U.S. Adventures- San Francisco: Gary Danko

Our last night in San Francisco, hubby and I went to Gary Danko.  Gary Danko is a restaurant that opened while we lived in San Francisco and at which we had a couple of amazing meals. It had been probably close to 8 years or so since our last meal though, so we really wanted to go again.  The funny thing about Gary Danko is that I don’t think the menu has really changed that much in all that time.  There are certain dishes that they are pretty well known for, and while they certainly add seasonal ingredients, the menu stays pretty similar I think.  But before I even talk about the food, I have to mention service again.  It was amazing once again.  This is one of the nicest restaurants in San Francisco—but the servers treat you like you are a regular and talk to you like you’re an old friend.  We chatted about various restaurants in San Francisco, and he let us in on the fact that the bar at Gary Danko is a great deal because you don’t have to order the 3 or 4 courses.  We chatted about our kids and his kids and our upcoming trip.  There was not an ounce of pretentiousness or snobbery. 

The food at Gary Danko is really good and really solid. I like that even though you have to choose 3, 4, or 5 courses ($71, $89 and $104), you can order whatever you want from whatever part of the menu (there are appetizers, a fish and shellfish section, a meat section, cheese and dessert).  He told us if we wanted 4 courses of dessert, go for it.  I started with the “crispy farm egg” with white polenta, mushrooms, frissée and pancetta.  It was great.  It was the smooth, slightly sweet polenta on the bottom with some dressed greens, and the egg on top.  The egg was actually breaded and lightly fried—and perfectly runny inside.  It was a nice take on the classic frissée salad with a poached egg, the breadcrumbs giving it just a little more substance.  It had a nice balance of flavors though with the dressing on the greens and we both really liked it.  Hubby had the risotto with lobster, rock shrimp, mushrooms, corn, roasted tomatoes and peas. We have had a version of this before and as before, it was spectacular.  How they get the lobster and the shrimp EXACTLY perfectly cooked, I don’t know, but I wish they would teach all the other restaurants in the world.  The shellfish just melted in your mouth.  The risotto is rich and creamy, but not so much so, and not such a huge portion that you were sick of it by the end (often my problem with risotto).

My next course was the roast Maine lobster with potato puree, mushrooms, corn and tarragon.  This was a dish I had once before (or a similar version anyway) and I loved it so much, I had to have it again.  It was just as good as I remember. I love lobster when it is cooked properly, but honestly I rarely order it because it so rarely is. Again, they had it down—especially that claw.  It was amazing. A little crunch from the corn and slight anise type flavor from the tarragon with the milder potatoes—the ingredients just let the lobster shine through.  Hubby had a pork dish with pork belly and pork tenderloin medallions with potato ramp puree, cauliflower, roasted peppers and maple cider glaze.  The pork belly was beautiful—I love it when it is served in a slice type format and you can see the layers of fat. It also seems more balanced between the meat and fat when it is cut like that as opposed to some of the overlarge hunks with too many gelatinous fatty bits I have seen at other places lately.  The tenderloin wasn’t as good—it just doesn’t have as much flavor and depth.

I have pretty much given up on fancy cheese services since leaving San Francisco—but Gary Danko reminded me why I like them so much.  They brought us the huge cart and let us pick whatever we wanted (we only ordered one cheese course and then one of us got the dessert). We had a nice selection of things and a nice discussion about cheese carts in San Francisco with our waiter.  Apparently there are only 3 or 4 restaurants that have them even in San Francisco.

Dessert was warm Louisiana butter cake with apples, huckleberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream.  It was basically croissants that were cut up and then more butter and caramel added.  Can you say buttery and rich?  It was really good though, and the huckleberry was nice because it was a little tart and you always need some sort of creamy type thing to go along with something like this.  This is one of the desserts they are known for, and it is clear to see why.  All I know is I am glad we only got the three courses option because we were completely stuffed at this point.  I would say the portions are very generous, especially for a multi-course fine dining experience.

