India Garden

So, Indian food is one that I don’t have a tremendous amount of experience with, because, well, frankly, it has never been my favorite cuisine I guess.  But I am always trying to broaden my culinary mind, so I have made it a goal to work on trying lots of Indian places and lots of different dishes.  And as always, I welcome your feedback.  You guys have turned me on to lots of really good places in my time writing this blog, and I know you won’t let me down!

Anyway, after asking for some suggestions, we decided to try Indian Garden in Broad Ripple.  We went for lunch—they offer a lunch buffet.  Ok, I have to say, I am generally not a huge fan of buffets just because I think a lot of the time you have no idea how the fresh the food really is. I also don’t think it is a true test of what a kitchen is capable of when it isn’t freshly made.  Hubby tends to agree with this theory as well, so we decided to order off the menu and share some freshly cooked items.  I did go up and check what was on the buffet just to see how it looked.  And apparently they do a pretty good buffet business (a lot of people by themselves having lunch which made for quite a quiet dining room).  The downside for us is there is no other lunch menu, so we had to pay full price for items from the dinner menu.

We started with an order of Onion Bhaji which are little deep fried fritters made up of very thinly sliced onions (I think there were white onions as well as scallions in there), that are dipped in a batter made of chick pea flour and fried.  They were highly seasoned, I would guess with turmeric based on the color of the insides.  They were served with a mint sauce as well as a sweeter tamarind sauce.   I enjoyed these quite a bit.  They were super fresh and hot, and nicely crunchy.  The batter made with chickpeas gave them a nutty flavor that was unique to most fried appetizer type items.

We also shared Chicken Makhni which was small boneless pieces of Tandoori chicken cooked with many spices (according to my research, usually fenugreek, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, and pepper), and in a very rich buttery, thick tomato-ey sauce.  I am guessing there is some cream in there too.   This dish really grew on me, it had such a rich buttery flavor that was just enriched by the tomato paste and was not turned into a tomato sauce per se.  Also, it does not have the coconut flavor of several other Indian dishes I have tried, which I appreciated, as I generally don’t care for the sweetness coconut milk adds.  The chicken was amazingly tender in the sauce.  I was impressed that something that had obviously been cooked for such a long time was so tender and not dried out at all.  It was served with long grain Basmati rice mixed with a few green peas.

On the side we ordered Naan, which is a traditional Indian bread that is flat and large but with two layers (think pita-ish but much more the size of a small pizza crust) and cooked in the Tandoori oven.  So the top and bottom are slightly blackened in spots.  In our case, we decided to get a variation called “Keema Naan” which was stuffed with minced lamb and onions.  While I enjoyed the Naan, I think I would have preferred it without the meat, which I don’t think really added much to it.  I think the bread on its own, or one of the variations on the menu with garlic on top or cheese inside might be more interesting and next time would be likely to try one of those instead.

I enjoyed this lunch and felt like we did a good job picking things that we enjoyed but honestly, like I said, this is not an area I feel like I know exactly what I want.  And the menu at India Garden is huge.  I noticed a lot of seafood dishes that sounded quite interesting as well.  So, I am asking you, what are your favorite Indian dishes and why? And where do you like to eat them in Indy?

India Garden

830 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/253-6060

http://www.indiagardenindy.com/

Napolese- Revisit

I told you last week that hubby had not been to Napolese and was anxious to form his own opinion of it.  I had told him about several of the pizza combos that sounded good to me and he was intrigued as well.  After some negotiations, we agreed to split an appetizer and a pizza (with some wine of course).

We got there on the early side to assure it would not be a hassle to get in.  It was a weekday, and around 6:00 there was no wait at all.  In fact there were only a few tables when we got there.  Although, we both commented on the noise level again, because even with a few tables, it was quite noisy.  By the time we left, and the restaurant was nearly full, the noise level was pretty high.  Interestingly, hubby was not a huge fan of the interior of the space, he said he felt it was “over decorated.”  I think maybe it was a little feminine for his taste.  Other than the noise level, the interior doesn’t really bother me. 

I don’t think I mentioned it in my first review, but at Napolese they bring out a lovely bowl of olives to snack on while you wait for everything else.  If you read my blog, you know I love olives, and these were especially good because they are room temperature, so you get the full flavors of them.  There are several varieties of both black and green, and they are all pitted which was also nice for ease of eating.

For our starter, we ordered the wild mushroom ragout with baked pancetta and added the egg (for another dollar).  This dish came out in its own baking dish.  It was extremely hot—but it looked as if the egg was put on after the dish was heated, as it was a little on the raw side.  It would have been nice if the dish was popped back in the oven for a minute to cook the egg a bit.  We solved the problem by just mixing it all together, as the dish was so hot, the rest of the ingredients did a decent job of cooking the egg.  Once it was all mixed together, the dish was delicious.  There was a lot of the pancetta mushroom mixture and it was extremely earthy and rich.  With the egg flavor mixed it, hubby said it reminded him of a breakfast casserole his Mom used to make.   My only gripe about this dish (again) was the bread.  It was a bit thicker sliced than last time, but it is kind of flimsy for such a hearty dip.  Basically, it appears to be pizza dough cut into strips and seasoned with herbs and cheese.   But this dip is totally worth ordering, and a very generous portion.  We had more than enough, although we managed to finish every last bite of it.

