Bijou Restaurant - Lebanon

Before we had actually moved back to Indy, I had heard about this place from my sister—her boss at the time thought it was the best restaurant in the Indianapolis area. So I was intrigued to say the least. But the downside was it is in Lebanon which seemed so far away just for dinner. After mapquesting it, we realized, while distance-wise it was farther, time-wise, it was really about the same from our house as it is to go to some of the farther places downtown. And it was our anniversary, so it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a go (although our big anniversary celebration is coming up next week in Chicago, but that’s another post!) One note though, I probably would stick to going here on a Saturday night from Indy unless you go later, because I imagine traffic is pretty bad during rush hour.

To start with, it is chef owned and operated, which I think seems to make a restaurant more of a labor of love, and I tend to find that things come together better all around in these circumstances. I also love the homey, but upscale atmosphere of the interior of Bijou. The restaurant is set on the town square in downtown Lebanon, looking right onto the front of the courthouse. Sadly, this downtown looks a little forlorn, like so many small town downtowns, but the restaurant itself seems to be doing fine. It reminds me of a lot of the small family owned places we used to go to in Europe—it is a couple of store fronts wide, but with dark wood and white tablecloths. The place has been there awhile, and you can tell, but thankfully, wasn’t decorated in the 80s, if you know what I mean.

Anyhow, our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the food and the wines, although he was a bit over-worked I think. There were a few pauses in service that might have been just a little too long. But we were enjoying ourselves, and our wine, so we didn’t mind.

We each started with an appetizer, which we shared and they were both totally outstanding. Mine was the lobster feuilleté which was beautifully cooked (read perfectly tender) pieces of lobster meat (and a lot of it) topped with a piece of puff pastry. And there was actually a bit of the pastry underneath the meat as well. The lobster was all in a Champagne cream sauce. It was rich and decadent and really, just perfect.

Hubby ordered (and again we shared) the oysters Bijou which were wonderful, small, tender Blue Point oysters served in their shells with bacon and a Chardonnay cream sauce (and there was a super thin slice of bread underneath the oyster making it all stay together).These were outstanding as well. I had a hard time deciding which was better and went back and forth, but in the end I think I liked the lobster better, although I would quite happily get either one (or both!) again.

We also decided to split one of their salads because they sounded good. We settled on the spinach salad with onion and Roquefort and served with a tangy lemon vinaigrette. I appreciated that they split it for us and that each salad had the appropriate amount of toppings. This was a simple salad, but one of the best I have had in a while. The Roquefort was truly Roquefort. It was super high quality cheese and you could really taste it. Not those tasteless blue cheese crumbles you get a lot of places. This was proper cheese. Proper French cheese. And I loved the vinaigrette, and the fact that there was the exact right amount of it, even on a split salad. No obligatory “warm bacon vinaigrette” here. And it was delicious.

Oh, and wait, I almost forgot the bread. Oh my. Warm perfect French baguettes. Just when you thought it might be impossible to find. There they are. In Lebanon. And the butter was delicious too—had a bit of salt and was perfect with the bread. I’m serious. You may think bread and butter sounds obvious, but I think it is tough to find a decent bread service around here. Man, it was hard to not eat too much. And they were happy to refill as much as you wanted. Oh! And I almost forgot the little palate cleanser that was sent out. Really superb passionfruit sorbet. I love passionfruit and this was really good. I really could have had a bowl for dessert. But I appreciate the palate cleanser. I think this is the first Indiana restaurant in which I have been served one.

Ok, unfortunately, this is the point where things got a little disappointing. The entrées were just ok. I was torn between the walleye in a lemon cream sauce or the shrimp and crab Normandie. Based on the waiter’s recommendation (he did say they were both very good though), I tried the shrimp and crab Normandie. This dish was large shrimp curled around a bit of what was basically crab cake mixture and set into a cream sauce with a touch of chipotle. The shrimp were cooked pretty well, but the crab cake mixture was disappointing and the sauce was just too blah. The whole thing needed a shot of acid of some sort (lemon perhaps would be an obvious choice) to bump it out of its flat, purely rich flavor. I wished I would have ordered the fish. The other thing that annoyed me (and is a pet peeve of mine) is that while each entrée is served with its own starch (mine was couscous which was fine, but plain, although in a heart shape), every single entrée is served with the same vegetable of the day. I know, I am sure this is much easier for the restaurant, and I get that. But I would almost rather not have it, then to have a one-side fits all type of thing. In a restaurant as nice as this, if you can’t pair something special, then just don’t do it. In case you are wondering, the side dish was a ratatouille with tomatoes and eggplant and then some broccoli with cheese sauce. Not that I am opposed to any of these things on their own, just the pairing of the same thing with every dish. And they didn’t add anything to the protein.

