Sandra Rice and Noodle

After sitting and watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations in which he visited Vietnam the other night on the DVR, I declared that the next day we were trying one of the Vietnamese places that have been recommended to me. Up until he got to the part where they dined on bugs and songbirds, I wanted everything he ate. So we sort of flipped a coin between the two places on the list, and landed at Sandra Rice and Noodles on the east side.

This is one of those little strip mall restaurants, but I like the way people are finally figuring out how to make them feel a little warmer inside. Use some warm colors (here shades of brown) and skip the stark white walls. The woman who helped us (Sandra I presume?) was exceedingly friendly and helpful. When we got there (fairly early in the lunch hour) there was only one other table. By the time we left, the place was full and several people had come in for carry out.

We wanted to try several things, and the prices are pretty reasonable, so we did. We ordered the starter of egg rolls (which were more like the fried spring rolls, but usually in Vietnamese cuisine spring rolls are not fried, so maybe that is why they called them egg rolls). These were the thin crispy rolls filled with a bit of meat (pork and shrimp), glass noodles and green onions. They were served with the traditional slightly spicy Vietnamese sauce. These were nice—very crispy and quite plentiful for the $4 price tag.

We ordered two dishes to share, the lemongrass chicken lunch special (recommended by our server) and the beef Pho. The lemongrass chicken lunch special included a starter of a small bowl of soup and one soft spring roll (wrapped in rice paper). The soup was the chicken and rice soup, which was one of my favorite things to eat when I was pregnant with my daughter. It is a chicken broth based soup, with some chunks of veggies (carrot and celery) and super soft and fat pieces of rice in it. I think I enjoyed this soup maybe more than the Pho actually. It was tasty and comforting. The soft spring roll was nice too, although I think I prefer the crunchy ones for the variety in texture.
The main dish, the lemongrass chicken, unfortunately, was pretty disappointing, mainly because the chicken was so overcooked. It was tough and dry, and some pieces bordered on gristly. The flavor of the lemongrass sauce was nice—the sweet tangy flavor of the lemongrass with a nice underlying spicy kick that built slowly as you ate it, but it couldn’t make up for the chicken. And there wasn’t much else to this dish besides the rice (a little cilantro on top) so there was nothing to really distract from the chicken.

As for the Pho, I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like it that much. I keep looking for some that is really good and I generally have the same impression of it—it just isn’t exciting. Pho is a rice noodle soup with some sort of meat (we went with the rare beef version). Ours was made with beef broth and had a bit of scallions in it. You are served a plate alongside with various things to

spice it up—bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, jalapenos, lime, hoisin sauce and hot sauce. Even after adding all of these things, I found it just ho hum. And after awhile, you feel like you are just playing with your food when you keep adding more and more stuff. And the “rare” beef slices may have been slightly pink before going in the soup, but were not at all once they were in the hot broth. I think raw slices of beef may have been a better option. These pieces ended up quite tough by the time you ate them. Who knows, maybe I am just a lazy eater. I like food to be prepared for me, and seasoned by the chef I guess. But I know that isn’t how Pho works. I guess I just need to stop ordering it.

My other problem is that I was spoiled in San Francisco with several really good, high end Vietnamese places. Places with a heavy French influence. Maybe that is more my taste. Because Sandra Rice has been recommended by many readers, and people I trust, and I just didn’t get it. If you like this place, tell me what you had; maybe we are just ordering wrong. Because I was a little sad when one of the two Vietnamese places that were out there giving me hope was such a disappointment. Oh well, there’s always option B.

Sandra Rice and Noodles
10625 Pendleton Pike
Indy 46236
317/823-8323

Santorini Greek Kitchen

I want to start by saying this is the kind of place you walk into and you feel welcome. I really like the vibe of the place—a lot of families, including the one running the place, and lots of different kind of people from those still wearing work clothes to those clearly on a date, to a young couple who must have been headed to prom. It sort of warms my heart to see all these people, particularly families in an independently-owned restaurant. And I figured it was going to be busy when I called for a reservation and was given either 5:30 or 8:30 as my options. I was back in San Fran for a second. We actually negotiated to 6:00, as long as we promised to get out of there by 7:00, because they had another table coming in. But the very nice lady on the phone was concerned we would feel too rushed and she wanted us to enjoy our meal. She needn’t have worried about the timing; this place cranks the food out quickly. We had three courses, and could have easily fit in dessert in the slightly over an hour we were there.

We had a really hard time deciding on the appetizer because there were many things that sounded good from the saganaki (or flaming goat cheese) to the fried eggplant. But, we started with an order of the spanikopita which is one of my perennial favorites. Spanikopita is a little phyllo based appetizer which is stuffed with spinach and cheese. This was quite different from most I have had, in that it was much crispier, and was hollower in the middle. Hubby and I sat and discussed whether we liked it better or not as much as other spanikopita we have tasted. He decided he liked it more because it wasn’t as heavy. I really enjoyed it, but couldn’t say I liked it more. I would certainly happily eat it again, but I sort of like the even richer versions with more layers of phyllo and more filling. But it was very different, and it was sort of difficult to compare. This was also liberally sprinkled with feta (everything was here, they use feta like other places might use parsley) and served with some very tangy tzaziki which is a tangy yogurt cucumber dip. This is one of the few times I have been served spanikopita with something to dip in, and it was nice. The tzaziki had the requisite tangy flavor, but usually there is more green in it, this was pretty much pure white.