We got the BLT pizza, which, according to the menu is bacon, caramelized leeks and Taleggio cheese.  The pizza overall was quite good and we enjoyed it.  If I am being picky (and I always am), I would say there was no “caramelization” on the leeks.  There were lots of leeks, but they were in no way cooked before they went on the pizza.  They were still a little crisp (which is fine, but is not caramelized).  I like the flavor of fresh leeks, but I love melty ones even more.  The Taleggio was really great on a pizza—it is a cheese with a bit of funk (which is generally how I prefer my cheese) and I really like what it adds to a pizza.  The bacon was perfectly cooked and dispersed over the pizza.  The crust has got that mix of chewy and crispy, but not the blackening that you get from a wood fired oven (I believe Napolese’s oven is gas fired).  So depending on how you like your crust, this could be a good thing or not.  I personally like the crispy blackened edges, as long as it isn’t totally burnt.  The pizzas are big enough to share, in my opinion, although, basically they are the size of a large dinner plate.

Interestingly, we did pay attention to the bill because I have heard people complain that Napolese is more expensive than Pizzology, the other local Neapolitan pizza place.  We found our bills to be nearly identical.  The bill at Napolese was about $6-8 less, but we did not have a salad (which was $8 at Pizzology).  (And for those of you who have been asking, it was about $55 at Napolese for a pizza, an appetizer, and a bottle of wine).

All in all, hubby agreed with me that Napolese has some interesting sounding combos for their pizzas, and we both enjoyed the food and wine we had.  The downside, as I have said in the past, and hubby agreed, was the noise.

Napolese

114 East 49^th Street

Indy  46205

317/925-0765

http://www.cafepatachou.com/

Road trip: Triple XXX - Lafayette

Headed north the other day, we got an opportunity to stop off in West Lafayette and try Triple XXX.  Considering my Mom grew up in Lafayette, I was thinking how weird it was I had never been there.  I spent quite a bit of time in Lafayette as a child at my Grandparents.  Anyway, we were on our way to Chicago, and as we hit Lafayette were starting to get hungry, so we quickly figured out the address and plugged it into the GPS.

It really isn’t too far off the freeway, and once you get close to it, it is easy to spot the bright orange stripes on the building.  We walked in at 11:30 on a Friday and found the place nearly full.  Its curvy counter-only seating flows all the way around the interior of the restaurant.  We found a couple of stools near the front, noticing that several of the college students eating were still partaking in the breakfast that is served all day.  It looked pretty good.  But I was there for a burger.  This place is known for their burgers, and in fact was just featured in a USA Today article about the best burgers in the country, and a few years back was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

They call their burgers “chop steaks” because they grind 100% sirloin for them and add nothing else.  Sounded good to me.  And it was.  I went with the “Barney Burger” which is a ¼ pound burger served with melted American cheese and grilled onions and a side of onion rings (described on the menu as “the real thing!)  This burger was outstanding. One of the best I have had.  Now, it isn’t the really thin crispy type that I tend to prefer, but a slightly thicker version.  But the meat is so tender, it is unbelievable.  And the cheese was properly melted across the meat with wonderfully cooked onions on top.  They were cooked enough to take some of the rawness away, but not so much that there wasn’t still a bit of crunch.   The onion rings were your basic onion rings, and yes, there was a real onion in there (as opposed to what, I am not sure), but I have my doubts as to whether they are making them in house.  They did taste good though and had a nice flavor in the crust.  I did make the mistake of not ordering the root beer (I totally spaced it) but that is where the name comes from (Triple XXX is the brand of root beer they serve).  Next time for sure.

Hubby decided to try the pork tenderloin, and while he said it wasn’t bad, desperately wished he had ordered a burger after he had tried mine.  Luckily for him, I am generous and shared a few bites with him so he knew what he was missing.  Guaranteed, next time we go (and we will), we will both be ordering a burger.  He also had the fries, which were fine, but again, not the reason you are coming to Triple XXX.

This is an example of a place that is really living up to all the hype in my opinion, at least as far as the burgers go.  I can’t wait to come up with an excuse to drive back up there and have another one. 

Triple XXX

State Road 26 West & Salisbury

West Lafayette, IN

765-743-5373

http://www.triplexxxfamilyrestaurant.com/

Pizzology - Revisit

Sometimes you just have to go back to places you like so you don’t go totally insane you know? So it was a Saturday night, and we had just finished my son’s birthday party with like twelve 4 and 5 year olds running wild. We needed wine. Fast. Luckily, I had planned ahead and realized by the end of this day, we would certainly need some adult time, so I had wisely planned for a babysitter. We were so brain dead we couldn’t decide where to go but we knew we wanted something causal and good. We decided Pizzology sounded like a plan.

I really enjoy the wine list at Pizzology. I know I don’t usually talk about the wine, but Pizzology has a great menu of Italian wines that you don’t often see in restaurants (thanks mainly, I think, to Neal Brown's wife Lindy who is a Certified Sommelier). We knew we would be happy in this regard and we weren’t disappointed. We quickly ordered a bottle and began the debate over what to eat.

