1875: The Steakhouse--French Lick

Another road trip—and I have had a lot of feedback from my previous post on one of the restaurants at French Lick, so here’s the other marquee restaurant at the resort. This trip we went to 1875: The Steakhouse (which is named after the date of the first running of the Kentucky Derby).

It is a nice looking restaurant, although there are some weird looking rooms off to one side that would not be my first choice, so we requested a table near the window. The whole restaurant is weirdly shaped because it is actually placed in a room in the resort that was the original drop off spot for one of the trains, and so basically it was a hall that was converted into a restaurant space. One thing we noticed is that people tend to dress up a bit more here than often in Indy, and it was sort of fun that way. Sweetly, we sat next to a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and were toasting with martinis. Cheers to them!

Anyway, 1875 is your basic steakhouse, you could probably guess pretty much what is on the menu, and you could probably get about 75% of it right, but it is executed pretty well, and they do add some seasonal items to the menu to keep it somewhat fresh. I went with the classic steakhouse dinner—a blue cheese wedge to start, a filet with Bernaise sauce and a chocolate molten cake to finish.

The wedge was pretty standard, almost enough dressing for the lettuce, but not quite (there can never be enough salad dressing on these wedges, there is just so much lettuce). I never eat it all anyway, so I had plenty, but if you actually ate the whole half head of lettuce, you would need more. The chunks of blue cheese in the dressing were tasty and nice little pieces of bacon as well. Nothing spectacular, but hey it was a wedge. They don’t vary that much.

Hubby had the fried green tomatoes to start, which I had a bite of. They were quite good as well, very thin and lightly fried with a cornmeal crust. The drizzle of remoulade was a nice flavor combination. I would order these next time over the salad probably.

The steak was fine, perfectly prepared medium rare and served over a little demi glace. I think demi glace should be disclosed on the menu when it is on your food, and if you read my review of Sinclair’s at French Lick, it really bugged me how much they used there. This was not as bad and not as much, but I would still ask for it without it. If you order one of their sauces on the side (as I ordered the Bernaise) I don’t think you need more.

We also ordered the creamed spinach and lobster mac and cheese as side items (although the lobster mac and cheese is actually technically an appetizer on the menu). The spinach was really pretty good and the mac and cheese not bad, although the chunks of lobster were quite small (and I mean, quite small).

Hubby had an enormous ribeye which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We had passed on the soufflés which I regretted later—had the molten chocolate cake with cream….I don’t think it was molten so much as cake just covered in chocolate sauce, but we ate it anyway (it was chocolate after all).

Ok, when you’re going to French Lick, you’re not going for the food. But for a generally decent meal with good service in a nice locale, 1875 is a good choice.

1875: The Steakhouse
French Lick Resort
8670 West State Road 56
French Lick, IN 47432
888-936-9360
http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/frenchLick/dining.jsp

Aftertaste-Revisit

The food karma continues, and it’s awesome! We had been wanting to go back to Aftertaste (Taste Café’s dinner service) ever since we went and had a mixed experience. We figured it had been long enough to work out some of the kinks and settle into their dinner thing (not to mention that they are now serving two nights a week-Wednesdays and Thursdays, so the crowds are not so crazy).

We got there right around opening time (6:00) because they don’t take reservations but there were only a few people ahead of us. We were seated at a table appropriately sized for the two of us and greeted by a very friendly server. The menu is still quite large and it took us awhile to decide what to get. We sorta skipped the mains and just made up a tapas dinner this time since the mains we had last time were the biggest disappointment (that and the service).

We ordered one “snack”(the truffled eggs on toast), a salad (the chopped salad), a tartine (the rare roast beef) and a side (pomme frites, natch). Everything came at the same time, which was fine, but if you want to space things out you may want to order a couple things and then wait and order a couple more once those come. The truffled eggs on toast were amazing. It was just a thick piece of bread with a fried egg (perfectly cooked, runny in the middle) with a piece of Swiss cheese completely covering the egg, one inch pieces of asparagus scattered on top and around and truffle oil on top. This is the thing about Taste, they take basic quality ingredients and turn them into truly memorable dishes. The quality is super high even though the dishes themselves don’t sound super complicated. The flavors blend terrifically and it all comes together (usually).

Image via Wikipedia

The salad was a slightly smaller version similar to the lunch salads, which are always good. We had the chopped salad, which was lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, blue cheese, avocado and apples all chopped into same sized pieces. It was tossed with a sherry vinaigrette and was quite tasty. It was still so large that even between the two of us, we didn’t finish it all. But it was a nice tangy side dish to go alongside the rich yummy other things.

The tartine is basically an open faced sandwich with horseradish cream on the bread, topped with thin slices of rare roast beef, thin slices of blue cheese (which was really blue and added a lot of flavor) and balsamic onion marmalade. There were two pieces which was a perfect amount to split between the two of us---I don’t think I could have eaten the whole thing as well as the rest of the stuff.

