Ocean Prime

It’s new, so of course I had to try it.  I have heard a lot of mixed things—but am always excited to see for myself, particularly when it is so close to my house.  We met my parents and my sister and her husband one night for dinner. I always enjoy these meals because my family knows they have to share whatever they order.  They are down with blog participation.

Hubby and I perused the menu before we got there because we knew we would need lots of time for negotiations—the menu is pretty big.  After guessing what my family would order (with a high degree of accuracy I might add), we decided to go with a meal of lots of appetizers to share between us. 

We started with the tuna tartare ($16) and an order of the fried calamari ($14) for the table.  Hubby and I mainly ate the tartare and enjoyed it. I liked the way they had mixed the slivers of fried wontons right into it.  It had a fair amount of avocado and was topped with some crème fraiche. The whole thing sat in a ginger ponzu sauce.  I tend to like ponzu—which is soy based with some citrus mixed in as well. Sounds like it would be a great combo with the tuna and it was good—it just had a little strange twist of sweetness, almost like there was some sweet chili oil in there too.  But all in all, an enjoyable dish.  My family really likes the calamari which is fried and served with a true sweet chili oil and candied cashews.  The calamari itself was really good—very fresh and really tender.  I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I am tired of sweet chili oil though—it seems like it is on so many menus these days.  It is certainly a very generous portion and easy to share.  If you like calamari, and a slightly sweeter taste, you will probably like this.

Next, hubby and I split the Shellfish “cobb” salad ($19).  I was intrigued by the salad because it was about as close to a Louis salad as I have seen around town and I desperately miss them.  There was lettuce, blue cheese, chopped egg, and shellfish—lobster, crab and shrimp.  Strangely, the dressing with it was called “gourmet” dressing—really? Is that a technical name for a dressing?  When asked the server told me it was egg and champagne vinaigrette based and described it as “dull” which I thought was a little weird.  It wasn’t bad, and the salad contained a whole bunch of my favorite things on a plate, but overall, it just didn’t seem to mesh together. I am not exactly sure why.  I appreciated that they split the salad evenly between us.  I think I enjoyed my sister’s Ocean Prime house salad better—the dressing (a Sherry vinaigrette with some Dijon) was very good.  The salad had lettuce, spinach, apples, goat cheese and walnuts. It was well done.

For my “main” dish, I had the goat cheese ravioli appetizer ($11).  Even though it wasn’t steak or seafood, I thought it was the best thing on the table all night.  The pasta was housemade (that makes me so happy) and was stuffed with goat cheese—the broth it sat in was buttery and lemony and there were also thinly sliced shitake mushrooms scattered throughout, which added a nice earthy flavor to go along with the sharpness of the goat cheese and lemon.  Even my brother in law liked it, and he claims not to like goat cheese.

Hubby had the “signature appetizer” crab cake ($16) for his entrée (you can get it as an app or entrée; he went with the smaller version).  I had heard decent things about it and it was so well featured in the menu, I had pretty high hopes, even though generally crab cakes bore the crap out of me these days.  This one was not very good—it wasn’t that crabby—more of a flatter pancake kind of version without much of the crabby lumps I like.  Hubby was really disappointed.

We had bites of pretty much everyone else’s food—steak, shrimp pasta, scallops and lobster.  It was all cooked properly (well, the shrimp was a bit tough) and was enjoyed by the people who ordered it.  It was pretty classic steakhouse type food.  We also all shared a couple of sides—one I really liked and one was a bit of a letdown.  The jalapeno au gratin potatoes ($10) were really good—the potatoes were more shredded, had just a hint of heat from the peppers and lots of Swiss cheese which was nice.  They were cheesy but not so much so that you felt like you were just eating cheese.  They were worth ordering for sure.  The black truffle mac and cheese ($12) was a letdown.  One of my big pet peeves is when something is called “truffle” and has absolutely no truffle flavor (but is still priced as if it does).  You can see the two slices of truffle in the picture, but that is the only evidence of truffles.  By looking at the picture you can taste the truffle flavor as much as I could that night.  The mac and cheese wasn’t a bad basic mac and cheese, but I was sad about the truffles.

Desserts were good as well--hubby and I shared the peanut butter pie ($9) (we have a peanut allergy in our house, so we never have peanut stuff in the house, so it always seems extra decadent).  It was really very good.  I am not sure I would call it a "pie," but regardless, I would say it was tasty.  It was basically peanut butter mousses covered in a dark chocolate ganache.  The middle was very light and soft and the chocolate super rich.  Like an amazing peanut butter cup.

