Sullivan's Lunch

I have been having a hard time coming up with lunch places that are nearby that aren’t all my usual standards. I frequent the same 4-5 places for lunch a lot, but I have written them up before, and I don’t want to bore you with all the same places. Most of the new places on my list are a little farther afield, so I have to have a decent amount of time to fit one of them in. So we randomly decided to try Sullivan’s for lunch and see what was up. (Not to mention a reader recently asked for a review.) We have been there for dinner a couple of times, pre-blog days, and to be honest, were never overly impressed, but I heard they have some good lunch specials.

I do like the interior of the restaurant of Sullivan’s. It is a nice open room, with the kitchen at one end, with a nice feel to it. Lots of wood and a large flower arrangement in the center. The place was not that crowded when we got there but by the time we left was pretty busy for a weekday lunch, mostly with business people I think. They have the “business lunch special” which is a pretty good deal—you get a soup or salad and either a small filet, salmon or chicken for $18.00.

I wasn’t in the mood for a straight steak, so I went with the steak salad instead. It was really nice. It was mixed greens topped with crumbled blue cheese, tomatoes, some large chunks of roasted potatoes, a filet cut into fairly large slices, and lots and lots of fried onion strings and blue cheese dressing. I liked that they asked me if I wanted the dressing tossed throughout or on the side. I said both, never trusting they will properly dress it, but in this case they did. The dressing was appropriately tossed throughout and I didn’t really need the dressing on the side (hubby liked it for dipping his fries though). The steak was good quality, and had a great flavor. It was well seasoned and cooked on the rare side of medium rare, which is great for me. There were maybe just a few too many onions on top, as they made it kind of hard to get to the rest of the stuff underneath. But a couple of them in each bite added a nice flavor as well. The only thing on the salad I did not care for were the potatoes. They were too large and too dry inside. On a salad, I liked smaller, less dry potatoes that are maybe blanched instead. Little fingerlings or red potatoes maybe. You had to cut these into smaller pieces and they didn’t really add anything to the salad.

Hubby ordered the chicken pesto sandwich with fries and was a bit disappointed in it. As is the classic problem with chicken sandwiches (in my opinion), the chicken was too dry and there wasn’t enough sauce to balance it out. Just a little bit of pesto on the bun. He thought maybe the restaurant was worried people wouldn’t like too much of the pesto or something, but if that is the case, maybe they could make a pesto mayo or something. He had several bites of my salad and also thought it was very good. Much better than his sandwich.

The thing that annoyed me the most about this place was how slow it was. For a place that sort of seems to cater to business people, you would think they would make sure the food was coming out at a fairly rapid pace. Not so. And our server seemed to disappear for long periods of time. In fact, the manager delivered our meals. The lunch took quite a bit longer than I thought it should. Had I known, I probably could have just gone ahead and gone downtown.

But, all in all, if you want a great steak salad, and you have a bit of time, this was pretty good... When the mood hits me, I will probably go back for lunch and get it again.

Sullivan’s Steakhouse
3316 East 86th Street
Indy 46240
317-580-1280
www.sullivansteakhouse.com

Recess

Well, I have been giving Recess a little while to get the rough edges smoothed before heading over there to check it out. I know a few of you have been sort of annoyed that it has taken me so long to get there, but I have an informal policy of giving a new place at least a couple of weeks to get settled in since I write a review based on a single visit. (And if you want to read my review policies in detail, please go here.) Regardless, I have been pretty much chomping at the bit to get over there, as I have always enjoyed Recess chef Greg Hardesty’s cuisine, (at the now closed Elements). I actually completely love this new concept, a different menu every day, but a set menu, with sometimes no choices and sometimes just one or two choices (usually between two entrées). The ingredients are whatever the Chef decides he wants to do, based on seasonality and what he deems “superlative.” Honestly, with as much grief as I have received when I complain about restaurants never changing their menu, with people telling me repeatedly that won’t fly in Indy, I was a little worried about how it would go for Chef Hardesty. But based on the buzz, and the difficulty in getting a reservation on certain nights, it looks like, so far so good. (See, I guess Indy folks CAN handle a little variety!).

