Farewell L'explorateur

It is with a heavy heart that I must report that one of my all time favorite restaurants in Indy, and one of the places that gave me hope when I moved here almost 3 years ago, is closing. After just about 3 years, L'explorateur will be closing as of January 31st. Thanks FeedMe/DrinkMe for the heads up. And you can read Chef Neal Brown’s farewell message on his blog Babelfish Tartare. You will be sorely missed.

I want to say that I agree with the FeedMe/DrinkMe sentiment about what this says about us as Indy diners. We need to support our independent restaurants and chefs or else we are relegated to crappy (and mainly chain) food. It is January which is a rough time for restaurants anyway, and in this economy, it is even harder for places to survive. Now I realize the restaurant-goers are probably being hit as well, but if you can, go out and support our local independent restaurants and chefs. SOON. Check out my list of favorites for some ideas—and right now, Devour Downtown is still going on right?, so you should be able to get some deals even if you are on a budget. Keep our chefs in our City—I started this blog to try and get people excited about what is going on in our dining scene—and to raise our standards. Don’t let me down!

On the bright side, after reading Chef Brown’s own blog, I am hopeful that L’explorateur will rise again (maybe downtown this time?) and I for one can’t wait! (Hey, Spring is my favorite food season, hint, hint!) And in the meantime, I will say it again, go out and support local chefs and restaurants, many of whom are doing great things. If you want suggestions, I am happy to give them!

To Chef Brown, goodbye, good luck, and we will see you soon!

Goose-The Market

Today we finally got around to trying Goose the Market for lunch based on recommendations from several people, including my readers. Everyone else seems to know about it, but if you’re not in the know, it is located at 25th and Delaware. It is a great little neighborhood/gourmet market with lots of great looking meats and a nice stock of various other things such as wine, beer, cheese, gelato (an entire case of it just like in Italy) and baguettes that look pretty good. They also do a small lunch menu with several sandwiches and a soup of the day. You can check out what’s on the menu on their blog on the website listed below. The staff was also very helpful and friendly.
Image via Wikipedia
Since it was my first time, I tried “The Goose” sandwich—figured if it was named after the place, it must be good. Well, it was quite good. It was a warmed baguette with hunks of fresh mozzarella (very creamy), layers of thin proscuitto, extra virgin olive oil and shredded basil. Sounds simple, I know, but this is some of the best proscuitto I have had in Indy and the slightly warmed bread really added to the sandwich, particularly on a cold winter’s day.

Goose specializes in lots of dried cured meats and has several different sandwiches highlighting these yummy treats. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and give one a try. And while you’re there, check out the rest of the place, there are certainly lots of temptations!

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

Oceanaire-a revisit

I don’t know, but I think the bloom is off the rose here a bit. When we first moved here, I was very happy to find this place—the staff seemed really enthusiastic and there were often changes being made to the menu. And the seafood was really, really fresh. And even the stand-by items were really good.

Recently, on my birthday no less, we ventured to Oceanaire for dinner (my birthday was on a Monday and there weren’t a lot of options for going out as most places were closed). Now, if you have read my previous blog posts about Oceanaire, you know one of my biggest pet peeves about this place is the ridiculous portion sizes. Why does everything have to be so over the top? Maybe there is some link between such things and why so many Americans are so oversized themselves? I’m just saying.

We had the Oceanaire Chopped salad to share (between FOUR people). I like this salad though—it has lots of good bits in it—boiled egg, olives, capers, and even some shrimp and crab.

I then decided to order the tuna tartare for my starter and the appetizer of the blue crab cake for my main course (2 appetizers is the only way I can eat at this place unless I split an entrée with someone). Our table also ordered the fried oysters, one of our perennial favorites. They were good as usual (and there was like 8 of them and they are huge). However, I never got to try the tuna tartare as our waiter informed me that the tuna was not fresh enough and the chef wouldn’t serve it to me. I sort of had my heart set on a cold starter and shrimp cocktail seemed so boring, so I got the lump crab cocktail instead. They serve it with cocktail sauce but it is much better with the remoulade sauce which is nice and tangy with some nice bits of chives and capers in it. Definitely ask for this sauce if you get this cocktail.

I have had the crab cake before—the very first time I went to Oceanaire I think. I remember thinking it was one of the only crab cakes I really like because it is so crabby. However, on this occasion it was a bit dry—and the sauce alongside didn’t do much for it. Horseradish cream I think? Again, better with the brighter remoulade.