Hubby had the duck with Grand Marnier demiglaze. He felt about the same way about his as I did about mine. His was almost too sweet and thus, also sort of one dimensional. He said a bit of salt helped a bit. Some of the duck was a bit overcooked (even though they told us the kitchen cooks it medium rare and that is also how hubby likes it.). It was locally sourced, and I appreciate that. The starch on his plate was a shredded potato casserole, which he said reminded him of his Grandma’s and was his favorite part of the meal. Same veg obviously.

So I really liked about 78% of this meal, and will certainly go back. I may very well order two appetizers the next time (possibly the two we had actually, they were so good, although there were some other good sounding appetizers as well) along with my own salad. Or I may try one of the red meat dishes; I bet they can pull of a pretty good steak. Oh, and lots of that bread. And next time, dessert. The dessert menu was very tempting. And based on the two truffles we got for our anniversary, I bet dessert will be good. This place is a little gem, not perfect, but really enjoyable nonetheless.

Bijou Restaurant
111 West Main Street
Lebanon, IN 46052
765/482-7090
http://www.bijourestaurant.net/

Puccini's

Just a quickie little review of our recent meal from Puccini’s. Puccini’s is another one of those pizza places that seems to do pretty well.. and it has several locations, including some outside Indiana.

Now the pizza we got, we have gotten before and really, is the sole reason I order from Puccini’s on occasion. Well, that and my kids LOVE their kid’s pastas.

So the pizza we get is called “twice baked” and has a regular pizza crust, sliced new potatoes, nice crispy bacon, smoked gouda cheese and green onions. And instead of a red sauce, it has a buttermilk ranch-type dressing. It is extremely rich, and a little decadent, but quite tasty nonetheless. The bacon is perfectly cooked (i.e. crispy) and really flavorful and I really like that the sauce is different. And the green onions add a little crunch to the texture that is nice. Really, though, if it was a regular pizza, I would find the crust to be unimpressive because it is pretty thick and doughy. But the way this pizza is, and the fact that the flavors are so atypical, makes you feel like you are eating an open faced sandwich or something. I like this pizza, but I wouldn’t order a traditional one here.

I have to say though, I really like that they offer several different pasta dishes on the kids menus and my kids love this place. We often get carry out of just the kids items when we have a babysitter. My daughter prefers the spinach/cheese ravioli with marinara. Her only complaint is that there are only 3 raviolis and she could clearly eat more. My son likes the fettucine alfredo and I have to say, they give you an enormous portion of that. He will eat it for several days. I included them in the pictures just to give you some idea.

You can eat at the restaurant, but seems a little sparse to me, and I think that most people must carry out, because there usually aren’t many people in there when I pick up. They do deliver as well though, but sometimes can be slow (although on the night we ordered we had it in less than 15 minutes!).

Puccini’s Smiling Teeth
Clearwater Crossing (and several locations)
Northwest corner of 82nd and Dean
Indy 46240
317-842-4028
www.puccinissmilingteeth.com

Euphoria minus a chef

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

Well, damn, it looks like one of my favorite chefs in the City, Brad Gates, has left Euphoria to pursue his own business in catering. I know, I for one, will miss him at Euphoria. Of course I wish him well in his endeavors and will have to come up with some events to have catered!

While Euphoria has been one of my favorite restaurants since I started blogging, it has always struggled a bit business-wise (from my purely unscientific observations) and this loss makes me wonder for its future. Hopefully, it will find its groove because it would be a shame to lose yet another of our few fine dining establishments. If you eat there from here on out, shoot me a line and let me know how it went. And of course, I am sure I will get back there myself one of these days to see what's up.

In the meantime, if you are interested in Brad Gates, you can find him on twitter @Gates_Catering.

When Eddie Met Salad

Things have been a bit hectic as of late, but I did manage to get out to lunch with the BFF. Based on some twitter recommendations we tried out When Eddie Met Salad. I do like a good salad. They also have soups, wraps and sandwiches.

So basically, this place reminds me of a salad taqueria. You get in a line, and order either one of their salads, or you can build your own (or you can order your sandwich, etc) and they assembly line make it in front of you, a la Subway. I ordered the Cobb Salad listed on their menu (minus the ham) and a cup of broccoli cheese soup. So basically the salad was their “house mix” of lettuces which is iceberg and romaine. They squirt some dressing on the leaves and then put the toppings on top. They do have a lot of choices of ingredients, and my salad had turkey, bacon, blue cheese, finely shredded cheddar, egg, mushrooms, diced red onion and avocado. I ordered the avocado ranch dressing.

Well, as for the toppings, I wasn’t overly impressed. None of them seemed overly high quality and the ones that were the highest price point items (blue cheese and avocado) were put on in skimpy portions. The little slivers of avocado on top were pretty lame I thought. But there were plenty of mushrooms and red onions (too much red onion really for a proper mix). The turkey was just regular lunch meat that they chopped up (the exact meat used on my friend’s sandwich) and the bacon was under cooked and had virtually no flavor.