Overall, it’s a nice place, very popular with some highlights on the menu for sure.  The interior is nice, although many of the tables are kind of cramped together.  They have a great looking outside bar area in which I would enjoy grabbing an appetizer and a glass of wine some time. There are definitely ups and downs food-wise, and it is pretty pricey, so some of the entrées are kind of risky endeavors if you don’t want to spend a lot.  I do like that they have a fair amount of non-steak (and mainly seafood) entrée options.  I would go back, but I would probably stick with appetizers. 

Who else has gone? What was your experience like?

Ocean Prime

8555 North River Road

Indy  46240

317/560-0975

www.oceanprimeindy.com

Detour American Grille Express

**THIS LOCATION IS CLOSED***

I was excited about an independent casual restaurant opening near us in the Fashion Mall area (it’s over by Kohl’s)—we are always looking for nearby places to take the kids for lunch. There are about 1000 chain options, but obviously we prefer to go to a locally owned place if possible.  I have never been to the branch of Detour in Carmel, where it started, but I was looking forward to a possible new option.

The first thing I noticed about the place was how sort of corporate it looked—the inside is very clean and well, I don’t know, kind of generic I guess.  You order your food at the register and then a runner brings it to you.  The menu is pretty straightforward—burgers, sandwiches and wraps with various fried side dishes.  I opted for the “hard hat” sandwich which they describe as “a grilled cheese with a twist” ($9.99).  It has 2 kinds of cheese, tomato, avocado and ham and is served on sourdough bread. I opted to go without the ham because if I am having a grilled cheese, I want a grilled cheese, not a ham and cheese sandwich. Also, I am particular about my ham. Ok, so for $10 I was expecting a pretty big and gooey grilled cheese sandwich. I was imagining a fairly thick homemade type of sandwich with lots of stuff.  Well what I got was a sandwich that reminded me a bit of a school cafeteria.  There was thin small bread with a couple of slices of cheese, a couple of very thin (and have to say fairly flavorless) tomatoes, a couple of slices of avocado (it was ripe though which was good) and there really isn’t much more to say.  It wasn’t gooey, it wasn’t memorable.  It wasn’t worth $10 (and an extra $.99 to add the tater tots).  The tater tots were as good as they get. I mean, every now and then they sound good and this was one of those days for me.  But again, it added to the whole school cafeteria vibe.

Hubby was trying to be healthy and ordered tomato basil soup ($2.99) and a salad ($3.99).  I can tell you he was very annoyed by the salad. It was pretty small.  He kept comparing it to a garnish. And the dressing (Yuzu-ginger vinaigrette) was really oily.  He thought the soup was decent—he really likes tomato basil soup. I tasted it and it was fine. Basic, nothing fancy, but good enough if you’re in the mood for tomato soup.

So my daughter just wanted a plain cheese quesadilla, which wasn’t on the kids menu, but they do serve one that is on the regular menu that comes with all kinds of other stuff inside—chicken, beans and peppers.  She didn’t want any of this stuff and they made it for her, but still charged us $10.99 for it (which is expensive in my opinion either way you look at it).  I didn’t realize this until after hubby had paid and told me that our bill was like $42 or I would have made her get something else. My son had mini corn dogs ($5.99) which were standard food service type.  The fries that came with were pretty good—they leaned toward the thinner side with a bit of skin on them.

They also have this super fancy soda machine that you can use to mix up 100s of different flavors of soda (say you press Coke, you can get it flavored with like 6 other flavors as well if you want).  My kids (and I am sure most kids) found it intriguing and wanted to play with it A LOT.  I found it a bit annoying since they don’t drink soda.  You can get lemonade flavored many different ways as well. The drinks (for adults) are $2. 

So all in all, I feel like this place is really expensive for the quality of food you are getting. I don’t know, maybe the burgers are better, but based on our experience, I doubt we will be repeating, no matter how much the kids want to play with that soda machine.  I did notice on the back of the menu and their website that they are looking for people to franchise the restaurant, and to me, it has the feel of a chain already even though it isn’t.  And I think they are charging a bit too much to make it really a fast food type option. 

