The Libertine - Revisit

After being told by my twitter friend @cisko about how much he enjoyed the Devour Downtown menu at The Libertine, hubby and I decided to give it a try. We had not been to the new location of The Libertine under the Mass Ave Pizzology, so it was a good time to get back in there to check it out.  The basement bar is pretty cool—love the bar itself. The rest of the place is fairly small, but decently cozy. A very different feel from the sort of modern feel of the previous incarnation. 

We got the Devour menu to split and then added a few items to it as well, because the menu said the devour items were sized to be a tasting for more than one person—and I would agree with that. It was $35 for the 5 courses. I’ll go through all of those first, so you can see what you get for your money.

The first course was lamb pate with port, sage and sorghum. I generally enjoy pate and this was a pretty good one—the lamb part was pretty mild. Hubby wasn’t a fan of the port/sorghum aspect of it, but I didn’t mind it. They bread they served with it was on point. Perfectly toasted and delicious. I’m guessing Amelia’s. I also really enjoyed the lightly dressed parsley salad served alongside. The dish would have been nowhere as good without it—it added a great acidic kick.

Pierogis and Carrots

The next course was a warmed carrot salad with cilantro, yogurt, and shaved foie gras. I was most leery of this course when we ordered because carrots rarely wow me. But this turned out to be one of my favorite things of the evening. The carrots were so nicely caramelized, which just brought out their sweetness. Combined with the tangy yogurt and the little bit of richness from the little bit of foie gras, this dish was a winner. They should add this to the regular menu.

Next was a crudo of Hamachi with ponzu , watermelon radish, chilies and togarashi. This was a very small, but nice dish. It was a nice change up with the other richer things. The fish was very fresh and tender and was good with the little creamy sauce. It was a good refreshing bite.

The sort of “main” dish of the devour menu was a piece of wagyu short rib with bacon, polenta and tomato sauce. This was by far our least favorite. The piece of short rib was decent, but the pork belly on the plate was really fatty and gelatinous. I feel more and more like pork belly is going this way and I don’t care for it. I don’t know if more fat is being left on and not cooked as long, but it just doesn’t taste good to me. 

Luckily though, the dishes we ordered from the regular menu were pretty much all winners.  The fried chicken livers atop a cornmeal waffle with bbq mushrooms and sorghum were stupendous ($12). Although the menu should really say chicken “liver” because there was only one, and the waffle part was about a quarter of a full sized waffle. You really need one of these to yourself. The crispy chicken liver with the savory waffle and the sweetness from the sorghum was just perfect. I hope this stays around for a while, I want to go get one to myself.

Also a favorite were the braised kale, slab bacon and potato pierogis ($10). These little soft dumpling-ish pierogis melted in your mouth. And the kale cut some of the richness. It came across like greens, but not as strong as collards or mustard greens. This was a dish that hubby and I had to split exactly evenly because we both wanted our fair share.

Finally, as far as savory courses, we had the Indiana oxtail and Vermillion blue grilled cheese ($9). Loved that this was made with blue cheese and was served on grilled Amelia’s city loaf. I also really liked the pickled red onions to add that touch of acid I need. This one wasn’t maybe as refined or interesting as some of the other things we ate, and in spite of the fact that the bread on the bottom of the sandwich was pretty seriously burnt, it was still enjoyable. I liked the addition of some dressed greens on the plate to add even a little more acidic punch.

Lastly, and the last course of the Devour menu, was blood orange panna cotta with caramel, and hazelnut tuille. I love blood orange and this was a nice, not too filling, dessert.  The tangy citrus was nice with the rich caramel and I appreciated the textural component from the tuille. A nice way to finish the meal.

Overall, I was quite pleased with our dinner. The things I didn’t care for were not things I would have likely ordered had it not been for the Devour menu, but I was also glad that I got to try the carrot dish, which was also something I probably would not have ordered either. They are doing some interesting things at The Libertine, and I am glad to see it. Service-wise, our server was very nice and in the beginning of the meal right on top of things. As things got busy, service got slower and one thing we had ordered (after they were out of something else) never got delivered, but we didn’t get charged for it either. And we had more than enough to eat. Although, I do recommend sharing several plates as many of them were on the somewhat small size (which I like, but just so you know). Cocktails were good as well.