One of the best things at Taste (lunch or dinner) is the pomme frites. Best in the city perhaps, and the basil aioli to dip in is one of my favorite things. They were a good side dish to add to everything else as well.

Things are definitely falling into place at Aftertaste. The place was not so jammed that it was overwhelming, although it was still quite buzzy (probably helped that the outside seating was also available). The service seems more comfortable and polished and the kitchen, not so overwhelmed. The lunch service has always been spot on as far as speed and quality (other than sometimes you wait quite awhile on line just to order—why do people not seem to know what they want by the time they get to the register?). I am so relieved that it has improved so much, because it is a place that, while has been a mainstay of my lunch rotation, can now become a dinner mainstay as well. Cheers!

Aftertaste
Taste Cafe & Marketplace

5164 N College Ave

Indy 46205

317-925-2233

http://www.tastecafeandmarketplace.com/

Tulip Noir

Wow, I have been having a little good run of meals lately. Nothing makes a girl happier! A friend and I went out to try a new breakfast/lunch place called Tulip Noir. It was fabulous (thanks to several of my readers for the recommendation!)

Tulip Noir is located in another strip mall on west 86th street, actually right next door to Sawasdee Thai restaurant. The décor is very modern, bordering on sparse, with baseballs hanging from the ceiling (?). A piece or two of art, not much else. The service was extremely friendly, and we were acknowledged pretty much immediately upon entering. Our server was very perky and enthusiastic. My guess is the place is owned by a Mom-- I noticed that in the bathroom, there was a stool for kids to reach the sink. Having two little kids myself, I really appreciate such things.

Anyway, we managed to show up in the last few days of the Spring menu (they change it 4 times a year, seasonally) which seems to be something I am really good at doing for some reason, but I am really glad I got to eat this menu because it was really outstanding.

As for drinks, it is a restaurant with a very extensive tea and coffee menu, with few other choices. Not generally wanting tea or coffee with lunch, I went with a flavored sparkling water which would have been fine had it been cold (I personally don’t like sparkling waters with ice, but hey, maybe that is just me).

The menu looked great and my friend and I were having a hard time deciding what to order, so we agreed to split everything. We got the mushroom and asparagus crepe and the chicken ciabbata sandwich as well as a side of the cauliflower and broccoli fritters. She also had a cup of the soup of the day which was a brothy spinach soup. (Man, that grilled cheese with two kinds of cheese, apples and bacon was quite tempting though!)

The portions were perfect for sharing—there were two little wedges of the crepe, two pieces of the sandwich and two fritters. And I thought all of these things were great. The crepe was perfectly crispy, the way I think crepes should be, and was full of sautéed mushrooms and (skinny) sliced asparagus with lots of pieces of goat cheese on top. The goat cheese melted into the crepe, giving it the right amount of tang for the pure savory flavors of the mushrooms and asparagus. The only thing I didn’t like was that the mixed greens on the side seem to not have any dressing on them at all.

The chicken sandwich was made of a grilled pieces of ciabatta filled with natural lemon garlic chicken (super tender slices that were not tough and hard to eat like so many chicken sandwiches that just slap an entire breast on there) with dill, provolone, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, spinach and avocado sauce. I took the cucumber off (ok, I hate cucumbers, although strangely, I love pickles, but that’s another story) and the sandwich was superb. It was not so thick that you couldn’t get your mouth around it, but it had enough of everything that you got a little bit of everything in just about every bite. And the flavors were great. Again, same problem with the little side salad—not enough dressing (they only way I knew there was any dressing, was by looking underneath the greens to see a bit on the plate).

The fritters were nothing like what I expected; they were more like little potato pancakes made up of finely grated broccoli and cauliflower instead of potatoes. They were served with a yummy, creamy gorgonzola sauce on top—it was almost like eating a bowl of broccoli gorgonzola soup with a crunchy edge. The flavors are great—who doesn’t like broccoli and gorgonzola together?

I didn’t try the soup, but my friend said it was the only thing that really wasn’t that great. It was a total puree, and she is more of a chunky-type soup girl. Other than that though, I think she totally agreed with my assessment of the food.

I thank all of my readers who have recommended this place—it is a real find and I can’t wait to go back and try the new summer menu very soon!

Tulip Noir
1224 West 86th
Indy 46260

317-848-5252
www.tulipnoircafe.com

Euphoria-Late Spring

***As of June 5, 2011, Euphoria is closed as a restaurant and is only open for private events. The chef has also left the restaurant.****

There was a moment when I thought I wasn’t going to write up every meal I have at Euphoria because I go there more than a lot of places. But then, I was like, forget that, this is some of the best food in Indy, and I am going to write about it! My readers need to know.