We started with “Tony’s Fritters.” These were something that, up to now, we hadn’t tried, but always meant to. They are zucchini fritters with fresh parmesan grated over the top and served swimming in a little bath of truffle oil. These were superb. We really liked them. The zucchini flavor was delicate and nicely highlighted by the truffle oil. There wasn’t so much of the oil that you were annoyed by it overtaking the other flavors and the fritters had just the right amount of crispness on the edges, but were still moist and light in the middle. These little fritters would be hard to pass up in the future.

We also shared a large chop salad (we were informed you get much more “bang for your buck” sharing one large ($8) rather than getting two smalls (at $4 each)). So I really enjoy the acidity in this salad mixed with the ingredients that come together to make what is essentially an ideal chop in my mind (because I really like the ingredients). There is chopped romaine, prosciutto, blue cheese, shallot, olives, and roasted tomatoes with a citrus vinaigrette with a nice kick. I will say though, this salad is not always super consistent. While 75% of the time, this salad is dead on, I have had one that was so acidic I couldn’t finish it and I have also noticed a change in the proportion of other ingredients to lettuce. It used to be that there was almost too much of the other ingredients as compared to the lettuce. Now, there is a lot less of everything else (other than maybe the blue cheese) and much more of the well dressed leaves. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing; I am just still trying to figure out exactly where the salad is going to end up.

Anyhow, it was also a tribute night to Jimi Hendrix at Pizzology. Certainly something I can get behind, so we went with the special pizza created in his honor. It included Purple Haze goat cheese with lavender and fennel pollen, purple basil, and two kinds of mushrooms... roasted trumpet and portobello I believe. It sounded interesting so we went for it since it was only offered that night. It was good. Maybe not my favorite pizza toppings ever, but quite tasty. I liked the way you got a kick of the goat cheese along with the mellow richness of the mushrooms. The purple basil added a super fresh herby crunch. But really, the real star of this show is the crust. The freshly baked, slightly irregular and a little charred crust is what makes this pizza for me. It is chewy and crunchy at the same time. The pizza is consistently good at Pizzology.

So the place was quite busy, although we got a table as soon as we walked in (one of the last though). The service was a little stressed, but ours did not suffer too much. But like I said, sitting with our bottle of wine, we were perfectly content after the day we had. As we sat there though, we discussed the fact that hubby had not yet been to Napolese (the other Neapolitan style pizza place in Indy) and that I really needed to do a revisit there as well. So guess what? That is exactly what we decided to do. Look for my revisit to Napolese next week. But in the meantime, what are your favorite Pizzology menu items or pizza toppings? I was so glad I expanded my horizons on this visit, I want to try something else new next time.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

http://www.pizzologyindy.com/

Tiger Lily

It is hard for me to convince hubby to try a new Chinese place because it seems like we are often disappointed—so many of them seem so similarly mediocre. But we were intrigued by some recommendations I have had for Tiger Lily, so we decided to give it a try. And while many of the menu items are fairly standard American/Chinese fare, they also offer several options highlighting other Asian cuisines such as Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese influenced dishes.

The first thing you notice is that, although from the outside, it looks like your basic strip mall restaurant, on the inside it is more modern and warm (lots of dark color inside making it feel like it could be a place you might not mind having dinner as well). The next thing I noticed was how friendly the staff was, at first to us, and then to everyone who came in. And for a restaurant that has only been open a few weeks, there appears to be a crowd of lunchtime regulars that are greeted like old friends.

Hubby was intrigued by one of the specials listed for the day, a seafood pancake. As we looked over the lunch menus, he asked our server about it and she explained that it was their special batter topped with eggs mixed with various seafood and scallions and served with soy vinaigrette on the side. He quickly ordered it as we decided what to get for our main dishes. The seafood pancake was interesting and quite tasty. I have had crunchy green onion pancakes in Chinese restaurants before, but this one was more almost like a frittata. It had a thin pancake type crust, with the eggs and other ingredients on top. The bites with the shrimp were our favorite, the shrimp being tender and flavorful. I had one bite that was a little too fishy for me, but other than that, this dish really grew on me and I probably ended up liking this one the best of everything we had. It is certainly large enough to share, and it was probably a bit much along with a lunch (which come with a spring roll and salad), but we were just in the mood to try something new.

The salad that is served with each lunch entrée is just a chopped iceberg salad with a fairly spicy ginger dressing very lightly drizzled on top. There was no dressing at all on the bottom of the salad, so I just ate a few bites off the top. I was pleasantly surprised by the spiciness of the dressing and was hopeful that the dishes we had would be well seasoned as well.