The Libertine

608 Massachusetts Avenue

Indy 46204

317/631-3333

www.libertineindy.com  

Repeal

Hubby and I are trying to get around to trying all the new places in town—there seems to be so many! So recently we had a night with nothing going on and decided to try Repeal.

Repeal is in Fountain Square in an old bank building—I love the interior of the place—it seems like so many places are going for that really sparse feel these days—it’s nice to go to a place with lots of character—a lot of warm wood everywhere, old tin ceiling tiles, and repurposed railings.  The people working there are friendly and generally knowledgeable about the menu. The restaurant backs up to a distillery where they are making spirits to be used in their cocktails.

The menu doesn’t seem to have a particular theme—I think they were going with a 1920s Prohibition theme (the era of the building) at first, but it seems to have morphed into just a regular kind of menu with some items that have a little bit of a throwback feel to them. We started with the beer cheese and fries ($8). This was not exactly what I was expecting. I think I was thinking of some sort of bowl of cheese to dip fries into, and this was actually a plate of fries drizzled with very hot beer cheese. It wasn’t bad really, the fries were decent battered fries and once the beer cheese wasn’t so dang hot, and you could actually taste it, it tasted good. But because it was spread over the fries, it cooled quickly and then was almost too cool. I would prefer something else to dip in there—I know homemade pretzels are everywhere, but man, they are tasty with beer cheese. And these fries, while they were good battered fries, I would guess they aren’t making them in house.

For our main dishes, we split the smoked pork plate ($16), the pimento cheese sandwich ($9 +$2 for bacon) and the Brussels sprouts side dish ($6). My favorite of them all was probably the pimento cheese sandwich. It was nicely toasted bread and was topped with some arugula and tomato as well as jowl bacon that we added.  I liked the arugula and tomato with it to give that hit of acid and to freshen it a bit. The pimento cheese spread was tasty—had a decent amount of kick to it, but not too much. Honestly though, while I would order the sandwich again for sure (I’m thinking it would make a great lunch), I think I would skip the jowl bacon on it. While it tastes good (there was more of it on the pork platter), I would prefer a crispier piece of bacon that isn’t as fatty on a sandwich. When you would bite into it, it often was hard to tear apart.

I did enjoy cutting bits of this same bacon on the pork platter and eating it with the other items that were there—the sausage and the pork belly. My favorite of the meats offered here (apparently they change up the cuts offered depending on the day) was the pork belly. It had the nice rich fattiness to it, but also a decent amount of the meatiness as well. All the meats had a nice smoky flavor as well. My absolute favorite thing about this otherwise fairly simple dish was the Carolina mustard sauce served with it. First of all, I love mustard BBQ sauce. Love it. But this one was really outstanding—it tasted extremely fresh and not at all thick and syrupy the way they can sometimes be—just a bright, well-seasoned mustardy kick with a nice touch of acid. I also liked the homemade pickles served on the side—it’s like they know me. Whenever I eat mustard sauce, I eat it with pickles. I just love that combination of flavors. I could pass on the sausage overall though, it was only ok, but the variety was nice.

The seasoning on the Brussels sprouts was really tasty—it had duck fat and white soy vinaigrette listed on the menu. The vinaigrette was really interesting and tasty and was a flavor that inspired me to try and duplicate it at home. The menu listed the sprouts as seared though, which wasn’t exactly true, they weren’t really very crunchy—there was a bit of sear on them, but not a lot. But the biggest problem here was that the sprouts weren’t really cooked enough. I really enjoyed the flavor of them, the smoky fat and the interesting vinaigrette, but I just wished the sprouts were a little more tender. Maybe steam them a bit first or something.

