Root & Bone

Whenever there’s a new restaurant that highlights fried chicken on the menu,  you know I gotta try it. Made a reservation with the fam and headed over. This is apparently a third location of a restaurant started by Top Chef winners—the first two locations being in Miami and NYC.  The menu touts itself as “honest southern food.”

We started with some “Grandma Daisy’s Angel Biscuits” ($7). You get an attractive cutting board with two biscuits on it, honey chicken jus, sea salt and benne seeds (which are like artisanal sesame seeds as far as I could tell). I liked the biscuits—they have a crispy exterior and soft interior, but I did not care for the honey chicken jus—it was just too much like drinking sweet buillion. Give me some soft salty butter any day—or do what I did and eat them with the pimento cheese from the next dish. (They also have fried chicken biscuits as appetizers which might be a better option, but I did not try them).

The fried green tomato “BLTs” ($11) were probably the most disappointing dish of the evening for me. These were little stacks of fried green pickled tomato, a pig dollop of pimento cheese, tomato jam, and then a slice of pork belly bacon and some greens on top. The best part was the pimento cheese aspect of it as I mentioned. I enjoyed just eating it with the biscuits. The fried green tomato part didn’t really stay in the crust, I didn’t really care for the tomato jam (too sweet for me) and the bacon was so fatty it was hard to eat. This one would be a skip for me, although I would enjoy it if they sold a side of the pimento cheese. It was tasty.

At this point, we hadn’t loved anything, and were a little nervous. We ordered a bunch of things to share—of course as mentioned, we ordered a half portion of fried chicken ($19). When it came, based solely on appearances, I wasn’t sure, but it was really quite good. It’s not a thick breading, but it had nice flavor and the meat was exceptionally tender. They say it’s brined in sweet tea—didn’t taste tea per se, but it was very tender. Even the breast. 

We also ordered the shrimp and grits ($23). So this was an interesting and very tasty take on shrimp and grits. There was a nice pile of very creamy grits topped with just cooked shrimp (certainly nowhere near overcooked). There were pickled onions, some sweet corn, andouille sausage and beer jus on top.  Oh yeah and some soft broiled cherry tomatoes. I tell yeah, there was a lot of stuff going on, but it was good stuff. The tomatoes were the only part I wasn’t sure about, but mixed together with the other stuff, they added nice acid.

We also got the cast iron seared trout ($26). It was local red trout with a corn johnny cake, charred lemon, asparagus, and gribiche sauce—which is a sauce made with parsley, Dijon and boiled egg. I didn’t get a lot of the sauce on my bite (it was a little swish on the side of the plate), but the fish was cooked just perfectly and was well-seasoned. The johnny cake was kind of charred—I am assuming it wasn’t meant to be black. The rest of the plate was good.

Luckily, we had also ordered some sides anyway—the star of the two that we ordered was the gooey corn spoon bread ($8). So it was like a super soft corn bread—almost more like corn pudding topped with a huge dollop of cheddar and buttermilk cream. This was a table favorite for sure. The buckwheat cheddar waffles ($6), which sounded interesting, were a little less successful. They were two small very soft buckwheat waffles that had melted cheese on them and were served with bourbon maple syrup. This came across as a dessert with cheese on it. I expected the waffles to be less sweet than they were and then when you added the syrup, it really felt like dessert. Or breakfast. In fact, they feature these waffles in a dessert, which is probably a better way to eat them.

I liked the interior, and it was packed on a Sunday night, so I know some of you have been. What was your experience? 

Root & Bone

4601 N. College Ave

Indy 46205

317/602-8672

http://www.rootnboneindy.com/

Revisit: Road Trip: Fireside Inn - Enochsburg, IN

A couple weeks ago we met our Cincinnati friends back at Fireside Inn. I know I have written about this place before, but my love of fried chicken makes me need to remind you about it. Plus it was interesting to learn that there is a fried chicken trail in southern Indiana. Who knew? But Fireside Inn is one of our favorites in the area, and we’ve tried quite a few. 