I also really enjoy the slightly industrial feel to the space, but with touches of softness to balance the heavy cement of the walls and floor. Not quite enough softness to deaden the noise of the place once it was full, but the spacing between the tables is appropriate so that you don’t feel like you are sharing your conversation with the table next to you. Also, when you can hear it, we greatly enjoyed the music playing overhead, truly modern music that obviously reflected someone’s very personal taste—I was wondering if the music changes with the Chef’s whim as well. That would be kind of fun.

I dined with a friend on this night, and on the way over, knowing there were two entrée choices, we quickly agreed to get one of each and share to make sure we could try everything offered. They also offer a wine pairing to match the first three courses (all but dessert) which are 3-4 ounce pours, so that basically they equal about half a bottle of wine (which I would say is two good glasses). I think this is a great idea, and with an ever changing menu, is the perfect way to try various items on the wine list. I did enjoy the pairing with my meal, and each wine was wonderfully matched.

Several other reviewers have not gone into great detail about their particular food items claiming that there is no point since the menu changes daily. I tend to disagree with this approach as I think hearing about the meal in detail will give people a little insight about exactly what you can expect. Well, not exactly, I guess, but the types of flavor combinations and generally the creativity being employed. Our dinner started with hamachi sashimi in a wasabi ponzu broth served with thinly sliced cucumbers and radish as well as enoki mushrooms and wakame (a type of seaweed). The fish was wonderfully tender and fresh and pretty well melted in your mouth—the broth added a nice flavor—a fairly simple preparation, but nice. Of course, if you are a frequent reader, you know cucumbers and seaweed aren’t my favorites (everyone doesn’t like something right?), so unfortunately, my veggies on this dish went begging.

The next course was crisp pork belly served with hominy, tomatillos and fried tortilla strips. The thick rectangle of pork belly (think bacon steak) was pleasantly crisp and was accented nicely by accompaniments with a Mexican flavor. The hominy continued the richness of the pork while the tomatillos added a bit of that tanginess that I love, and that balanced out the richness and saltiness. The tortillas added textural crunch which was also quite pleasing. I would say this was probably my favorite course. The portion wasn’t oversized (although I found the portions to be generous, I don’t think they are oversized, which I think is important when you are serving four courses).

For the main courses, there were two choices, a beef and a turkey dish. As I said, we each ordered one of them and shared them fairly equally, so I feel like I can tell you about them both pretty accurately. I will start with the turkey because I think it was my favorite of the two. First of all, how nice is it to see turkey being used as a white meat option on a menu for a change. I personally prefer to use turkey at home quite frequently (although I tend to have to go to Kincaid's to get turkey cutlets cut since regular grocery stores no longer seem interested in meeting customer needs, but I digress). I have a really hard time ordering chicken in a restaurant, it just seems so pedestrian, and is often so dry, but I was really excited by the turkey concept.

Anyway, the turkey was served as paillards, which are thinly pounded cutlets that were breaded and fried. They were served over a Brussels sprouts and bacon ragout (I’d say more of a warm cole slaw, and there was other things in there besides Brussels sprouts—in fact, I wished it was a little more Brussels-sprouty). There were pickled onions as well. I didn’t get a lot of this on my portion, but I love the idea. Pickled onions are one of my favorite things. There was also a side of manchego (Spanish sheep’s milk cheese) mac and cheese—this stuff was divine. Rich and creamy with a bit of sharpness. A bite of this with a bite of the turkey—yummy. All in all, this dish was unique and creative and very tasty. (By the way, sorry about the fuzzy picture, I was trying to be discreet, and this place is small.)

The beef dish was two thick slices of Fisher Farm’s ribeye with crushed potatoes, roasted poblano peppers and red onion ragout. This dish was nice as well—the beef was prepared medium rare, the chimichurri was bright and the flavors of the other sides were good. I don’t know, the meat needed a little seasoning or something—just didn’t seem to have quite enough flavor on its own. For some reason, while in theory, I liked all the things on the plate, overall, it just didn’t seem to come together quite as well as the turkey.

