SoBro Café - Revisit

Wow, it’s been ages since I have been to SoBro Café. It was my Dad’s birthday and he wanted to go somewhere new (for him) and in Broad Ripple so I figured I would take them to SoBro.

We started with an order of hummus and pita ($7.99). I like hummus a lot and had never had it there—it was a spicy version—it tasted like it had a bit of extra paprika and tahini in it. It was a little dryer than some hummus can be though—there is just a lot of variation in consistency in hummus, so it sort of depends on how you like it. There was some toasted pita as well. I enjoyed it and the slight kick it had.

We ordered the hummus because I convinced my Dad that the mushroom pannekoeken ($6.99) was too small to be an entire lunch (from past experience and it even says so on the menu). I think they are making them bigger these days though, because I think it is just fine for a light lunch now. I had a bite and it is a tasty little pancake filled with Swiss cheese, corn, and sautéed mushrooms and topped with tomatoes, avocado dices, and sprouts. I like this dish, because it has some richness from the cheese and mushrooms but feels somewhat healthy at the same time. Plus, there’s avocado, so you know I’m going to like that.

I had the sunrise wrap ($12.49 with avocado added). I like a good egg wrap and they do a good job with this. It is stuffed with scrambled eggs, Smoking Goose ham, cheddar, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, and garlic aioli (I held the peppers, although there still seemed to be a couple in there). It was nice and gooey, which is how a wrap like this should be. The eggs were cooked well and were plentiful. I also liked that the wrap itself was a bit crisp on the edges—like it had been lightly grilled. It also wasn’t overly thick and doughy—something I don’t love in a wrap.

My mom had the chicken salad sandwich ($9.99). Their chicken salad has cranberries, pecans and gorgonzola cheese in it. So if you have been following me, you know I hate nuts and fruit in my chicken salad, but I love blue cheese in nearly anything. I tried just a small bite and it was not bad considering. My mom seemed to enjoy it.

It was a rare nice day so we sat outside. I appreciate the outside seating but there is a ton of traffic noise out there because you are really close to the road (most used set of BlueIndy cars I have seen to date). And the chairs are strangely uncomfortable. Service outside gets a little iffy too just because the servers are running in and out—if you’re in a hurry I would recommend staying inside. But it’s a nice local place with a pretty wide-ranging menu including vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options if any of those are your things. You can also feel like you are eating lots of healthy ingredients, and let’s face it, we should all do more of that.

SoBro Café

653 East 52^nd Street

Indy 46205

317/920-8121

www.sobrocafe.com 

The Garden Table

I am always looking for new lunch places in my neck of the woods. I have a decent smattering of friends who meet me on various sides of town for lunch, and the BFF and I tend to stay in the Broad Ripple/Fashion Mall area. To be totally honest, we also tend to repeat a lot of the same places, so I was excited to see a new Broad Ripple possibility for us.

The Garden Table is a super cute place—you order at the counter and they bring your food to your table. There’s a giant menu over the bar as well as printed menus you can peruse at your leisure as well. They mainly focus on breakfast (“morning plates”) and lunch (“afternoon plates”)—and tend toward a sort of earthier crunchy vibe—lots of healthy options, and lots of vegetarian options. Of course, you probably could have guessed that from the name.

I was happy to see just enough meat on the menu—what they do have is generally local—like the Smoking Goose bacon on my BLT Smash ($10). It was a sandwich served on grainy bread (I’m thinking it’s Amelia’s). There was a layer of smashed avocado on the bottom layer of bread, topped with romaine lettuce, tomato, Sriracha aioli and lots of the aforementioned bacon. There was another piece of bread to put on top if you wanted, but I just went with the open face. It was a good sandwich. The proportions were a bit off for me—the bread was thick and fairly dense (it actually would have not been overly feasible to eat this sandwich as a sandwich for me—with both pieces of bred). The flavor of the bacon and the aioli were great together. I wished for a tad more avocado, but I usually do. The biggest letdown was the tomato—not so much because it wasn’t super ripe and tasty (it is February after all), but more because both halves of my sandwich were topped with a really thick end of the tomato—not a slice. A couple of very thin slices would have made the proportions just right as well as the acidic balance. As it was, I pulled most of it off. But even so, I liked the sandwich. The greens on the side were clearly dressed, but with what, I am not sure. There was no acid in it to me, and I just passed on them after my first bite.

I also had a cup of the chicken avocado soup, not really knowing what to expect. Would it be a creamy soup? A tortilla type soup? As it turned out, it was a broth-based soup and I enjoyed it. There were big chunks of fairly tender chicken as well as a lot of sliced avocado. It was unique and (after a little salt and pepper) a really tasty soup.

My BFF had the B. Ripp Breakfast Burrito ($10) which I had a bite of, and it was tasty too. It was filled with chorizo, queso fresco, scrambled egg, red onion and bell pepper. She chose the side of sweet potato Brussels sprouts hash (it comes with a side). The burrito is slightly smaller than many, and I appreciate this. So often, I either don’t finish these kinds of dishes or just feel so bloated after eating it. This one had a nice mix of spicy flavors inside. I would say there was slightly less egg than many have, and I liked that it was all mixed together so you got a bite of pretty much all of the ingredients each time. She raved about the hash. I didn’t get a chance to get a bite, but I can tell you she really liked it!

I think this is a nice addition to Broad Ripple for breakfast or lunch—a healthier option that isn’t just burgers and fried food. I’m intrigued to try some of the other items on the menu.

The Garden Table

908 East Westfield Blvd.

Indy  46220

317/737-2531

www.thegardentable.com