We started with some fried pickles ($5.95) because these are some of the best I have ever had. They are thin and really vinegary pickles, just like you might get on your burger at an old-school burger place, with a really crunchy batter on the outside. They are clearly housemade—nothing overly uniform about these. They gave us some ranch dressing and we were good to go. These are the best crunchy fried items (besides the chicken of course) they have that I have tried. And I’ve had the gizzards, livers, onion rings and fries. The standard sides don’t seem to be made in house and the gizzards and livers just get a little dry. I will never go to Fireside Inn and not get the pickles.

The fried chicken is why you come though, and theirs is very good. We kept trying the other local places between Indy and Cincy, and we have all agreed this is our favorite. The chicken pieces are small, but generally I think smaller pieces stay juicier. A whole chicken here is $14.50 (hubby and I shared one and brought a couple pieces home). A half is $7.50. This chicken just ticks all the boxes. It’s juicy and tender and has a nice crispy and lightly seasoned crust. And they cook it to order so it is hot, hot, hot. I like mashed potatoes with my fried chicken the best, but they only offer them on certain days and it wasn’t the day we were there, so I just went with a baked potato ($2.45). Like I said the rest of the sides seem pretty food service, so I was happy with my choice. 

The atmosphere of this place is well, pretty bare and unchanged since maybe the late 60s. The bar has a better vibe, but only 4-5 tables, but it is where we always sit. The rest is a lot of fluorescent lighting and worn out fabrics. Our server was awesome though. She was hilarious and extremely efficient. She had the kind of personality that alone would make you come back. 

If you want a dive between here and Cincy with great fried chicken and pickles, this is your place. Preferably without the kids so you can sit in the bar. 

Fireside Inn

2174 County Line Road

Greensburg, IN 47240

812/934-4174

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fireside-Inn-Enochsburg/237529667427

Northside Social - Revisit

Hubby and I were having a hard time deciding where to eat the other day, but we wanted a nice sit-down place, not too far, locally owned, and where we could get in without a reservation.  So we settled on Northside Social. It had been awhile, and I have heard a few good things lately—and the last dinner I had was pretty good even though it was a long time ago. I like the low country bent of the menu—southern coastal food with a fair amount of Cajun type flavors. 

I appreciate the upscale interior of this place—particularly in Broad Ripple. Sadly, it was pretty empty when we got there—although it picked up somewhat while we were there. Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. 

We started with the mushroom tart ($13). It was a tart crust topped with a whole lot of sautéed (local) mushrooms, a big slab of Capriole Kentucky Tomme cheese, petals of pickled red pearl onions and crispy fried kale. This was truly delicious. Honestly, I couldn’t get over how good it was. The buttery tart with the rich, slightly pungent cheese, earthy mushrooms and kale and the perfect hit of acid with the onions was tremendous. I would get this every time.

For our main dishes, we got the fried chicken (shocker I know) ($23) and a special pasta dish with shrimp. The fried chicken was pickle brined and buttermilk marinated and had more of a corn meal sort of breading. It was served with pimento mac and cheese and bacon braised collard greens. I loved the very mild sour flavor from the pickle and buttermilk, the crust was unbelievably crisp—normally I don’t prefer a cornmeal crust, but this was really tasty. And we didn’t eat it all that night and it was almost better the next day. I was super impressed by how moist and tender all the chicken was—even the breast, which was very large—which I find to be notoriously dry usually. The mac and cheese was a large portion and extremely decadent with pimento cheese. The collard greens weren’t bad either, although compared to everything else, they weren’t as impressive. 

Sadly, the pasta was not as tasty as everything else for me, although it was still good. It was pasta with a light buttery pesto-type sauce with spring peas, pine nuts and some large shrimp. The shrimp were not overcooked, which was nice. Hubby liked it more than I did—or I guess I just preferred the other things. 

All in all, I was quite impressed with the food we had and the various flavor profiles in each dish. If you haven’t been in a while, you might want to check it out again. 

Northside Social

6525 N. College Ave

Indy.  46220

317/253-0111

www.northsidesocial.com 

Duke's Indy

You know as soon as I heard there was a new place specializing in fried chicken that it was going to go on the short list. It still took me longer than I wanted to get over there, but I finally managed it recently to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Duke’s is a honky-tonk bar on the south side of downtown. It’s out there in a kind of industrial area. The location just sort of adds to the ambiance though. They have live music (it started around 8:00) and a short menu on a chalkboard. Basically you can get a whole fried chicken, a half of a fried chicken, and then a choice of 3 sides. There’s a tater tot waffle, crispy brussels sprouts, and spicy mac and cheese. Or you can get “the whole damn thing” which is a whole chicken and one of each of the sides ($35). This is what we did. Plus an extra ½ chicken. 