For my lunch entrée, I had the Tiger Lily beef, which was designated as one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. I thought the quality of the ingredients in every dish we had was very high. The beef in this dish very tender and had clearly been marinated for quite awhile. I found the “sweet soy sauce” a little too sweet and had to add some regular soy sauce to balance it a bit. I had wished I had ordered one of the day’s other specials which was Bulgogi and was similar meat but described as spicy. I think with the quality of meat and a different sauce, it could have been quite good. The broccoli surrounding the beef was way too underdone to be enjoyable (not being a huge fan of raw broccoli). The lunches come with either fried or steamed rice (I got steamed) and I really enjoyed the rice. It was just the right amount of sticky that I enjoy. The little spring roll that came along with was a little underdone inside and thus, a bit gummy. I did appreciate the fact that they brought you bottles of the housemade sweet and sour sauce and hot mustard for use on the spring rolls. Because I am not a fan of sweet and sour sauce, I liked not having to see a dish of it go to waste.

Hubby had the Szechuan Chicken which was designated as one of the spicy items on the menu. This entrée was disappointing. It was white meat chicken with a lot of onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms that were stir fried in a “Szechuan chili sauce.” Again, the ingredients were high quality, but there was hardly any flavor to it and by no means would I call it anything close to spicy. We added soy sauce just to give it some flavor and that is not a sign of a good dish to me.

There are a lot of things to like about Tiger Lily as far as the atmosphere and the quality and freshness of ingredients being used. Unfortunately, the finished dishes were not one of the things sticking out to me in this regard. This is a place that I will probably try again however, if for no other reason than to see if all these glowing reviews I keep hearing and reading can be substantiated. But next time I will certainly order differently and try more of the “spicy” items.

Tiger Lily Restaurant
1146 West 86th Street
Indy, 46260
317/848-9077
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17155&id=135387009825452&l=a6ab6460ae#!/pages/Indianapolis-IN/Tiger-Lily-Restaurant/135387009825452

Matteo's Ristorante Italiano

With all the ringing endorsements for Matteo's the other day here on my blog, how could I not get over there and give it a try? As I often do with Italian, I invited several of my family members to go with us so I could try lots of things and because they tend not to be as jaded as I am about Italian food in Indy.

Matteo’s is in Noblesville right on the square—it is a very quaint and attractive location both outside and in. The interior feels warm and like it has been there a long time, although not in a cheesy kind of way. The room is much larger than I would expect from the outside and features tin ceilings and décor that makes you feel like you are in a nice restaurant, but not so nice that anyone would feel uncomfortable regardless of what they are wearing. Our server was exceptionally friendly and helpful, and although told us at one point she was one of the newer servers there, she seemed confident in her job, yet still easy going with us.

We started with several appetizers to share, the fried calamari, the pizza margherita, and the olive “all’ascolana.” The calamari was your typical fried calamari with both rings and leggy pieces and was served with marinara for dipping. I found the rings to be too chewy to be enjoyable, but the leggy bits were better. Overall though, this is not something I would order again.

The pizza was pretty good—everyone at the table seemed to enjoy it. Everyone also commented on how large it was (it was really like a regular pizza size and it had quite a bit of cheese and sauce). I don’t think anyone ate more than one piece though, because if you did, you very well might not want anything else. There were six of us so it was a great thing to try with that large of a group, but for fewer people, unless you want to make it your meal with a salad, it would probably be too much. It was a homemade thin crust pizza that had been grilled and topped with marinara, cheese and a bit of basil. The crust was nice and crunchy. There was more cheese on there than I expected, but again, it was quite enjoyable.

Finally we had the olive “all’ascolana” which were large green olives stuffed with ground veal and deep fried and served with Alfredo sauce. My Dad and I were both intrigued with these (I get my love of green olives from him, and my love of black olives from Mom) because we both love olives so much and this was an unusual preparation. The thing I liked about them is they were almost like a meatball in some ways, but the olive kept them a bit moister and gave them the salty/tangy kick you get from an olive. If I am not mistaken, there was a bit of cheese stuffed in there with the veal as well. You definitely needed something to dip them in, but I am not sure if the Alfredo was the right choice. A little too rich for me. These were overall quite interesting, and I enjoyed them because they were different, but would I order them again? I am not sure.

We all got different entrées, and I tried as many of them as I could. I had the seafood special which was Corvina fish served over seasoned rice with a light cream sauce, artichokes, olives and tomatoes. Corvina is a fairly firm white fish. In this presentation it was pan seared and was cooked very well. It was tender and flaky and I really enjoyed it. The cream sauce was light and buttery and not over the top—I loved the flavor of the artichokes and olives and tomatoes to get that acidic kick that I always enjoy, but it was all well balanced with the slight richness of the sauce. I liked that large high quality olives were used in the sauce, not just green and black salad olives. These were large kalamatas and maybe cerignolas? Anyway, they were large enough; they had to be cut in half in the preparation, which I also liked because you got just the right amount in each bite. I didn’t eat a lot of the rice (I am not a huge rice pilaf person) but what I did have was nice and tender and mildly seasoned.

Hubby had the “Tortellini Matteo’s” which apparently has won some local awards throughout the years for best pasta in Indy. These were your classic tortellini stuffed with cheese, and covered in a light cream sauce with ham, mushrooms, onion and parmesan cheese. Hubby was very pleased with these and found them very tasty. I had several bites of his as well and liked the ham and onion flavor imparted in the sauce, and the fact that the sauce just lightly coated all the pasta, and that it wasn’t totally swimming in it. Just enough to give it a nice flavor and texture, but not overwhelm the cheese flavor in the pasta. It was hearty and good. Hubby thought it was one of the best tortellini dishes he has had in Indy, but I don’t know that I would say it was the best pasta in Indy.