It had been awhile, and we hadn’t hit the latest menu yet so we got ourselves on over there. When we got there, we learned it was the last night for this particular menu, which always seems to happen to us, but we were happy to enjoy the last of the season’s morels. We started with the ½ order (thank you thank you for putting half orders of pasta on the menu, this makes me so happy) of the morel mushroom pasta, which was pasta “rags” (or large flattened pieces like really wide pappardelle, covered with a creamy sauce with Pecorino Romano and Taleggio cheeses, and morels and asparagus mixed in. Man, was this good. And I was so happy to see they have (at least for now) added a pasta section to the menu with two pasta choices in full or half orders. I have said many times that Chef Gates’ pasta could compete (and win) against just about any in the City. This pasta was so good and rich, but had a sharpness from the Taleggio that I really enjoyed. The morels and asparagus added a nice flavor and texture break, and the pasta was perfect. Hubby and I shared this, as well as the next item, and we both loved it.



The other appetizer we had was the tuna tartare. This is clearly the best I have had in the City (well, I had a really good one at Puck’s once, but I think it may have been influenced by the fact that Chef Gates had worked there because it was very similar). It was a layer of a sweet onion/tomato relish, a layer of avocado, and the chopped sashimi tuna with horseradish-Dijon vinaigrette. The flavors went perfectly together, and there was just enough acid between the vinaigrette and the tomato relish to make all the flavors shine. Plus the teeny little crunchy pieces of the onion were perfect with the smooth avocado. And the salty sesame crackers were the perfect thing to eat with it--adding the salty taste and the crunchy texture. I had a really hard time deciding which was better. I would happily order either or both, again. Outstanding.






We had already ordered our entrees (sharing the pan roasted black grouper and a half order of the lobster tortelli) when we were chatting with the Chef who told me there were soft shell crabs on the bar menu! I hadn’t even looked at it because everything on the regular menu sounded so good! Well, like I said we had already ordered our food, but no way was I going to pass up soft shell crab, so we just added an order of those to our meal as well!

The soft shell crabs were delicious—really meaty ones, not like some you get that have no meat in the body. They were coated in breadcrumbs made of graham crackers as well as some other savory spices and were fried. They were really good too—a very similar coating to his calamari I think which is also quite good. There were three dipping sauces and I really liked them, except maybe for the tartar, it just wasn't exciting. They were a great deal too, there were 4 on the plate (even though there are only 3 in my picture—hubby got to one before I had my camera ready) and I think it was like $16.





Back to the things we initially ordered, the grouper was served with toasted couscous, ramps, English peas, a charred tomato vinaigrette and basil pesto. Again, the flavors all went together beautifully and the fish had a wonderful crispy skin.


The lobster tortelli has been on the menu before, and I have had it a few times. It is little tortellis stuffed with lobster, served with leeks and a “shallot-tarragon beurre fondue.” It was probably my least favorite thing we had, although it was still good. The pasta was a little dense I guess, but I love those smoked tomatoes on top for garnish. The flavors are rich and go together really well, but everything else was just so good, it seemed to lack a little luster in comparison.

Obviously, after that much food, we couldn’t do dessert, and hubby made a nice lunch of leftover fish and pasta, but one of these days we are saving more room for another cheese plate.

Euphoria
337 West 11th Street
Indy, 46202
317-955-2389
http://www.indycanal.com/

***June 21st update: went back the week after this review (what can I say, some friends wanted to get some of those yummy crabs, and who am I to argue?). Had lots of our standbys, the crab (natch), the beef tartare, and a cheese plate, all delicious as usual. Also tried the venison chops (we shared them). Outstanding. Not gamey at all and wonderfully prepared. Almost like a meatier, jucier lamb chop. Oh, and of course, the chef informs me the menu is changing yet again this week...a repeat visit may be necessary soon!

Zest-Dinner

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

Sigh… I really really want to like this place—a nice independent neighborhood joint already really well-known for their breakfasts and lunches. They recently started serving dinner so we thought we should give it a go. I have had a pretty good lunch here before, but this dinner was a big disappointment. In a word, almost everything was dry.

The menu is pretty extensive and even has some breakfast for dinner items. I decided to try the three course price fixe, which is a great deal. I started with the wedge salad (you had a choice between this and the soup). It was pretty good, and not enormous which was nice and the blue cheese dressing clearly seemed homemade—it was really good.

We also had some pommes frites to share with our friends to start. They do have good fries and a really good roasted red pepper aioli to dip in (as well as a wasabi cream and vinegar, but the aioli is by far the best).

I then had the filet with chimichurri sauce served with roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus. The steak (ordered medium rare) was medium at best and really dry. The chimichurri was actually really tasty I thought—it was a bit tart, but I tend to really like tart things so I thought it was good. The potatoes were fine, nothing too exciting and the asparagus was good, but you know me, I like mine a little thinner.