Drink-wise, they specialize in some slushy alcoholic beverages, on this night it was slushy egg nog and slushy prickly pear margarita. It was pretty chilly out though, so hubby and I opted for beer and wine. Our server was friendly, although mostly just came around to bring food and take food orders, so we did a lot of our drinks directly at the bar.

The food was really pretty darn good. The chicken was HOT out of the kitchen though (temperature hot)—so hot you couldn’t really taste it at first. Once it cooled down a little bit though, it was really tasty. The crust wasn’t really thick, but it was seasoned really well—not like a lot of breading, but mostly seasoning directly on the skin. They served it with hot honey and their homemade hot sauce, but I didn’t really think it needed either. The dark meat especially was very tender—as usual I found the part of a breast I ate to be a bit dry, but I think that’s the nature of the beast oftentimes. And I like the dark meat best anyway. You also get more breading/seasoning to meat ratio with the thigh and leg, which adds to the taste.

The sides were very good. I really loved the tater tot waffle. It was a giant waffle made of, well, tater tots I am assuming, and man was it tasty. They put a big dollop of sour cream and butter in the middle and it is just awesome. I do have a weakness for tater tots though. The mac and cheese was popular the table—it is spicy though—made with hatch chilis. It was almost too spicy for me, but I still enjoyed eating some. The sauce is kind of runny too. But, it’s a nice sized portion. The Brussels sprouts are delicious too. I appreciate the relative healthiness of them—or maybe just the fact that there is a veggie offering. The crunchy brussels sprouts has chunks of apple in them, pickled red onion,  and pistachios. It’s a tasty addition to eat with the chicken. I’d say if I ranked them I would say tater tot waffle would be first, Brussels second and the mac and cheese third.

I’m not sure how the service is supposed to be, but if you are okay getting your own drinks at the bar, it’s not too bad. The chicken takes a little while, which I actually appreciate, because I assume it means they’re making it fresh. It’s a fun place with a totally different atmosphere than anywhere else in Indy, and I would happily go back. They’re also open for lunch, with actually a larger menu than dinner, but no fried chicken option (other than a fried chicken sandwich). There are several sandwiches and sides and I would be interested to try other than it is so far away.

Dukes Indy

2352 S. West Street

Indy 46225

317/643-6403

www.dukesindy.com 

Crispy Bird

You knew I was going to have to try Crispy Bird soon. I mean it’s fried chicken, which I love, and it’s Patachou, which I also like. I had been kind of waiting for the crowds to die down and we lucked into a table the other day for lunch on my birthday with the family. I like what they have done with the interior of the space, even if they did displace one of my favorite lunch places, Barking Dog, in order to make the space.

Anyhow, the staff was very friendly, and in the beginning, the service was very prompt and efficient. It’s a challenge for the servers in there too—it’s still a very small space with a lot of tables, so they have to do a bit of a dance to get to their tables. The menu is very appealing, and there were several things we wanted to try, but we settled on a few to share amongst the four of us.

To start with, we had an order of the biscuits ($6). You get two large biscuits in an order and they are served with whipped maple brown butter. Hmmm. I liked the way these biscuits looked, but they were really dense and kind of bland. I appreciated the soft butter (which was more like butter with some maple syrup alongside), but a little salt would balance this sweetness better. My daughter, who typically inhales just about any type of bread, didn’t finish her half. We left a fair amount.