Even though we were stuffed and done with our dinner, we still enjoyed the extra little petit fours that they brought out at the end.  It is always fun to bite into them all and taste all the different flavors.  As if that wasn’t enough, they even bring you little cakes (these were pineapple upside down cakes) wrapped up to take home.  Because our waiter knew we were traveling all day with our 2 kids the next day and gave us 4 to take home (see what I mean about the service?).  Because we had had a fairly long chat with our doorman at the hotel about how much he also loved Gary Danko, we gave him the extras—we figured he would appreciate them more than our kids. (Other thing I love about San Francisco—everyone loves food in this town. I have had long discussions with taxi drivers about restaurants, and they all know where the restaurants are unlike a certain city’s taxi drivers—talking to YOU Chicago!).

All in all, this trip was a bit of a whirlwind, but we ate really well and satisfied my son’s need for Dungeness crab (had several crabs at Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch one day too) as well as taking them to a few more places that they haven’t been yet (the Exploratorium was a favorite spot).  San Francisco certainly owns a little piece of my heart that is for sure.

Gary Danko

800 North Point

San Francisco, CA  94109

415/749-2060

www.garydanko.com 

Bluebeard

I finally got a chance to check out the new darling of the restaurant scene around here—Blubeard.  You certainly have to appreciate all the love that new local places are starting to get in the press these days.  I waited the several weeks that I like to wait before going somewhere new and then we met my friend wibia and his girlfriend for dinner.  Unfortunately, that means two reviews based on the same dinner, although knowing him, it will be weeks before he writes his post. 

I really like the space of Bluebeard, especially the back bar room—the restaurant is much bigger than I thought from looking in from the street.  It is very hip—lots of irregularly shaped wood tables—a young staff and a very mixed clientele age-wise.  I should point out that I do know one of the chefs at Bluebeard—John Adams—and he did come over and say hi, so we aren’t totally anonymous here.  Anyway, we did chat about the menu a bit and got some ideas for things to order.

We started with the bread plate ($7).  The restaurant includes an Italian bakery as well (Amelia’s) that makes its own bread (a niche in Indy that needed to be filled).  I really liked the spreads that were served alongside the bread.  There was anchovy butter, a roasted garlic olive oil, and lardo.  My favorite was probably the anchovy butter—it was nice and salty, but not over fishy. The garlic olive oil was good, but fairly simple.  The lardo (which is basically cured pork fat) was a favorite of hubby’s but was a little smoky tasting for me—it was pretty strong.  I love the fact that they give you all these different things to try though.   There were also four types of sliced bread from the bakery.  The bread was good, but honestly, the way it was grilled, it had a fairly distinct burnt flavor.  It was hard to get any real flavor nuances from the bread because of the grilled parts. We also got a cheese plate (3 cheese choices for $14).  They have a nice cheese list and do a good job of serving the cheese at room temperature.  We had Piper’s Pyramid (a goat), Fleur de terre (local cow) and the house ricotta.  They served it with small rounds of baguette, an apricot spread and a rhubarb spread and several caper berries. The house made ricotta was really nice—really creamy and tangy—great with the fruit.  The cheeses were also nice with the bread from the first bread basket too.   Oh, we also had a little “snack” of wine poached olives too ($5)—the firmer olives I liked a lot. Some of the mushier ones were a little wine heavy for me and I couldn’t taste the olive as much.

Probably my favorite dish of the night was the Sicilian sashimi ($13) from the small plates section of the menu.  It was raw fluke, with bits of chopped red onion, lemon, capers and nice olive oil.  I had faith in the sashimi knowing that John Adams had been a sous chef at H2O sushi—and I wasn’t disappointed. The fish was really fresh, and all the accompaniments gave it just the right amount of crunch and acid—I loved the fancy blue salt on top too.  I think everyone enjoyed this dish quite a bit.  At the same time, we were served the broiled razor clams with parsley, garlic, butter and red pepper flakes ($15). There were two of the large clams and the seasoning was very good—nice and buttery but enough garlic and red pepper that you could taste it.  The biggest problem was the clam itself—we keep ordering razor clams thinking we will like them, but I think they are just too inherently chewy for me.  It is just a texture thing, and I think this is maybe just how they are, but just not our speed. I would love to see them get some little regular clams and do a dish with these same seasonings—they would be great.