Hubby had the Baja Tacos which were cornmeal encrusted basa fish with white cheddar and chipotle slaw served on corn tortillas. The sides were cilantro lime rice and refried beans. They were drizzled with sour cream and there was some pico di gallo there too. Again, dry was the word that best describes the tacos according to hubby.

I also had a bite of the asiago fried chicken, and sadly, it seemed to suffer the same fate. However, I did try our other dining companions rosemary roasted pork tenderloin and it was the least dry item on the table. Which is weird, because I generally don’t order pork tenderloin because it is often so dry. This wasn’t bad.

My three course came with a dessert—it was a sort of mixed berry shortcake which was fine as well, but not overly memorable. The service was friendly and helpful, and the dishes were well presented, but the I’m not sure if I was just unlucky, or what, but it wasn’t very crowded in there at dinner—I would love to hear from any of you who might have tried dinner and hear what you thought.

Zest Exciting Food Creations
1134 E 54th Street
Indy 46220
317-466-1853
http://www.zestexcitingfood.com/

Columbus, Ohio--M Restaurant

From time to time I add a review of a restaurant that isn’t in Indy, but within a drivable distance—for me that is about 3 hours (I have kids after all), particularly if it is really good. We were visiting hubby’s family in Columbus, Ohio and snuck out for dinner on our own. We ate at “M” which is Restaurateur Cameron Mitchell’s signature restaurant. Cameron Mitchell is a very recognized name in Columbus because he has several different restaurants there. In Indy, you may be familiar with Mitchell’s Fish Market which was originally started by Mitchell, but after the chain went nationwide, it was sold to a larger conglomerate.

Anyway, we had a great meal at M, and it is a very upscale restaurant with a fairly sophisticated menu, and it was quite busy. This got me to thinking about why Indy has such a problem supporting our own local places in the same echelon. I mean, you can’t make the argument that Columbus is such a larger city or that they have more money or whatever, and they seem to be able to support good, locally run, high end restaurants.

As for our meal, I had the “cones” appetizer to start which consisted of 3 sesame cones filled with crab salad, lobster salad and tuna tartare. It was good, but not the star of the night. The ingredients were good quality though and the presentation quite impressive. Hubby had the house Caesar salad, which was a unique twist on the Caesar adding nice chunks of blue cheese, arugula in amongst the romaine, and sourdough croutons. The dressing was parmesan garlic. It was outstanding. I normally don’t eat Caesar dressing out because hubby makes the best one at home with a recipe from his mother, but this could stand up with the best of them.

My entrée was what made this dinner so yummy though. I had the halibut seared and served with homemade crab and corn stuffed raviolis, all over freshly shucked corn and in a sweet corn emulsion and some nice skinny asparagus on top. The fish was cooked properly (not dry as a bone) and everything went together perfectly. It was my little reminder that corn season is coming soon, and I can’t wait! And those little raviolis were light and delicious, and you could actually taste the crab inside.

Hubby had the “steak in a bowl” which was a filet cooked to order over blue cheese potatoes with a nice piece of duck liver on top as well as a black truffle sauce (and you could even see the truffles in there!). It was also very very good (we actually switched halfway through). It was quite rich (duh) but all the flavors went together quite well. I preferred my fish to it, but hubby preferred the steak. So either way, you can’t lose on these dishes.

The dessert was the only thing that didn’t come together; it was a caramel/banana bread pudding with lots of cashews on top. There just wasn’t anything special about it.

If you are in Columbus and want a very good high end meal with polished service and a beautiful atmosphere, give M a try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

M Restaurant
2 Miranova Place, Suite 100
Columbus, OH
614/629-0000
www.matmiranova.com

Arni's

Another place that we eat a lot, although usually at home, is Arni’s. I guess if you asked me where I get pizza more often than not, I would say it is Arni’s. They recently (a year or so ago) moved from the west side of Indy over to the northside (they are at 96th and Brandt Road). Since they have moved and are closer to my house, we eat there a lot more.

I will say, the pizza from Arni’s is different from most places, and is certainly not in the gourmet style of some of the fancier places. Arni’s started as a Pizza King years and years ago (my Mom can give you the full history) and carries a lot of the features of Pizza King pizza such as using ground sausage and even ground pepperoni (although I think Arni’s is a lot better). I am not sure if my love of this pizza comes from the fact that it may have been the first carry out pizza I ever ate as a child (visiting my Grandparents in Lafayette) or what, but it is the only place where I order sausage on my pizza. Generally I order veggie pizza, but not at Arni’s—I pretty much always get sausage and mushroom, our family classic. It is thin crust pizza, often has a bit of a salty crust, which I like, and it is cut into lots of little squares rather than the classic wedges. I don’t know, people either like it or they don’t, but I do, and judging by their crowds, I am not alone. Hubby also really likes it (good thing, sort of a test to get into the family) as does everyone who has had it at my house.