Between the four of us, we had the thigh/leg combo ($12),  two orders of the breast ($14), and the fried chicken sandwich ($10). For sides we had the mac and cheese ($8) and the black-eyed peas ($8). Of the chicken dishes, I would say the sandwich was probably the best thing. It’s a boneless chicken thigh piece (which is one of my favorite pieces of fried chicken) on a bun topped with aioli, slaw and pickles. The chicken was good, and I loved the pickles. They had a great combo of mustard flavor and a teeny heat and a little sweet. They were great with the chicken. None of us were fans of the slaw, which was strangely soft and lacking much flavor. The leg on the leg thigh combo was my next favorite piece because the meat was tender and it was easy to get the crispy skin with each bite. The thigh was not as meaty, and heavier on the crust. Also, my kids both ordered the breasts, which were dusted with salt, which you could see on the chicken and plate. The thigh/leg combo had no such salt, and needed salt. When I asked for some they brought me a precious little dish with a couple of pinches of salt in it. I think it’s a little presumptuous to think no one will want salt or pepper on fried chicken, to the point that you don’t even offer shakers at all. I can see not putting them on the table, but…. Anyhow, the breasts were the weakest pieces, which isn’t overly surprising to me. Sadly, this chicken suffered the fate of many a fried chicken breast. They were huge, and pretty dry. The thing about this chicken is the crust is really tasty and crunchy (hence the name I guess), but the rest of the chicken is just ok. And maybe I just like my fried chicken salty, but much of it needed salt as well. The sandwich excelled because it had sauce and flavor right on it. The chicken was definitely best when eaten at the same time as one of those pickles.

As far as the sides, the black-eyed peas with the egg yolk confit, “potlikker emulsion” and fried greens was the star. It has nice flavor, as well as a hit of acid. And I liked the crunch of the fried kale on top. And the egg yolk certainly didn’t hurt. This was probably the best thing on the table the whole meal. We also had the mac and cheese after reading a lot about it. I love Gruyere, which is the cheese they use. But it is extremely rich. Extremely. Out of the two chunks served, we didn’t even finish one between three of us.  I liked a few bites of it with the chicken, but whoa. It’s not your traditional creamy take, it’s baked in a block and somewhat dry, but that didn’t bother me. Hubby didn’t care for it, but I enjoyed the flavor quite a bit. Just in small doses.

So the place was jammed, and the service overall was good. I waited quite awhile for a second glass of wine, which was not my server’s fault, as he explained he was just waiting for it to be poured. The bartender was making a ton of mixed drinks and it took quite awhile. Maybe a second bartender would help until business calms down a bit. Just a thought.

Overall, it was not bad. My general theme is that everything is very pretty there, but it’s a little skin deep. And is it a place I will wait in a line to eat? Ehh…probably not. But I will give it another try one of these days. So, tell me about your experiences.

Crispy Bird

115 East 49^th Street

Indy   46205

317/744-0000

www.crispy-bird.com 

salt

Mississippi Belle - Revisit

Quick little update you guys. Don’t forget about Mississippi Belle—still probably some of the best fried chicken in town. The family had a craving the other day and we went and picked it up for dinner. I always just order when I get there, because they are so fast putting it together. 

My favorite pieces will always be thighs and legs, but they do a good job with the white meat as well. And if you ask for mashed potatoes and mac and cheese for four, they’ll give you enough for 7-8. I don’t know what it is about their mac and cheese, but it is so addicting. It’s simple, but has some pepper mixed in and just tastes really good.

I also ordered one side of sautéed cabbage because I like it (and no one else in my family does) and it is tasty too. It’s a vegetable, but it is nowhere near healthy from what I can tell. My family likes the cornbread muffins, although they aren’t my favorite. A little dry.

The chicken though—it’s really good. I’m am always amazed at how many people who are fried chicken afficianoadoes ask me about my favorite and have never been here. Just go—you’ll understand. And bring cash. They don’t take credit cards.

Mississippi Belle

2170 East 54^th Street

Indy 46220

317/466-0522

The Vanguard

The other day some friends went with hubby and me to The Vanguard for a dinner while our sons played tennis. I have been itching to try it ever since I heard the guys from Turf Catering designed the menu.  I also received a very nice email from the owner telling me I was the one who introduced him to the Turf Catering guys through my blog, so how cool is that? It’s a small world indeed.

The Vanguard is in the old Usual Suspects space in Broad Ripple, which I had never been to. I am not sure how much redecorating/remodeling they did for the switch, but I really like the interior of the Vanguard. It’s modern and comfortable—and there is a family side with several booths where you can bring your kids (good to know, as we will likely do this soon). It’s a bigger spot than I would have guessed and feels a lot more grown up than much of Broad Ripple.