Our server was very helpful, and overall we really enjoyed the experience. I probably enjoyed the pimento cheese sandwich the best (although I loved that mustard sauce). I feel like there is some good potential here and I would like to return. The atmosphere is good and the restaurant was busy, but not so crazy that you couldn’t hear the person across the table from you. Who else has been and what have you had to eat?

Repeal

630 Virginia Ave

Indy 46203

317/672-7514

www.repealrestaurant.com 

Thunderbird

I finally got over to Thunderbird with a bunch of girlfriends the other day—all of us are into food and none of us had been, so we were looking forward to trying the hot new place. I also went back more recently with hubby and some other friends for a second try.

"Slapped Actress"

The first thing I noticed on that first visit was the interior is quite comfortable—a lot of wood, but I liked that it wasn’t overwhelmingly filled with seats and tables so you could still carry on a conversation all the way throughout the night, even when it got quite crowded, and even when they turned the music up at the end. Our server was exceptionally friendly and helpful, going out of her way to help one of our party who had dietary restrictions. I also appreciated that there were no long delay to get our drinks, which seems to be a problem with fancy cocktails these days. And although it is the new hip place, I appreciated that it didn’t feel snooty or too hipster-ish. Even for someone my age. Again, on the second visit, the server was a bit more down to business, but extremely efficient. We never waited for drinks or foods and she checked on us often.

Pimento Cheese Grilled Cheese
(thanks Suzanne!)

Clearly, a lot of thought and creativity has been put into the cocktail list, which is much bigger than the wine and food list, but it is meant to be a bar, so it is only fitting. I started with a “Slapped Actress” which was a tangy blend of vodka, apple brandy, lemon, lime and sugar ($9). I really enjoyed it and because it was so tart (which I like), it made me sip it a bit slower than I might have otherwise. On my second visit, I tried the classic daiquiri ($9)(not your frozen 70s type). It was similarly limey and quite tasty as well. On both occasions, I then switched to a glass of wine from the very small, but decent list.

Fried chicken hoecake

We all ordered a bunch of food and luckily, I was with people both visits who are amenable to sharing. The things I enjoyed the most were the pimento cheese grilled cheese ($10), the biscuit with duck neck gravy and a sunny side up egg ($10), and the fried chicken and hoecake sandwich ($10). I like that they are smaller portions so you can try several things—also, they are all fairly rich flavors and any more of any of them would probably be too much.

B&G

As they were, they were creative riffs on comfort food (sensing a “comfort” theme throughout). I really enjoyed the pimento cheese grilled cheese because it was very well balanced.  On our second visit, we all liked it so much, we ordered a second one. I like pimento cheese in small doses, but I find often the flavor of the cheese overwhelms everything else in a dish. This one had a layer of pickles and slightly underripe tomatoes with the cheese, which brightened it up. I am not sure if the intention was to use slightly green tomatoes, but these tomatoes along with the pickles were just right on the sandwich, adding a bit of bitterness with the rich cheese. The bread was perfectly grilled as well—giving the exact right buttery crunch when you ate it. Again, I am not one to order pimento cheese often, but I would (and will) get this sandwich again—probably on every visit.

Shrimp & Grits

The piece of fried chicken on the hoecake sandwich was a thigh and was decently seasoned (I could have stood just a bit more spice on the actual chicken). It was topped with melted cheese and served between two thin, light slightly sweet, slightly savory pancakes (hoecakes).  I appreciated the pickled red onions that were served alongside, giving the sandwich a punch of acid when you put them on top as well (and you should). I had part of one on each visit and enjoyed it both times.

croquettes

The biscuits and gravy were similar—a tender biscuit under a generous portion of the gravy, which had good flavor, although I didn’t get a lot of meat in mine. The egg was perfectly cooked—runny yolk, solid white. (There are a lot of fried eggs topping things here and they seem to have cooking them just right down). A touch more spice might have been nice (at least a bit more salt and pepper), but the dish was tasty.