My sister, who was sitting on the opposite side of me, had the filet mignon baked in puff pastry and served with a garlic, roasted pine nut and gorgonzola cream sauce. The steak was cooked very nicely medium rare, although she ordered it medium. She didn’t care, because she likes both (and I was happy because I prefer medium rare). The steak was nice. I liked the puff pastry as well, the bite I had had a decent crispiness to it. The sauce being served on the side was probably for the best, or the whole thing would have gotten too soggy. I only got a bit of the sauce on my bite, but my sister said it had a decent garlic and gorgonzola flavor to it.

My Mom had another one of the day’s specials that sounded very intriguing and I was glad she got it. It was crepes stuffed with pears and asiago cheese and covered in a very light cheese sauce. It was very unique, and while at first it almost sounded like a dessert to me, once I tasted it, it still had a soft savory flavor to it. It was quite delicate, but really quite good. I don’t know if I could have eaten a whole order of it myself, but I certainly enjoyed the bites I had.

My Dad had the veal picatta which I probably had the least amount of. He enjoyed it and said he thought the portion was very generous and that the lemon sauce was nice. We both right away missed the capers that were not present, and I think they would have made this dish better. The bite I had was okay, but probably my least favorite thing on the table. The sauce had the right buttery/lemony flavor, but some capers would have brought it together.

Of course, even though we had had way too much food, we had to try dessert, mainly because we had seen other servers making bananas foster tableside and we all agreed we needed to try it. The lady who made it (the hostess maybe?) was quite charming and explained that she had only lit one person on fire the entire time she had done it. And as it happened, that man was sitting at the table next to us, so obviously having his shoe set on fire did not deter him from returning. She first made caramel sauce, then sautéed the bananas in it and flambéed it all with several types of liqueur and served it over vanilla ice cream. I appreciated the fact that they made what was meant to be a serving for two people into a small individual serving for each of us. The one universal thing that everyone commented on was that they liked this dish (Dad said he only wished they kept the ice cream cold while cooking he rest because it was kind of mushy by the time we got it).

So in conclusion, I thank you guys who have been telling me to go to Matteo’s, as we had a nice meal. Matteo’s does a great job with ambiance and service for sure and that alone would likely lure me back. Food-wise, I would say it is certainly better than a lot of the Italian places in Indy that I have been. However, I still think based on my experiences to date; Indy is lacking a truly outstanding Italian place.

Matteo’s Ristorante Italiano
40 North 9th Street
Noblesville, IN 46060
317/774-9771
www.matteosindy.com

La Mie Emilie

Remember how I was asking about French Bistros the other day? Well, I found one. And not just did I find one, but I really liked this one. This was a meal that caused me to be in a good mood all day because I love knowing that yes, there are still hidden gems to be found around town. For me, the only downside is the restaurant is in downtown Carmel, which means a little hike for me, but I’ll manage.

La Mie Emile is mainly a lunch spot, but they also serve dinner (with a more limited menu) three nights a week. As a lunch spot though, this place was doing a booming business (apparently a lot of people have discovered this gem before I did) and when we left, I think every table was full, including the ones outside. They have quite an extensive dessert and specifically, pie list. In fact, the entire backside of the menu is desserts.

First of all, they had buckwheat crepes! I have loved buckwheat crepes ever since I lived in California, and worked in Oakland, we had a little crepe place run by a charming Frenchman from Brittany (open only for a couple of years sadly until he returned to France) who made wonderful savory buckwheat crepes that I have been trying to duplicate at home for the last 10 years or so. The crepe here was as close as I have come. I ordered the Galette avec Jambon et Fromage which is ham, Gruyere cheese, and an over easy egg, all wrapped in the buckwheat crepe. Because I wanted to see how close it would be to the one I always used to order, and because I just like to be difficult, I substituted mushrooms for the ham (which they did without even a blink of an eye).

The crepe was delicious. The crepe itself was light and was filled with just the right amount of cheese and mushrooms, and the one, perfectly cooked, and nicely seasoned egg. I do not like crepes that are overstuffed to the point of being more like an omelet wrapped in a crust of crepe. This is light, tasty and just the right amount of food for a nice light, healthy lunch. I am quite sure the version with ham is good as well, but if they will continue to make it for me, I will likely continue to order my version. They served it with fruit on the side.

Hubby had the Croque Madame which is a French version of a hot ham and cheese sandwich (well if it is just ham and cheese, it is a Croque Monsieur; the egg on top makes it a “madame”). It is slices of French bread, with ham in between, Gruyere cheese melted on top, and another beautifully cooked over easy egg on top. This was very tasty as well, and was more filling than mine because of the two hearty slices of bread. Hubby quite enjoyed it as well.

I had to try a sweet crepe as well, just because I was so excited about my first course. I just wanted something simple so I ordered the crepe with chocolate ganache. There were three of them in my dessert order neatly folded and served with the chocolate sauce inside and out. It was good—not overly sweet, but the sauce tasted like it was made with decent quality chocolate. It probably needed a scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream maybe to finish it, but I was the one who chose what I had. They had several dessert crepe combos with varying ingredients which I am sure are very good.

