MacNivens - Revisit

My son is late to Pokémon Go because he only just got a phone for Christmas, so the other day he asked to go downtown to collect some poke-stuff. We decided on Mass Ave but were sort of unsure about where. He sort of wanted fried chicken, so we debated The Eagle, but with it’s hour wait, we passed on that. We walked across the street and ate at MacNivens instead. I wasn’t sure that they served kids, but one side is family friendly.

Of course, you absolutely cannot go to MacNivens and not get the Scotch eggs ($7.50), and so we did. And they are delicious, as they always are. Scotch eggs, if you don’t know, are boiled eggs that are wrapped in sausage, lightly breaded and deep-fried. At MacNivens, they serve them with red pepper aioli. My son had never had them and he loved them as well. Also a good item to get at the end of the evening if you’ve been out hitting the bars.

My son ordered their burger. We warned him it was a bit different than what he was used to, but he wanted to try it anyway. He didn’t really like it, but hubby did (we’ve had it before). If you aren’t familiar, they make this huge ultra thin patty that you basically fold into quarters to fit on the bun. It is also marinated in Worchestershire sauce, which gives it a unique flavor and makes the meat quite tender even though obviously it is cooked through. My son had asked for an extra slice of cheese, which hubby thought was a nice addition when you folded it all up.

It worked out well though because hubby got the fish and chips ($12.50) and my son preferred them, so they just switched (hubby preferred the burger too). We thought the fish was a little disappointing though, the beer batter just didn’t get crunchy enough, it stayed kind of soft. Like I said, my son was fine with them though. The chips were very classic British chips, which I am not a huge fan of (the large flat steak fries type).

I had the Ahi tuna salad ($13.25). Many of you had recommended it to me in the past, and I finally got around to ordering it. So the tuna is pretty tasty. Much better quality than what you would think you would get in a Scottish pub right? The greens underneath were dressed with balsamic, which I found just a weird combo with the tuna. The tuna comes with fried wontons, avocado and a Szechuan sauce on the side. So it seems like they are trying to go with an Asian flavor profile but mixing in balsamic. I don’t know, it just was weird to me. I think maybe a ginger dressing would be better or something. But I happily ate the tuna, wontons and avocado kind of on its own and then a few bites of the salad as well.

I really like the atmosphere of MacNivens. It’s a busy place, but we didn’t have to wait an hour to get a table (we didn’t have to wait at all). The servers are very friendly and the speed of service is just right. Not rushing you out, but not too slow either. So it turned out to be a good last minute choice. And I will never not get the Scotch eggs, although I still want to try the potato skins.

MacNiven’s

339 Massachusetts Ave

Indy 46204

317/632-SCOT

www.macnivens.com

MacNiven's

The other night when we were off to see Snow Patrol at the Egyptian Room, it only seemed appropriate to give MacNiven’s a try, given that the band resides in Scotland (even though I think they are all Irish, but whatever) and MacNiven’s is a Scottish bar.  Ok, really we just wanted to try the place, but seemed like a good tie in (and check this out, I even drank beer while I was there).

Because so often when I go to a place like this, that seems to have a loyal following, I often get yelled at after writing a review for not ordering the “right” thing.  While I still maintain that if it is on the menu, it should be good, I can appreciate that certain places have certain things that may excel above others.  And since with pubs it is sometimes hard to figure it out on your own, I have taken to asking around on twitter to see if there are certain items that many people mention specifically.