***Note, since publishing, Detour Express has left a comment that they have lowered prices on many items.

Detour American Grille Express

8487 Union Chapel Road

Indy 46240

317/299-8888

www.detourgrille.com

Tiger Lily - Revisit

After having a friend tell me that he really liked Tiger Lily, and since I haven’t been back since my first visit shortly after they opened, I met my friend wibia there for a quick lunch the other day.  My friend who had recommended I go back told me that he really liked the hot and sour soup so I ordered that to start ($2.50).  It was very good.  It was very full of all the typical hot and sour ingredients (bamboo shoots, mushrooms and lots of tofu).  I liked that the veggies were still fairly crisp, but not too crisp and I loved all the tofu in it.  It also had a decent amount of acidity from the vinegar (sour) and just enough of the spiciness (hot).  Our only complaint (we both had the same soup) is that it wasn’t very hot temperature-wise.  Not cold or anything, just not hot.

So after ordering what I wanted, which was a noodle dish, our (very pleasant) server came back to tell me they were out of it.  I went with garlic chicken ($6.50), which is sort of a standby dish for me at Chinese places.  I am bummed I didn’t get to try the noodle dish because it sounded more interesting, and honestly, I wasn’t very impressed with the chicken. It was slices of white meat chicken with water chestnuts and mushrooms in a garlic sauce.  One of the things I didn’t like about either of our dishes was that there was very little of the “sauce” other than what was directly on the meat.  There was steamed rice with it, and there wasn’t enough of the flavor/sauce to make it onto the rice.  The chicken was also a bit dry on the inside as well and the garlic sauce a little bland. Maybe if they gave a bit more of it.

Wibia had the pork bulgogi and I thought it suffered many of the same problems—it was dry and had little “sauce” to it… in other words, just not a lot of flavor. I do appreciate the crisp little egg roll and crab rangoon they give you with your lunch.  I liked the egg roll because it was nice and crispy (it is on the small side) and not overly filled with stuff.  The crab Rangoon was fine, but I have rarely met one that got me excited (not my favorite thing—cream cheese just doesn’t belong many places for me besides spread on a bagel).

Anyway, it was fine, and I liked the soup, but I wish I could have tried the noodles.  So far none of the rice dishes have made me overly interested in returning and I have a feeling it may be awhile again before I do.  When this place first opened, there was a lot of buzz about it, but less so as of late. Are there still some of you that are regulars?  Love to hear what you think.

Tiger Lily Restaurant

1146 West 86^th Street

Indy, 46260

317/848-9077

(they’re on facebook)

Café Audrey

The other day we took the kids on a trail ride at Ft. Ben (my daughter is OBSESSED with horses), and I took the opportunity to find somewhere new and nearby to try for lunch. (By the way, thanks to my twitter friends for recommending both ideas.)  We had a great time on the horses (the trails are quite pretty) and headed over to Café Audrey afterward, which is right on the Fort property.  I had checked out the menu beforehand, and noticed they offer Broaster® chicken, which is a type of fried chicken cooked in a pressure fryer.  Of course, if there was going to be fried chicken, I was going to have to try it.

The interior of the place is cute—it is one of the old brick fort buildings and is full of mismatched tables and generally friendly servers.  It wasn’t totally full, but was doing a decent business.  As soon as we ordered our drinks, I ordered the 2 piece chicken meal ($7.29) because it takes like 20 minutes to cook.  After the kids and hubby pondered the menu, they settled on chicken fingers ($5.99), a chicken quesadilla ($6.99), and the pork tenderloin sandwich ($7.49).

So the fried chicken was only ok unfortunately.  They served a breast and a leg—the leg was pretty tender and juicy, but there was really little flavor to the crispy outside.  I will say, I don’t think I have ever had hotter (temperature-wise) fried chicken in my life.  The steam that poured out of it was intense.  The breast was dry (sigh).  They served it with these battered potato wedges that were somewhat interesting—but pretty sure they probably aren’t making these themselves.  They were okay, but nothing that makes me want more.  There was also a biscuit that sadly was also a little dry. I had to ask for some butter for that puppy.

Hubby’s pork tenderloin was made in house, and I like the whole using crushed cornflake crust (there were some whole cornflakes in there too). I have had a tenderloin with this kind of crust before at Big Daddy’s downtown and I use it myself on catfish fingers I make for the kids a lot. While I really like the crunch appeal of the cornflakes as well as the slight sweetness, it couldn’t make up for the overcooked dry tenderloin inside.  It was one of those that was pounded a bit too thin and cooked a bit too long.  We had to ask for extra mayo. The sandwich was served with homemade chips which were pretty good.  I have noticed that homemade potato chips are a big trend these days—too bad more places won’t do homemade fries…but I digress.  The chips were on the thick side, but were still nice and crunchy.