Our next course was a large plate—the pan roasted game hen with pommes Anna, sherried figs, sage butter and almonds ($22) and a side of the spaghetti with parmesan, crème fraiche, and lemon ($9).  Both were quite good as well.  The Chef had recommended the dish, so we were happy to try it—normally I am not one to really order chicken type dishes at restaurants, but this was nice.  It was a dish in which all the ingredients together really enhanced this dish.  It was tough to get them all—there were the thinly layered potatoes with lots of butter and a nice crisp crust, the sweet figs, the almonds, as well as some arugula and pickled onions.  The hen was sliced with nice crispy skin on the outside.  I really liked the pasta too—simple but had a nice amount of lemon flavor, as well as the slight tartness of the crème fraiche—it wasn’t just flat and creamy like pastas often seem to be when they’re just doused with cream and parmesan.

Of course we had to have some dessert too, so we tried the buttermilk bread pudding with ricotta and marinated cherries as well as the chocolate goat cheese cheesecake (Lord, I think it was goat cheese, there had been a lot of wine consumed at this stage).  Both were very good as well. We all had our favorites, but I liked the cheesecake the best I think—it was not as thick as most traditional cheesecakes and had a fairly light dose of chocolate.  The cheese aspect was a little more sour than usual and I thought it was good that way.  This isn’t to say they bread pudding wasn’t good—it was as well. Two little mounds of very moist cake topped with more of the housemade ricotta and with the marinated cherries. I would easily get either again.

I thought the service was pretty good. It wasn’t perfect for sure, but the pacing was pretty good—we were there for a couple of hours, and with that much food, that is pretty much what I would expect.  There was certainly room for improvement though—our server knew the menu pretty well food-wise and specialty drink-wise, but when it came to the wine, everything we ordered seemed to throw him a little.  He had to look over the menu to see what wine we were talking about, and it isn’t a huge list.  And for some reason, while the food pacing was good as I said, the drink service was slower. I also really wish they took reservations.  We had already planned to go early and just leave if the wait was too long, but I hate to have to do that.  I would much rather go just knowing there was a table waiting for me.

outside patio-love the trees

All in all, I see a lot of promise in Bluebeard—it is still new and I think, working out some of the kinks, but I think it is a place that brightens Indy’s food scene for sure.  It feels current and modern and I am so glad to see someone FINALLY cooking food with an Italian theme that isn’t just the same pastas drenched in marinara and cheese.  It is certainly going into our rotation.

Bluebeard

653 Virginia Avenue

Indy, 46203

317/686-1580

www.bluebeardindy.com

Broad Ripple Brewpub

I can’t believe we have lived (back) here 6 years now and this is our first trip to Broad Ripple Brew Pub in that time.  I have been in the past, years and years ago, but I can’t even begin to tell you what I thought of it then it has been so long.  Someone recently told us the Scotch eggs were good though, and we really enjoyed them at MacNiven’s, so we wanted to try them.

We also had the kids with us and they are pretty kid friendly as well, although our server didn’t bring us a kids’ menu until we asked for one.  Honestly, the service, or lack thereof, was actually the first thing I noticed about the place.  There was no one around anywhere, just a lot of signs saying “enter through other door” and “seat yourself” and a pile of menus on a center table.  After we did seat ourselves, it took awhile before anyone approached us too.  I wouldn’t say service is a strength, that is for sure.

We started with the Scotch eggs though ($6.75) and they were good.  It is a boiled egg covered in sausage, breaded and quickly deep fried.  The sausage was a little different from the MacNiven’s version—it was more like country sausage—not quite as spicy.  They also served them with a garlic ranch dipping sauce.  The sausage part was nearly as thick as the egg, and honestly I prefer my egg ratio to be a little higher, but the flavor was good and the outside crust was good and crunchy.  The ranch was very garlicky, and that was a nice change of pace from your traditional ranch.  If I had to choose which one I liked better, I would probably choose MacNiven’s, but these were very good too.

Hubby and I were a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the menu—there are a lot of options on there—and ended up splitting a 12" specialty pizza ($11.50).  It was the portabella pizza and had portabella mushrooms, provolone, mozzarella and feta cheese (we had them skip the roasted red peppers).  The flavor of the pizza was very good—again, lots of garlic and the different flavors of cheeses made it more interesting than a lot of pub pizzas.  The mushrooms tasted like they were roasted and had a deep earthy flavor.  The feta was a good addition because of the saltiness it added—especially once it is cooked.  The crust tasted good—it was seasoned more than your standard pizza crust. The only problem was the classic soggy in the middle problem.  You really had to eat it with a knife and fork because the middle was so gooey, if you picked it up, the topping would have slid off.  It was kind of a shame, because if it had a solid crust, it would have been a pretty darn good pie.

