Byrne's Grilled Pizza

I took my daughter to see Wizard of Oz at Clowes Hall the other day—I needed somewhere we could eat an early supper nearby before the 6:30 show time. No idea where her love of musical theater comes from…but that’s another story.

I remembered hearing about Byrne’s Grilled Pizza taking over the old Oh Yumm spot on Illinois and thought it would be perfect. They are also open all day and on Sundays. Check and check. Byrnes started its life as a food truck that many people had mentioned to me, but I had never gotten a chance to try. Nice to see they have done well enough to move into a brick and mortar spot.

Because it was so early, we were the only ones there for a while, but our server was exceptionally friendly and helpful.  We started with an order of breadsticks (2 or 4 per order, we had 2) with a side of garlic olive oil for dipping (there are several dipping options) ($3.25). The breadsticks are their pizza dough done in a chewy breadstick and topped with salt. Interesting, because their pizza crusts are the super thin type, but these were pretty good. I really enjoyed the garlic dipping sauce, which was a pretty simple combo of good quality olive oil and minced garlic. The garlic was yummy, as garlic tends to be.

Their pizzas come in two sizes—the smaller one being a personal pan size. We each got one of these. It was a good way to try two completely different pies as well. I had “The Californian” ($10) and my daughter the “PBS” ($10). We both enjoyed our pizzas. Mine was topped with red sauce, spinach, bacon, plum tomato slices and avocado. And cheese of course. The crust here is very thin and crisp—almost more like a flatbread. I enjoyed the nice change of pace. I also liked that they gave you just enough of each topping, and not so much that the pizza became soggy or overwhelmed. They also liberally season their pizzas with dried herbs.

My daughter’s PBS had pepperoni, Smoking Goose jowl bacon and sausage (and cheese and red sauce). She really seemed to enjoy it. She ordered it because it had Smoking Goose bacon and she “only eats bacon from Smoking Goose.” Seriously. It’s kind of a problem because there’s a lot of bacon in this world that isn’t Smoking Goose. Anyhow, she ate almost all of it, which is a sure sign that she enjoyed it. She prefers the crumbly bits of sausage on pizza and that is the kind they use here. Again, super crispy crust. 

I was also happy to see that Byrnes had also acquired the Oh Yumm chocolate chip bread pudding recipe. Whenever hubby and ate there, we always looked forward to this dessert. It was still delicious—studded with lots of chocolate chips in a very moist bread pudding topped with vanilla and raspberry sauce and a couple slices of strawberry. It was nice to see it passed along. Apparently Byrnes hired several of the staff from Oh Yumm as well, which was also nice to hear.

The interior is a little more stark, with some wooden beams added to the ceiling and a counter from which you can order carry out (which seemed a popular option as people were coming in the whole time we were there to do just that on a cold Sunday evening). If you like that cracker thin type of crust, and more creative topping options than many places are offering (would like to try the Mexican pizza), you should check this place out. Let me know what you think.

Byrne’s Grilled Pizza

5615 N. Illinois Street

Indy 46208

317/737-2056

www.byrnespizza.com  

Food Truck: Big Ron's Bistro

You have to love it when the food trucks come to where you’re going to be—such was the case the other day when several of them came to our kids’ school bonfire.  It gave me the perfect opportunity to try Big Ron’s Bistro truck—one that I hadn’t really heard much about.

They have a pretty wide menu, and the kids were happy with a hotdog and a chicken and cheese quesadilla (neither of which did I get a bite of before they ran off with their friends) but hubby and I went with the sandwiches, which seem to be the specialty of the place. They are all served on Texas toast-style bread that is grilled with garlic butter. I already liked it when I saw that theme running through.

I chose the California chicken club ($8), which was a marinated and seasoned chicken breast with fresh spinach, tomato, and avocado and a healthy smear of red pepper pesto mayo. Oh, and did I mention, PICKLED RED ONIONS? Only one of my favorite things. Right up there with avocado. This sandwich was made for me—and it was a damn fine sandwich. Even the chicken, and even as a large whole chunk of chicken breast was good because it was actually tender and had a fair amount of flavor on its own. But add those onions, and the slightly spicy, slightly tangy spread and the garlic flavor on the bread and this sandwich had it going on. The only thing I would change in a completely perfect world would be to slice up the chicken so that it was evenly distributed on the bread. (What? I am always thinking of ways to make something better even when it’s already really, really good). I gave a bite to hubby and to a friend who was there and they both agreed it was delicious. I would have a hard time ever getting anything else.