We were next served our salads which came with every entrée (I think you could also get soup if you preferred). It was a nice Greek salad with lettuce, olives, red onion, tomatoes and lots more feta. And it was tossed with a very very tangy vinaigrette. So tangy in fact (which is sort of shocking for me) that I added a little more olive oil to it (there is olive oil and vinegar on every table). We were also given a loaf of garlicky bread from the oven which was quite crispy (bordering on close to burnt actually) and tasty. Interestingly, our second loaf was soft and a little under done so they are obviously heating them all the time. Some get left in the over a little more than others. One right in the middle would have been ideal, but I loved the very garlicky flavor.

For my main, I had the leg of lamb. It was roasted leg of lamb stuffed with large slices of garlic. Now, leg of lamb is probably my favorite lamb dish, although when I cook it at home, I tend to still keep it on the medium rare side. This was very well done. Obviously slow roasted for a long time. The flavor was nice—it retained a really nice lamb flavor and all the garlic was very soft and really good with it. The sauce on it was also nice---clearly just a pure light broth made of the meat stock and garlic and no flavor to overpower the flavor of the meat. It was served with rice pilaf, tomato-ey green beans and Greek potatoes. The sides were just ok, probably the best one being the potatoes which had a lemon flavor that added that nice tart kick to the rich garlicky lamb when eaten together. But just because it was so cooked, and a little too chewy, I probably wouldn’t order it again, although I saw several other people ordering it, and it seemed to be very popular.

Hubby went with the gyros and really enjoyed them. He thought the gyro meat (which is slow roasted lamb and beef combined together and then cut into thin slices) was really good and after eating it understood while the menu offers an option of a side of the gyro meat to any entrée. He enjoyed the whole dish, although wished it hadn’t been so completely covered in the tzaziki because he liked the meat on its own so much.

So as we sat enjoying this meal on this spring day, we discussed the fact that we would certainly come back even if everything we had wasn’t amazing. The food was enjoyable, there are lots of things we would like to try, and the vibe was just a happy one. And with all those singe marks on the ceiling from the saganaki; we are certainly going to have to give it a try soon.

Santorini Greek Kitchen
1417 Prospect Street
Indy 46203
317/917-1117
www.greekkitchen.dine.com

Boogie Burger

A lot of you guys have recommended Boogie Burger to me. Well, the other day, the sun was shining, and since they don’t really have a lot of seating inside, but they have a nice patio area, it seemed like a great day for it. They share the patio attached to the Monkey’s Tail bar next door, so you can sit out there on a nice day (adults only if the bar is actually open). At lunch, at least the day I was there, it was not.

So obviously, this place is a burger joint, but they also have a few other things available- chicken sandwiches, hot dogs (from King David Dogs no less), a tuna burger and even a couple of veggie burgers. Since this was my first time, I figured I better go with a straight beef burger. However, as simple as that sounds, they have lots of various ways to have your burger—with bacon and a fried egg, blue cheese and even one that has pineapple.

I went with the ‘shroom burger which is a burger with grilled mushrooms and Swiss cheese and I also got the additional option of adding the fresh Parsley and garlic mix. It was good. And the extra mix made it very garlic-y which was fine with me, although others I came into contact with may not have thought the same thing. Probably didn’t help we also had the garlic fries, but I will get to those in a sec. So the burgers are 1/3 pound patties which is a decent size—not real small, but not so big that it turns into a monster to put in your mouth (although you can get doubles and triples). They are also char grilled, and that is one of their signature things.

So to go off on that tangent for a moment, here’s the deal with me and burgers. I have come to realize that I prefer fried burgers (as in on a griddle or frying pan type surface) better than char grilled. Yes, they are probably not as healthy, but if you are eating a burger, you aren’t going for health right? I think frying them keeps more of the juices (and fat) intact, where grilling them lets it all drip out and makes for a drier consistency. Of course, the grilling also adds a distinct flavor, but it isn’t enough for me to make up for the drier meat. This is not just true at Boogie Burger, I feel the same way with things I make at home. And this is not to say I do not like grilled food, throw a steak on the grill and I am totally into it, but in that case the juices get sealed in I guess, since it isn’t all ground up to start with. I also tend to like really thin burgers (think Steak ‘n Shake and Workingman’s Friend) that are slightly crispy on the edges. You aren’t getting really thin OR crispy edges when you are cooking on a grill.

Ok, with that being said, we found our burgers a little dry. The toppings on mine made up for this on the whole, all that gooey cheese and sautéed mushrooms gave enough moisture to let the sandwich still be quite enjoyable. Hubby had a burger with cheddar, bacon and deep fried onion rings. He liked it ok, but his thoughts sort of mirrored my own. And his wasn’t as gooey, so he felt like his was even drier. The buns are super soft, and I really liked them.
We also shared an order of the garlic fries (you really ought to share, they are enormous portions) and didn’t even finish them. I liked the garlic and parsley flavor on the fries, but without it, I am afraid they wouldn’t have been very special. They were pleasantly crispy, but again, with so many good fries in this town, they didn’t stand out.

I like the homey feel of the place and many of the combos to top your burger with sounded very intriguing (I could totally do bacon and egg) and the people who work there were exceptionally friendly and accommodating. I can totally see how a place like this would do a killing in the evening after the drinking has taken off in Broad Ripple. But hey, since we are talking burgers, what’s your fave and how come?

Boogie Burger
927 East Westfield Blvd
Indy, 46220
317/255-2450
www.boogieburger.com

Marco's - Lunch

Hubby and I were driving on Keystone looking for a particular fried chicken place the other day (didn’t have the exact address on us, so we weren’t sure where it was). We couldn’t find it this day, and we were hungry so we just decided to bag it and go to Marco’s. It is one of those places we drive by a lot and have wondered about, and I didn’t even know they were open for lunch. Great patio, great day, we decided to give it a go.