The chicken fingers that my son had were not impressive (they rarely are). They seemed pretty foodservice to me.  He mainly just finished up the Scotch eggs instead.  My daughter had a half order of nachos off the appetizer menu and was perfectly content.  All in all, for a pub, the food was pretty good (at least the adult food was).  The service was pretty lacking although our server perked up a little when I asked her opinion on some of her favorite things.  The menu is large though—really large.  I know a lot of you guys eat there, so let me know about your favorite things.

Broad Ripple Brewpub

842 East 65^th Street

Indy  46220

317/253-2739

www.broadripplebrewpub.com

U.S. Adventures: San Francisco- Summer 2012

San Francisco—one of my favorite places in the world, and a place that is truly like a second home.  Recently we were fortunate enough to stop there for a few days on our way to an amazing family trip to Hawaii.  We mainly just wanted to eat, and hang out with some old friends, and get our bodies a little adjusted to what is ultimately a 6 hour time change.  My kids love San Francisco too, and love seeing their old babysitter (as do we when it comes time to go out for dinner).  It was a quick trip with some great meals—most of which I will discuss in this post.  I am saving our last dinner for a separate post.

The first day, after traveling for hours and getting up at 4:00 am, we were all starving. We tried to pop into Tadich Grill, an old school place right by our hotel but it was packed.  We saw Perbacco right next door, and although it isn’t a place we would probably normally take the kids, we were desperate.  We were greeted warmly, even with our two slightly disheveled and weary travelers.  This warmth and professionalism is one of the reasons I love San Francisco restaurants.  The other one, of course, is the food, and Perbacco was great.  I had herb and ricotta gnocchi with mushrooms and melted leeks ($17).  Hubby and my son split an amazing hanger steak with large roasted mushrooms and arugula ($19).  That steak was amazing--flavorful and perfectly medium rare.  But the surprise winner of the day was my daughter’s requested plain potato gnocchi with just butter ($10).  This was easily the best potato gnocchi I have ever had.  They were so light and fluffy; they practically melted in your mouth.  Honestly, we almost ordered a second order of them to share we all liked them so much.  My daughter won’t stop talking about them and has requested a return visit to Perbacco when we go back to visit.  What a perfect welcome lunch.

Tadich and Perbacco

We did manage to get into the Tadich Grill that night for dinner—this was the place where my son wanted crab for every course—and it could be pretty easily done there.  Tadich is one of the oldest (maybe the oldest) restaurants in San Francisco and has that old school men’s club look with big old wooden walls and a huge bar in the middle.  We shared a bunch of things—Dungeness crab cocktails for the kids (just leg meat, awesome) and I had the avocado crab salad ($25) which is basically like a crab Louis salad, one of my favorite things.  It was lettuce, crab legs, and lots of avocado with some other adornments and a big bowl of their Louis dressing.  The salad was pretty standard—honestly the pre-peeled legs were a little less tender than Dungeness usually is when you peel it yourself.  The dressing was great though.  I make Louis dressing a lot at home and this one had a slightly different taste to it.  Generally, the recipe I make is mayo, chili sauce, cream and lemon with some chopped bell peppers and green onions—I think maybe this one had vinegar in it instead of the lemon and it was a little less peppery than mine.  It was really tasty and has inspired me to mix up my recipe a little.  It was a fun dinner and pretty much exactly what I expected—the food wasn’t amazing, but it was a cool place for the kids.