Now, I realize that a Cobb is traditionally served this way, with the toppings on the top, but I still like a tossed salad. And all the salads at this place are served in the same manner. An improvement might be a “toss option” where they actually toss it for you. Because there isn’t enough room in the bowl to toss it yourself. I liked the dressing—a more interesting take on just your straight Ranch.

The concept behind this place isn’t bad—I like the idea of lots of different kinds of salads made to order—but the execution was lacking. They were fast, but the ingredients weren’t the best and the proportions were off. I do like that they offer 2 sizes of salads, small and regular, because I don’t need a huge portion. And the soup wasn’t bad. Not great, but not bad.

Also, there is a serious design flaw in the 96th street location. The line to order is right in the same spot where the only trash cans are to bus your trays, and the soda fountain to fill up your own drinks. Nothing like fighting people with their dirty dishes and empty cups just to get in line. I don’t know, maybe if I worked next door, I would maybe stop in here every once in awhile for a quick lunch, but probably not very often. When I asked my friend what her thoughts were, she told me, “if the place I really wanted to go was closed, I’d go to this place again.” So there ya go.

When Eddie Met Salad
3855 E. 96th Street (and several other locations)
Indy, 46240
317-574-1926
www.wheneddiemetsalad.com

Goose the Market- Revisit

It has been awhile since we have been to Goose the Market and we really liked it the first time. We always forget about it for lunch just because it isn’t quite downtown, and it isn’t quite not downtown ya know? So we generally are thinking of somewhere that is downtown or somewhere that isn’t when going through our choices.

Ever since the first time we went, we knew we needed to try the “Batali,” the sandwich that was named number one in an article in Bon Appetit about sandwich shops around the country. The sandwich itself is filled with spicy coppa, soppressata, capocolla (all various forms of cured meat thinly sliced), provolone, tomato preserves, hot giardinara, marinated red onion, mayo and romaine, all served on a chewy French baguette and toasted. You would think with all these things, this would be one of those sandwiches that you couldn’t fit into your mouth. However, at Goose, all the sandwiches, regardless of the number of toppings included, are approximately the same size, and that size is reasonable—I really can’t stand sandwiches that are too fat to eat. The flavors were great together and I can see why this sandwich was recognized by Bon Appetit. There is enough cheese to balance out all that meat, and the spiciness of the giardinara with the tang of the marinated red onions (I think these onions were my favorite part of the sandwich. I wonder if you can just get a side of those?) makes this sandwich truly something special. Sounded like a lot of cured meat to me, but I was totally wrong. And I am so happy I tried it in spite of my doubts.

We also shared the “Avery,” which was face bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. Sounds sort of simple (especially compared to the “Batali”), but it was also really good. The flavors were great, the tomatoes were great, and the mayo was great. I loved the flavor of the face bacon (which I am assuming is exactly that) except there was a bit too many fatty bits that were too chewy to eat, and some edge pieces that were too hard and chewy too. But the other pieces were delicious. It was also served on the same French baguette and toasted.

We shared some of the market salad which on this day was beluga lentils, smoked trout and Greek ricotta. There were teeny dices of red pepper and red onion in there as well. The flavor combination was pretty good, but I found the salad overall a little dry.

There are also so many other tempting items in this store, it is hard to leave with just your sandwiches. I didn’t, and picked up some amazing scallops while I was there (as well as several other things). Made them into a great ceviche for dinner and hubby and I had quite a good food day.

Damn! I just saw a new sandwich on the menu—the “Hawkins”—roasted lamb leg, olive tapenade and fennel carrot slaw (have I mentioned how much I like olives?). That sounds awesome. I am going to have to get one of those soon if it is still on the menu.

The thing about Goose is, they don’t have a lot of sandwich choices, but they change them frequently (with the exception of the “Goose” and the “Batali”—I reviewed the “Goose” in my last review.) But they are not your average sandwich. And let me tell you what, this place has a gift of putting the right (and not necessarily common) flavors together and making a tremendous product.

Goose the Market
2503 N. Delaware Street
Indy 46205
317/924-4944
http://www.goosethemarket.com/

Patties of Jamaica

“Welcome My Friend” is the sign that greets you in this little hole in the wall place near 52nd and Allisonville. We drive by it every time we go downtown and have always been intrigued to check it out. We finally did the other day for lunch.

The welcoming greeting continues as you are warmly welcomed in by each and every person in the place. I am not sure if it is an extended family running it, but that was the vibe it had—you could peek back into the kitchen and see several different generations of people making the patties and watching Sanford and Son (who even know that show was still on?).

Anyway, the food is, as the Brits would say, “cheap as chips” so we decided to try lots of stuff (and having no idea exactly what some of it was). I would stay the star of the show here (and for our meal) were the patties themselves. Basically, the Jamaican version of what many countries seem to have in some form or another—similar to Spanish empanadas and Cornish pasties, they are thin baked pastry pockets that aren’t as flaky as the above mentioned versions, and not stuffed as full. They are stuffed with ground beef seasoned with onions and spices. Fairly mild in flavor but tasty. They are served with a spicy picante type sauce that zips them up a bit. They are obviously handmade (they were doing it right in front of my eyes) and for a cheap (they are $1.15 each), fast lunch, this is a good alternative to fast food.