We often also order the buffalo wings. I am not sure, but I think these are the best wings I have ever had. They are really big and tasty, not super spicy (and you can actually get them in several flavors if buffalo isn’t you thing). I always get the blue cheese dressing which is really good, not just the stuff out of a bottle (I think they make most if not all of their dressings in house). But these are big, meaty, tender wings, not just the bone/skin/sauce things you get a lot of places.

The real reason I finally decided to write this review though is that I tried something different the other day when I just wasn’t in the mood for pizza or wings. I had the California turkey wrap. It was pretty tasty too. Wasn’t overfilled with lettuce like some wraps are—had the appropriate amount of ingredients—turkey, avocado, bacon, mixed greens, provolone and sundried tomato vinaigrette in a spinach wrap. Even better when I dipped it into Mom’s leftover parmesan peppercorn salad dressing. Hubby also had the Philly cheese steak sandwich, which he said wasn’t very Philly cheesesteak-ish, but that is was a really good steak sandwich. The menu is huge, they have tons of interesting sandwiches and appetizers (I also love the onion strings which aren’t on the menu but they will make them for you if you order them).

The kids really like this place (they sort of have to) but they have lots of choices on the kids menu (for main dishes and sides) but one of the perennial favorites is the mini cheese pizza. This is clearly a very family friendly place—there are always lots of kids in there whenever I go and the service is usually really fast (take out is usually ready in 10 minutes). But it also has a pretty modern edge to the décor.

I thought since there was a lot of interest on the pizza front when I wrote about Some Guys a few weeks back, I would clue everyone in on one of my favorites. And I welcome any further pizza comments you might have! And hey, does anyone know if there is any true New York style pizza out there? A reader recently asked, and I would love to know myself. I know some of you have recommeded Giorgio's (downtown) and Stefano's (Fishers) which I have yet to try (but they're on the list!)--anywhere else?

Arni’s
4705 East 96th Street
Indy 46240
317-571-0077
http://www.meetyouatarnis.com/

Zing-a revisit

******Zing is closed**************************

Wow, this was quite a let down. We have been here once before, and had about half of a really good meal (you can read my review from November 28, 2008). So we were hoping if we got some of the good things, and changed some of the things we didn’t like from before to something new, we would have a great meal. But sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.

We had several items (the food is served tapas style) the mahi mahi tacos (a repeat from last time), the crostini 3 ways, the proscuitto wrapped shrimp on a leek and potato cake, and the grilled artichokes with Serrano ham. The biggest disappointment was the tacos. We had them last time and they were great. Filled with tender, properly cooked mahi mahi and bright with the flavors of the avocado cream, jicama slaw and cilantro pesto. This time, the fish was overcooked and made up pf dry little flakes (reminded me of the fish from the salad I had at the Ram). They still had the other accompaniments, but there just wasn’t the freshness and brightness that made them shine last time. They have lost their luster (or else it was just a bad night).

All of the other items we tried were new. Probably the best thing we ate were the sauteed artichokes—they were just the hearts (but still with some of the stem attached) and had diced pieces of peppers and the Serrano ham on top and were in a white wine sauce. I couldn’t really taste the ham, which was a shame because I really like Serrano ham. And interestingly, based on the menu on the website, they aren’t on the menu anymore, which is sort of a shame, because like I said, they are one of the best things we had.

The crostini 3 ways included one piece each of grilled bread with bean and sage puree, another with a tomato bruschetta topping and the third with cream cheese and mushrooms. The tomato one was probably the best of the three, a nice fresh flavor with an appropriate amount of vinegar. Next I would say was the mushroom and cream cheese piece which had cream cheese spread on top and then some sautéed mushrooms. Not bad. I didn’t really care for the bean and sage puree, it was just too bland and the consistency a bit too pasty.

The proscuitto wrapped shrimp could have been pretty good, if the shrimp weren’t so overcooked and hard. The flavors were nice together. The potato and leek cake tasted like it was made with instant potatoes. Didn’t get much leek from it.

We did have a flourless chocolate cake for dessert which was basically like a brownie with some nice whipped cream and berries. Our server kept warning us that is was really small, but I thought it was a nice size. We shared it, but it was actually something you could eat on your own and not feel like you are eating a month’s worth of dessert in one sitting. We had a couple of the mousse shots as well (butterscotch and chocolate) which we had last time and were just as good, but you really need to mix the two to get the best flavors.

I’m a little sad about this dinner and review, as I really like what Zing is trying to do—I love tapas, and it is nice having them be something different from the classic Spanish ones. Unfortunately, I think Zing has changed its focus from being a unique restaurant to a bar that serves food. Most of the people there were young and focused on drinks and not the food, which sadly, in my opinion, seems to be the same focus the management has as well.

