) and the roasted mushroom pappardelle ($24). This was the only course with a letdown. We were both excited that they were making their pasta in house, and we both love all the things that come along with the pasta—mushrooms, truffle, a little egg omelet and garlic. How could you go wrong? Well, the pasta was fresh, but tasted quite overcooked and therefore turned into a bit of a doughy mess. Loved the light tender omelet alongside, but the pasta and the heavy purely rich sauce just didn’t do it for us. Luckily the shrimp dumplings were stars and had a great sour pork broth-type sauce that was not only really tasty, but was a nice counterbalance after a couple of bites of the heavy pasta. The dumplings themselves were plentiful and slightly pan-fried, lending a nice sense of texture to this dish as well. The crispy fried onion straws were great in this regard as well. The dumplings were served atop slices of smoked scallops, which were silky smooth and added an even further texture element. The flavors of the smokiness and the slight sour flavor from the sauce with the seafood were perfect. We both really loved this one as well.

Overall, we both thought this was one of the standout openings of restaurants in Indy in a long, long time. They have worked hard to not only put out creative and for the most part, delicious food, but they have clearly worked hard to make the service and atmosphere stand out as well. Chef Layton Roberts is at the helm, and is a gifted chef. My only concern is that when Cunningham moves him on to their next thing (they move him around to open whatever the newest place is), food quality might suffer a bit. I have seen this happen with some of their other ventures in the past. So my advice is get in there soon! I can’t wait to return and try many other things.

Vida

601 East New York Street

Indy 46202

317/420-2323

www.vida-restaurant.com