We also tried the curried goat stew which was exactly as it said—small pieces of meat in a yellow curry sauce with potatoes (rice is extra). Nothing spectacular in my mind, but tasted like someone’s Mom’s recipe. They also have a beef stew and chicken stew.

We also got the “hard dough bread” because we had no idea what this was, and the sweet bun. Turns out they are both full loaves of bread (the hard dough bread is like $1.25 so I wasn’t expecting that). They are freshly made, the hard dough was a soft white bread good for sopping up sauce, and the sweet bread (or "bun") was an intensely flavored spice cake with raisins throughout. Would probably be great with some vanilla ice cream and some caramel sauce on top.

One of the ladies working also recommended their jerk chicken which is described as “baked” chicken on the menu. She told me I should really try it and that you get a quarter chicken (white or dark) or wings. My guess is, she’s probably right, I should try it. So next time, I think I will get that, as well as one of the patties.

So if you are looking for fast, super cheap food, and a little love at the same time, check out this place. You will feel better after leaving. (You may want to carry out though, as there are only 2 little tables in the whole place).

Patties of Jamaica
5172 Allisonville Road
Indy 46205
317-253-4006

Oh Yumm - Lunch

I have written up Oh Yumm before for dinner—I have had mixed experiences there and have heard mixed reviews from other people. Although usually the food (tapas are the only thing I tend to order for dinner) is pretty good bistro faire, I have had some pretty bad service experiences before. I like the atmosphere of the place, an intimate casual bistro right on Illinois, but after the last experience I had, I haven’t rushed back. Recently I was in the area with a friend trying to figure out what to do for lunch and I thought this would be a good opportunity to give it another chance.

I do like their lunch menu—they offer their tapas, several salads and several sandwiches as well as random other things. One of the sandwiches that sounded really good was their version of a BLT made with fried green tomatoes. Because I had just made BLTs for dinner the night before, I didn’t get it, but my friend did. You get your choice of side with the sandwiches and she chose their pomme frites.
I had some of her sandwich though and it was really tasty. Served on grilled multi-grain bread with several cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes, rosemary bacon, Bibb lettuce and pesto aioli. It was really good and a nice variation on the classic BLT that is different from any other place around here. We shared the frites and it was they were nice as well. Not the best pomme frites around, but still really tasty. I liked whatever the “house seasoning” was which gave them a little extra than just the classic salt and parsley that is common. Dipped in gorgonzola dressing, how could you not like them?

I know, it is sorta sad that I mentioned my friend’s meal before mine, but I ordered the quiche and ended up with the same experience I usually have when I order quiche. It was fine, but nothing great. I like quiche, but it has been rare that I find one that blows me away. But every so often one sounds good-- and this one had asparagus, potato and bacon-- so I get it. But it was just ok. There really wasn’t a lot of any of those ingredients in the quiche, so really, you just tasted mostly the eggy part with an occasional bite with a little bit of one of the highlighted ingredients. I had a choice of soup or spinach salad to go with it, and both sounded good (the soup of the day was corn chowder), but since we were sitting outside on a hot day, I opted for the spinach salad with gorgonzola, candied walnuts, bacon and strawberries and served with a shagbark vinaigrette. It was pretty good too. I liked having the vinaigrette on the salad to balance out the rich eggy-ness of the quiche. Is there anywhere doing amazing quiche in Indy?

There were several items on the menu that are quite tempting to me for lunch, and different from all the typical lunch items. I really want to try the French potato salad and the roasted chicken wrap. And I really want one of those fried green tomato BLTs of my own.

Anyhow, happily, our hostess and server were both extremely pleasant and efficient which was my biggest problem last time. This, combined with the fact that the menu is interesting (and changes seasonally), and some of the food was quite good, leads me to believe I will give Oh Yumm another chance even if it will likely be for lunch again.

Oh Yumm! Bistro
5615 N. Illinois
Indy, 46208
317/251-5656
www.ohyummbistro.com

Peterson's

Funny thing about our meal at Peterson’s, while it was happening, hubby and I had a great time, and a great overall experience. Later, when we compared notes, we both agreed that the experience was great, but really only about half the food was. (At any restaurant, I hesitate to talk about the food too much during a meal, because I like to enjoy the experience even if the food isn’t the best.) But the ambiance of Peterson’s is warm, the tables quiet and the service extremely professional yet friendly. You never wanted for anything (well, maybe for a few better dishes, but you can’t blame the server for that.). The wine was all very good, and the pace appropriate. This was a great comparison to Adobo for me. While obviously the food (and price point) is totally different, really good service and a decent table can really make a meal great, even if some of the food is only fair.