Zing
543 Indiana Avenue
Indy 46202
317/636-7775
http://www.zingrestaurant.com/

Charleston's Restaurant

Sometimes a girl just needs some chicken fingers. When this urge hits me, I pretty much only eat them at Charleston’s. Charleston’s is small chain (although the waiter informed me that the Castleton location was locally owned and managed) of basic American food. I think it has an edge though in that it is actually pretty good (according to the website, everything is made from scratch daily). When we want a decent meal (lunch or dinner, the menu is the same) with the kids, this is one of our standbys.

So you don’t really need a starter here because the meals are plenty large and come with two sides (which you can substitute for any of the sides offered on the menu). Like I said, I love the chicken fingers here, they are a very light fry, almost like a tempura, and the chicken is obviously fresh, these aren’t your standard previously frozen breaded numbers that come on kid’s menus nationwide. And by the way, if your kids order them on the kid’s menu, they will get the same ones, just in a smaller portion. The adult meal comes standard with cole slaw and fries, but I substitute a baked potato and the “Burgundy mushrooms.” The mushrooms are yummy, served whole in a very light wine broth with little tiny dices of onion. They are very old school but very delicious. The portion of chicken is quite generous, and sometimes hubby and I split them for lunch. By the way, you can get a decent side salad here too and the croissants that come with are really yummy too.

Hubby thinks Charleston’s has the best ribs he has had in Indy and usually orders those. Not being a huge rib person myself, I couldn’t tell you, but hubby is very particular. These are the kind that the meat falls off the bone. (Hey, if you have suggestions for others, will you send them to me? He is always on the quest for the best ribs).

The kids also really like this place too, and they have a slightly fancier mac and cheese with penne and a creamy cheese sauce that the kids really enjoy. They also get a scoop of nice vanilla ice cream on a (quite yummy) chocolate chip cookie with chocolate sauce on top as part of their meal.

The service is usually quite efficient and the interior is a dark woody interior with some working gas lights along the wall—a step up from your usual family friendly chain. All in all, if I want a decent meal in an atmosphere that welcomes kids and doesn’t look like every other chain in town, we often end up at Charleston’s.

Charleston’s Restaurant
6815 E. 82nd Street (there’s one in Westfield too)
Indy 46250
317-841-0442
http://www.charlestons.com/  

Midtown Grill

I was excited to go to Midtown because I had heard rumors that Chef Neal Brown was working with Midtown on their menu. (Heard it in a comment on my own blog as well as on The Dish.) I have always enjoyed Midtown but in the 3 years since I have lived here, I hadn’t seen the menu really change and I get bored with menus that don’t change.

Once we sat down and I saw the menu, it was obvious that it had changed—there were several new items as well as certain classic items (many of which I had had before and enjoyed). I still have no idea if Chef Brown has helped on the menu, but it has certainly changed. Some of the classics that remained were the spinach artichoke dip, the calamari appetizer and the steak Dijon which is flambéed tableside. I have had the calamari and the steak before and have really enjoyed them. Since we were with friends, we decided to get the spinach artichoke dip as we had never had it here. It was really tasty with really big chunks of artichoke and a creamy sauce that wasn’t over the top, the spinach was clearly fresh, but it was just a few leaves draped over the top of the plate and wilted, so it didn’t add much (a little more would be good I think).

For my appetizer, I ordered the mussels. I was pretty sure these were new on the menu and I am sure if you read my blog, you know how much I love mussels. While the garlic sauce was really tasty, the mussels had that same problem that so many do in this town, in that they must have been previously frozen as they had that weird soft consistency. (I learned that that consistency means previously frozen right here on my blog from one of my readers—I love you guys!) If that really is the thing that causes this problem, I am asking all restaurants in Indianapolis to take the mussels off the menu if you are keeping them frozen in the back. Please! If you can’t sell enough to keep them fresh, don’t bother. Like I said, the broth was really tasty, and would’ve been great with fresh mussels, but with these mushy things, not so much.

There were several pasta dishes on the menu, and here is a big shout out to whoever had the idea to offer half sized portions at a reduced cost! Hallelujah! I have been asking for that forever! Someone has figured out that not everyone wants to eat a bowl of pasta that could serve 6 by themselves. I rarely order pasta for this reason, but with this option, I decided to give it a go. I tried the eggplant ravioli with spinach and mushrooms and truffle oil. The pasta wasn’t bad, but it was a little dense for me, the eggplant flavor was nice and I liked that it wasn’t just your usual cream and/or tomato sauce. But the mushrooms on this dish (and they were the same ones that were on hubby’s steak) were just not very good. They were too saturated in whatever they had been cooked in, tasted a bit like stew, and overpowered the dishes. And mushrooms are usually one of my favorite things. These were bordering on slimy. If there was truffle there, I wasn’t really tasting it, but that could have been because of the mushrooms. But the half portion was spot on size-wise for me.