Well, I can assure you people feel strongly about MacNiven’s and the most popularly mentioned item that day when I took my random poll were the Scotch eggs ($7.50).  So naturally we had to order them (and I might not have otherwise).  If you aren’t familiar, Scotch eggs are boiled eggs that are covered in sausage, lightly breaded and deep fried.  And I will have to say, you guys were right.  These things were darn tasty.  First of all you know I love eggs in pretty much any format, so that was a plus (and cheers to the kitchen who obviously knows how to boil an egg properly which is a skill many do not have).  The sausage gave it a salty, slightly spicy kick with a wonderful crispy edge.  Also, the red pepper aioli was great with them.  We both commented about how much we liked it—and that it was a spicy red pepper and not a red bell pepper flavor which is neither of our favorite tastes.  Hubby was somewhat fanatical about making sure he just put the aioli on the egg part so as not to ruin the crispy edges of the sausage.  I good technique, but I was just dipping and eating.  Hubby ate a lot more Scotch eggs during our time in the UK and I asked him what he thought in comparison—he said he thought these were some of the best he’d had (other than ones he had at a fancy restaurant once that were actually wrapped in salmon which he will reminisce about for ages).

We also went with what was also recommended by several—the Angus burger ($10.25 with cheese).  So this is a unique take on a burger and we ended up deciding we quite liked it.  So it is this huge, super thin burger patty (I am talking the size of the plate) on a regular sized bun.  The meat is marinated in Worcestershire sauce and pepper and there is no ordering it anyway but pretty well done (says so right on the menu, which I appreciate, at least they are letting you know).  Because the meat is so thin (I mean I am talking like a thick crepe), I can’t imagine it could be cooked any other way.  And it didn’t matter because it had a ton of flavor because of the Worcestershire sauce.  We ordered cheese on ours (cheddar) and it was sort of silly that they only put one little square on that huge orb of meat, although once you folded it up on the bun (which is the only way to really eat it like a sandwich, by folding it into quarters), it was about the size of the end product.  I would ask for an extra slice or two next time though.  We just topped it with onions and it really didn’t need anything else—we alternated back and forth about whether we liked ketchup on it better or not—the Worcestershire giving it such a unique flavor on its own.  I can see how this might be a very cravable item, especially after a night of several drinks.

Ok, so I was going to go with the seared Ahi tuna that one of your recommended, but hubby balked and we ended up getting the Belhaven beer battered shrimp appetizer that none of you recommended (although someone did recommend the fish and chips made with the same batter) ($9.50).  Ok, ok, I shouldn’t have strayed, I should have listened.  These were not very good.  The shrimp was tough (and honestly didn’t taste that fresh—a little fishy) and the batter, while it had a nice beer flavor, wasn’t cooked enough and was too soft, quickly becoming mushy the longer they sat.  They were served with a couple of slices of lemon and some cocktail sauce.  I have to say, we had been having such good luck with everything up to this point, I had high hopes and was kind of disappointed.  But I guess I should have listened to you guys more.

Speaking of which, I noticed on the menu, and coming out of the kitchen, several orders of potato skins.  Really good potato skins (which are nearly impossible to find anymore) are a guilty pleasure of mine and I am wondering if any of you have had them and if they are fresh and if they are good.  Also, wondering if there are other gems on the menu we should try next time.  Because there will definitely be a next time.

MacNiven’s

339 Massachusetts Ave

Indy 46204

317/632-SCOT

www.macnivens.com

The Aristocrat

So I wrote the first part of this post last spring after going to the Aristocrat and for some reason never got around to posting it.  I think I decided that I would wait until I went again and tried one of their signature items before posting the review.  Well, the other night, hubby and I ended up here after being caught in a traffic jam in Broad Ripple that caused us to make a series of left turns to get out of it.  So I am finally getting both visits posted. 

So the first visit was a lunch visit from last spring when the BFF and I were at a loss trying to figure out a place to take the kids. And it was gorgeous and they have a nice patio, so it seemed ideal. I used to eat at this place very frequently in my college days when I came home from Bloomington because the BFF actually used to work here.  Heck, I had drinks here on my 21^st birthday.  But I haven’t really been back since we moved back to Indy, and now seemed like as good a time as any.