The second night I got to go out to dinner with one of my girlfriends and we decided to try Wayfare Tavern.  Wayfare is celebrity chef Tyler Florence’s restaurant and was also right around the corner from our hotel in the financial district.  Very cool, masculine feel to the place and again, I was completely charmed by our server who was extremely knowledgeable but also really friendly to us.  She was down to earth and joked around with us several times.  I think San Francisco has some of the best service people in the world. 

open kitchen

I had the steak tartare ($16) to start, which was one of the better ones I had—it was American Wagyu beef and was almost pink, it had so much marbled fat.  There was an egg yolk perched on top and slivers of fried shallots.  There was a distinctly spicy kick to it, which was nice in a pretty rich dish.  Oh, and I didn’t mention the popovers, which were served for their bread service, and were also served grilled with the tartare.  They were amazing.  I love the soft interior and the crisp but slightly chewy exterior.  I am a sucker for a popover. I then had the soft shell crab as my main dish ($15) (it was an appetizer). Honestly, I was not as impressed with this.  Maybe it is because it is getting to the end of the season, but the crab just wasn’t that meaty—there wasn’t a lot of juiciness to it, and I love biting into them and getting that juicy bite from the main body.  There were roasted tomatoes and some lettuce as well as some sliced black truffle, but this dish was only okay for me.  One of the best and most original parts of the meal was the dessert we shared—the goat cheese panna cotta ($10).  It was amazing.  It was done like a crème brulee with a burnt sugar top, but the flavor of the creamy part underneath was amazing with a slight sweetness but with the depth, intensity and slight sourness of the goat cheese.  They served it with some crunchy little cookies that were a nice texture variation.  Exactly the kind of dessert that sticks out in my mind. Delicious.

I do love that town.

Perbacco

230 California Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/955-0663

http://www.perbaccosf.com/

Tadich Grill

240 California Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/391-1849

www.tadichgill.com

Wayfare Tavern

558 Sacramento Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/772-9060

www.wayfaretavern.com

Izakaya

Recently I posted about a sushi meal and the day I posted it, there were several comments discussing sushi, which of course instantly put me back in the mood.  I did want to at least try something new though, so hubby and I decided to try Izakaya.  It took us a few minutes to find it because it is back in a strip mall area off to the side, but we finally did.  When we walked in, I liked the interior (other than it was freezing of course).  It is modern and feels a little nicer than a lot of Japanese restaurants. They also offer hibachi grills, so we may have to go try that with the kids one of these days.

They have a lunch special that includes ordering a couple of rolls (from a list of choices) for $9.95, which is what I got.  I picked the tuna roll with avocado and the shrimp tempura roll.  It is a pretty good deal considering one of the rolls on the regular menu is $8.95.  I can’t say I loved one better than the other—the tuna was nice and fresh—it was pretty simple though.  I would have liked a little more avocado.  But it was a nice bite sized roll.  The shrimp tempura roll was good too.  I liked the variation in texture, and having a little crunch to it with the tempura shrimp inside as well as the tempura bits on top.    Both of the rolls hit the spot and satisfied the craving.  I didn’t have any major complaints.  You also got a bowl of miso soup included with your lunch—it was your standard miso soup with seaweed and little chunks of tofu.

Hubby got the shrimp tempura lunch for $8.95.  It was several shrimp tempura (there were 3 or 4) and quite a fair amount of vegetables.  Interestingly, the crunchy outside part on the shrimp was a little different from what was on the veggies—the shrimp was almost more like panko in texture—a much crunchier, breadier, and thicker coating.  It was honestly a little too thick—it made the shrimp seem very small in comparison.  There were several kinds of veggies—asparagus, squash, a large onion ring, zuchinni and a mushroom.  The batter on these was more of your traditional batter-tempura type and we both liked it better—it wasn’t so thick that it overwhelmed the veggies themselves.  It also came with soup and a bowl of steamed rice.

Overall, it hit the spot and the service was fast and friendly.  When we first sat down, there weren’t many people there and the air conditioning was on full blast and it was freezing.  But it was one of the few places I have eaten in which I asked for it to be turned down and they went and turned it off.  Usually you just get an eye roll when you complain about being cold around here.

Anyone been to the hibachi part? I am curious to know if it is good.

Izakaya

7325 East 96^th Street

Fishers, IN

317/915-8988

www.indyizakaya.com

Road Trip--The Story Inn

The Story Inn has been on my list for quite awhile but we just never managed to get down there—it is in a somewhat secluded little town (um, called Story) near Nashville, Indiana.  It just so happened this summer my daughter went to camp nearby so hubby and I decided to go spend the night and have dinner the night before we were due to pick her up.