Hubby overall enjoyed his New York strip steak, save for those mushrooms. It had a nice thyme butter on top and was cooked perfectly. I had a bite without the mushrooms and it was delicious. It also came with super thin potato strings which were really thin and tasty.

They also kept the classic white chocolate brownie dessert on the menu, which I have never ordered before even though my dentist swears by it, because I thought it had white chocolate in it (go figure) which isn’t my fave. However, I finally found out (because our server told us so) that it was actually a blondie—i.e., the brownie was white, but the chocolate chips are actually regular dark chocolate. It is served with ice cream on top. It was really good! They need to call this what it is, a blondie with ice cream. We also tried a banana thingamabob (can you tell I can’t remember what it was called exactly) which was pretty good, but couldn’t touch the brownie.

I like Midtown, it has one of the nicest outdoor seating areas around (particularly for Broad Ripple), a nice interior, and we usually always have great service. I am glad to see they are working on revamping the menu, but I certainly think it needs a bit more tweaking to get it just right. Particularly if it isn’t going to change again for 3 years.

Midtown Grill
815 East Westfield Blvd.
Indy 46220
317-253-1141
www.midtown-grill.com

Banura 1

On my list has been to get over to Banura since a good friend had recommended it. She has been eating there for years, apparently it was originally located on Illinois where Oh Yumm Bistro sits now. The owners re-opened the second Banura (ironically called “Banura 1”) on the west side of the City, on Michigan Road. It’s another one of those restaurants located in a strip mall that blend into all the others.

The menu is quite interesting for a Greek place. It actually has lots of stuff on the menu besides Greek, many sandwiches, and even several pizza options (and my friend tells me the pizzas aren’t bad). We decided to stick with the Greek food. We shared homous, and Baba Ghannooj and I also had Spinakopita*.

We got small portions of the homous and Baba Ghannooj which were more than enough to share. The homous (spread made with chick peas, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil) was pretty mild, a little thinner in consistency than would be my preference, but still tasted good. The Baba Ghannooj (a spread made with baked eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil) was ok, not overly exciting. I have to say though, I probably prefer the roasted garlic hummus from Trader Joe’s all in all.

The spinakopita was outstanding though. In case you don’t know, spinakopitas are little pies made of filo dough wrapped around spinach and feta and then baked golden brown. The appetizer order consisted of one piece, which was about as big as half a standard size sandwich. The filo was so perfectly crisp and browned, that I had to order a second one after I ate the first. Delicious.

My friend, who has been eating this food for years, told me she pretty much always gets the dolmathes. These are grape leaves stuffed with rice, ground beef and seasoning and topped with marinara. She really likes them obviously, but they were a little blah for me. Didn’t have much flavor to them and seemed like it was mostly rice inside.

We were also given a little complimentary piece of baklava for dessert which was quite rich. Lots more filo with walnut and honey filling. It was nice, but I was pretty full at this point.

The service (by the owner) is quite gruff—I am not sure if he uttered more than 3 words our entire visit. The interior is pretty basic, and was fairly empty when we were there (although others were starting to come in), but all in all, I really enjoyed the spinakopita and would happily go right now for another wedge. Next time I think I would get the spinakopita plate which comes with some rice and homous. Or maybe the vegetarian combo plate with spinakopita, tyropita (cheese filled filo) and falafel (deep fried ground favas).

Banura 1
7940 North Michigan Road
Indy 46268
317-334-0497
http://www.banura1restaurant.com/

* I have spelled all items as they were spelled on the restaurant menu. I have seen most of these items spelled many different ways, and honestly, I don’t know what the proper spelling truly is, but just so you know, so you don’t email me and tell me I have them all wrong, that was my method.

Oakley's Bistro-- Dinner

Continuing in our effort to support good locally owned restaurants, we wanted to go back to Oakley’s Bistro, but this time for dinner. We have been to Oakley’s several times before, but I have never written a review of it, so I figured now was the time. We were really hoping for a good meal since so many of the best restaurants seem to be closing down right now.

I will start by saying we weren’t disappointed. This was probably the best Oakley’s meal we have had. I was intrigued because they have a new sous chef who apparently enjoys working with seafood (which tends to be my favorite things to eat at a restaurant). My criticism of this place in the past has been that the menu doesn’t really change that much, and that I often see the same things on the menu. This is still true to a certain extent, but there did seem to be some new things as well. And everything was good.