And I have to apologize in advance because when I went to take some pictures, I realized my camera was out of battery power, which is actually a very typical problem for me—I am a person who is always on my cell phone saying, “I gotta go! My phone’s about to die!” Annoying I know. Anyhow, it is a bit of a shame really, because the food is quite lovely.

Hubby and I have been here a couple of times and had actually similar experiences to this one and we keep hoping that one of these times we’ll get a meal that is spot on. But maybe it just isn’t possible. The appetizers were great. They had a rock shrimp and lobster ravioli on the menu and I was intrigued by the fact that they were priced individually at $5 each. I am thinking, this is perfect for me as usually I find portions, particularly of pasta, to be too big for me. I asked the server how big they were, and they were about as big around as an orange. He said for two people, usually people ordered two of them. Well, hubby wanted something else, so I got one. I love this concept. You get the taste, enjoy the flavors, but don’t feel like you are full before you even get your main course. The ravioli was delightfully rich, filled with butter poached lobster, rock shrimp (how come you don’t see more rock shrimp around—it really does make a great filling for pasta) mascarpone and spinach in a creamy sauce. Really good, but I certainly had enough with one.

Hubby had one of Peterson’s classic appetizers, which has been on the menu as long as I have lived here, the tempura Maine crab lobster fingers. Delicious (and hot!) pieces of the shellfish tempura battered and fried with a honey dip, and Dijon dip and dusted with chipotle dust. I had one and they were very good. The Dijon was my favorite dip. The tempura was super crispy and light.

So at this point, we are really happy. And for my main dish, I ordered a steak because they use Prime steak (the menu says the top 2% of the beef in the US) and honestly, although I certainly have not eaten at all the steakhouses in Indy (that would take months, really), I have so far found their steaks to be the best in the City. The meat is very flavorful and cooked just perfectly. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that I added the truffle butter accompaniment with it—those were some nice pieces of black truffle in there! Hubby agrees with me about their steaks and really likes the ribeye but we had agreed to split my steak (a filet) and something different so we could branch out a bit. So this is where things start to go down a bit.

Hubby ordered the halibut cheeks which were pan seared and served with a lemon caper cream sauce. The seafood dishes come with a side, which in this case were a grilled Romano and lobster polenta cake and spinach. Basically, the fish was totally overcooked. Now, I have a hard time in Indy knowing whether this was unintentional, or whether the kitchen thinks you have to cook fish to death to satisfy the Midwestern palate. Because I have been to quite a few restaurants in Indy (including fine dining restaurants) where the fish is overcooked. A friend recently told me he likes fish to be a touch overcooked, so maybe this is what the kitchen is going for. But in a City where sushi seems to thrive as well, I don’t get it. If you can eat it raw, why can’t you eat it cooked slightly less than “to death?” Someone, please explain. The flavors of the sauce were nice and would have been a fine accompaniment to a properly cooked fish dish, but as it was, it was a disappointment.

The other problem I have with Peterson’s is the side dishes. As is standard with a steak place (why did this start anyway—just to make more money?), you don’t get any sides with your steak. In the past, we have ordered several of the potato dishes (all of them actually except the baked potato) and have always been disappointed. So this time (because I do like a bit of potato with my steak) I ordered the baked potato. It was fine, but I mean really, a baked potato is so boring (but yes, I know, my own fault.)

We also ordered the corn risotto with melted leeks. Now I couldn’t remember if I had had this before, hubby said we had and it wasn’t great, but I ordered it anyway. I should have listened. It wasn’t good. As much as the fish was overcooked, the risotto was undercooked. It was crunchy. Now I know there is disagreement about how “al dente” risotto should or shouldn’t be, but I still think risotto is meant to be a dish that is creamy. The whole point of cooking it they way you do—slowly and stirring a lot is to bring out all the starch and make it creamy. “Melted leeks” are an ingredient on a menu that will almost always lure me in. These were not overly soft though and right now in Indiana the corn part should kick butt. It all just didn’t come together. Corn risotto, you are off the list. And I'll remember next time.

Like I said though, even though we were maybe not having the best second half of our dinner, we had had some wine and were really enjoying ourselves and decided to go for dessert. It was caramel apple walnut bread pudding with caramel cream sauce and vanilla ice cream. You can almost always lure hubby with anything with caramel and apple in it, so we went for it. It was okay, but nothing amazing. We did share the dessert wine flight with it though which was most enjoyable, and in retrospect, I would just skip the dessert and do the wine for dessert. Sweet enough to satisfy that craving for sure.

So even though really only about half our food was really good, what was good was really good. And the overall experience makes it worthwhile for a repeat visit to Peterson’s. We shall return.

Peterson’s
7690 East 96th Street
Fishers, IN 46038
317-598-8863
http://www.petersonsrestaurant.com/

PS You have to be 21 to enter, so don’t try and bring the kids.