Sadly, my son’s chicken fingers were more tender than the breast on my fried chicken, and were more seasoned as well.  I say sadly because they were foodservice chicken strips and not housemade. My daughter had a chicken quesadilla and a side of black beans.  I didn’t try it, but it was a nice presentation with lettuce and tomatoes on top.

All in all, it is a cute place that as hubby says, “is trying hard.”  I am sure this neighborhood could really use a good independent restaurant serving fresh made food.  I don’t know, I would be interested to try breakfast—it seems like a place that might be able to pull it off.  Honestly though the day we went was the first time I had ever heard of this place. Have any of you guys been there?  Have you tried breakfast?  Of course I would love to hear about it.

Café Audrey

9134 Otis Avenue

Indy 46216

317/546-6000

www.cafeaudreyatthefort.com

Chicago - Summer 2012

I feel like all I have done this summer is travel.  I also feel like I have written a ton of posts lately that are not about Indy restaurants because of it.  Bear with me; this will be the last one for a bit.  We did a quickie trip to Chicago a few weeks ago and here is a brief (ok, brief for me) summary of where we ate.

Quartino

We were meeting an old college friend of hubby’s and the first night we went to Quartino.  It is a loud, buzzy Italian place with a pretty wide ranging menu (good for kids, whom we had with us).  Honestly, I found everything to be fairly average – the cheese/charcuterie plate ($25) was fine, the heirloom tomato salad ($7.75) could have stood a little more flavor (people, tomatoes should be AWESOME right now or you shouldn’t be serving them), and the Rustica pizza (with potatoes, pancetta, rosemary and onion) ($12) was bland (I think there were like 6 pieces of rosemary) and should not have had a red sauce on it in my opinion.  We also had a mushroom risotto ($11.50) which was ok—it had balsamic in it giving it more of an interesting flavor than many risottos—I appreciate the acid in what is often a ridiculously heavy dish. 

So with all of these things, they weren’t really wowing us—but luckily we had also ordered the steamed clams ($11.75). Wow, these things were great.  They were the little teeny clams that I often dream about and have pretty much only had in Italy I think.  I had begun to think they were impossible to come by in this country or something.  They were in a white wine and chili broth that was also outstanding.  It had a ton of the actual wine flavor (I find many shellfish broths to be pretty watered down) and a touch of heat.  They were served with great pieces of grilled bread that completed the dish perfectly. Seriously, I would go back to this place just for the clams.  Oh, and the zeppole for dessert ($5.50).  They were great as well—super puffy and hollow freshly fried doughnuts with a dark chocolate sauce.  That would be a great little meal actually—clams and doughnuts. (Hubby says that's gross. Whatever).

Rustic House

The next night we did a meal with just the adults at Rustic House.  Our friends had read about it in a magazine and wanted to check it out.  It has a nice vibe to it—not a huge place that was pleasantly full of people, but not so loud that we couldn’t talk.  Food-wise, this place impressed us more with the appetizers and then went a little downhill overall.  The wood-grilled octopus ($13) was great—it was perfectly cooked with just a little smoky flavor and was served with tomato confit and chopped olives.  Perfect salty/acid combo with the octopus. The wood grilled oysters were good too ($15)—although very cheesy.  They had a slight spiciness from Cajun flavorings and were tempered with a bit of lemon. The handmade gnocchi ($15) was pretty good too—there was a parsley broth and a few (like 3) little pieces of foie gras.  A little more of the foie would have made this dish better—I know it is an expensive ingredient, but not THAT expensive. The duck fat marcona almonds ($5) were kind of a disappointment. They sort of just tasted like oily almonds.

I actually had another appetizer for my main—the baked shrimp with white wine and garlic butter and panko. They were disappointing and overcooked (and expensive at $16 for what was 2 or 3 shrimp). Hubby had the special prime rib ($36), which he ordered medium rare and got served medium at best. It was supposed to be cooked on their rotisserie, but I could see nothing that made it special. Our friend’s lamb T-bone chop was much better—it was perfectly cooked and tender. But I only got a bite, so I can’t talk too much about it. Our other friend had an interesting swordfish “chop” ($32) that hubby liked better than I did. I thought the fish was pretty dry.  We also had a side of the corn crème brulee which was interesting, but honestly should have been a dessert, it was so sweet.  It was pretty much a smooth cream based dish with a slight corn flavor that was sugared and caramelized on top just like crème brulee normally is.  The actual desserts were the weakest link of the meal. Completely not worth the calories. The peaches in the peach crostada ($10) were practically crunchy they were so under ripe. The blondie brownie ($10) was fine, but nothing overly memorable.  Overall, I thought this place was very hit and miss and the misses were kind of bad.  Don’t think that I would repeat this place, although you could luck into a really good meal if you happened to order right.