hush puppies

Slightly less successful for me was the shrimp and grits ($10) which I had some of on both visits. There was nothing inherently wrong with it—the shrimp were actually cooked right (butter poached) and the grits had nice texture. It just seemed a little plain to me. Not bad, but just didn’t wow me. I would have said the same about the croquettes ($8) after my first visit, but on my second visit they were much better--the second time they were more tender and ham-flavored (they list ham hocks as an ingredient). The first time, we didn’t really get a lot of ham in them. I appreciated the kick from the red pepper aioli.  It was also a good portion and easy to share (more of a snack to share though than something you would want to eat on your own as a main dish). On the second visit we also had the hush puppies with gravy aioli. Ehh…I definitely preferred the croquettes. These just didn’t have as much flavor to them.

Kale salad

On my second visit we also tried the kale salad ($10), which was a nice fresh alternative to what is a lot of fried items. The dressing was creamy and had a tangy kick to it—there was a poached egg as well. Once the yolk was broken, it added even more creaminess to the mix. There were also some sweet potatoes and pickled peppers. 

Pickle plate

There were mixed reviews at our table on my first visit about the pickle plate ($4) because the pickled veggies had a distinct clove flavor, which not everyone was a fan of (I didn’t try any but the onions and I really liked the onions).  Also, the cornbread ($4) drenched in maple syrup came across more as a dessert because it was so cloyingly sweet (again, I didn’t try it, as it just looked too sweet for me to eat with the savory courses). 

Both times, we did have the beignets for dessert—they were tasty—more like little doughnut holes—lighter than traditional beignets. The espresso cream cheese sauce was quite sweet.  I thought the baby fennel was unnecessary in a dessert, even though it added color.

Beignets

I like Thunderbird and I think it very successfully fills a niche in Fountain Square. The comfortable atmosphere and the well-executed bar food with Southern character makes you want to return. It’s food that is familiar but designed with flair by Chef Carlos Salazar—you can certainly see his distinctive style in the plating. It’s a place to grab a drink and some tasty tidbits. (Especially since you can get your drinks quickly!) I look forward to return visits.

Thunderbird

1127 Shelby Street

Indy 46203

317/974-9580

www.thunderbirdindy.com 

The Libertine - Revisit

We recently met some friends at the Libertine for dinner. Hubby and I hadn’t been in many months and felt like it was time to get back in there and see what was cooking.

To start with, our service was pretty spotty. The first round of cocktails came fairly fast, but after that, flagging her down for another round was very challenging (and the place was never full while we were there). We ordered a bottle of wine and then were told after 10 minutes or so that they didn’t have it (same thing happened last time we were there). Then we ordered another one and waited about 15-20 minutes for them to “find it.” It would be nice with Libertine’s fairly small wine list (which incidentally I think is a very nice wine list), if they at least penciled things out when they run out.

Anyway, we were with our “order like a drunken sailor” friends, and we did just that. I was glad to get to try a large portion of the menu to get a good overview of what’s offered there right now.  My favorite first course was the bone marrow. They were large bones cut length-wise and super easy to scoop out the marrow. They were salted nicely and had the perfect accompanying micro greens and celery leaf salad. It was really acidic which was perfect with the buttery bone marrow. The sliced toasted pieces of bread were the perfect thickness and had the right amount of crunch and softness as well. My only complaint was I could have used a bit more of the salad. Mainly because I liked it so much.

We also liked the fried potato wedges—they were lightly battered and stuck in a glass with a “local cheese fondue” and harissa (hot pepper paste). They were cooked just right and were hot. The bottoms that were stuck into the dip were a little soggy though. I probably would prefer them served separately, but I can appreciate the ease of this serving technique.

We also had the chickpea fritters with pureed eggplant and fried capers. I loved the eggplant puree that was spread under the fritters. It carried the acidic flavor here and was necessary with the fritters, which were kind of dry and basic without it.  They had a decent nutty flavor, but I was scooping up every last bit of the eggplant that I could to go with them to add moisture and balance.