I had the BLT, California style (natch), which added avocado spread and pesto mayo ($9.49).  This was an enormous sandwich, mainly because there were three pieces of bread in there. Which I thought was sort of weird because is it not a club sandwich which notoriously has three slices of bread, and not a BLT? And there was a club on the menu too.  Now normally I would just pull out the extra slice, but all the gooey goodness of the avocado and pesto mayo were on the sides of the bread. So I went with it and ended up just eating half the sandwich because it was so big.   It wasn’t bad. The bacon was crispy and had some nice flavor.   The tomatoes were naturally not that good (sigh) and the lettuce was the proper amount.  The gooey spread made the sandwich interesting, but it was possibly just a little too gooey for me. And it didn’t have that pizzazz of something slightly tangy or sharp to really get it over the top.   BFF commented that the gooeyness of her wrap was way over the top, and she did not really enjoy it too much.

Having several choices of sides, I paid a little extra and got the pub salad which was baby spinach, sliced mushrooms, croutons and provolone cheese. It was described as spinach and romaine, but it was just spinach.  Which was fine with me.  I got the blue cheese dressing with it.  It was a pretty good little salad, but it was pretty much just as described.  BFF said this was one of the most popular items when she worked there, that people really liked this salad.  It was good, but not so good that I would be craving it.

The kids liked the place because they have a fairly extensive kids menu and they got to sit outside.  I had a couple of the kids’ fries and they were pretty good. The sort of seasoned ones you get at several places.  Nowhere near as good or Taste or Brugge, but considering it takes a lot for me to really be interested in fries, I did eat several. 

On our return for dinner, we started with the spinach artichoke dip ($7.99).  We needed something fast because hubby’s blood sugar was dropping.  We figured chips and dip would be fast and we were right.  It was pretty good for a spinach artichoke dip. The spinach appeared to be of the frozen variety, but there were lots of chunky bits of artichoke which I like (I love artichokes).  It was really chunky and veg heavy, and less cheesy than some, which I enjoyed, but it probably depends on your taste. They also served some salsa on the side.

For dinner, I went with the fish and chips ($10.99).  Several people said they were good here, and they were designated as one of the house specialties.  Hubby ordered the prime rib special.  They asked how he wanted it cooked and he said medium rare (which in general is how you see prime rib).  So here’s where things went wrong.  They brought out a piece of meat that was completely grey in color (wish I had thought to get a picture before we sent it back).  He cut into it and immediately told the server that there was no way this was medium rare.  Prime rib is generally not cooked like a steak.  When you cook prime rib, it is a roast—the outside has been caramelized by a heat source, but the surfaces of the meat that have been cut from the roast should be pink.  But apparently they must cook one roast rare and then warm it up to what people order.  Here’s the thing though, after she took it back, she came out and informed us the kitchen staff told her to go back out and tell hubby that he really wanted it rare, because they said it was cooked perfectly medium rare.  I don’t know, but that really rubbed us the wrong way.  A kitchen staff sending a server out to tell hubby he was wrong about how he wanted his meat cooked? I thought it was pretty unprofessional (not to mention they were wrong).  And even if hubby was wrong, I don’t think that was the way to handle to situation—if a customer tells you the steak is overcooked, cook it less. Don’t come out and accuse them of not knowing what they want.  Anyway, hubby just said nevermind and shared my fish and chips (there was more than enough). 

The fish was tender (cod) and had a fairly fresh taste, but the crust was more like a breading and not as much of a batter, which I how I prefer my fish and chips—of course this is again a matter of personal taste.  (I am thinking it is the same breading they use on their pork tenderloin sandwiches which hubby has had several times and really enjoyed).  To me, it fits pork tenderloin better than fish and chips.  When I think of fish and chips, I think of beer batter.  The chips were not the same fries as the ones I had had at lunch several months back and they were bland and not worth eating. Maybe they were trying to go with more of the traditional large chips you might see in an English pub. But I don't think these were the same ones we had at lunch a few months previously. I remember liking them better.

Regardless of the food though, after that service experience, I don’t think the Aristocrat will rank high on our list of places to which to make a return visit.  Whatever happened to treating a customer with respect? 

Aristocrat Pub

5212 N. College Ave

Indy, 46220

317/283-7388

www.aristocratpub.com