Table 52

On the last day we had brunch at Table 52, Chef Art Smith’s restaurant.  This was my favorite meal of the trip.  The menu looks great, but there was fried chicken and waffles ($24) on it, so it was pretty obvious what I would be ordering.  That chicken, it was outstanding. Super juicy (even the white meat) and the crust was crunchy and had just the right amount of seasoning and spice.  I mean, just look at it. It is a thing of beauty. Honestly, who even needs the waffle?  (Well, my son ate most of mine while I focused on the chicken).  Hubby had the breakfast pizza which was also outstanding ($14).  IT was a pretty large pizza crust (certainly shareable) with sawmill (or sausage) gravy, loads of cheese and bacon, and a couple of perfectly runny eggs on top. The flavors were great—I was questioning the whole gravy thing but it was perfect. You could really taste the smoky sausage flavor.  We also had a side of mac and cheese that we all shared (there were 8 of us) ($12).  Also really good—several kinds of cheeses and a crunchy breadcrumb top.  Everyone really seemed to like this.  The only downside of the place was the service was a little slow which you seem to notice more when you are dining with several children.

This is a place that takes comfort food to a new level and a place that appeals across the board to just about everyone.  They even have a “healthy” section on the menu if you don’t want to indulge in all the calories.  But if you are going here, I highly recommend you indulge.  It was totally worth it.

Quartino

626 N. State

Chicago, IL 60610

312/698-5000

www.quartinochicago.com

Rustic House

1967 N. Halstead Street

Chicago, IL 60614

312/929-3227

www.rustichousechicago.com

Table 52

52 West Elm Street

Chicago, IL 60610

312/573-4000

www.tablefifty-two.com

La Chinita Poblana

Hubby and I had a quick lunch at the new Broad Ripple place La Chinita Poblana the other day—I have been noticing a lot of people talking about it online and wanted to give it a try. It is in the old Boogie Burger location (and I think there was another restaurant there for like 5 minutes in between).  They have opened up the space inside. It seems roomier, although there is nowhere to sit inside, you can only stand.  Currently, you can sit at the patio tables next door, but I am wondering how their lunch business will be after the weather gets cold (if it ever gets cold again).  The man at the counter (assuming he was the owner) was really nice and clearly enthusiastic about his food. I asked him which were his favorites and he told me that would be like choosing between his children.

The tacos were good though—really good on the whole (they’re all $3 each). We shared the crispy shrimp taco, the tilapia taco, the carnitas, and the beef tongue.  We also got an order of chips and salsa ($2.99). I love all the different flavors they are putting into the tacos—they aren’t just Mexican flavors—there is a lot of Asian influences as well.  At first when I read the menu, I was a little suspicious of the combos, but generally they are pulling it off.

The chips and salsa were really good—the chips are homemade and are nicely salty.  The problem with homemade chips is that they are often too greasy (see Pancho’s) but these were not.  Nice and crisp and the salsa was delicious.  Hubby said it was more of a “sauce” than a salsa and I think I agree.  It was pureed very smooth but had a ton of flavor and some different spices than a lot of salsas have. It had a very pleasant building heat—by the end you could feel it on your lips, but you weren’t in pain or anything.  The portion is a reasonable size for two people to share. Usually they give you way too much, but we ate all of these.

Our favorite taco of the four was the tilapia taco.  It was blacked fish with yellow curry and chipotle mayo, pickled cabbage slaw and herbs.  The cabbage was really nice and tangy, but you got a bit of depth and smokiness from the chipotle too.  I also like that they just use one tortilla on the tacos—sometimes the doubled up tortillas make the flavor too much of the tortilla and not enough of the insides.  I would get this one again for sure (hubby and I have decided we might each have to have our own of this flavor).

The next favorite was the carnitas.  Hubby and first disagreed about it because the pork had a lot of crunchy bits to it—he wasn’t so sure he liked it that way, but I really enjoyed it.  It wasn’t dried out—just fried a little crispy on the edges.  It was topped with avocado cream, onions and herbs.  We also had one of the fried shrimp tacos—the shrimp were done in a salt and pepper crust (it was a dry corn meal kind of crust) and then topped with a chipotle sweet and sour sauce and an herb mixture.  The shrimp themselves didn’t wow me here—they were a little dry—but I really liked the flavors of everything else.  You could taste that smoky and deeply spicy chipotle and then there was a really nice tangy kick.  I added a little more of the salsa from the chips to moisten the whole thing up a little more (hot sauce may work well here too) and it was better. 