We had the bacon flight, which is always good. You can’t really go wrong with the lovely bacon from Smoking Goose. They have changed the presentation into a little pot with all the bacon on top—it’s not quite as crisp but whether that is a bad or good thing depends on your taste in bacon. I enjoyed it and the sauces served alongside, even though you barely need them with that tasty bacon.

The least successful starter by far (yes, I’m only on starters) was the octopus in vinaigrette. They were whole baby octopuses that tasted like they were grilled, but other than that had very little flavor. They were too chewy, I am guessing just cooked too much, and while I enjoyed the vinaigrette at the bottom of the bowl, it didn’t stick on the octopus. This one was a big miss for all of us.

We continued on with our wanton ordering of food, moving on to the more “main dish” things (mostly just differentiated by price). The best thing here was the meatloaf sandwich. Funny, our friends ordered this and I was really glad—and it would not have been something I ever would have ordered on my own. It was a thick slab of meatloaf with melty cheese on top—the bread was toasted and had a thick coating of a spicy version of 1000 Island dressing. The meatloaf was moist, and I liked the gooey cheese and zesty sauce. It was really tasty.

The fresh chorizo with polenta was kind of mixed. The silky smooth polenta (think like almost liquidy grits) were wonderful. Buttery, and just the perfect consistency. The chorizo was bland and had none of the kick you expect. It was also maybe cooked a little too much, drying it out a bit. Would have loved to see this dish with another protein. Maybe some seafood.

The goat cheese tart was pretty straightforward-- a tart shell with some creamy goat cheese inside. There were maybe 5-6 slivers of apple on top, and some onion jam on the side, but there was nothing else texturally going on inside. Would have loved to have something else to give it some kind of texture, other than from the crust. The charred onion jam was a nice slightly sweet/slightly smoky flavor and the Brandy sauce drizzled on top some sweetness, but it just called out for something to give it that texture and to make it a truly savory dish. It almost seemed like more of a dessert.

The roasted cauliflower with mint, lemon, red pepper flakes and onions were good. It was roasted just to the point in which the vegetable was cooked al dente, but had a nice charred flavor on the outside. The combination of spicy and acidic flavors with it was nice as well. I particularly liked it with a squeeze of lemon that they served alongside. Would I want to order this alone as my main dish? No. Did I enjoy it as a kind of side dish? Yes.

We also ordered the country-fried sweetbreads—the menu lists the sweetbreads with smoked ham hock, beans and cornbread. What it didn’t mention was the thick strong mustard sauce that was all over the dish. The sweetbreads, while fried crunchy, were mushy with all the sauce—and there was no way to really taste much else because it was just so mustardy. The little cornbread croutons were spared though and were sweet. I would love to see this dish with a drizzle of the mustard somewhere (not on the fried pieces of sweetbread). As it was, it was one of our least favorites.

I feel like there’s been a shift at the Libertine away from being a “gastropub”-type restaurant to a just flat out cocktail bar that serves food. It was a destination for me for the food (not being a huge cocktail drinker myself) and a good one at that. The last couple meals I have had over the last year though have made me slightly less enthusiastic. The service has been a little off (the wine issues, and we constantly had to flag our server down to ask for things) and I’m sad they have changed the tables around—they used to be at an angle so if you had 4 people, you each sat on one side of the square—but now they are straight down the wall so when you are side by side with someone, it feels too close and if there’s just two of you and you sit across from each other, it feels almost too far. I am sure they have done it to conserve space, but it just seems a little awkward.  And I think the food is not as exciting as it once was. So all in all, I think a cocktail and a couple of snacks (get the bone marrow) might be the key to enjoying the Libertine in the best way.  

The Libertine

38 East Washington Street

Indy  46204

317/631-3333

www.libertineindy.com 

Eat + Drink

I just have to start out by saying that Taste is probably my favorite lunch spot in Indy (and hubby’s too). I eat there a lot and we were excited to try the new bar concept run by the same people next door at Eat + Drink. We actually went the first time with a group of friends just shortly after they opened, but I didn’t plan to write about it so soon after they opened, so hubby and I went back on our own recently.