Everyone else at our table had the black and blue Marlin. Hubby really likes the black and blue preparation which consists of some sort of blackened fish with blue cheese on top. However, on this occasion he said there wasn’t much flavor to the blackening part of the process and that it wasn’t as good as he had remembered. We also had the au gratin potatoes and between 4 of us, we almost finished them (they are really good though).

The wine list has changed a bit too—we had a featured Vermentino to start which was light and nice with the salad and then we had a Sancerre. It was quite nice, but I have to say Oceanaire has some of the most expensive prices around for bottles of wine. Well, the Vermentino was quite reasonable ($36 I think) but the Sancerre was $70.

I still love the interior of Oceanaire as one of my favorites in our City---and the crowd was quite large for a Monday night. However, the food is starting to feel a little uninspired and I hate to say it, if a seafood restaurant that specializes in fresh seafood flown in daily can’t have fresh tuna, then Houston, we have a problem.

Oceanaire Seafood Room
30 South Meridian Street
Indy 46204
317-955-2277
http://www.theoceanaire.com/

Creation Café- A revisit

****AS OF NOV. 2013, CREATION CAFE IS CLOSED*******

I stopped back into Creation Café (in the Bugg’s Temple building on the canal) the other day with my daughter for lunch. She really likes this place and feels very metropolitan going out downtown! Anyway, to start with, whenever I have been on the weekends, there are always kids in here, which is a nice thing to see. And there is so much décor in this place, from the silverware on the walls, to the intricately painted table tops; it is a great place to distract an otherwise bored kid or toddler.

My daughter loves the kid’s quesadilla here and refuses to get anything else. She also loves the fries in spite of the “basil” (actually parsley) that is on them. I had a few myself and they are well seasoned and tasty. She also informed me that the chef did a good job cutting the quesadillas into the right size.

I was having a hard time deciding, but I had the “fungus amongus” salad which is mixed greens with quite a bit of romaine with warm sautéed wild mushrooms and two good sized dollops of breaded goat cheese served with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. One of my favorite combinations of flavors is goat cheese, mushroom and balsamic so this was right up my alley—it is nice the way the sharpness of the vinegar and the goat cheese tones down the richness of the mushrooms. I could’ve done without all the romaine (actually the amount of greens was a little much for me altogether) but other than that, the salad was pretty good. Not out of this world, but a decent, and somewhat unique, salad.





The great thing about this place is that the menu is quite large and there are a lot of things I would like to try. I need to get a sandwich next time and see how they are. The Caprese BLT with bacon, basil, fresh mozzarella sounds good. I really like that they are trying to come up with some interesting combinations of things that are different from your average lunch place.

Also, to correct something from my last review, they do serve beer and wine, so if you are in the mood for a drink, bottom’s up!

Creation Café
337 West 11th Street
Indy 46202
317/955-2389
www.indycanal.com

My Restaurant Review Policy

When I first started writing this blog, I knew nothing about blogging and blog ethics, but I did know something about food and frustration with restaurants around here and the lack of any reviews that seemed to be honest and trustworthy. Thus, I started this blog for a few purposes: 1) to get some honest (and not always positive) reviews out there and hopefully in my own little way improve our restaurant scene; and 2) to vent. Since then, I am thrilled to see that my blog has a growing reader base of people that appreciate my honesty and who also love food. With all that being said, I realized after being offered a few free meals (hey, I thought it was pretty cool!), and after learning more and more about the blogosphere, that accepting the free meals wasn’t the best way to keep my blog as honest and trustworthy as I want it to be. This is not to say that I have EVER given anything but my honest opinions and insights on any given restaurant, free meal or not. I have always been absolutely and sometimes, brutally honest and will continue to be. And in each example where I was offered some freebie, I have always disclosed it in the review. But in order to maintain my moderately anonymous visits, and to maintain the undeniable appearance of non-bias, I will:

1. No longer accept free meals from restaurants, chefs, or public relations people;
2. Review a restaurant based on one visit only. I do not have the money or time (or babysitting) to be able to go to a restaurant multiple times before writing a review. But since most people experience restaurants this way, I think it makes it that much more real. I do on occasion re-visit places (naturally these are often places I like) and will often write new posts on those re-visits or sometimes just add comments on older posts.
3. Not announce my visit(s) or revisit on demand. Sure, email me to tell me about your restaurant —I always love to try places that are new or that I haven’t been to in awhile.