The restaurant/inn is a really charming little place with creaky floors and supposedly a resident ghost. We rented one of the rooms in an adjoining building.  It was very rustic—if you want a country type getaway for a night, this might be your cup of tea.  Honestly, it was a little close to camping for me, and I if you knew me, you would know I am not much of a camper.

The restaurant has a fairly limited menu, which looks like it changes seasonably—honestly, this was one of the days that it was about 103 degrees outside so I was having a hard time committing to a really big meal.  I just have a hard time eating a ton when it is that hot.  I started with the “blue lady” salad (named after the aforementioned ghost).  It was a salad of mixed greens, blue cheese, grapes and walnuts with a blueberry vinaigrette ($7.50).  I am generally not a fan of really sweet salad dressings and was a little wary of this one, but it was really good. Possibly because blueberries aren’t so inherently sweet as other types of berries—it also seemed to have a nice balance of acid in it.  The nuts and blue cheese are always one of my favorite things--and when I make my own cheese plates, I almost always add grapes as well—so really this was a nice assortment of things I really like together with a nice dressing. I would get it again.

For my main, I decided to go with an appetizer—the BBQ pork sliders.  For $8.00, this was a really good deal and the homemade bbq pork was really tasty—it was super tender and juicy—it had sauce mixed all the way through that had a nice tangy kick to it.  My only complaint was it was just a little too salty—and it could have used something alongside (slaw or something) to balance the flavors more and give it a little texture.  It was just a little too one dimensional, just the meat and the bun (which were nice and soft but weren’t anything that you couldn’t get at the grocery).  It was certainly a generous portion, and more than enough for people to share as an appetizer.

I also shared a fair amount of hubby’s eggplant parmesan ($21) and it was really tasty.  The eggplant was super crunchy breaded, but what I really liked that not only was it still crunchy even with the marinara, but you could also really taste (and see) the eggplant in the crust.  It seems like eggplant is often lost in a sea of sauce and cheese in this dish, but this one was one of the better versions I have had.  The sauce was chunky and clearly homemade and had the right sweet and slightly acidic flavor.  There was a decent amount of melted cheese as well, but not so much that it felt like you were just eating a big gooey plate of cheese.

We shared a dessert—a dark chocolate pot de crème ($5.50).  It was fine but nothing really amazing. I was looking for a darker chocolate flavor than this—I really like the bitterness of really good dark chocolate and this was mostly just sweet.

I liked the atmosphere of the place visually.  The thing that kind of freaked me out is that it was strangely quiet.  There were a fair amount of people, but no one was really talking besides for us. There was also no background music, which it really seemed to need.  There was also only one server for the whole place, and while she was nice, there was no way she could be everywhere she needed to be in a timely fashion.  I imagine it is hard to staff a place like this out in the middle of nowhere, unless they have reservations.  But they were certainly a little understaffed.  It is a cute place, but I sort of felt like it was a bit of an off night.  I am not sure what high season for a place like this is (Fall maybe?) but they didn’t seem quite ready for the small crowd they had.  The food was good though, and I might be intrigued enough to go again.

Who’s been and what did you think?

The Story Inn

6404 State Road 135 South

Nashville, IN 47448

812/988-2273

http://www.storyinn.com 

Kincaid's- Revisit

I heard there was a soft shell crab sandwich special at Kincaid’s for lunch, so naturally I had to try it.  Not only was it soft shell crab, but it was combined with one of my all time favorite sandwich combos, the BLT plus avocado.  It wasn’t a cheap lunch at $17.95, but sometimes you have to splurge (it also came with potato salad and fries).

I enjoyed the sandwich—the crab was cornmeal crusted which isn’t my favorite crust for soft shell crab, but it was done well and the crab was large and quite juicy.  I loved the tartar sauce that they served on the sandwich and alongside—it was really tangy and had a lot of flavor from chopped up artichoke.  It was a nice twist on a classic.  Actually, all the ingredients were good—the bacon was plentiful and the avocado nice and ripe.  Honestly though, and I always remember this after I start eating a soft shell crab sandwich, I think I just prefer soft shell crab more on its own, without extra bread or anything (well, maybe a sauce or something).  Who needs bread when you have deep fried soft shell crab? But it was a high quality sandwich.  The herb potato salad was interesting—they were going with some different flavors than traditional potato salads, but it was a little bland.  The fries were dusted with Old Bay and they were pretty good.  Not exactly sure why they included two forms of potato with the sandwich, but I preferred the fries.