Hubby had the pulled pork sandwich ($7) which is pork marinated in Sriracha BBQ sauce and topped with a vinegar-based cole slaw on the same garlic buttered bread.  It was also really good and had a nice balance between the spicy (but not too hot) tender pork and the acidic cole slaw. While we both agreed we liked my sandwich the best, this one was quite good as well.

A friend ordered some of their fries, which are heavily doused in seasoning salt, and were a bit much for me (I think I have mentioned I am not a big fan of too much of that stuff). They also offer garlic fries, which might be worth trying. The fries were decently crisp for a truck. And actually, there are several other sandwiches that certainly sound worth trying.  Honestly, I haven’t eaten at a lot of the food trucks, but I have tried several, and this is one of the better ones I have had. If it was a sandwich I could get in a restaurant, I would go get it. It was very well done.

As for food trucks overall, I guess the thing that you realize when you see them in a large crowd, is that while they are nice and mobile, they still aren’t particularly fast. Luckily, I was there early and got my food quickly. Later in the evening, the lines for the several food trucks were long and pretty slow. I did notice that Big Ron’s is probably one of the quickest I have seen.

Anyhow, I would keep my eye out for Big Ron’s—it’s a truck worth trying.

Big Ron’s Bistro (Food Truck)

Various locations

 317/426-0244

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Rons-Bistro/418174084912089

Spice Box

I have to say, I have been pretty bad about getting around to all of the food trucks. I guess I am kind of weird about liking to sit down and eat, and since I don’t work in any of the offices where the trucks often park, it makes it more challenging for me.  Also, in winter, you can’t even sit down outside. I am assuming the trucks’ business suffers a fair amount in cold weather, but maybe I’m wrong—whatcha think?

Anyway, I was in Carmel at an appointment and noticed on twitter that Spice Box was at an office building close to me. So I decided to pick it up and take it home to eat. I figure Indian food could probably travel fairly decently (and that’s what passenger side seat heaters are for right?). So I hunted them down and got the “spice box” with two of the main dishes—the spicy shrimp and the butter chicken ($9 for 2 items, $7 if you just want 1). It also comes with rice and a piece of garlic naan.

The first thing I noticed about this truck was how exceptionally nice the two guys were who were working there. They asked me if I had been before, and took a lot of time telling me about the different options.  I wanted to try a couple of different things so I got the shrimp and the chicken, although they really had me sold on the chicken.  One of them then asked if I liked spicy things and told me about the sauce they had on the side and fixed me a little cup of it to go with my lunch.  He was telling me all about the ingredients (Thai green chili, cilantro, a tiny bit of mint, a bit of yogurt, as well as many other items).  It is pretty obvious that they are enthusiastic about their food. They also specifically asked for any feedback, good or bad—they obviously are looking to make their truck as successful as possible.

And the food, well, that butter chicken was delicious. It consists of chunks of boneless chicken in a rich hearty sauce—the sauce had a fair amount of spice, and it lingered in your mouth, but not in a hot burn your mouth kind of way. Lots of Indian spices, lots of butter and tomato paste. It was really addicting. The chicken stayed tender and the sauce was great soaked into the rice.

I didn’t like the shrimp as much, not because it was bad, but just because I really liked the chicken more. The shrimp was well cooked (I would worry it would get overcooked in a dish like this) and the sauce had a bit more heat, but it was more of a curry type taste, with a distinct undertone of coconut, which isn’t my favorite thing. So it is more of a personal preference. But I will go back and get the chicken in a heartbeat (and apparently it is one of their most popular items so I guess I am not the only one).

I really enjoyed the green sauce too—it had a lot of cilantro in it and I liked the freshness it added to everything (I pretty much added it to all of it).  It also added a bit more heat, but wasn’t overwhelmingly hot. Be sure and ask for some of this if they don’t offer it (my guess is they will though, as friendly as the were).

The Naan (which is an Indian flat bread) was tasty—it had a lot of garlic flavor, which is always good. My only complaint was because they put it in the box with the entrées, it gets a little soft from the steam of the food. I would have liked it a little firmer (maybe if they wrapped it in foil separately or something). I probably would order an extra piece next time too. It had a really great flavor.

I would say this is a truck that is worth checking out if you happen to have them in your area.  I am looking forward to getting the butter chicken again. And don’t forget to tell me about your other favorite food trucks. You guys were the ones who turned me onto this truck, and I appreciate it.