I want my experiences to be just like anyone else’s who might wander in off the street. I welcome any and all feedback from my readers regarding this policy and anything else that is on your mind. You have no idea how much it brightens my day when you write to me via email or the comments section of one of my posts! Keep it up! (Thank you also to those more experienced bloggers and to those just regular people who helped me work through this issue and figure out what I needed to do!)

SI/Scholars Inn -- once again

****THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED****
So in the interest of full disclosure, I want to start by saying that we were invited to SI by the restaurant because they were concerned about my last review and wanted me to come give it another try—so they provided us a meal to give them another opportunity. I have since given this practice a lot of thought, spoken to some fellow bloggers and have decided to discontinue accepting free meals. From here on out, I want my posts to be totally unbiased in any way (well, they are anyway, but I want to avoid any appearance of bias). Thus, I am posting my new policy in this regard in the following post.

Anyway, I will start by saying that I am happy I did go back, as this meal was much better than the last (and closer to the way it was the first time we went). The chef de cuisine, Josh (who cooked our meal for us this night), brought us 2 starters—the marinated calamari and the chicken wings which are a new item on the menu.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way. Here’s the thing with the calamari. We had it the last time and didn’t like it—I didn’t know if it was off or what, but we had it again and we both still didn’t like it. I love calamari in general, prepared in most any way, sautéed, fried, whatever (unless it is chewy) but the flavors here are too over the top for me—it is a strong sesame and ginger flavor and is served cold. I asked the server if this was a popular dish and he said it was probably one of their two most popular appetizers, so there you go. Obviously my tastes are different, and maybe you might like it, but I do not.

The chicken wings were more enjoyable—they were fried with a sweet bay mustard glaze. I am not sure exactly what that means but it was sort of a sweet very mild mustard glaze that tasted like it may even have some honey in it. There was a nice creamy blue cheese fondue drizzled on top. An interesting take on chicken wings. I probably would not order chicken wings normally (at least not in a restaurant like this), but these were meaty and not too bad, if not a little sweet for my taste.

Next we were brought what was clearly the star of the evening; a salad the chef prepared for us that isn’t on the menu. I think this may be one of SI’s problems. This salad was fantastic. It needs to be on the menu. It was fresh spinach with sliced red onions and sliced fennel with orange segments and light vinaigrette served with 2 amazing and perfectly cooked sea scallops. They were caramelized exactly the way they should be on both sides and were still medium rare in the middle. Items like this could take this place to another level. A lot of the appetizers seem a little one dimensional, but this salad was one of the best things I have eaten around here in awhile. Get it on the menu guys! (When I asked about this, I was told that the chef does try to have fresh fish specials, but keeping such things on the menu all the time was tough).

For our mains, I had the lime and cumin marinated skirt steak with sweet chile sauce and charred corn and black beans. It was good—I liked that you could really taste the marinade and it gave the meat a unique and fresh flavor. I could have done with a bit of starch besides the beans to go with it, but that’s just me. It was huge I will say, and by this point, we were getting pretty full. Hubby had the short rib with tamarind glaze and scalloped potatoes. He had the short rib the first time we went, loved it, had it a second time and was really disappointed. This time he was very happy and thought it was back up to the high standard of the first time. Apparently this is something that Chef Brenchley considers a specialty, so it was nice to see it back up to its original high standard.

We ordered off the half off wine list which is being advertised and were quite happy with our selection. The weird thing about the list is it doesn’t have prices on it so it is hard to know what it is half off of.

We also were seated upstairs for the first time and I really enjoyed this atmosphere better than downstairs. I appreciate the interior of this place for a classy modern feel, but some of the tables leave you feeling almost too isolated. I do like to feel like I am eating out amongst people when I am eating out. Upstairs, even in a pretty private booth, you can look out at other people at other tables, but they aren’t so close that you have to listen to their entire conversations.

I am glad to see the menu being changed up a bit, and I hope to continue to see more changes. And maybe take some of the old standbys off and make people try new things. I know this is a risky move in this part of the country where people are so resistant to change, but other chefs are doing it in Indy, and are doing it successfully. There is some inspired cooking going on here, and there is clearly talent, let’s see it shine.


Scholar’s Inn/SI
725 Mass Ave
317-536-0707
http://www.scholarsinn.com/

Happy Anniversary to Me!