The real star of lunch though was the other sandwich we ordered and split—the lobster hoagie ($18.25).  The other good news about this sandwich is that it is a regular menu item and not on the specials list which means you can probably still order it, unlike the soft shell crab sandwich.  This sandwich was delicious.  It was basically their version of a fancy lobster roll.  There were sliced tomatoes and shredded lettuce on the bun as well as a runny fried egg and some tempura avocado on the side (which we promptly added to the sandwich as well).  I liked the variation on the typical lobster roll.  Not sure that avocado really needs to be deep fried though, although it was interesting.  We both totally agreed that this sandwich was excellent and both liked it the best.  There were homemade chips served alongside which were not that great—they were a little too thickly cut or something and were a little more chewy than crunchy.

It was a lovely lunch, although pretty darn expensive for lunch, but you are certainly getting good quality ingredients for the money, even though it is pretty decadent.  One thing I always wonder about Kincaid’s though is that they always have these somewhat inventive and delicious sounding lunch items, but their dinner menu is pretty straight steak house.  They really ought to offer that lobster hoagie for dinner—it is really good and at that price point, it might make more sense.

Kincaid’s

14159 Clay Terrace Blvd

Carmel, IN 46032

317/575-9005

www.kincaids.com

Divvy - Revisit

We have wanted to try Divvy again since our first experience awhile back.  We went with a large group the first time and I was a little overwhelmed with all the different things we tried.  This time there was just 4 of us, and while we still got to try a lot of things, I didn’t feel quite as overwhelmed.  Also, our server was exceptionally friendly and helpful this time.  The menu had changed a fair amount since our first visit, but there were still several of the same items as well (I assume the more popular items).

We started with a couple of the spreads/cheese starters—we had the bruschetta ($6) and the bruleed brie ($8).  The better of the two was definitely the bruleed brie.  It was toasted pretzel bread slices with a little fig jam, nicely melted creamy brie, and tart green apple slices.  Normally I don’t get that excited about brie, but this was a great combo with the apple and the sweet jam (but there wasn’t too much of it which was nice). The bruschetta was grilled slices of focaccia with tomato, onion, roasted garlic and balsamic.  There was also quite a bit of feta sprinkled on top.  The whole dish was just sort of flat to me—the balsamic wasn’t tangy enough or something—it was more on the sweet side I think.  I don’t remember the roasted garlic at all.

The first repeat item we ordered from last time (at my request) was the tempura tofu ($9). I really enjoyed it again.  The cubes of tofu were soft inside with a nice crunch outside.  They was drizzled with a teriyaki sauce and served with pomegranate-blood orange noodles and sesame seeds.  The noodles were cold and had a fair amount of the fruity flavor to them—it was nice alongside the richer tofu.

We also really enjoyed the popcorn scallops ($10). It was a healthy portion of little bite-sized pieces of scallops with a salty, crispy coating.  They were a little addicting—and I appreciated that they were served with a tangy, citrusy tartar-type sauce.  It was a good balance. We also added a random order of the frizzled onions ($4) mid-way through the meal—they were pretty tasty too.  They were basically onion straws, but they were made in house and had a nice crust and a chipotle tomato sauce with them that definitely had a distinct chipotle flavor.  They were good—not amazing but good.

The lamb medallions ($14) with a pomegranate balsamic glaze were probably my least favorite item—they were ok, but the lamb was a little more cooked than I would like—and I really think lamb gets tough when it is past medium rare.  These were certainly closer to medium.  There were 4-5 small medallions—one of the smaller plates of the evening as well.  At this point we went ahead and ordered our second repeat item of the evening—the corn crème brulee ($6).  We all enjoyed it the first time and were debating it, but when our server recommended it to go along with the lamb, we were sold.  It was actually better this time around.  The dish is basically a rich corn pudding with jalapenos, Romano cheese and a bruleed top.  The top this time was nicely crisp which gave a really nice texture contrast with the creamy interior.  It has a smoky flavor, almost making you think it had meat in it (it doesn’t).