I am just thrilled to find a place with buckwheat crepes being done so well—and I have heard from family members that the quiche here is delicious as well. I really look forward to my next visit, which hopefully, will be in the very near future.


La Mie Emilie
15 West Main Street
Carmel, IN 46032
317/816-1200
http://www.lamieemilie.com/

McCormick and Schmick's

The last time we went to McCormick and Schmicks, we were sort of impressed by how much we liked the food we had. We hadn’t been back though, and after perusing various menus online, I was convinced by this picture. It was also the last weekend of Devour Downtown, although we were never offered the menu. That was fine with us because we wanted to order from the regular menu, but I think when Devour Downtown is going on, the menu should be offered from the start.

We had an exceptionally friendly server who was very attentive for at least the first half of the meal, until things really starting picking up and everyone seemed to get a little harried. But we had our wine, and some nice chewy light sourdough bread to munch on. I got the tower I showed you before, the Dungeness crab with mango, avocado and orange vinaigrette. I love love love Dungeness crab and when I lived in San Francisco, a whole crab was frequently our Sunday meal. It is very challenging to find it here and I almost always order it if I see it. Of course, once I had ordered it, and started talking to hubby, I realized that it wasn’t actually Dungeness crab season (fall-winter) and I could be in trouble. Well, it was disappointing. First of all, look at my picture compared to the one on the website (and I apologize for how dark they are). Where were my big hunks of leg meat? That was a serious let down. The crab meat tasted ok, but there were no large pieces that made you feel like you were getting something really special. Furthermore, while the avocado was perfectly ripe and soft (and plentiful), the mango was not very ripe and therefore, hard and with a dull flavor. The vinaigrette was on the bottom of the tower, and there wasn’t enough to balance out the large amounts of the other ingredients. I was a little bummed with this appetizer.

Hubby had the oyster po boy which was much better than my crab tower. It was served open-faced which made it a little challenging to eat (had to be eaten with a knife and fork pretty much) but the flavors were nice. It was a nice grilled piece of bread with several perfectly fried medium sized oysters on top and the whole thing was drizzled with a pleasantly spicy remoulade. He definitely won on the appetizer that is for sure. I had several bites and while my dish wasn’t worth ordering again, this one was. I also liked the fact that they have several “small plates” that are very reasonably priced that you could get as appetizers or out of which you could make a nice tapas meal.

We shared a salad, the same salad we had last time, which is very nice. It is the house salad, and is made up of lettuce, candied walnuts and blue cheese with a nice tangy vinaigrette. We both really enjoyed this salad again (and had more than enough even with a half portion). The balance between the vinaigrette and the sweet nuts is a combination that I love, and one that I duplicate at home quite a bit.

For our main dish, we shared the phyllo wrapped halibut which was baked, and topped with a lemon butter sauce with chives. I enjoyed this dish as well. The fish may have been a teeny bit overcooked if I am being really particular, but not enough to make a huge difference. I know it can be hard to tell exactly when something is done when it is wrapped up in phyllo and baked. The fish was still fairly tender and the sauce added a nice flavor to go along with the soft interior and the crunchy phyllo, even if I would have liked a touch more of the sauce. This is another place where the sides are being phoned in I think—everyone is getting the same sides and they aren’t really that great. Very plain. I said it in my last review of this restaurant, and I have said about other places. I don’t get when restaurants put mediocre sides on a plate just to fill it up. It annoys me because I am guessing most of the time the food just ends up in the garbage which is a complete waste.

Simply because we saw this dessert walk by earlier in our meal (and hey, we split an entrée right?) we split the s’mores sundae. This was one of the bigger and more expensive desserts on the menu. And for sure, it is large enough to share. It was made up of a large brownie with rocky road ice cream on top, and marshmallow cream which was then lightly burnt on top to give it that taste of roasted marshmallows. I loved the singed marshmallow topping with the ice cream. The brownie itself wasn’t overly spectacular-- it was a little dry-- but served as a decent base on which to pile all the other stuff.

After having such a surprisingly good meal the first time I went, I was kind of let down with McCormick and Schmick’s. I do appreciate their portion sizes compared to a lot of places around town (they are much more moderately sized and priced), but I wish there was a little more attention to detail going into the food as well.

McCormick and Schmick’s
110 North Illinois Street
Indy 46204
317-631-9500
http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/

Good Morning Mama's

We were in a rare situation where we were looking for a late breakfast to prepare for a very early dinner (some days you just have to plan everything around the meals you know?), so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to try Good Morning Mama’s. This is the latest venture (I know it has been open awhile) of the Mama Corolla’s owners and appears to have just as much popularity as the casual Italian eatery a couple doors down the street.

This is the best re-use of a gas station for sure. The atmosphere of Good Morning Mama’s is extremely bright and cheery and retro. They have taken an old gas station with great lines and followed that theme with the décor of diner-ish tables and chairs and 50s characters painted on the walls. The place is cute, although I am guessing if it were full would be quite noisy, as when we were there it was only half full, and it was quite loud already.