I am excited to write that today is my one year anniversary writing my blog. I want to thank all of you who have been there from the beginning (Mom, Dad, Heather and Hubby) and all of you who have found me in the last 12 months. My reader base has grown significantly and it truly gives me hope to know there are so many of you who care about good food in our fair City. I also appreciate all the supportive emails I have received from many of you as well as the comments to my posts. A special shout out to Renee and Feed Me/Drink Me as well for the mentions my blog has received there.

Now, as a present to me (my favorite kind), and to the rest of my readers, I am asking you all to comment to this post sending me two of your favorite restaurants—maybe one that is a nice restaurant and another that is a little place that maybe I haven’t heard of. Or just two of your regular haunts that you feel are underrated. Or just your two faves period. Whatever they are, I am always looking for new inspiration and I know you all will have it! I will also enjoy seeing if some of your favorites are the same as mine.

Thanks again to each and every one of you and here’s to another great and hopefully, delicious, year!

Cheers!
Erin

Zest Exciting Food Creations

*****ZEST IS OUT OF BUSINESS******

This is a place I kept hearing about, and I wanted to try, and then I would forget about it. Finally hubby and I made it over one day for lunch. This is mainly a breakfast and lunch place, but they have also recently started serving dinner some nights a week. Every reader review I have read about this place online is a rave, so I thought I needed to go.

They have an extensive menu of sandwiches and salads as well as breakfast items served all day. The place was about half full when we got there and the service was very attentive. At first. Anyway, we ordered sandwiches which come with your choice of sides. I had the hot mushroom sandwich with goat cheese, caramelized onions, balsamic and some greens. The hot sandwiches are HUGE and served sort of hot dog style, wrapped in foil—I realized after I got it that was because it is so big, the sandwich would fall apart if you tried to eat it without the foil. In fact, for me, it was really too big to fit in my mouth, and a bit too much bread I thought, so I sort of ate it open-faced. It was pretty good but a little rich for me—no way could I finish the whole thing. There were A LOT of mushrooms on that puppy though. I got the homemade macaroni and cheese as a side and it was really good. Old fashioned with a nice bread crumb crust. Hubby and both really liked it and the portion is definitely enough to share (which we did and still didn’t finish it).

Hubby had the shredded beef sandwich—I didn’t try it, braised meat isn’t my fave, but I think he liked it about as much as I did mine—good, but so big and a little dry. He got the pomme frites as a side and they were great—one thing this City has mastered it seems are the pomme frites. You can get great ones at Taste, Zest, Nordstrom Café, Brugge and several others. The red pepper aioli was also very good, although not my favorite of all the fancy aiolis you can find around town. Probably Nordstrom has the lock on that with the olive aioli with Taste at a close second with their herby aioli.

The worst part about our visit was the service once we had ordered. It took forever to get our food, and the place wasn’t that busy. I guess I should have been forewarned by the intricate table cloth paper art that is displayed on the walls—clearly people are having enough time to do some large detailed pieces!

The interior is very homey and eclectic—a nice neighborhood café. It is also bigger inside than you would think looking at it from the outside. There is quite a bit of seating.

All in all, the food is pretty good, and certainly very hearty. I would probably go back and next time get the mac & cheese with a side salad or something. That would certainly be a full meal! Or maybe we will go next time for breakfast. Regardless of what you eat, you will certainly not leave this place hungry.

Zest Exciting Food Creations
1134 E 54th Street
Indy 46220
317-466-1853

Capri

The other night, during the ice storm, I had a babysitter and dammit, I was still going out to dinner even though everyone I talked to thought I was crazy. I did however, relent and agree to go somewhere close by. We decided first on Pikk’s Tavern only to find it closed (apparently forever according to Feed Me/Drink Me). After skidding out of that parking lot, we debated what to do and ended up on Capri, as it is very close to our house. Now, I should tell you we have been there a couple of times before, and I have never been overly impressed, other than the bar is beautiful and the nice roaring fireplace is a great place to be on a cold night. For one thing, it is another one of those classic Midwestern Italian restaurants that serve portions that are ridiculously large and consist of entrees identical; to almost every other Italian restaurant in the US. So I decided, if I was going to agree to go, I was just going to get appetizers, one of which to be the antipasto platter we had had before with Gran Padano cheese, Proscuitto, olives and marinated veggies.