So one of the things they advertise at Eat + Drink is “craft” cocktails. And hubby had the Cadillac margarita the first time and it was really, really good, even though it took a good 20 minutes to get it. But the second time we were hoping the service would have improved and we both looked forward to getting another one. Well, sadly, it took just as long to get our drinks and this time they were inconsistent (hubby had 2 and one was way better than the other). But regardless, the length of time it took to get them made them not worth ordering for me, no matter how good. I switched to wine at this point.

Food-wise, you will see some same or similar items from Taste—they take the deviled eggs from Taste and add salmon roe to the top ($4). I love the deviled eggs at Taste but honestly can’t say the roe added anything—it was very cold and other than the little pop, didn’t add a ton of flavor. They also serve the various versions of their frites ($6), which we had on both visits, and they are always good. The sauces are what make them (my favorite being the straight frites with the basil aioli). Strangely, they are more expensive ($6 vs. $4.50) at Eat+Drink, even though they are exactly the same.

On this trip, we also tried the truffle mushroom mousse ($6). It was a cold mousse that was topped with lots of light fluffy shredded parmesan. Actually, if someone had just placed in it front of me, I wouldn’t have called it a mouse, more like a light dip—it was a little chunkier and looser than what I would think of as mousse. It had a nice flavor and the first couple of bites had that distinctive truffle flavor. I loved the crisp, light toasts that were served with it. They had a bit of a garlic taste on their own and were nice with the mousse. Between just two of us though, the mousse was a little much to finish with its strong flavor. I think it would be better shared in a larger group. Our first visit we had the chicken liver pate ($10) and enjoyed it more. It was more like a mousse consistency and had a great deep, earthy flavor. The warm bacon and blue cheese dip is also very good (we had some the first time as well).

We had the prosciutto plate ($13) this time also. It was good, but not as good as the speck plate we had on our first visit (sorry I didn’t take pictures that visit). Speck just has more depth to it and I liked the stronger kale and caper taste with it over the more mild arugula and parmesan. The speck had a creamy tangy dressing drizzled across that I preferred over the balsamic on the prosciutto. Also better shared with more than 2 people as it was fairly large as well.

We also shared the fried green tomato sandwich ($11) because it was one of the few that seemed to have a warm component to it. One thing about this menu, there are very few warm items. That will probably work fine in the summer, but when it’s really cold out, I don’t know about you, but I like something warm.  The sandwich was fried green tomatoes, nicely dressed greens (a signature on Taste sandwiches that I appreciate) and a lot of pimento cheese spread. For me, a person who likes pimento cheese spread, but isn’t obsessed the way some people are, it was the dominating flavor over everything on the sandwich. Just a little too much for me. I scraped some of it off and enjoyed it more.

Basically, we hit a lot more home runs the first visit with food, but were trying on our second visit to get different things. Also, the menu is small with just snacks and sandwiches. I get that as an approach for a bar, but in this town, I think in a place with a food pedigree like Taste, people might expect to be able to go eat a meal there (I did). And honestly, the menu’s a little too limited for that--at least for me. Also, as far as décor, it is a bit confusing. There are giant tvs in the modern interior showing movies like Animal House and Star Wars (at least on the night we were there). In such a small space, it was very distracting. I had a giant tv right behind my head.  I do like the red and green light outside to tell you if they’re open though.

I don’t know, I am just not sure I get this place. Is it a bar? If so, they need more bartenders to make drinks in quicker than 15-20 minutes. Is it a restaurant? If so, a few more items (particularly warm ones) might be good. From what I see, it is a place best visited with a fairly large group to share several items (they are mostly fairly generous sizes) and hopefully get some drinks. Overall, for now, I think I will stick with Taste during the day and Aftertaste if I want an evening Taste fix.

Eat + Drink

5168 North College

Indy  46205

317/925-2233

www.eatplusdrink.net