The first thing I noticed was how crowded it was for lunch. Not full, but the patio was about half full, the restaurant was about half full, and even the bar was half full. It was a beautiful (if windy) day and we chose the patio. We were seated right next to a little fountain which I appreciated because it drown out a little of the busy traffic noise from 54th and Keystone.

We were promptly waited on by a very friendly and attentive server. Marco’s is an Italian place, but their lunch menu, while it includes several Italian dishes, mainly features regular soup , salad and sandwich lunch items. Honestly, the menu wasn’t overly exciting to me, but as we walked in hubby spied a pork tenderloin sandwich being served to another table and declared that is what he was getting. I had a hard time choosing just because nothing was really inspiring me, but I ended up going with a chicken and mozzarella Panini with tomatoes and avocado. Also, for my side, I had a cup of the creamy broccoli soup. I was assured it, as well as everything else there, was homemade.

The soup was pretty good. I liked it better than my sandwich actually. It was a creamy soup, but with several chunks of veggies including carrots and celery, and a nice broccoli flavor. It had a touch of cheese in it, so it was pretty rich, but just a cup of it hit the spot. I would order soup here again for sure.

My sandwich, on the other hand, was just mediocre. The chicken part of it was nice. It wasn’t too dried out, and even though it was a whole piece of lightly seasoned chicken breast, it was maybe pounded a bit, so it wasn’t too thick. The mozzarella was pretty good, it said fresh, so I was sort of expecting it to be a bit softer I guess. It just seemed like regular firm mozzarella (melted) to me. The avocado was mostly brown which was a bit of a turn off, and the tomatoes, as usual, were not ripe. The bread was nicely toasted in the Panini press, but all in all, I would not get this sandwich again based on this experience.

Hubby had the pork tenderloin sandwich which was much better than mine. It was the way we like them, not so thin that it is totally dried out and hanging over the bun. And the bun itself was perfect and the same size as the tenderloin (which was big). Just some mayo and onions on top and it was quite delicious. I had several bites of it, and it was certainly one of the better tenderloins I have had, and I would even think of ordering it should we return.

So would I go back to Marco’s? Well it is certainly on the radar now, and I know hubby is going to want to go back for another tenderloin.

Marco’s
2380 East 54th Street
Indy 46220
317/251-7000

R Bistro - Revisit

It has been awhile since we have been to R Bistro, and we do usually really like this place. As I have mentioned before, it is just a matter of getting the right menu that we both want to go eat, and we go.

On this night, we shared the pan fried crab cake with Old Bay seasoning and creamy sauce and the mitzuna salad with poached egg and pancetta for our starters. Both were very good. I sort of have a bias against crab cakes because they are usually not very good, but this one was. Very crabby and seasoned nicely. The sauce was a tangy creamy sauce, with a touch of heat. And it was just one cake-properly sized for an appetizer in my opinion.

The salad was also very good. A nice amount of the mitzuna greens (similar to arugula with its peppery flavor, but a bit milder) topped with a slice of caramelized apple topped with a round of pan fried pancetta. And a perfectly poached egg, appropriately runny, right in the middle of the salad. This was a very well done salad. Maybe a tad underdressed, but with the runny center of the egg, it came together. The apple was a nice touch to give a slightly sweet flavor to the rich and salty bacon and egg flavor. I thought there was a little too much of the apple, and did not eat all of it, but just some small bites with the other items. The pancetta was perfectly crisp and the salad was also the right size. We enjoyed both items a lot, but probably thought the crab cake edged the salad out a tiny bit. (Ok, hubby thinks the crab cake edged it out a lot, but we disagree on this).

For my main, I had the Alaskan halibut with sweet potatoes, arugula and lime butter sauce. I will start by saying that the fish was perfectly cooked, and was not dry and all. The lime butter sauce was simple, but perfect for the fish. Buttery and tangy with the lime flavor and some lime zest. The arugula complimented it as well. I was not a big fan of the sweet potato aspect of the dish, it just didn’t seem to add anything and they didn’t really have a lot of flavor. And maybe because they seem sort of fall-ish to me, and I am so excited about spring foods, they just weren’t doing it for me. But the rest of the dish was quite nice. Not amazing, actually fairly simple, but well prepared and well seasoned.

Hubby had the quail and sausage braised with grapes on blue cheese and walnut polenta. Hubby loves his little birds, and he thought the quail was very well done. He did not however think the accompaniments added much to it, although he liked them all with the sausage. He said the quail could stand alone. The sausage he liked with the grapes and polenta, although he did not remember any blue cheese flavor there.

All in all, while it wasn’t our best R Bistro experience, it was a very nice meal. We had good service and good food on a beautiful spring day.

R Bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave
Indy 46202
317/423-0312
www.rbistro.com

On Time Seafood

When we lived in San Francisco, one of our favorite lunch routines was dim sum. Dim sum is sort of like Chinese tapas, or little plates. Our usual spot for dim sum is Shanghai Lil’s, which is quite good (see my previous review), but I had heard there were other places to go, so I wanted to see what else was out there. It appears these days, there is just one other place (please let me know if I am mistaken) to go, which is on the west side, called On Time seafood. So off we went.

It is another one of those restaurants in a somewhat neglected strip mall. I was surprised though by how nice the interior was relative to the outside. Very, very clean, and not your standard Chinese restaurant interior. Decent upholstered chairs and a row of booths along the walls. Also, one of the first things I noticed were the fish tanks in the back, with live fish, lobsters, and get this, Dungeness crab. Wow, it was hard not to say, “screw the dim sum, let’s get a crab!” But I didn’t. But I am going back for a crab very, very soon. This is the first place I have seen live Dungeness crab in Indy and I can’t wait to eat one. These are by far my favorite.