So after literally sliding into their parking lot, we started with the fried calamari—and hey, it was pretty good. A true Italian “fritto”—a light fry served with a homemade marinara. The marinara was quite fresh tasting and not bad. Man, if they made it into a fritto misto, it could be really good. Maybe add some sliced fennel and even thin sliced lemons to the fried mix and it could be unique and outstanding.

Hubby wanted to order the veal Bolognese because he had heard it was one of their best dishes, but then was swayed by a fresh pasta with salmon and cream sauce special. Once he was served, he immediately regretted his choice. He didn’t think it was great, and because it was smoked salmon in the pasta, he said it seemed to taste a bit too fishy (even though he does like smoked salmon by itself).

I did have the antipasto platter, which was as good as always. It isn’t stellar, but it is tasty and hits the spot and I don’t feel like I am going to explode when I walk out. The funny thing about this is that in another review I read, it was the only thing the reviewer didn’t like. So there you go.

Probably the best part of the dining experience here, besides the atmosphere (in the bar side—the other side tends to be quite empty most of the time—we made the mistake of sitting there the first time we went), is a bottle of wine that you don’t see everywhere and it is one of our favorites. It is a Gavi di Gavi and is a bit more expensive than some of the other choices, but really tasty.

All in all, if we have another ice storm, or if I just want drinks and an appetizer, we may go back to Capri. For a great Italian meal experience, I will keep looking and hope to find something a little less predictable.

Capri Restaurant
2602 Ruth Drive
Indy 46240
317-259-4122
www.capriindy.com

Kincaid's Fish, Chop & Steakhouse

****THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED****
I have been familiar with Kincaid’s for quite awhile, as I often ate lunch at the one in Oakland, California. Although I lived in San Francisco, I worked in Oakland and ate at a lot of restaurants there as well. I was always fairly impressed by this chain’s food—definitely a cut above most chain seafood/steakhouses. I knew there was one up in Carmel (Clay Terrace), but had yet to get up there.

So hubby and I ventured up for some holiday shopping and lunch. They have tried to keep the waterside ambiance that I think most of their restaurants have, although the little pond in Carmel is a far cry from the San Francisco Bay. But, you can’t have it all! The interior is very similar and fairly upscale for a chain. Lots of wood and nice comfy booths.

Their lunch menu looked great and I love the combination they offer where you can get a reduced portion of 2 choices from a list consisting of soups, salads, sandwiches and pastas. It seemed a great way to try lots of things. I was craving a salad with some seafood on it though, so I got the shrimp and Maytag blue cheese salad with diced egg, slivered almonds, big crumbles of blue cheese, bay shrimp and blue cheese dressing. It was exactly what I was in the mood for—the shrimp were nice and fresh tasting and the almonds added a nice crunch. They also have a salmon, crab and shrimp Louie salad which I ate often in California and which I am also very fond of.

Hubby ordered the ahi tuna burger/BLT which was also really good. I had some and he raved about it. It came with a bacon pepper aioli, arugula, and avocado tomato relish all on a toasted bun. The tuna was chopped and formed into a patty and cooked like a burger—it was very tender and very tasty, especially with all the other accoutrements.

They also serve yummy buttery herby focaccia bread with your meal which is warm and quite nice.

It’s a chain, and it’s in Carmel, but it is a good spot for lunch (and hey, even dinner too). I hear they have a kids' menu, so we will probably schlep the kids up one of these days for lunch too---always nice to find a place we can all eat together that is a bit above the standard fare, but still welcomes kids.

Kincaid’s
14159 Clay Terrace Blvd
Carmel, 46032
317-575-9005
http://www.kincaids.com/

***1/3/08 Update : Went back for lunch with the kids today and had a great meal. What a great kids menu too--all the usual suspects plus kid's size portions of grilled salmon, fettucine alfredo, and fried cod. My 6 year old loved the salmon. Plus they served little bread with grapes plates as appetizers (how sophisticated) and vanilla pudding or a mini hot fudge sundae with all kid's meals. Quite a nice lunch. The kids loved it and want to go back. I had the Seafood Louie salad and was very happy (well, once I had them add the avocado).

Aftertaste (Taste Cafe & Marketplace)

You know how when someone you really love lets you down, it hurts even worse than when it is someone you don’t know? That’s how I felt after my recent visit to Taste Café’s new dinner service, Aftertaste. If you haven’t read my review of Taste for lunch, I will tell you that it is probably my favorite place in the entire city to eat lunch. They do everything well, the kitchen is quick and so is the service. They specialize in salads and sandwiches and everything is terrific.