We started with several appetizers (I love friends who like to order lots of stuff). We had the pimento cheese ($10), the Cajun shrimp ($13) and the roasted vegetable gnocchi ($13). Every single one of these was a winner. Truly, I loved them all. The pimento cheese plate came with a nice portion of the cheese (if you have had it at Turf, you know how good it is—one of my favorite versions in town). It also came with some toasted bread slices, smoked ham, and half of a boiled egg topped with pickled mustard seed. You guys, I loved this dish. The cheese is so good, and the ham tender and smoky (I think they smoke all their own stuff at Turf). And the combo of the egg with the mustard seed was perfect. The only thing I would change is to ask for a few extra slices of the bread because we ran out before we ran out of the toppings. I could easily make a meal out of this plate by myself, but it's also a really nice thing to share and a great mix of different tastes.

Hubby’s favorite was probably the Cajun shrimp, which was really delicious. It was two large pieces of grilled crostini topped with the shrimp, which is cooked in a spicy, buttery, garlic sauce. And get this, the shrimp wasn’t tough and overcooked. It was just right. And there was plenty to share around the table. Such a nice rich flavor to the sauce without being too much. 

The last appetizer that we shared was the roasted vegetable gnocchi. Wow, this one was great too. The gnocchi were lightly sautéed, so they were just a little brown and crisp on the edges, which is exactly how I like them. They were topped with peas, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and shallots. There was a great acidic kick from the tomatoes and the mushrooms were wonderful. I even liked the peas and I am sort of washy washy on peas sometimes. The dish was mixed in a brown butter sauce, which is something I wish you saw more of in Indy. Brown butter gives a nice earthy, nutty edge to a dish, while still maintaining richness from the butter, but without being over the top with cream or cheese. Brown butter is a great sauce to use when you really want the ingredients to shine.

I could have walked away at this point of the meal and been happy and fairly full, but we ordered three of the main dishes as well. Hubby and I ordered the fried chicken (of course I did) ($16) and our friends ordered the short rib ($20) and the Mediterranean chicken ($17). The winner here was definitely the fried chicken, although nothing was bad. The fried chicken had a slight smoky flavor as well as a hint of pickle—maybe it was pickle brined? It was really good and cooked just right. The meat was tender and the skin was crisp. The pieces (there was a breast, wing, leg and thigh) were served with mashed potatoes and chicken pan gravy. All of it was good—and that gravy was delicious. I am not even usually a gravy person when I eat fried chicken, but I found myself dipping the bites in it—it had a nice salty kick, which just enhanced the chicken. 

I had a bite of our friends’ dishes and they were my least favorite of the evening, but not bad. The short rib was very smoky (maybe a bit much for me) and just a touch on the dry side. My friend who ordered the chicken doesn’t like chicken on the bone, and this was a seared boneless breast topped with tomatoes, garlic, olives and herbs and for me, this tasted more like something you might make yourself at home on a good night. They also have a butter-smoked chicken (on the bone) that sounds more interesting to me if you’re not in the mood for fried and don’t mind eating off the bone.

All in all, I can safely say that this is certainly one of the best new places to open in Broad Ripple in ages, and is likely one of the best places for food in Broad Ripple right now period. I could easily and happily make a meal of appetizers (there were several more I would like to try) and would love to try that butter-smoked chicken, if I can pull myself away from the fried chicken. We will certainly be taking the kids as well, as my son loves fried chicken the way I do, and my daughter is a gnocchi fanatic. If you haven’t been here yet, you should go. And why this place isn’t getting more press, well, that’s Indy for you.

The Vanguard

6319 Guilford Ave

Indy  46220

317/254-1147

www.vanguardindy.com 

Joella's Hot Chicken

I met a friend at Joella’s the other day for lunch. Man, people in this town certainly like a new place! The line at lunchtime was literally out the door of the restaurant. My friend was running late though so I went ahead and got in line. The line moved pretty fast, but still took 15-20 minutes to get through. There was no problem at all getting a seat once you placed your order though s it seems to be pretty efficient as far as moving people through.