Anyway, the dim sum, overall, was very good as well. You are given a written menu to check off what you want, as well as a nice card with pictures of all the items. Nice touch, particularly since it appeared there was only one person working in the entire place that spoke English and the place was pretty crowded. Although many of the customers were also speaking Chinese, so maybe it isn’t that necessary.

We ordered the shrimp dumplings (I am just going to use the English names here for ease of typing), the spring rolls, pan fried chive cakes, the pan fried shrimp roll, and the fried sticky rice with mixed meat. The shrimp dumplings were very good. Just your basic dumpling wrapper with whole pieces of shrimp inside. Hubby and I were discussing why it is that some are good and some are not, because they seem pretty simple. But we have had some bad ones. However, these were really good.

The next thing I tried was the pan fried chive cakes. I think these may have been my favorite. The filling was just mainly chives, but the dumpling wrapper was pan fried and had nice crisp sides to it that had a wonderful flavor. There were some other things mixed in with the chive mixture which made it quite tasty. Sometimes I have had them and they taste just too much like grass. These were superb.

The spring rolls were fine. They gave us the crunch factor we needed to balance the soft dumplings. The fillings were just standard though and a couple of the pieces of pork inside were a little gristly for me. I certainly think the spring rolls at Shanghai Lil’s are better, but these do the job.

We also had the pan fried shrimp rolls which were really good. This was more of a chewy wrapper that had a bit of filling with a bit of shrimp in it. They were then lightly pan fried. So they had a bit of chewiness to them which was nice, as well as a bit of the crunch. We both really liked these as well and put them on the “would definitely order again” list. They weren’t super shrimpy, but had a nice and more unusual flavor.


We never actually got the shrimp and cilantro dumplings. We were twice brought out a set of dumplings, sent them back the first time, because they were clearly not shrimp and cilantro (some sort of meat in there). The second time they brought out the same thing, and we just decided to eat them anyway. They were pretty good, but I didn’t think they were as good as the other things. Hubby said he would order them again if he could figure out what they were. I think, based on a process of elimination, that they may have been the Chiu Chow dumplings which are stuffed with pork and various other ingredients. They were fairly apologetic about not being able to get the other dumplings for us, and declared they must be out of them.

The final thing we had was the fried sticky rice with mixed meat. Ok, this was not good. Or I should say, we did not like it at all. As soon as it was placed on the table, I wanted it removed just for the smell. But I bucked up and took a bite, and realized the taste was right in line with the smell. Now I am very sensitive to smell, but when hubby started physically moving away from it in the booth, I knew it wasn’t just me. I can’t tell you what was in it (mixed meat apparently) and I can’t tell you what the offensive ingredient was. But after a little research, I have seen a recipe discussing the Chinese sausage giving it its characteristic “aroma” so maybe that was it. But I really don’t know. It was sort of a fermented seafood-y scent to me I think. Anyway, the owner came by and asked us if we didn’t like it (because we had barely touched it and moved it to the edge of the table) and we said no. She promptly offered to cook us something else and to take it off our bill which I thought was very professional. So many places don’t do this unless you ask. And I wasn’t going to ask, because I thought, maybe it was just something that wasn’t my taste, but that other people might like. She also, without prompting, removed the shrimp and cilantro dumplings we never got from our bill, even though we did eat the ones we did get. She was extremely apologetic right up until the moment I walked out of the door which I thought was sort of refreshing.

Now, there’s no booze at this place (not even Chinese beer) so hubby has taken it off the evening meal potential list, but they have a nice dinner menu as well with those aforementioned crabs. We’re just going to have to go split one of those for lunch one of these days. And we will do dim sum there again as well for a change of pace. We will just stay far far away from that fried sticky rice.

On Time Seafood Restaurant
3623 Commerical Drive
Indy 46222
317/293-8888

Recess - Revisit

Wow. We had a really great meal the other night at Recess. It was funny because when I looked at the menu that day, I was sort of thinking, “eh, doesn’t seem that exciting.” But wow, everything came together beautifully and I really enjoyed this one much more than my first trip. I wasn’t going to write this one up (and thus, sorry, no pictures) because it wasn’t that long ago that I reviewed it, but after finishing this meal, I felt an obligation.

The first course was a salad of arugula with sliced fennel, shallots and julienned green apples, shaved parmesan with a walnut vinaigrette. There was half a little spring roll alongside too which was filled with, get this, avocado and bacon. Now this is my kind of spring roll. And the tanginess of the dressing and tartness of the apple was great with the richness and saltiness of the spring roll and the spicy kick from the fennel. The only thing I would have changed was making all the fennel pieces uniformly small; a few were so big that I didn’t eat them because it was just too peppery. But this was one of the best salads I have had in a long while. And I loved that everything was properly bite sized and dressed. And seriously, how can you go wrong with a spring roll stuffed with bacon and avocado? You can’t.

The next course was shrimp bisque with an asparagus cream and little pieces of those super skinny asparagus spears I love so much (have I mentioned lately how happy I am that it is spring?) Anyway, I love that this was just a small little portion of soup, not a huge bowl, because for whatever reason, I have a hard time eating a gigantic bowl of just about any soup. This was a nice portion and I ate every bite. The bisque had an amazing shellfish flavor and little bits of shrimp throughout. And a little dollop of the cream and the pieces of asparagus that were just the right amount of soft, but still with a bit of a firm bite to them. It was great.