My least favorite by far was the tongue.  The tongue itself was cooked well—it was very tender, but the taco on the whole was really bland.  It also had the avocado cream, onions and herbs, but there was just nothing that made this one stand out at all.  More salsa and hot sauce would probably help some, but with all the other delicious options, I would take a pass on this one.  In fact, we didn’t even finish it between the two of us.

Honestly though, I am really excited to go back—I want my own tilapia taco and I am kind of itching to try a couple of the other flavors—maybe the red curry marinated skirt steak or the crispy Japanese eggplant (please let me know if you have had them).  Also, a friend recently told me the peanut/noodle salad ($5.25) was really good as well.  Nothing like some tacos and noodles right?

La Chinita Poblana

927 East Westfield Blvd.

Indy  46220

317/722-8108

www.lachinitapoblana.com

Dig In 2012

I tweeted a lot about this year’s Dig In, so I am going to keep my post fairly brief and just talk about a few of my favorite dishes from this year (in no particular order) (and I didn’t get to try every single item, although I did try a lot of them).

Goose the Market’s “walking taco”

You can always count on something interesting from Chris Ely of Goose the Market and Smoking Goose and this year was no exception.  (You can also count on some of the longest lines there). You got a little paper bag full of tender goat meat and some crunchy cracklins on the bottom—the “tacos” had a bit of seasoning in the form of some chopped onions, but mainly you got to add toppings yourself.  There was tomatillo salsa, a creamy sauce, corn pico de gallo, cilantro, cabbage slaw (the things I remember off the top of my head).  I put a little bit of most of the things on and really enjoyed it.  And I am sure goat is certainly a meat that a lot of Indy people might not have had before.

Brad Gates Catering Bison Succotash

This dish included a decent portion of slow cooked bison shoulder with lots of great local (and crispy fresh) veggies—corn, cabbage, green beans and tomatoes.  I thought this was one of the dishes that had the most varied flavors and the meat was also super tender.  As it turned out, it was one that had quite a line later in the day as well.

Late Harvest Corn Salad

I loved Late Harvest’s corn, walnut, goat cheese, and housemade pancetta salad.  The pancetta was nice and salty and I really enjoyed that this dish also had a bit of acid to it—there was a lot of rich food to eat at Dig In, and this one stuck out to me because it was different and was a really nice combination of flavors.  I may have to try and recreate this one at home.

Chef JJ’s Sweet Cheeks

This was a dish that was somewhat similar to Brad Gates’ dish, but made with pork—and I loved the crunchy bits of falafel on top.  Few dishes could really give a good crunch under these circumstances and this one was really good.

Duos (Food Truck) Goat Cheese Quesadilla

This was probably my favorite vegetarian option and I really enjoyed that it was also something totally different from pretty much everything else. It was a potato, mustard green and goat cheese quesadilla.  You definitely need to like goat cheese to like this one, but I love goat cheese and thought it was really good.  I liked that there were veggies being used that weren’t the corn, tomato and green beans that were in a lot of dishes (and I love all of those things as well, don’t get me wrong).

I got to go as a VIP (I was given 2 tickets for my work as a gastronaut), which meant we got in the gates at 11:00 and didn’t have to wait in line for much of anything, which was really nice.  Overall, our impression was that the food has continued to improve over the course of the 3 years that Dig In has been around. My general observations about the food this year--tacos and chilled soups were the most popular dish and many people tried to come up with novel ways to serve the food that didn't require a spoon or fork, which was nice since you are walking and eating. (Which reminds me, the little tortilla filled with pork and seasoning from Indiana Downs was also really good--see pic below.)

The good news is they ended up selling out all the available tickets, which was a goal I know they wanted to achieve and it makes me happy that so many people were excited to eat local Indiana food. The downside, from what I saw and have been hearing, is that the lines got really long shortly after 12 and remained that way for most of the afternoon.  Apparently several chefs also ran out of food by 3:00 or so.  I am not sure what the solution is, but hopefully they will get it all worked out by next year (although there will always be lines I think).  I know I really enjoyed my day and nearly everything I ate.

So what were your favorites? And what was your experience like?

Dig In

A Taste of Indiana

www.digindiana.com