I had plenty of time to look over the menu. I settled on the “Pick a plate” with a quarter dark meat chicken ($8.50 with one side included). I added a side for an extra $1.25. You also choose your heat level and I went with “Ella’s favorite,” which is “just a touch of heat.” For my sides, I had the kale salad (because I saw them making it on a tv feature and was intrigued) and the Parmesan garlic fries (+.75). My friend also had the quarter dark, a touch hotter, and got mac and cheese and green beans.

I liked the chicken. It was very tender and had a nice slightly spicy flavor (I ordered it that way so I was pleased with it). I am still unsure whether I prefer my chicken to be spicy due to a sauce on the chicken, or because of seasoning in the breading, but that is clearly a personal preference. I was impressed that the skin remained pretty crunchy despite the sauce.  The pieces were a bit on the small side, although someone else’s plate of wings was huge. Maybe that would be the way to go, even though I generally prefer dark meat. Loved the pickles served with the chicken, and you can order extra for .35 (I did). I would be intrigued to try some of the sandwiches as well. They have some nice options (chicken and pimento cheese perhaps?)

I enjoyed the fries as well—they had a rosemary and Parmesan seasoning and I thought that was tasty. They were thin and quite crisp, which is how I like them. I didn’t care for the kale salad as much as I hoped, as it had more of a sweet taste because of the abundance of currants that were in it. I had seen them make it with a lemon juice dressing and was hoping for a bit more acid. Also, it ends up more like the texture of greens (kind of mushy) rather than a salad. I think my favorite were probably the fries and the mac and cheese. The mac was pretty straightforward but hit the spot with the chicken. The green beans were fine, but had that kind of mushy cafeteria texture. 

All in all, I would try it again with some adjustments. I’d maybe add a third piece of chicken or get a sandwich. I’d probably stick with fries or mac and cheese. Also, I will wait until the hype dies down a bit, because I’m not that patient about waiting in line. It’s solid, and a nice addition to that area of town that doesn’t have a ton of options, but I’m not sure it makes me want to wait that long in line.

Joella’s Hot Chicken

4715 East 96^th Street

Indy  46240

317/663-8880

https://www.joellashotchicken.com/

Marsh fried chicken

Another quick one (sorry life is pretty busy these days!). So you know I have this thing for fried chicken right? Well recently I heard from a couple different sources that Marsh Supermarkets had changed their fried chicken recipe and that it was good. Of course I was instantly intrigued. I’m not generally a grocery store fried chicken connoisseur, but I was certainly excited to try it.

And you know what? It was really good. Even though it had clearly been cooked earlier, it still remained amazingly crispy on the outside—that breading is big and has a great crunch factor. The meat inside (I ate all thighs, love that you can choose exactly the pieces you want) was super tender as well, which again was a little surprising since it had been sitting for a bit. If I were going to change anything about it, I might add a little more spice, but I’m kind of a spicy fried chicken girl. Other than that, the execution was pretty spot on.

My family has become a bit snobby about fried chicken, but everyone was onboard with this one. And I am going to figure out how to get it freshly cooked and I bet it will be a total knockout. I’m assuming if I am willing to wait, I can make this happen. I am going to find out.

Let me know if you have tried it (or if you do based on this). Would love to hear about it.

Marsh Supermarkets

(Various locations)

Indy, IN

1-800-382-8798

www.marsh.net 

Zeke's Hot Chicken

You know me and fried chicken, so when a friend asked me to try Zeke’s, I was all for it. They advertise as serving “Nashville hot” chicken. This place used to be a hot dog place—and interestingly, it must be owned by the same people because the Zacky’s signage is still up inside and you can still get hot dogs as well as some other sandwiches like a pork tenderloin and Italian beef. I do think that being a fried chicken place is more appealing than a hot dog place, but you knew I would think that.

We were there to try the chicken though so that’s what we did. A two-piece meal with two sides ran about $9-10. I got the dark meat combo. Because I don’t love my chicken sauced in the Nashville hot chicken way (because it gets kind of soggy) I ordered the southern style, which she told me still have a fair amount of seasoning. She was right—although it wasn’t hot, there was a nice peppery edge to the coating. They were making it fresh as well, which I appreciated and it came out smoking hot. The inside was tender and juicy as well. Overall, I would say it was pretty decent chicken. Interestingly, my friend ordered the hot version, and it was actually a dry rub of seasoning on the chicken instead of a hot sauce type of thing. Honestly, it was sort of like they just sprinkled the spice mix on top after it came out of the fryer. Now, this obviously solves the problem of getting the skin soggy, but I am not sure if I liked this better regardless (I had a bite). You kind of inhaled all that seasoning as you ate it, which is kind of weird and it made it taste a bit dry. 