Before I get on to the specifics, I need to say that this is some of the best presented food in Indy, the plates are all beautiful, and even the soups are poured from lovely cast iron tureens into large bowls. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera this night, so I don’t have any pictures (not to mention I would have been a little obvious with the chef directly across the restaurant from me in the open kitchen). It is a shame though, because honestly, the food is quite the feast for the eyes. Anyway, to start we ordered the mushroom soup and the romaine salad with olives, pinenuts, mozzarella, smoked tomatoes and asiago basil Caesar dressing. We shared both of these items. The soup was good, very hearty and rich though and maybe more appropriate in a colder season, but the truffle crème fraiche was tasty and I liked that there were some chunks in the soup, a pure cream soup can get somewhat boring to me. They certainly do soup well here, but maybe I should have gone with the special, a shrimp bisque. Probably would have been a bit lighter.

We also shared the salad I mentioned, and it was outstanding. Seriously, a star. And I liked the unique take on a Caesar salad—as the waiter described, it was sort of like a cross between a chop salad and a Caesar. The salad was served in a bowl made of crisp tortillas and the romaine was chopped with little dices of mozzarella, toasted pine nuts, and nice pieces of olives and tomatoes. And the dressing was a jazzier take on a Caesar. And even though normally I like that really soft buffalo mozzarella, the firmer chunks of mozzarella used here stood up appropriately to the salad and were the perfect choice. All in all, this was one of the best salads I have had in Indy, and I appreciate the attempt to do something besides the blue cheese wedge. There was actually another salad, the harvest salad which also sounded really good and unique—it had roasted mushrooms, endive and a goat cheese fritter…oh well, next time… Although I may have a hard time not ordering the Romaine salad if it is on there again.

For my main, I ordered the scallop appetizer which looked new to me (I had had several of the other appetizers on the menu in past visits). There were two large seared sea scallops speared with tasty roasted asparagus and served over a little pea puree and served alongside a risotto cake and ramps. This dish was very good. My favorite part of it was that the ramps tasted like they were slightly pickled which added the acidic taste that I like to the otherwise rich dish. The scallops were perfectly cooked and I appreciated that even in an appetizer there was a bit of starch (the risotto cake) which made it a perfect entrée for me. And I certainly didn’t need any more food.

Hubby had the short ribs (our waiter told us they were keeping the short ribs on the menu for now simply because filet had gotten so expensive that they didn’t want to have an item priced so high on the menu). He loved it. Practically licked the plate clean (other than the horseradish cream which wasn’t his favorite). He also had a really nice glass of Pinot Noir that he was very happy about, and is ready to add Oakley’s onto the list of the best restaurants in Indy. Oh, we also had the warm brownie dessert with caramel corn and vanilla bean ice cream. We have had it several times, and it is delicious.

While I am in agreement that this meal was outstanding, the only thing I would comment on again is that the menu doesn’t really change a lot. Even as few times as I have been there, I have had many of the menu items. I really get excited to see fresh items on the menu, particularly when the seasons are changing. It seems at Oakley’s they often just change the accompaniments and not the dish itself. This is not to say the dishes are bad, as many of them are quite good, but hey, variety is the spice of life right?

Oakley’s Bistro
1464 W 86th St

Indianapolis, IN 46260

(317) 824-1231
www.oakleysbistro.com

Wasabi on 82nd

I have a confession to make. I am not a big fan of sushi. I love fish, and even raw fish, but I really don't like seaweed much, and I am not a huge fan of wasabi itself. I keep trying to like it, but it isn’t my thing. However, I do like Japanese food overall, so hubby and I headed out for a quick lunch at Wasabi on 82nd Street in Castleton.

I like this place because the food is all really fresh and the cuts of meat (if you aren’t getting sushi) are recognizable. What do I mean by this? If you order chicken teriyaki, as I did on this particular day as part of my bento box, it is a breast of chicken, not all those weird gristly pieces of chicken you might get elsewhere. The sauce is nice, a lot of soy and the right amount of sweetness. As I said, I ordered a box which also came with sashimi—salmon, tuna and whitefish. The whitefish was the only thing that wasn’t very good; the other two pieces of fish were extremely fresh and tender

You also get as part of a bento box, a little teeny spring roll (which I appreciate for the crunch factor), a wedge of some sort of fried potato thingy and a nicely sectioned orange. Didn’t really get to the potato item, I was pretty full, but enjoyed the orange for dessert (someone spends a lot of time getting those oranges just so). Oh, and before meal is served, they give you a nice bowl of miso soup and a typical Japanese salad. Hubby just had several pieces of nigiri and was very happy with his orders, particularly the fatty white tuna.

This place is a bit pricier than many of the local Japanese places, but like I said, at least when you order chicken, you can be sure it actually is chicken, and not some other mystery meat. The service was efficient, not overly attentive, but it was lunch and we were in and out pretty quickly.

Hey, what’s your favorite Japanese joint? I would love to hear about it.

Wasabi on 82nd
5025 E. 82nd Street
Indy, 46250
317/594-1188