Recently, they added dinner service one night a week (Wednesdays) and I was so looking forward to it! We went with friends who also love lunch at Taste, and who were equally excited. They start serving at 6:00 and don’t take reservations, so we got there shortly after service began. The hostess was friendly, but tried to seat us at 2 different tables for 3 before we sort of chose our own table.

Once we got seated, we perused the menu. It is a pretty big menu, with starters, salads, tartines (open faced sandwiches), mains and sides. Many of the salads and tartines are versions of what are on the lunch menu, but most of the starters and mains are different. Our server sort of mentioned sharing, but didn’t really make a big deal of it, and we sort of thought we would share starters and then get our own mains.

The best part of the meal (and it was really great) was the starter portion. We got the hot blue cheese bacon dip served with flatbread, the avocado puree with plantain chips, and the warm olives. The blue cheese bacon dip was so delicious. Hot and super creamy, but with the tanginess and kick that the blue cheese brings along with the salt of the bacon. Seriously, I almost slapped the hand of the busser who tried to take it away before I had thoroughly cleaned out the bowl. I would love to get this for a holiday gathering. I wonder if you can order it. Anyway, the “avocado puree” was guacamole. Not sure why they call it puree as it is nice and chunky, just the way guacamole should be. It was also really good and the fried plantain chips really added to the dish. The warm olives were, well, a little too warm I guess. I am not sure why they need to be warm to be honest, room temperature would be great, and these were clearly over warmed in a broiler and lost a lot in the process (not to mention burning your tongue as you ate them).

For the next course, one of my friends ordered one of the tartines, the rare roast beef with caramelized onions and nice big slices of blue cheese on top. I, along with our other friend, ordered the chimichurri shrimp, which our server told us, had gotten great feedback from customers. Hubby ordered the short ribs, which were also recommended by our server.

The only thing that was good was the tartine, and it was outstanding. I know, because I ate quite a bit of it waiting for my main. They served the tartine at the same time as hubby’s short rib, and it was a good 10-15 minutes before the shrimp came out. Well, one order of it anyway. They served that order of the shrimp to our other dining companion. He gave me one of his in the interim, which I ate and realized I really didn’t even want my order of it. After flagging our server, I asked her if I indeed did have an entrée coming, or maybe only one order was mistakenly put in, but regardless, I didn’t want it, so please cancel it. She came back and assured me that yes, 2 orders had been put in, but for whatever reason, only one came out.

As for the shrimp, they were not good. They were very large, and a tasted a bit past their prime ( I want to say “fishy”, but I guess “shrimpy” is more accurate?). The “chimichurri” was a sprinkling of herbs on the outside of the shell and the shrimp were clearly stuck in a broiler or something along those lines. They were exceedingly hot, dry and overcooked. They needed some moisture (and flavoring) from something---maybe an actual chimichurri sauce drizzled over top? Maybe cook them in a chimichurri sauce? My friend who had been served them did not finish his, even after giving me one.

Hubby said the short rib was very bland and seemed to have been cooked without much seasoning. He also didn’t finish it, and that is a sure sign of him not liking something.

Again, the tartine was really good and thankfully, my gracious friend shared a lot with me because I never got a main.
We did get the frites (they the regular pomme frites that they serve for lunch and hubby and I the truffle frites). The truffle aioli was tasty, but not overly “truffley.” I am sort of a truffle hound though and can usually smell if a truffle is being served in a restaurant the minute I walk in, and couldn’t really even smell them when the frites were in front of me. The truffle frites at Capital Grill are much more “truffley” although the quality of the frites themselves at Taste is probably the best in the entire city. Luckily, you can also pretty much make a meal of the frites, and between that, and the starters, I was pleasantly full. We also had the warm asparagus side which was not bad.

Hubby and I also shared the cheese plate for dessert and it was pretty good too—although with all those gooey French cheeses in the case, I was hoping for more of those, but it was still good and served with a variety of accompaniments (nuts, fruits and quince paste) which I enjoy when eating cheese.

The biggest problem in this place is service though. From the start, the staff doesn’t seem clued in to full dinner service yet. Now, I know we need to cut them some slack as this was only the third week of dinner service, and this is a lunch place that doesn’t do table service during the day, so it is a very new thing for most of the staff, I am sure. But there were very long stretches where we didn’t even see our server, not to mention the fact that our mains came out at such different intervals (if they came out at all).