The next, and main, course was a chicken dish. This is probably why when I saw the menu, was sort of thinking, “ho hum,” but wow. This was outstanding. So it was a chicken breast cutlet which was fairly thin, but not super thin, cooked in a wonderfully seasoned light breading, with all kinds of nice peppery flavor. It was served over a ragout type mix of Portobello mushrooms, wild ramps (which are similar to scallions, but with a bit more flavor) and little bits of the dark meat from the chicken in a soy jus. Seriously, this is some of the best chicken I have ever had. The cutlet was perfectly cooked, not dry in the least, and went perfectly with the other ingredients. It was appropriately hearty for early spring, on a cold night, but not overly so. The mushrooms were my favorite part. Little dices that were so flavorful, I got a little sad when I ate the last one. I cleaned yet another plate (and I am telling you this is unusual for me). Which brings me to my next point; I think Recess is serving the perfect portion sizes. This is what we should be eating America. Not two giant chicken breasts with twice as much starch on the side. But I digress.

For dessert, we had a sour cream panna cotta with dried cherries. Again, I was sort of thinking this didn’t seem that exciting, but it was also really good. The panna cotta had visible bit of vanilla bean in it, so you got that rich vanilla flavor combined with the slight tanginess of the sour cream. It was served with a little crispy wafer cookie that was also a really nice textural ingredient with the smooth panna cotta. And the cherries added a nice component as well. Again, I ate every bite.

So this is a perfect example to me of why what Greg Hardesty is doing at Recess is such a good thing. There’s a good chance I wouldn’t have ever ordered many of these things on a menu, but since you do not have a choice (and on this night there were no choices at all), you just relax and eat what you get. And it was wonderful.

We also had the wine pairing with the food and it was quite nice as well. I love wine, but I am not as knowledgeable as many foodies about it, and I love putting this decision into someone else’s hands. Especially someone who puts some real effort into it and does such a great job. The wines this night were a white Burgundy, a Chardonnay, and a Tempranillo. All were very nice with the food.

My only complaint of the evening was the fact that it was a fairly cold night outside and the restaurant was quite cold inside as well. Of course, this seems to be a common problem in Indy, but I get tired of wearing layers everywhere I go. And it detracts a bit from your meal when your teeth are nearly chattering. But other than that, I would say this was a nearly perfect meal, and I haven’t had one of those in quite a while.

Recess
4907 N. College
Indy 46205
317/925-7529
www.recessindy.com

Yuki Japanese and Thai

****ED NOTE: Yuki is no longer in business******



We had to be in Castleton the other day and were trying to figure out a place near or at the mall that wasn’t a chain. Now this is somewhat difficult in this area, but we settled on Yuki because you can’t get any closer to the mall (it is actually located at the main entrance) and hey, I could review it too.

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting too much from a mall restaurant, but we were fairly pleasantly surprised, at least with some of it. We shared a couple of things, a bento box and a specialty roll called the “Melting roll” which was actually really good. He promptly proclaimed it one of the best specialty rolls he has had in Indy.

This roll was enormous, and not cheap at $18, but it was quite interesting. At its center, it had a mix of crab (or “krab” as we call the imitation stuff), spicy mayo and crunch. That part was wrapped in seaweed, had the regular layer of rice, then on top a beautiful slice of avocado was covered with an amazing slice of white tuna which was then lightly singed with a kitchen torch. It was then topped with roe and little pieces of scallions and drizzled with more of the spicy mayo. Even I liked it. I really enjoyed the slight smokiness and warmth that the torching of the fish added. And the avocado was perfect and plentiful. Even with the fake crab, it was very tasty.

I had a bento box that came with chicken teriyaki and shrimp tempura as well as some California rolls and a couple of shrimp sui mai. The chicken was a little dry, but the sauce was nice—not too sweet. The tempura was really good, light and crunchy, some of the better tempura I have had in Indy. I also loved that in the mix of veggies included with the tempura, they had a piece of broccoli tempura. I love broccoli tempura and you rarely see it in Indy for some reason. In California, almost all tempura would come with at least a piece of broccoli in it. Not sure why no one does it here. And broccoli seems so Midwestern too. The other little bits were just okay, the sui mai was not bad (little shrimp and pork dumplings) and the California roll was just meh.


No, I would say the real standout was that fancy roll and the tempura. If I went back, I would just probably get an order of tempura or maybe try one of the Thai dishes (they also offer several Thai dishes). Pretty sure hubby would vote for this roll again too if they offer it. But hey, for a place literally in the mall, it is probably one of the best bets. And at least it is independent.

Yuki Sushi & Thai
6020 East 82nd Street, Suite 1406
Indy 46250
317-915-1338
(no website I could find)

Harry & Izzy's

Just as I always thought I should try St. Elmo’s because it is such an Indy legend, I have also had Harry & Izzy’s on the list as well. Harry & Izzy’s, in case you don’t know is also owned by the St. Elmo’s folks (Harry & Izzy were two of the former owners of St. Elmo’s). They offer several steaks as well as the “famous” St. Elmo’s shrimp cocktail (of which I am not a fan). Anyway, we finally got there the other night when the in-laws were in town. I like the fact that the menu is much more varied than that of St. Elmo’s, although this menu is so large it might be a little too varied. But they have a decent selection of seafood as well as steaks. There are also sandwiches, pizza and pasta and several different appetizers and sides.

We started with the spicy Asian shrimp which is rock shrimp, which is hand breaded and tossed in a chili aioli. First of all, this was a huge portion. More than enough for the 4 of us to share. Thank goodness we only ordered the one appetizer. They were really tasty though. The shrimp were quite tender (I think one of the great things about rock shrimp is they don’t seem to get tough as easily. The breading was pretty good, not so much crunchy because it was coated with the sauce, but it all went really well together. The chili aioli wasn’t too mayonnaise-y, had a little heat and more of a chili oil component than a mayo one. I would get them again.