Workingman's Friend

One of the first places that was recommended to me when I first moved here 3 years ago was Workingman’s Friend. Described as a dive bar with really good burgers, I knew we had to get over there one of these days. Again, I thought for the longest time it was going to be really far away, but it turns out it is really just west of the zoo, which is a place I seem to frequent a lot with my kids (not that you could take your kids to this place—it is a bar, and you have to be 21 to walk through the door).

True, from the outside it looks pretty divey, but the inside was much brighter and more airy than I would have thought. Old school for sure, and there were people smoking in there for sure (mostly the staff actually) but more of a diner style looking place on the inside (with a big bar). I’m sure at night, it is a bit different, but when I was there, it was about half full of businessmen (only a couple of women including me) and that was pretty much it. The servers were super friendly and accommodating and service was quite speedy.

So they have various bar type items on the menu, but I have always heard about the burgers because they are the thin burgers with the crispy edges (which are the only kind I would normally order). I don’t like those ginormous burgers that you can’t fit into your mouth, so I rarely order a burger out, with an occasional exception at Steak ‘n Shake with the kids.

Anyhow, I ordered a single with cheese and pickles (I love pickles) and a side of fries. We had also heard that the onion rings were really good so hubby ordered those and we agreed to share (gotta try the French fries also though just to give you, dear readers, as much info as possible!). The burger was as described—slightly thicker than the Steak ‘n Shake variety, but still quite thin and with crispy edges all around. The onion rings are of the beer battered type, and were really good and crispy. The fries were the frozen type, medium size and a waste when you can get those onion rings. Next time I am getting my own order of rings, and I am eating them all (not saying they might not have been previously frozen, but so tasty, I didn’t care one way or another). (By the way, sorry about the photos, camera was dead and had to use the phone).




Hubby had a double and wished he had gotten a single because they also added a third piece of bread in between making the sandwich borderline too big (and bready). He agreed on the assessment of the rings, and we both know exactly what we will get the next time. And there will be a next time.

Other items I saw at tables did not look as good (although I did overhear another patron rave to the waitress about the chili). The tenderloin sandwich looked like everything I don’t like in a tenderloin. Super thin, breaded and dry. No, if you are going here, you need to go with the burger. Seriously. And the rings. Oh, and if you were asking hubby, the goblet of beer.

Workingman’s Friend
234 N. Belmont Ave
Indy 46222
317-636-2067

Adobo Grill - Revisit

Ok, ever since I wrote my last review of Adobo, I have wanted to go back simply because there was so much dispute over that post. I have to say, I haven’t been rushing back based on my last food experience though. But people told me I ordered the wrong things (which I still don’t think should be possible—if it is on the menu, it should be good) or that the classic stuff wasn’t any good (which I didn’t order the first time by the way) or whatever. But on the whole, it seemed like people really are defensive about it, so I figured at some point, I needed to go back.

Well, I chose devour downtown as that time for a couple of reasons. I figured they would put some of their specialties on the menu, and I figured I could try several things this way as well. I also liked that according to the online menu, you get 4 courses, because they include the guacamole as well as your choice of appetizer, and you get a margarita (well, you are supposed to—they charged me for mine until I reminded them it was supposed to be part of the deal).

The first thing I noticed how enthusiastic our server was. Maybe a little too enthusiastic for my taste, but maybe I’m just jaded. But when someone says “I’ll be back to see how great everything is!,” I find it annoying. Hubby and I joked all night, is it “crappy great,” “medium great” or “actually great?” While I also think the interior of the restaurant is pretty nice and feels modern, both times I have gone, I have been seated a little table right by the bar—and if you have a bunch of 4 tops available (or even better 2-tops), don’t seat people at those teeny tiny 2-tops right next to the bus station. The overall experience was not my idea of a nice night out.

I also started off slightly annoyed food-wise when I found out they technically aren’t including the guac as part of devour downtown unless 2 people order the menu. Hubby was going to order off the regular menu, so our server acted as though they wouldn’t include it. I went ahead and ordered it anyway, fearing that based on my last experience, that it might be the only good thing on the table. I wasn’t willing to take that chance. It turned out, what they ended up doing was charging us half price for it (I found out when I got the bill) which was fine, but if you are going to put it on the devour menu, you should be prepared to deliver it. Or make a half order. As usual, the guac was great—they do a really good job with that.

Based on comments from my last post, I also ordered my margarita on the rocks instead of “up” because I like mine to last a bit longer. However, it seemed like they just added more lime juice, making for a really tart drink. Which wouldn’t have been as bad, had it not been for the fact that for my next course I ordered the ceviche of the day. The ceviche was pretty good, a classic preparation with tilapia marinated in lime, avocado, tomato and onion (slightly different from how it was listed on the menu I think). Well, when I say “avocado” I think there was one piece of avocado in the whole dish. But luckily I still had my chunky guac and I just ate some of that with it. However, my very tart margarita was not really adding much to my lime-marinated fish. It was serious lime overload. At that point, I switched to wine.