The last couple of savory things we threw on at the end were the chorizo balls ($9) and the lobster salad ($14).  These were a good couple of things to get together because one was (obviously) very meaty with spicier flavors, and the other was lighter and had a tangier, citrusy flavor.  You start to notice a lot of repeated ingredients throughout the dishes though, when you order several.  The chorizo balls included more of the chipotle tomato sauce and the lobster salad used more of the citrusy tartar sauce that was with the scallops.  Luckily, I liked both of the sauces.  The meatballs were better than I expected—they stayed fairly tender (maybe because of the fat content).  They had a bit of heat to them (there was also some chopped jalapenos on top) but they had a generous drizzle of crème fraiche that cooled them down a bit.  They weren’t my favorite thing of the evening, but like I said, I liked them more than I expected to.  The lobster salad was pretty good as well, although again, not amazing.  There was a lot of chopped lobster meat with the tartar sauce with a lot of fresh fruits and veg alongside—cucumber slices, orange wedges, sweet peppers and some radish sprouts on top.  I enjoyed it, mainly as something different to go along with the spicy rich chorizo—I am not sure if I would order it again though.

For dessert we got one larger, shareable thing—the chocolate fondue ($12) and one of the “mini morsels”--the chocolate mousse ($4).  I wanted to try the chocolate mousse because last time everyone told me it was really good but I didn’t get to try it before it was gone.  It is a little dome of frozen mousse with a peanut butter glaze and some sea salt on top.  I love the whole sweet/salty thing, so I enjoyed this.  It is pretty small though—even though we all had a bit of it, it is really more of a single dessert.  I appreciate all the little dessert options. It is a nice way to get something sweet without getting a ridiculously large dessert, which seem to dominate most restaurants in Indy.  The fondue was pretty straight forward—a warm chocolate sauce with lots of things to dip into it—homemade marshmallows, and lots of fruit—strawberries, pineapple, banana and apple.  It is an easy thing to share and tasted good.  There was nothing that made it stand out from any other similar dessert I have had before though.

Overall, I generally enjoy the divvy experience.  The menu is really quite large (and maybe slightly overwhelming) and as I mentioned, you start to see a lot of repeated ingredients throughout it.  You kind of have to pay attention if you don’t want to repeat the same flavors.  I enjoyed what we had, but none of it was blowing me away--but it is solid and creative food and there are certainly things to appease pretty much every kind of taste. 

divvy

71 West City Center Drive

Carmel, IN 46032

317/706-0000

www.divvycarmel.com

Brugge Brasserie - Revisit

This is just a quick update on Brugge because I have reviewed it several times in the past and in general, am a pretty big fan.  We pretty much always get mussels ($19.95)—our current favorite flavor being the blue cheese and bacon.  I really like that no matter how heavy handed or light handed the cook is with the seasonings on any particular day, you can always taste both of those ingredients—and there are always big hunks of blue cheese scattered throughout to fish out of the broth.  This is what we had this time, as well as the last few times I have been with various people, and they have always been good.  Their frites are some of the best in Indy.  They are super crunchy and fresh. I am also still stuck on my favorite frites sauces, the aiolis (I like both, but particularly the raw garlic one), the blue cheese and the sherry vinegar with sea salt. 

This trip though, my 6 year old ordered the steak frites which is a hanger steak served with a big pile of their frites on top.  ($16.95) (You can also get it with fried eggs which also sounds amazing.)  I had heard this steak was good from other people, but had never gotten around to ordering it because I love the mussels so much.  My son is a steak guy though and we figured between the three of us we could share it all.  The steak was really quite good—hanger steak definitely has a slightly tougher consistency than something like a filet, but it was cooked perfectly and had a great flavor.  It was fairly heavily seasoned on the outside with a spice rub, which we thought was great, but my 6 year old is a bit of a purist.  I think if we got it plain, he would have enjoyed it more.

For the first time on this visit we also sat up on the upper deck—I really enjoyed this. There were a couple of tables in the shade and I love that you can see over the top of many of the buildings to big old walnut trees which I assume are along the river.  The tree top view is a much nicer one than the deck below.

Brugge is certainly a fairly regular place for us.  Well, it is for hubby and me at least, we are still working on the kids.  They are coming along slowly but surely though.

Brugge Brasserie

1011 A East Westfield Blvd.

Indy 46220

317-255-0978

www.bruggebrasserie.com