Spice Box (food truck)

Various locations

Twitter: @spiceboxindy

http://spiceboxindy.com/

Dig In 2012

I tweeted a lot about this year’s Dig In, so I am going to keep my post fairly brief and just talk about a few of my favorite dishes from this year (in no particular order) (and I didn’t get to try every single item, although I did try a lot of them).

Goose the Market’s “walking taco”

You can always count on something interesting from Chris Ely of Goose the Market and Smoking Goose and this year was no exception.  (You can also count on some of the longest lines there). You got a little paper bag full of tender goat meat and some crunchy cracklins on the bottom—the “tacos” had a bit of seasoning in the form of some chopped onions, but mainly you got to add toppings yourself.  There was tomatillo salsa, a creamy sauce, corn pico de gallo, cilantro, cabbage slaw (the things I remember off the top of my head).  I put a little bit of most of the things on and really enjoyed it.  And I am sure goat is certainly a meat that a lot of Indy people might not have had before.

Brad Gates Catering Bison Succotash

This dish included a decent portion of slow cooked bison shoulder with lots of great local (and crispy fresh) veggies—corn, cabbage, green beans and tomatoes.  I thought this was one of the dishes that had the most varied flavors and the meat was also super tender.  As it turned out, it was one that had quite a line later in the day as well.

Late Harvest Corn Salad

I loved Late Harvest’s corn, walnut, goat cheese, and housemade pancetta salad.  The pancetta was nice and salty and I really enjoyed that this dish also had a bit of acid to it—there was a lot of rich food to eat at Dig In, and this one stuck out to me because it was different and was a really nice combination of flavors.  I may have to try and recreate this one at home.

Chef JJ’s Sweet Cheeks

This was a dish that was somewhat similar to Brad Gates’ dish, but made with pork—and I loved the crunchy bits of falafel on top.  Few dishes could really give a good crunch under these circumstances and this one was really good.

Duos (Food Truck) Goat Cheese Quesadilla

This was probably my favorite vegetarian option and I really enjoyed that it was also something totally different from pretty much everything else. It was a potato, mustard green and goat cheese quesadilla.  You definitely need to like goat cheese to like this one, but I love goat cheese and thought it was really good.  I liked that there were veggies being used that weren’t the corn, tomato and green beans that were in a lot of dishes (and I love all of those things as well, don’t get me wrong).

I got to go as a VIP (I was given 2 tickets for my work as a gastronaut), which meant we got in the gates at 11:00 and didn’t have to wait in line for much of anything, which was really nice.  Overall, our impression was that the food has continued to improve over the course of the 3 years that Dig In has been around. My general observations about the food this year--tacos and chilled soups were the most popular dish and many people tried to come up with novel ways to serve the food that didn't require a spoon or fork, which was nice since you are walking and eating. (Which reminds me, the little tortilla filled with pork and seasoning from Indiana Downs was also really good--see pic below.)

The good news is they ended up selling out all the available tickets, which was a goal I know they wanted to achieve and it makes me happy that so many people were excited to eat local Indiana food. The downside, from what I saw and have been hearing, is that the lines got really long shortly after 12 and remained that way for most of the afternoon.  Apparently several chefs also ran out of food by 3:00 or so.  I am not sure what the solution is, but hopefully they will get it all worked out by next year (although there will always be lines I think).  I know I really enjoyed my day and nearly everything I ate.

So what were your favorites? And what was your experience like?

Dig In

A Taste of Indiana

www.digindiana.com

Scratchtruck (Food Truck)

I saw Scratchtruck was parked on my way home from downtown the other day, so I stopped off and checked it out.  I was torn about what to get—the Tuscan chicken sandwich sounded quite delicious, but after a quick chat with the extremely friendly man on the truck, who said he could eat the chicken cone every day, I decided to go with that—after all, from what I have read, this is one of Scratchtruck’s signature dishes.

So the chicken cone is a flour tortilla wrapped around hand breaded chicken tenders ($7 with fries).  The chicken itself is fresh—you can tell this is real chicken, not some nasty food service nugget.  They have a fairly thin breading and that is slightly spicy—sort of a red pepper flavor.  I noticed some sesame seeds in the breading as well.  There is slaw in the cone as well, what is described as mango-jalapeno slaw, although to be honest, I didn’t get a lot of mango or jalapeno (mostly cabbage), but I did enjoy the ancho chile aioli that was in there too.  It had just a touch of heat, but, not in that burn your mouth kind of heat, but a more mellow pepper that builds a bit after you eat it.  So they wrapped the chicken in the tortilla and then set the whole thing down into a paper cone (think of what you get a snow cone in).  It’s nice if you’re eating on the go, because it doesn’t drip all over you.  Overall, the cone was maybe a little dryer (sauce-wise) than I would've thought, but the chicken was tender and the flavors went together well.