As for my main, I could have ordered any of them. They all sounded good. I let the server guide me since apparently, I ordered all wrong last time, and he directed me to the pollo al Tamarindo. It was described as a grilled half chicken in a tamarind-chipotle glaze with salsa, tomatillo guacamole and charro beans. Now, this was one of the items that had been added specially for the devour menu, and was not one of their regular dishes. Probably a good thing, because it wasn’t very good. The chicken was really dry (see, this is why I don't usually order chicken out) and the sauce just too sticky sweet. I love tamarind, because it isn’t usually just pure sweet, but this dish just did not come together even with all the other sides. And I have to say, looking around at some other tables, and the amount of this dish that remained on plates in my vicinity, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Hubby, based on reader recommendations, ordered the fish tacos and they were infinitely better than my chicken. I liked the tenderness and crunch of the fish combined with all the flavors of the pickled cabbage and chipotle cream sauce. These were a far better choice and hubby really liked them as well.

For dessert I ordered the chocolate tamal, which is a gooey kind of chocolate cake that seemed to made with corn meal (hence the tamal aspect)—which made for an interesting, slightly gritty, texture. I couldn’t decide if I loved it, or it sort of freaked me out. The flavor of the chocolate was really good anyway, and it was served with vanilla ice cream.

So all in all, my experience was slightly better than the last, but I don’t know if there will be a third review here. And I still think the guacamole is the best thing going at this place. But c’mon, Adobo lovers, I know you have something to say, so let’s hear it!

Adobo Grill
110 East Washington Street
Indy, 46204
317-822-9990
http://www.adobogrill.com/

State Fair

I know, it's over, but I ran across these pictures I took at the fair (we didn't make it there til the last day). This is the one thing I have found that I love to eat at the fair. Overall, I find most of the food to be not very good (even in a trashy Fair kinda way). But these freshly fried veggies from Dr. Vegetable are really yummy. Broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms and onion rings with ranch dressing. You can get fried green tomatoes as a separate order, but I appreciate the mix. I wish they included a few of the tomatoes in the mix, but I guess you can't have everything.

What is the one thing you ALWAYS have at the Fair? I need some ideas for next year.

Aesop's Tables

****AESOP'S TABLES IS CLOSED****

Really struggling for something new and different for lunch, we ran down the list and decided to try Aesop’s Tables. We always see it when we are on Mass Ave, and today seemed like the day.

The first thing I noticed was the very friendly greeting we got upon entering—I appreciate a warm welcome in a restaurant. The second thing I noticed was how cold it was in there. It was a warm day, but man, it was freezing. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but one of my restaurant pet peeves, that seems to happen in this city more than any other I have been in, is the way so many places are always freezing cold—especially in the Summer. It can be 90 degrees out, but you’ll often find me carting a sweater around just in case. Unfortunately, I forgot this day so I just had to be cold. We did ask them to turn the ceiling fan directly over us off, which helped a little.

Anyway, I liked the fact that while this menu has a lot of Greek dishes on it, it also has several other regional dishes as well. It was only lunch, so I couldn’t go too crazy, but I wanted to try a few things, so I got the “Aesop’s dipping plate” as well as a cup of the lobster bisque which is noted as a house specialty as well. Hubby had a gyro.

Probably the best thing was the lobster bisque—it was very brightly colored though and very thick, thicker than any lobster bisque I have had, but it had a good flavor. And you could really taste the lobster. Hubby thought it was the best thing we had, and declared he would go back for it.

The dip plate was Tuscan bean dip, hommous, and a feta/sundried tomato spread. They were all just ok, all a bit dry for my taste. I don’t like my bean dips too runny, but I don’t like them so dry that you can’t really dip in them, you have to spread. You could see all the herbs in the Tuscan bean dip, but it still tasted sort of bland. The hommous tasted like humous, but was also sort of bland--maybe a bit more garlic? A bit more lemon? The feta/sundried tomato was interesting, but was so much stronger in flavor, it overpowered the others a bit. The plate was served with nicely warmed, tasty pita as well as French bread. I also ordered a few extra olives on the side. I really like eating olives with my hommous. Hell, I like eating olives just about any time really. I just really like olives.

Hubby thought the gyro was fine, nothing special, and not horrible. I did like that when you ordered your drink; they brought you a little carafe of extra at the same time so you certainly never ran out of your drink. The service was efficient but laid back.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad place, but not sure I’d be rushing back in. Tell me though; do you have any suggestions for good lunch places that I have maybe never heard of? I need some new places to add to the list.

Aesop’s Tables
600 East Mass Ave
Indy 46204
317-631-0055
http://www.aesopstables.biz/ (nice website by the way!)

Euphoria- Summer Devour Dowtown

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

Well, we took some friends who had never been to Euphoria for devour downtown (what? It’s a new season, and yes, I love this place). Anyway, I was interested to see what they would do for the devour downtown menu. I am really trying to eat off the $30 menus to see if restaurants are really showcasing their best. And because I want to see what I would think if I walked in for the first time specifically to try the cheaper menus.