I do think there are several things that could be done to improve this. First, they could change the menu to tapas, call the mains “larger plates” and tell the table to order to share and that the items will come out when they are finished. Our waitress sort of mentioned sharing, but never specifically said that it was recommended. This way, you don’t expect mains that are presented to the entire table at the same time. The weird thing was, no one really seemed surprised that we didn’t get our mains at the same time, or even really made any attempt to remedy the situation.

The other thing they could maybe do is cut the menu way back. There is A LOT of stuff on the menu, and as I mentioned, much of it is a lot like the lunch menu. Now, I hesitate to say take that stuff off, because it was the best of what we had, but maybe they should focus on fewer things and try to do them better.

Another suggestion I have is to take reservations. The fact is, nearly the entire restaurant was seated at the same time, and surely that would be enough to overwhelm even the most experienced kitchens. They could space their diners out a bit more perhaps with reservations.

The other thing is when you only serve dinner once a week, I am sure it is hard for a staff not used to table service to get up to speed quickly---they just don’t get enough practice. And obviously, you aren’t going to be able to hire a different staff for just one night a week. Hopefully, with more experience (and it is really trial by fire as this place was completely packed when we were there), the service issues will get ironed out. The prices are good, a little over half the food we had was quite good, and I know the potential is there. (And hey, they obviously have the business).

I was a bit depressed about this experience for a couple of days, but I am starting to come out of it. I was so hyped up, but I guess….we always have lunch!

Aftertaste
Taste Cafe & Marketplace
5164 N College Ave
Indy 46205
317-925-2233
http://www.tastecafeandmarketplace.com/

El Torito Grill

*****El Torito is closed************** (8/23/10)

Before I get into the meat of the review, so to speak, I want to apologize for some random technical problems I have been having this week. First, I apologize to any of you who may have had problems accessing my blog (particularly past reviews) and also to my email and feed subscribers, because for some inexplicable reason, feedburner decided to send out a review from months ago as if it were new (the L’explorateur review). I won’t bore you with the details (that I barely understand anyway), but as hubby says, when you are dealing with a lot of free products, you can’t expect perfection. Hopefully it will be back to normal and there will be no future problems, but if there are, I apologize in advance!

Ok, enough of that. This week, based on a recent recommendation from a friend who says that El Torito Grill is his favorite place to go for margaritas and guacamole, we thought we would give it a try with the kids. Let me say though, that hubby and I had been once before and been pretty underwhelmed. The first time, I had the lobster quesadilla and it was borderline horrible. I expected a quesadilla with some nice hunks of lobster, but what I got was tortillas with some weird mash that was faintly lobster colored and smelled more than a little suspect. (Hubby had the carnitas and quite liked them.) But I figured, maybe they had improved (and I would certainly not order that again, so maybe something else would be better).

We started with some Cadillac margaritas which were pretty good. They brought a shot of Grand Marnier on the side. Apparently you can either do the shot separately or have it poured into the drink (what we both did). I don’t think a margarita would taste right without it, and who really wants to do a shot of something like that? (Or maybe they want to prove to you that there is actually alcohol in the drink.) But, once the shot was in, it tasted good. So I thought, maybe we are off to a better start anyway (the first time I went, I had the house margarita and it was nothing to write home about). We ordered the tableside guacamole because my friend had recommended it, because we really like guacamole, and because we thought it would be entertaining for the kids. It was pretty disappointing on all fronts. First of all, there was no real show to it, and the whole process took like 2 minutes—I did notice at the other table in the room, occupied only by women, that their guacamole maker took a bit longer. But not ours. And the guac itself was very unexciting. I can, and do, make much better at home. It didn’t have much flavor or zip or any real freshness. Also, what is the deal with the chips? They tasted straight out of a grocery store bag (and not the good ones). They weren’t warm and they weren’t overly fresh. Oh, and an FYI, they only bring chips when you order the guacamole—when you are seated you are served warm flour tortillas with butter and a couple of salsas. The tortillas are much better, but something just screams for chips when you are eating guacamole.