There was also a healthy handful of hand cut fries in the box as well. They had really nice flavor and were pleasantly browned, which tend to be my favorite kind of fries.  There were still some nice pieces of skin on them too, giving them a slight chewiness and a little deeper potato flavor.  My complaint about the fries was that they could have been a little hotter and crispier, although when you are serving food from a truck, I am sure it is hard to really cook fries to order.  Also, I would have liked something else besides ketchup for them (I know, I am a broken record on this point) because they were hearty and tasted so homemade—they deserved more than simple ketchup.  Little containers of some fancy aioli? Or even just a container of that ancho chile aioli would be great. Heck, charge extra for it, I’d pay.

Overall, Scratchtruck is a nice addition to Indy’s food truck scene.  It is fun to see Indy people so excited about all the trucks. And I like the way they can travel around so lots of people can get a taste even if the location isn’t always convenient.  I know we have quite a few, and more popping up all the time….what’s your favorite one?

Scratchtruck

Various locations

Follow them on twitter @scratchtruck

http://scratchtruck.com/

Duos Indy (Food Truck)

Gotta love a slow food truck right?  I think the idea is great, and I love the mobility they have, although for me to eat at Duos, takes a bit of travel, because they are usually found downtown.  I like that they are sourcing most of their stuff locally, and offer vegan and vegetarian options, as I am sure this is an underserved consumer base in Indy. 

On the day I went, they were parked at Alabama and Vermont, which is a fairly easy place to park around—of course I ended up in Mass Ave Toy shop for awhile and spent a fair amount of money, which made for what turned out to be a somewhat expensive lunch—although I really love that store. What great stuff.

So I wanted to try a bit of lots of things, so on this day, I got the asparagus soup, the turkey sandwich (which came with a side salad) and a piece of almond cake. I don’t remember the exact breakdown, but all together, it was $11.50.

So the asparagus soup was vegan I believe, although they did a nice job of thickening it a bit with pureed veggies.  It had a nice consistency and several large asparagus tips in it as well.  The lady who helped me told me they were excited to be using the first local asparagus of the season (so it was a few weeks ago that I ate there).  It was good, but honestly, a drizzle of some crème fraiche or something along those lines would have livened it up for me—it called out for just a bit more richness. I understand making it vegan for those who want that, but having the option to not have it be vegan might be nice too.

The sandwich I had was sliced herbed turkey breast, lettuce, tomatoes, Jarlsberg cheese, avocado, sprouts and lemon caper mayonnaise.  It was served on a large, very hearty wheat roll.  So these are all ingredients I really like—I mean who doesn’t like avocado and cheese and turkey?  Actually, this is exactly the kind of sandwich I make for myself at home--although that lemon caper mayo was nice and zesty and salty and made the sandwich a little more special than it would be if I made it myself. And I liked that there was enough of it you could taste it with each bite.  The only thing I really didn’t like was that the bread, while obviously fresh and good quality, was just too big. I thought eating the whole thing together caused some of the flavor to be lost—so I just took off the bottom half (luckily the yummy mayo was on top) and ate it open faced.  The turkey was tender and the avocado plentiful.  Sprouts aren’t my favorite thing, so I took most of them off.

The side salad was wheatberries, tomatoes, carrots and caramelized onions (there were a couple of choices).  It was a very nutty salad, and I liked the way the tomatoes and onions added both acidity and sweetness.  It had a distinct crunchiness, and tasted very healthy, but in a pretty good way.

I think my favorite thing on this visit was the almond cake.  It was baked in a pie pan, and a pie sized wedge was cut for me.  The cake tasted so much of almond—it totally reminded me of the iced Christmas cookies we make at my house every year.  My mom loves almond extract in the icing, and that is a tradition in our home.  When I was a kid, I could open up the bottle of almond extract (and still can) and it would smell like Christmas to me.  Anyhow, the cake was dense but still nice and moist in the middle with a perfectly crisp edge and dusted with powdered sugar.  It was something that I could see being a little addictive.

I really want to give this truck another go, and try some of the more unique combos I have been seeing on their menus lately. I would love to hear from you if you have tried other things about what you think.