The sides were ok, the mac and cheese was the best one.  Nice and cheesy, although needed some salt and pepper. Greens weren’t bad, but didn’t really stand out. Potato salad was pretty bland. I’m not really sure why I keep ordering potato salad everywhere—I guess I am an eternal optimist because I just keep hoping, but rarely am I excited. But they are making a good effort to do something fresh and unique in Carmel, in an area totally full of chains and I appreciate that.

The best thing about the place actually is the staff. They are super friendly and extremely enthusiastic about the food. They are happy to answer all your questions and make suggestions. It’s nice to see.

So would I run in here before running into any of the fast food joints around it if I were in the neighborhood? Absolutely. It is worth a stop for a quick lunch. Would I go out of my way to go to Carmel to get it? Probably not.

I have not really heard anyone talking about this one though—surely some of you guys have been here. Tell me what you thought.

Zeke’s Hot Chicken

1315 South Rangeline Road

Carmel, IN 46032

317/848-5088

www.zekeshotchicken.com 

The Eagle

I have been wanting to go to The Eagle for a while—in fact I even tried to go once in Cincinnati, but got shut out by a long wait. I have been waiting for the crowds to thin a bit here, and a good opportunity to take my son, who loves fried chicken, so a recent Wednesday evening after school was out was perfect. The weather was nice too and they have a nice patio area. It was full though so we ended up at an inside table instead. Most of their tables are communal tables—so prepare to sit pretty close to some strangers unless you have more than 6 in your party. 

We knew we wanted chicken and hubby and the son and I all prefer dark meat, so we ordered the 8 piece dark platter ($15) and we each picked a side. We had mac and cheese ($5), biscuits ($4) and fries ($4).  The chicken is pretty good—it has a decent flavor to the crust, which is more of a lightly breaded style of fried chicken, and the meat was pretty tender inside, but I can’t say it ranked super high on my list of favorite fried chicken. It had a greasy edge to it and the skin wasn’t as crisp as I would like it. I would happily eat it again, because it’s fried chicken, and it’s decent, but not my favorite. It’s obviously cooked in advance and served when ordered because all our food came out in probably less than 5 minutes. Which is nice I guess if you’re in a hurry, but it makes you question how fresh everything really is. They give you a side of hot honey to put on the chicken. I tried it, but I find I really don’t like anything that contributes to robbing the crispiness of the skin. It tasted pretty much like hot sauce mixed with honey, and it certainly spices up the flavor of the chicken, but personally I would rather the flavor be worked into the breading so I can get my spicy kick without losing my crispy skin.

As for the sides, the mac and cheese was the star out of what we had. It was very rich and made with actual fresh cheese, including some extra that was on top. I liked the crunchy, buttery breadcrumbs on top as well—I like a texture variation with my mac and cheese and this one delivered. This would be a side I would order again. The fries were just okay. They are clearly standard foodservice fries that are being seasoned to make them different (a lot of pepper). They weren’t very fresh tasting or hot—like they had been sitting for a couple of minutes.  I did really like the slightly spicy aioli that came along with them. If the fries had been super hot, this would have been a nice combo.

The biscuits were fine, nothing really exciting about them in my opinion. Quite honestly, I would have gone with the spoon bread, but my son requires biscuits with his fried chicken and there can be no compromise (and like I said, we each got to choose one).  They were a little dry. I liked the soft whipped butter though.

It’s a busy place with a fun vibe—there were people all over and I can imagine the patio being a lively place to eat. The employees are very friendly and the service is certainly fast if you’re looking for a quick place to grab a bite before a concert, as the people next to us were. (I think they were in and out in less than 30 minutes).

I would love to hear what your favorite sides are, as I was only impressed by the mac and cheese and would like to try other things if we return.

The Eagle

310 Massachusetts Ave

Indy  46204

317/929-1799

http://theeagleotr.com/