Now, I tend to be an optimist when I am eating at a restaurant—I genuinely want to like places. And I was still keeping an open mind at this point. I ordered the shrimp and chicken taquitos for my main course and the shrimp ones weren’t bad, but the chicken ones were not great. They are served with tomatillo-avocado and red pepper dipping sauces. I don’t know what it was, but like I said, I was really trying to like it, but by the time we had finished, I was pretty sure we were never going back. Hubby had the shrimp fajitas and there was certainly nothing special about these either—again, the best thing about them were those same warm tortillas, which incidentally were my kids’ favorite part of the meal too—they ate more of those than anything.

This place bills itself as “upscale Mexican” which I guess it is based on the interior—it is definitely fancier inside than most Mexican restaurants. But based on the food, and the fact that this huge restaurant was nearly empty, I have a feeling this place’s days may be numbered. In fact, I am surprised in this economy it is still open now—the first time we went, which must have been over a year ago, the crowd was the same. And it doesn’t help that our bill was about 4 times what our regular Mexican restaurant costs.

The sad part of the whole thing is that this chain is owned by the same group that owns a West Coast chain of not-so-upscale Mexican restaurants called Chevy’s. Now, Chevy’s is nothing fancy, but the food is so much better—the chips and salsa are great and the guacamole that just came on the side of things was much better too. They pride themselves on fresh ingredients, and nothing from a can. They even had a special a couple times a year in which they served lobster fajitas and the lobster was damn good. And I think it would fly in this market a lot better than El Torito Grill. And believe it or not, this is the first El Torito Grill outside of California. Makes you wonder how they chose Indianapolis.

El Torito Grill
8650 Keystone Crossing
Indy 46240
317-848-5202
www.etgrill.com

Nordstrom Café Bistro

Ok, I realize that this is obviously a chain, but it is so yummy, I thought it was worth writing up. It all started back in San Francisco when I got hooked on the Cobb Salad at the Nordstrom there. It was the best place to eat in the mall if you had shopping to do (and had a great kids menu). When we moved here, we ate at the café downtown several times (the café, not the grill) and the menu there was pretty much identical to our old Nordstrom in SF. So when the new Nordstrom opened at the Fashion Mall, I went one day with a friend while we were shopping sort of assuming it would be the same as well. Well this café bistro, is much more bistro-ish and less café-ish. The room is full of comfy booths and while you still order at the register, you are seated by a server. They also serve beer and wine and more entrees and have a kitchen with more capabilities (the other ones don’t appear to have a fryer, etc). And the menu is pretty much completely different I think, although the same basic format—lots of great sounding salads, soups and sandwiches as well as several more entrees. The other thing I really like about Nordstrom cafés in general are the ingredients seem to be very high quality and someone is attempting to put together things beyond what you might find at an average sandwich shop. Now, I am not sure, it is possible that they have changed the menu at all the Nordstroms—and maybe our downtown café has the same new menu items—I haven’t been there in awhile.

Anyway, the first time I went I had the Bistro Club sandwich with chicken, bacon, green beans, avocado, lettuce and garlic aioli—now the sandwich was quite good, but the stand out were the fries that come along side every sandwich (which they never had at the other Nordstrom restaurants I have been to before due to the lack of a full kitchen). They are the thin “pommes frites” style fries heavily seasoned with salt, black pepper and fresh parsley. They were delicious and the olive tapenade/aioli dipping sauce---amazing. I actually think it was the dip that really sold me on the fries--I could pour that stuff on just about anything and really like it.

So a week or two later, we decided to go with the family. Like I said, they have a nice kids’ menu with all the classics and my kids thoroughly enjoyed their hotdogs and fries (less seasoned, but the same fries). The hot dogs were high quality plump dogs that were grilled and not just boiled.

Hubby and I shared the steak sandwich with cheese, arugula, Roma tomatoes, caramelized onions and aioli on Parmesan ciabbata bread. This sandwich was even better than the first one. It was served hot and the meat was very tender and all the ingredients just went so well together. And of course those fries. And that olive dip. Really good.

So the restaurant as I mentioned has a nicer interior than previous Nordstrom cafés I have been to, with warm colors and nice booths, and they are open for dinner as well (and have a breakfast menu in the morning as well). As for dinner, maybe as a convenient place to eat with your kids if you are at the mall, but generally I will keep it on rotation as a lunch place, particularly when I am at the mall anyway—this is a wonderful alternative to the food courts (I really really cannot stand mall food courts, but that’s a whole other story) and hey, you can even have a glass of wine if you want!

Nordstrom Café Bistro
Fashion Mall
8702 Keystone Crossing
Indy 46240
317-810-9809www.nordstrom.