When our server described the seafood entrée special, I was sold on the description. It was halibut lightly seasoned with cornmeal and served over a risotto with crab and asparagus. My mother-in-law ordered it as well. It was good, but not amazing I thought. And the portion was ridiculously large. But that is no real surprise I guess. The fish was maybe a tad overcooked, although not dried out or anything. The cornmeal crust was light and added a nice texture. The risotto was extremely rich but tasty. The king crab pieces that were in it were fairly plentiful, but a bit strange. The only word I can think of to describe them is “deflated.” It was almost like somehow the inside of the crab meat had been sucked out from the red outer skin. Tasted ok, just strange. The creamy butter sauce was very rich and could have benefitted from a bit of lemon or something to cut it a bit. We really should have shared the dish, as we both left at least half of our portions (well, we brought them home to the dog who thoroughly enjoyed it).

Now hubby and my father-in-law both ordered steaks. Clearly, this is the way to go here. Hubby ordered the ribeye, his favorite, and my father-in-law the filet. Hubby’s steak was perfectly cooked and I would say, based on the several bites I had, and his comments, probably one of the best steaks we have had in Indy. I guess all that St. Elmo’s experience is a good thing. When you get a steak like this and compare it to some we have had lately, you realize why you sometimes leave a place feeling a little underwhelmed. He had a side of the house made onion rings which were really good—sort of like thicker onion strings. But you could really tell they were made in house and they were really nice with the steak. I didn’t try the filet, but was told it was quite good as well, and based on my observation, it was also perfectly medium rare.

We all shared a dessert as well (which was certainly large enough for 4 of us in my opinion). We had the brownie with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and caramel sauce and candied pecans. I remember thinking the brownie itself was good, and how can you go wrong with ice cream and hot fudge and caramel really? But we were so stuffed, even between the four of us, we didn’t finish it.

Overall, I think I prefer Harry & Izzy’s over St. Elmo’s for a few reasons. I like the interior of the place better, not quite so old fashioned, and I like the service better. The staff is friendlier I think, and you certainly have more options as to what to order. Considering I don’t care for the St. Elmo’s shrimp cocktail, that is a plus for me. Either place, I would go with a steak, and the ones I have had at both places have been very good.

Harry & Izzy’s
153 South Illinois
Indy 46225
317/635-9594
http://www.harryandizzys.com/

Pizzology- Lunch

We decided to hit up Pizzology for a quick lunch the other day just to see if we still liked the pizza as much as we remembered. The short answer is yes—that crust still does it for me for sure. We shared the lunch special, which was a slightly smaller version of the Napoli pizza with a chopped salad and a drink for $7 and we also had a half order of the pasta carbonara.

Like I said, the crust is my favorite part of the pizza by far, it is perfectly thin and crisp yet a little chewy too. The Napoli comes with a tomato sauce (and not too much of it), fresh mozzarella and oregano. You could also add any extra ingredients for half the price listed on the menu. My guess is they use the Napoli as their lunch choice a lot because it is a great base for adding other things. I just went for it as is, to taste the restaurant’s combination of flavors. While it was simple, it was very good. And the generous amount of oregano added a nice flavor. And I like that the pizza isn’t over-topped, which would detract from that crust (although last time we had one that was maybe slightly under-topped, but that’s another story). I had to fight hubby to get my fair share of the pizza and I think I could easily eat a whole lunch pizza no problem.

The chopped salad (which came before the pizza) was really tasty too. This is the third type of salad I have had there and I think it was the best. (I have also had the grilled romaine and the spinach salad). The lettuce is chopped into nice bite sized pieces and served with chopped pieces of olives, roasted tomatoes, gorgonzola crumbles, prosciutto, onions, and sliced parmesan on top. The dressing was appropriately tangy (described as a citronette) and between the two of us, we certainly ate every bite (although it is appropriately sized for one person I think—which was what it is intended to be).

The pasta, I thought, was just okay. It was spaghetti with thick pieces of pancetta and more of the olives (both green and brown olives). I don’t think I have ever had olives in carbonara. Not that I mind, because I love olives, and they did add a zing of saltiness that was nice. But the sauce was just sort of runny and didn’t have a lot of eggy flavor, even with the pancetta. Carbonara I have had in the past has been a bit thicker I guess. It wasn’t bad. It was just okay. Hubby was disappointed because he liked the last pasta we had so much.

They are getting ready to open up their patio (they were working on it when we were there). It looks like it will be a great patio; it has huge garage door windows looking into it as well as being screened in, which is a nice added bonus in Indiana. I am wondering how much staffing up they are going to have to do. Our server told us it could seat an additional 50 customers which would what, double the size of the restaurant? Which is great for the fact that I have heard there can be a bit of a wait at dinner time, but I am wondering how the kitchen will handle it. Only time will tell I guess.

I tend to agree that Pizzology is serving some of the best pizza in town, and I think it is because of that crust. Lunch is a great option for a great deal and so far I have not seen a wait at lunch time.

Pizzology
13190 Hazel Dell Parkway
Carmel, IN 46033
317/844-2550
www.pizzologyindy.com

H2O Sushi

We drive by this place probably 6 times a week, and probably at least half of those times we have said, “We should really try this place.” And now that there is a new-ish chef, I thought, hey, what better time? And I have recently heard the previous owners have just recently reacquired the place as well. The exterior of this place and the fact that really the main entrance is really more the back door than the front is sort of weird, but once you get inside, the soothing, minimalist, modern interior calms you. The lighting is soft and the music nice.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, we are friendly with the server who waited on us the night we were there, because he has waited on us at several other locales, including L’explorateur and Euphoria (and even at Pizzology for a minute). It is also nice to know you are going to get great service from someone who knows about the food. So the chef at H2O, John Adams, is the previous sous chef from L’ex, and is quite young. I love that he is taking the primarily sushi menu and expanding it out. (Not being a huge fan of sushi rolls myself). He has added several hot appetizers as well as some hot entrees.