We both wanted full-on breakfast, so I ordered the “Mama’s” and hubby ordered the “Papa’s.” Seemed appropriate. The “Mama’s” is your classic, two eggs any style, fried potatoes, toast and meat. I got my eggs over medium, exchanged my toast for a biscuit and ordered the bacon. Whenever I eat breakfast out, especially somewhere for the first time, I always worry about how to order my eggs. I like them runny in the yolks, but not in the whites. In my opinion, that is “over medium.” A lot of times apparently cooks do not agree with me and sometimes I need to order them “over easy” to get the yolks runny. These were perfect. One hurdle was crossed. The bacon was also very good, crispy, but not too crispy and still flavorful. I hate bacon that looks good and has no flavor. There is just no point in that. The potatoes were the sliced and fried variety. They were not bad, but my favorites are hash browns that are crispy. These had some crispy parts, and I enjoyed the ones that were. The softer ones I just skipped. The biggest disappointment for me was the biscuit. It looked good but didn’t have that rich buttery flavor that you want in a biscuit. It just didn’t have much flavor at all to me. I had some of hubby’s toast and it was better. Next time, toast is the way to go. Nice, thick and buttery.

Hubby’s “Papa’s” was corned beef hash with two eggs and toast. He was very happy. He is a lover of corned beef hash but is also particular in how he likes it (no peppers). This was house made corned beef sautéed with shredded potatoes with two more perfectly cooked eggs (he likes them over easy). He was very happy with the flavor of the beef and the portion size as well. It wasn’t so ridiculously big that he felt guilty eating every bite. And again, it came with a generous helping of the hot buttery toast.

Good Morning Mama’s is doing a quality job with breakfast foods and will likely go on the regular rotation for us. And I know the kids will like it too if for no other reason than the décor (although the simple food will probably appeal to them as well). There is a fairly extensive lunch menu as well with several good sounding sandwiches. The food isn’t fancy, but the quality is there, the service was good, and they know how to cook an egg.

Good Morning Mama’s
1001 East 54th Street
Indy 46220
317/255-3800
www.goodmorningmamas.com

The Rathskeller

It is hard to believe I know, but I had never been to the Rathskeller before this review. It has been on the list since the beginning, but I don’t know, it just never seemed to happen. Recently, during Devour Downtown, it seemed like an excellent time to give it a try because their Devour menu had some nice sounding choices. I really liked the way Rathskeller let you make a mixed plate with several of their special items (you could choose 2 things from a list of 4-5) and then add two sides (out of many many choices).

We sort of decided to get one of the Devour menus and then also order a straight off the menu entrée and just share the appetizer and dessert. This turned out to be a good plan, because the Devour items were large (I don’t think they reduce portions here during Devour Downtown like many restaurants do). So we started with the onion dill bread for our appetizer. It was a large sized piece of bread with lots of dill flavor, garlic, provolone and Parmesan cheese. It was cut into strips and was a great thing to share. No way would I want to eat this whole thing myself (well, I might want to, but I wouldn’t want to eat anything else.) This was one of my favorite parts of the meal. The bread was quite hearty and the dill seasoning was unique and went well with the mild cheese. It was served with Ranch dressing on the side, as well as a pickle spear, which I thought was kind of odd, but actually, I really enjoyed dipping the bread in the dressing and eating the pickle to give a little sour flavor along with the rich bread (have I mentioned, I love pickles, so anytime I see a dill pickle with something, it makes me happy).

Our appetizer was served quite promptly, but after eating it, we had a few minutes to really look around. I really enjoy the atmosphere at the Rathskeller. It is clearly quite old, and has kept lots of the charm that comes with being in an historic (19th Century) building. It is a rather large place as well, but it was pleasingly full of people while we were there. The staff is also extremely professional and attentive. As soon as your water glass gets low, it is refilled. And when your beer stein needs a refill, you will be quickly asked if you would like to order another. I found this quite refreshing.

Next we were brought out a delicious basket of various breads—although I sort of got hooked on the warm soft pretzel and ate that mainly. They served it with a mustard dip that is so full of horseradish, the server warns you before you eat it. I thought it was over the top, and it would have been nice to have an alternative offered, because mustard and pretzels are such good friends.

For our main dishes, we got a regular order of schnitzel. Regular entrees came with a side salad as well as two side dishes. With the schnitzel we had potato pancakes and spaetzle noodles (nothing like a bit of starch with your meal). We also had a Devour Downtown combo with Jaegerschnitzel and Kielbasse with sides of red cabbage and German potato salad (no salad with the Devour Downtown special).

Sadly, the schnitzel was not good (which was particularly bad since we had two schnitzel based dishes). Schnitzel is just pounded pork tenderloin that is breaded and pan fried. The regular schnitzel was served with some lemon slices on top as well as a lemon sauce on the side for dipping. It was strangely really pink in color but at the same time really tough. The dipping sauce was pretty thin and didn’t have enough flavor for me. The sides on this dish didn’t fare much better. Both starches were pretty bland, and the potato pancake was kind of tough. The noodles had a sauce on top that was slightly sweet, but not really imparting anything beneficial in my mind.