I was glad to see that the Euphoria menu featured something besides steak (which I have seen on most of the menus) and highlighted one of the chef’s specialties, the scallops grenobloise. Another nice touch was that they were offering a wine pairing with each course for an additional $20.

Anyhow, I started with the Gruyere Salad which was red oak leaf and bibb lettuce with gruyere, croutons and a Dijon vinaigrette. I have had this salad before, and it is tasty. Properly dressed (actually tossed in the dressing) and had the cheese and croutons tossed in as well so they were nicely distributed. I kind of have a pet peeve with a lot of the restaurants in this city about salads. I hate when they give you these nice salads with great greens and then either drizzle a tiny bit of dressing on top or pile all the toppings on top in a bowl that is far too small to mix them up in. The best salads I have had are ones where you can stick your fork in, get a bite, and taste all the flavors at once. Even the dressing. This is a salad like that. Still fairly simple, but the flavors are all there in each bite.

Hubby had another classic standby, the steak tartare off the bar menu. It was, as usual, yummy and huge. Seriously, that is a lot of meat. Enough for 4 people I think. It looks so pretty all layered the way it is served, but hubby always promptly mixes it all together into a yummy mash. But I am glad to see this staying on the menu, as I haven’t had it anywhere else around here where it is any good (I can only think of one other place where I have even seen it on the menu).

I had the scallops for my main. They are always perfectly seared (yes, I have had them a few times) and they are served over fingerlings from the farmers market with green beans and garlic croutons and lemon caper butter. I love the totally zip of the lemon butter. You can actually tell there is lemon (and capers too) in there. It is tangy. And that’s how I like it. The croutons are nice with it too, although mine had absorbed a bit too much of the sauce and were a little soft. I have had it before when they are really crunchy and I like the juxtaposition of the softness of the scallops with the crunch of the croutons.

The other choice on the devour menu was a roasted chicken with maitake mushrooms, polenta and a black truffle-fines herbs jus. This was a tough decision for me because I have had this before as well and it is also really tasty. One of the few places I would actually consider ordering chicken out (I hardly ever do). I think the only other place I did it often was the Slow Club in San Francisco (man, they could cook some mean chicken). But back on topic, one of my dining companions did order the chicken and she and her husband both really enjoyed it.

Hubby had the sardine appetizer for his main dish. They were grilled whole sardines with sweet cherry tomatoes, arugula and lemon-thyme vinaigrette. This was probably the only let down of the evening. Hubby ate a whole lot of whole grilled sardines in Europe and generally really likes them. Unfortunately, these were a bit too small and the bone to meat ratio a little high. The flavors were good, but it was hard to get the meat off the bones easily.

I had the chocolate cake “cappuccino” for my dessert which was a warm molten chocolate cake served in a coffee mug with a mocha-brown sugar crème fraiche. It was pretty tasty and a unique way to serve it. But I have to say, the standout dessert was the rather large cheese board we ordered. We asked the chef to put together a nice plate (we generally like the stinkier ones) when we ordered our appetizers so that they cheese could come to room temperature. I applaud Euphoria for being the only place in town with such an extensive cheese menu. And now, it is expanding even further with the addition of new cheeses from a new purveyor. I can’t even begin to tell you all the ones we had, but suffice it to say, they were good. And gooey. My only gripe was that the crackers were too flavored and detracted a bit from the cheese flavor. I like mine plain. Or maybe a little sweet. So I asked for some bread, which they nicely toasted for me, and I was set. Oh! I totally forgot about the bread thing too. One of the things that Euphoria in its current and former incarnation has struggled with (in my opinion) is the bread service. But they have started baking their own bread, and it is really good. Nice and soft with a good crust and a slightly sweet edge. Kudos to that. Come to think of it, if they could slice it super thin and then toasted it, it would be amazing with the cheese.

Ok, one last little gripe…what happened to the pasta? I love the pasta at Euphoria (and the half orders) and I miss it. What I really wanted was an order of the papardelle with local corn, pancetta and Parmesan cream that came as a side with the one side seared beef. That sounds awesome.
I do appreciate the fact that almost every dish utilizes fresh items from local Indiana farmers--if you read through the menu you will see many local farms mentioned. I know Chef Gates hits the farmers market regularly to assure fresh produce on the menu. It really makes a difference.

Hey, I just noticed on the website they are extending the devour menu through Labor Day. Now’s the time. I tell you, for $30, this menu is a steal (I mean the scallops a la carte alone are $27!). And this is a devour downtown menu that is, in fact, showcasing what this kitchen is all about.

Euphoria
337 West 11th Street
Indy, 46202
317-955-2389
http://www.indycanal.com/ (glad to see they're working on their website...although it still doesn't fit on my screen right).