We started with the tuna tartar and a couple of oyster shooters for hubby. While hubby enjoyed the (small and good quality) oysters with a mignonette sauce, the real star of this course was the tartar. The tuna was outstanding in quality. It was marinated with soy, ginger, lemon and cilantro I believe, and served with wonton chips for dishing it up. It was really good. Even though when we first got it, it didn’t look that big, there is a lot of fish there and it is easily something to share, particularly with how rich and deep the flavors are.

Next as a little treat, we got a sampling of the chef’s charcuterie plate. Wow, this was outstanding. Everything on the plate was housemade and it was all really good, even the head cheese which I am normally not a huge fan of. Well, the platter consisted of the head cheese, a cured tuna, and a pork and chicken liver pate. There were beautiful accompaniments of giardiniera (lightly pickled veggies), caramelized cipollini onions, and pickled mustard seed. Seriously, it was all really really good. The slices of the chicken liver/pork pate were probably our favorite because hubby and I both love chicken liver. The giardiniera and the caramelized onions were delightful to cut the richness of the pate and head cheese. The giardiniera consisted of marinated onions, olives, jalapenos, and carrots. It wasn’t too spicy (although we are told can be varying in spiciness depending on how long it has been marinated). The whole plate was served with nice thin toasted and seasoned slices of baguette as well. I am telling you, this plate was a huge surprise from a sushi place. If they have it as a special, my recommendation is, get it. And it is certainly big enough for many people to share.

Next, we had the salmon carpaccio which was also really good. It was very thinly sliced raw salmon served with a lot of the traditional salmon accouterments, but in a new more refined way. There was a drizzle of a crème fraiche type sauce as well as a creamy green sauce which I believe was a bit of caper flavor. There were some capers on top as well as crispy blue potato chips. Salmon is not traditionally my favorite fish, but this dish made me love it.

Now it was at this point, where hubby said, “everything else could suck and I am coming back here to dinner tomorrow!” Unfortunately, I think he put a little jinx on the rest, because while it certainly didn’t suck, it wasn’t as good as the stuff at the beginning. We had also ordered one of the small warm entrees, the mussels and clams with sausage, blue potato, celery and tomato. Now the mussels were really good, small and tender and obviously fresh, and I loved the delicate but flavorful tomato broth they were served in. The potatoes didn’t really do anything to add and the clams were way too big for me (which to be fair were listed as Cherrystone clams). There was no way to eat the whole clam in one bite and there is just something wrong to me about cutting up a clam.

We also had a fluke cigar roll special which was a piece of fluke wrapped in a spring roll-type wrapper and fried, then rolled inside a sushi roll with some of the giardiniera. The flavors were unique but just wasn’t overly exciting to me, even though I really liked the giardiniera. Hubby agreed and he is more of a fan of sushi rolls than I am for sure.

We also had a dessert which was two spicy brownies served with crème anglaise and raspberries. They definitely had a little kick to them which is fun with a rich chocolately thing, but they were a bit dry.

One little gripe though unrelated to the food. Again, it's with the website. In this case, it looks pretty, but is horribly out of date. In fact, I don’t think it has changed since I started checking the menu more than a year ago. Please, please, with all the wonderful new menu items, get someone to update it every once in awhile.

But, I have to say, even with not being as wowed by the last few items of the evening, the first few items placed H20 up there as one of the better restaurants in Indy, at least in my mind. The chef is doing wonderful, creative things, and I was really impressed with that charcuterie plate. If he keeps up this new direction, they may need to add “Land” into their name somehow.


H2O Sushi
1912 Broad Ripple Avenue
Indy 46220
317/254-0677
http://www.h2osushibar.com/

Capital Grille- Revisit

At the request of my sister and her husband whose birthdays are a week apart, we took them to Capital Grille to celebrate. My sister had heard about the lobster mac and cheese and wanted to try it.

We had a very enthusiastic waiter who was extremely happy to see us all, and had quite a giddy manner about him. At least it seemed like he liked his job, which was good, but by the end of the evening, it was a tad grating on the nerves.

I think because it was a birthday, they brought us an amuse-bouche (I have never had one before at Capital Grille). It was half a shrimp with some marinated tomatoes. Honestly, I wasn’t overly impressed with it. Really just basic shrimp flavor. At least it wasn’t overcooked, but there was nothing really exciting about it. But there was also nothing “waking up the taste buds” about it either. We did enjoy the bread basket, particularly the onion bread. It was nice and soft with some soft cooked onions on the crust that were tasty.

Anyway, we decided to share a starter of the lobster and crab cakes which were not bad. I think everyone else liked them a bit more than I did, but then again, I rarely meet a crabcake type dish I really like. As they go, they weren’t bad. There were some nice hunks of lobster in there, although the crab was that typically stringy type you often see in crab cakes. The tarter-ish type sauce and salsa of corn and peppers were nice.

Hubby and I had already decided we would just split a simple steak and then get a salad and lots of sides. We split the spinach salad which was the traditional steakhouse spinach salad with mushrooms, red onions, boiled egg and bacon with a warm bacon vinaigrette. In my opinion, once it was split, it was the appropriate size for a salad. My sister and her hubby had the clam chowder and just thought it was ok. (I didn’t try it though)

Hubby and I split the filet. It was 10 ounces, and there is no petite option listed on the menu so I was really glad about that. No way would I be able to eat 10 ounces of meat by myself. The meat itself was good; probably not the best steakhouse steak in this town (my guess is this is choice meat and not prime, but it’s just a guess), but it was cooked properly. However, the thing that annoyed all of us at the table was the “au jus/demi glace.” This is a constant annoyance with me and hubby because I don’t like a sweet flavor on my steak. But interestingly, before either of us said anything, my brother in law had asked the manager who stopped by what it was because it was so sweet. She told him it was just “au jus” and nothing more. Now to me, that means, the juice of the actual meat, maybe reduced, but not with other things added in. According to wikipedia, that is what it means in general, but apparently in the U.S., it often means a reduction with various spices, etc as well as brown sugar mixed in. Regardless, I don’t think any of us cared for it. Luckily my plate was large enough that I could scoot my steak out of the “au jus,” but my brother in law was not as lucky because his steak was bigger. I need to make a mental note, every time I go to a steakhouse, ask if there is a sauce on the plate and get it without.