The Jaegerschnitzel was the same schnitzel as above (with the same inherent problems) covered with a sauce of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, red wine and herbs. Because the meat was so tough, the sauce could not really do anything to save it. The cabbage was pretty sweet (to be fair, our server informed us of this when we ordered). I didn’t mind it so much, but hubby really didn’t care for it and was annoyed when any portion of it came into contact with his other items. The German potato salad was the best side dish we had by far. It is a warm potato salad and had a slight tangy and sweet flavor to it (because it is made with vinegar and sugar instead of mayo) which was really nice.

The best part of our main dishes though, was clearly the kielbasse. It was a very flavorful sausage. Simple and plain, but with great smoky flavor. Hubby loved it, and because of it alone, is already planning our next trip back.

We also shared a dessert—for Devour Downtown, they gave you a huge list to choose from. We went with the soft pretzel with chocolate sauce. It was the same pretzel from earlier (which was fine because it was delicious) served with a little dip of chocolate. The dip was really quite good. I am not sure what kind of chocolate it was, but it had a very rich chocolate-y flavor. And I tend to like salty things with chocolate. My only complaint was the container they chocolate came in was disposable plastic, obviously then heated, and the plastic itself was a little melty. That sort of freaked me out. A ceramic dish would be much nicer.

This was an interesting experience, because even though we didn’t really care for much of the food we had on this night, we both discussed that we would like to return. The menu is large, and who knows, maybe you would be better off with just one of the steak or pasta dishes (even though they aren’t really German). I think the service and atmosphere won us over a bit. I think this was an example of when really good service can make a dinner better even when the food wasn’t that great. So I would like to hear from you all about what you think—a lot of you have recommended the Rathskeller. What are your favorite things food-wise, and/or is it something besides the food that keeps you coming back? After all, this place has been around forever, so they have got to be on to something.

The Rathskeller
401 East Michigan
Indy 46204
317/636-0396
www.rathskeller.com

Serendipity

*****AS OF NOVEMBER 2010, SERENDIPITY IS OUT OF BUSINESS******************

“A place where ladies lunch” was my thought as we stepped into the door of Serendipity in downtown Carmel. We had intended on going to another restaurant that was not open and so we decided to try this instead. Hubby felt a little awkward in the décor of glass top tables and tea pots in what used to be a bank (they have a private table set up back in the vault). I have to admit the atmosphere of the place almost didn’t feel like a restaurant, but like a set of a restaurant in a tv show or something. (And from the outside, it is very non-descript---you probably wouldn’t guess there was a restaurant in there). Apparently the chandeliers are restored from the L.S. Ayres tea room downtown and they also serve a version of the famous chicken velvet soup. They serve lunch and have afternoon tea service.

I don’t think there is a large kitchen here as the menu is limited to a lot of paninis and salad type items. But the mix of ingredients was intriguing and luckily, our server was a guy who was dressed a lot like hubby (very casually in shorts) so that made him feel a little more at ease.

I ordered the “Serendipity chicken broccoli strata” which was a combination of broccoli, a bit of chicken, whipping cream and eggs on a bready crust. Sort of reminded me of a savory bread pudding, except that the bread was all at the bottom more like a crust. The first thing I noticed was that it was really hot. It took awhile for it to cool enough that I could eat it. But the flavors were nice—a very comforting combination of familiar ingredients. It (as was hubby’s) was served with a little side salad that was drizzled with raspberry dressing. The dressing wasn’t bad—it had a nice tangy, not ridiculously sweet flavor, but the greens would have been nicer if they were actually tossed in it (but you know that is one of my pet peeves). They also served a nice bowl of mixed fruit (blueberries, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple) as well as a small scone for dessert (again both our dishes had all the same accompaniments). Hubby got to his scone first and said he was just going to have a bite to try it. He really liked it. It wasn’t quite as dense as most scones I have had, and it was very good. It was chock full of all kinds of sweet treats, from chocolate chips to white chocolate chips, and every bite was a little different. It sort of crumbled in your hands as you ate it, but it was a really nice ending to a nice meal. I always like a little something sweet at the end of a meal, but usually skip dessert at lunch. This was a nice touch.

Hubby had the “Serendipity Panini” which looked like your typical grilled panini sandwich filled with turkey, bacon, tomato, spinach and cheese with their “special sauce.” I am pretty sure that sauce was some form of balsamic dressing. This sandwich was really really good. Overall, because of the balance of all the flavors, I may have liked it a bit more than mine. And I like a panini because it is pressed flat because it makes it easy to eat. I really don’t like super thick sandwiches. I would certainly order this sandwich again myself. He also had iced tea, which he said was some of the best he has had anywhere, which I thought was a good sign of a place that also has a full tea service.

All in all, although the atmosphere is a little strange to me (it would probably be good for a baby or bridal shower or something like that), the food is very good and well thought out. Apparently, the people who run it also have a couple of other similar restaurants with different themes. I would be interested in trying some of the other locations to see what they are like. Have you guys ever been to any of them?

Serendipity
2 West Main Street
Carmel, IN 46032
317/569-1929
www.occasionsdivine.com/serendipity.html