Duos Indy

(various locations around Indy)

317/508-8614

www.duosindy.com (and check them out on facebook for where they will be on a given day)

www.facebook.com/duosindy

West Coast Tacos

Ok, I know I am late in reviewing West Coast Tacos, but sometimes things take awhile.  The concept of the food truck is obviously gaining popularity across the country, what with entire television shows being dedicated to it, but hubby and I were a little surprised by it, I guess because food trucks (at least in San Fran) have been around a long time. (San Francisco’s are usually burrito trucks vs. taco trucks, but same idea).  I do find it interesting though, with the advent of things like Twitter, how a food truck can really move around and serve lots of people.  Usually food trucks in San Francisco stayed in one place and when one occasionally had to move, it was a crisis trying to figure out where it had gone.  Now, West Coast Tacos has taken full advantage of social media and moves all over town both for lunch and dinner.  I am sure this is a great boom for them because they can serve so many varying groups of people.

After checking Twitter, the first time we went, we headed to the east side to catch up with the truck.  It was fairly early in their service hours (I think they usually serve 11:00-1:00 or so) but there was already a line.  The choices on this day were chicken or steak with red sauce or green sauce.  We got three of each, the chicken with green sauce and the beef with red. 



Steak with red salsa

When I made it back to the car with my half of the order, hubby had already eaten one of the chicken ones (hence the picture missing a taco) and was declaring it, “frickin’ awesome.”  I started with a beef, and while it was not bad, I wasn’t seeing what the fuss was about really.  The meat was thinly sliced and covered with a mix of onion and cilantro and then covered in the red sauce.  The sauce wasn’t very spicy—I enjoyed the onion and cilantro mix more I think.  And considering every other review I have read talks about how spicy the red sauce is, I am starting to wonder if maybe they forgot a couple of ingredients on this day or something.  All the tacos are served on doubled up soft corn tortillas.  After hubby finished his first chicken taco, he had a beef and promptly agreed with me that he thought the beef was just okay.

Chicken with green salsa



Next I tried the chicken taco and could understand what hubby had been excited about.  This one was darn good.  The chicken was lightly seasoned and cut into cubes; there was more of the cilantro/onion mix and a wonderful green salsa that had so much more flavor than the red.  We regretted not getting one of the steak tacos with green to see if that would have changed our opinion of it.  The chicken ones were good enough that I can see why people crave them. 



Pork tacos


So, since it seemed like maybe it was an off day with the red salsa, I decided to do a second trip before finalizing this review.  On the second trip, the choices were steak, pork or chicken teriyaki tacos.  Red salsa was your only choice on the pork or steak.  We tried them all.  The red salsa definitely had a lot more flavor this time, which was interesting because there was less of it on the taco than there was the first time we went. It was much spicier—but not so spicy that it was overwhelming.   I think between the steak and the pork though, the pork was definitely better.  It was much more flavorful and had some nice caramelized edges to it.  The chicken teriyaki sounded intriguing, but it was my least favorite of all the tacos I have had from West Coast Tacos. The chicken tasted like it had been marinated a bit in teriyaki sauce, and had a slightly darker color to it than plain grilled chicken, but there was not a lot of teriyaki flavor to me.  And the taco was drizzled with what I assume was Sriracha, an Asian hot sauce.  I don’t know, those are not two flavors I would normally put together.  There also was none of the onion/cilantro mix, just a bit of green onion, and I missed it. I think the freshness of these flavors is one of my favorite parts of the tacos.  And the Sriracha made it so hot, that you couldn’t taste any other flavor nuances with the chicken.

Chicken Teriyaki & 2 Steak



I also know a lot of people have complained about the size of the tacos, and that they aren’t very filling, but I was pleasantly filled when I ate three full ones (the second time I didn’t finish the third one, the chicken teriyaki).  I tend to have a lighter appetite than most though, so I can understand the argument.  You can order them individually, but they are more expensive that way (generally they are 3 for $5 or $2 each).  I did see people ordering 4 to make a meal.

You have to be prepared to make do with wherever you are to eat them—in our case, the first time, this was on the truck of hubby’s car in a very hot parking lot.  The second time we took them home to eat them when the truck was located very near to our house.  I think I personally would choose the location somewhat carefully on any future visits and go somewhere where there might be somewhere to sit down (or to bring them home again).  I am not a fan of eating on the fly (or standing up for that matter), so this dulls a food experience for me, but what the hell, it’s coming out of a truck right?

West Coast Tacos

(various locations throughout the city, check twitter to find out where) @WestCoastTacos

http://thebestdamntacos.com/