Anyhow, we also had the lobster mac and cheese which was as usual, very good. There are nice recognizable pieces of lobster in it (usually claw meat) and the pasta is sort of horn shaped. It is really tasty. Last time I was there, they had truffle mac and cheese which was also very good. I waiver between which I think is better actually, although the truffle mac is not usually on the menu.

Probably the best thing on the table were the truffle frites (yes yes, I really like truffles). They are a little thicker than I usually like with fries, but they are really crisp, with just enough salt, truffle oil and grated parmesan to make them taste decadent. My favorite thing was a bite of steak with a bite of a frite. Yummy.

We also ordered the creamed spinach (hubby’s perennial favorite at a steakhouse). It was good. Probably in the middle of all the places we have been. Not the best, not the worst. Tasty though and I nice green-ish addition (I say that because with all that cream, you can’t really think it is all that healthy right?)

As part of the birthday celebration, they brought us a duo of desserts and some sparkling wine. That was a nice touch. The desserts included a round cheesecake with a crème brulée type crunchy top. I rather enjoyed that take on cheesecake. I like cheesecake ok, but usually I find it kind of boring. The crunchy top added a texture that made it more interesting. There was also a piece of their flourless espresso chocolate cake. I don’t know. These cakes have been on menus so long, I find them kind of lacking any excitement and preferred the cheesecake. Others at the table enjoyed the chocolate cake though.

All in all, while everything at Capital Grille is good, I have never had a meal there that I found to be outstanding. I have several friends who really like this place and I would certainly go again, I just don’t know that it would ever be on the top of my list for an evening out.

The Capital Grille
40 West Washington Street
317/423-8790
http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/

Siam Square - Lunch

Wow, this place is really good. It has been on the list for awhile and since an out of towner recently emailed me asking for suggestions on places to eat downtown and I recommended it to him (I did tell him I hadn’t been) I figured I needed to get in there so I could know about what I speak!

We got there probably around 11:45 for lunch and the place was nearly full. This place is hopping with people at lunchtime. After we sat down, there was pretty much a wait for a table (and a lot of people waiting at that) for the entire duration of our lunch. The interior is modern and spare with nice glass block windows along side. The servers are courteous and fairly prompt, considering the crowd. The one annoyance is there is no parking lot at lunchtime, just street parking, and depending on the crowd, it can be difficult. I had to circle a bit to find one nearby.

For lunch they have several specials which I assume are smaller portions of several of their regular entrees that also come with a cup of soup and a spring roll. We decided to share one rice entrée and one noodle entrée and get the lay of the land. They brought the soup and spring roll out fairly quickly. The spring roll was excellent and crunchy, and hubby declared one of the best he has had. They were veggie and did have the stingy carrot/cabbage problem that spring rolls often do (you take a bite and all those strings of veggies are hanging out of your mouth) but they were really tasty. The soup was the Thom Yum, I believe, a brothy, spicy, yet slightly sour soup flavored with lemongrass, tomatoes, scallions and cilantro and with a couple of mushrooms floating around in there. It was great to dip the spring rolls into. And it had a bit of heat to it. (The little squares in the soup are a reflection of the glass blocks—I thought it looked sort of cool.)

We shared the chicken Kapow and the Pad Seuw. The chicken Kapow is a rice plate including steamed rice and a stir fry mix with chicken, peppers, basil, onions, mushrooms, and scallions. I really liked the flavor on this dish—had the heat of Thai food with the slight underlying tanginess of what I assume to be lemongrass. We were asked what temperature we wanted the dishes and we told him medium for both. They certainly had a lot of spiciness and I would not be up for hot for sure. This was the perfect amount—it built over time and left your lips tingling just a bit, but didn’t ruin the other flavors of the dish. The sauce on the dish was great. If I could change anything, it would be that the pieces of onion and scallion were a little big and because of that were a little too crunchy. The smaller pieces of onion were really good with the mix though. And the chicken was white meat, pleasantly tender and fairly plentiful.

The pad seuw was outstanding. I really liked both dishes a lot, but this one, the noodle dish, probably inched the other one out slightly for the simple reason that I would eat every bite of everything in the mix. There was the right amount of everything, and in the appropriate sizes (for example, I left quite a pile of the onions from the dish above just because they were so big and so plentiful). This was a wide noodle dish stir fried with various greens (baby bok choy and broccoli are the two that jump to mind), garlic, egg and chicken. It was really really good. There were some larger pieces of chicken as well as some finer dices and the flavors combined to make a lovely brown sauce over the dish. I think we would be hard pressed not to get this one again.

Hubby was happy with his Thai beer to go along with his lunch, and by the end of the meal determined it was worthy of a dinner visit. I am excited to go back and try a few of the menu items that aren’t offered as a lunch special.

It looks to me like Fountain Square is really coming into its own with some really great restaurants. So tell me, I have done Naisa and Siam Square, and have been impressed with both. What are your other faves in this neighborhood?

Siam Square
936 Virginia Ave
Indy 46203
317/636-8424
http://www.siamsquareindy.com/