The dessert on this night was a Meyer lemon terrine with fig molasses drizzled on top and a little lemon poppy seed cookie on the side. This was better than both of us were expecting—cold terrine-y type things aren’t usually my first choice in a sweet or savory version, but this had a very nice Meyer lemon flavor, which is not as tart as traditional lemon. And the cookie on the side was a nice complement. There was a bit of lemon pulp on the side, which when eaten with the dish gave me the flash of a sour patch kid (yes, can you tell I have young children?). Still wouldn’t be my dessert of choice, but it was a nice refreshing thing and we both enjoyed it.

So I liked everything. Did I swoon over everything? No. But I enjoyed the experience and I love knowing that next time I go, the menu will be completely different. All in all, I think Recess is going to be quite a successful enterprise. There are, apparently, enough people in this town that can appreciate culinary creativity and can just deal with what is served. I also love the fact that hopefully continued success of Recess will actually introduce people to new flavors and foods since you cannot always go with your comfort zone here. The only thing I lament is that there wasn’t cooked seafood on the night I was there, because I think Chef Hardesty handles seafood with probably more skill than most in our city. Ahhh…but maybe next time.

And since I know Recess has been given lots of free advice about how to “improve” the concept, and I know the concept has been tweaked somewhat since its opening, here’s my two cents. I would love to see a dessert choice and a cheese choice—that would be pretty easy right? But no matter what, Recess is certainly a breath of fresh air on our dining scene and I am glad to have it. I will be back very soon.

Recess
4907 N. College Ave
Indy 46205
317/925-7529
http://www.recessindy.com/

The Loft at Traders Point Creamery

Struggling for new lunch places these days, hubby and I headed west to check out Traders Point Creamery’s restaurant, the Loft, in search of something tasty. I have always loved their products, particularly the Fleur de la Terre cheese—I always pick up a wedge when I am at the Farmer’s Market. That stuff is seriously good. It is a bit soft in the middle although tends firmer toward the rind. While not super strong, it does have earthy taste and a little bit of sharpness. But my kids love it as much as I do, so you there you go. Anyway, I was interested to see what the restaurant would be like and I like the motto on their website, “We milk it. We make it. We serve it.”

And the interior of this place is quite homey and rustic but with a modern flair. Cool barn loft space with aluminum tables. The service is very friendly and accommodating (even when there was a film crew in there the day we ate lunch filming extra scenes for a TV show).

The lunch menu has a nice selection of sandwiches, wraps and salads as well as a few other items like mac & cheese. Now, since we were sitting in a dairy, I figured, I needed to hit the cheese hard right? So I asked our server if she recommended the mac and cheese or the grilled cheese more. She said the grilled cheese was one of the best things on the menu. Well, that sealed it. Originally I thought, a grilled cheese seemed kind of boring, but their grilled cheese was amazing. It is thinly sliced whole wheat bread made with the Fleur de la Terre cheese, and your choice of one additional item. You could choose between bacon, avocado, caramelized onions, spinach, mushrooms or roasted red pepper. You get one included and any additional items are $1 extra. Wow. I could have pretty much taken all of them. They pretty much all sounded good. But not wanting to overdo it, I just went with my perennial favorites, avocado (natch), and bacon. Wow, this may just have been the best grilled cheese I have ever eaten. The bread was quite thin and the entire sandwich was pressed quite flat so it was really easy to eat, and there wasn’t too much bread to sandwich fixings. There was an appropriate amount of fillings and they were all delicious. Wow. I would be hard pressed not to get it again. It is very rich because the cheese is quite distinctive and combined with the other things, it was extremely filling. And hey, I dipped a couple bites into the side of garlic aioli that hubby ordered with his lunch and that was a nice little tasty addition as well. You also get a side with each sandwich—I had the salt and pepper kettle chips which were tasty, but didn’t knock me out or anything.

Hubby ordered the burger with Fleur de la Terre cheese as well as the aforementioned aioli. He said it was a really really good “gourmet” burger. Apparently he has categories of different types of burgers, which when pressed was a little vague about. But he ate every bite and also really loves the cheese. The beef was properly cooked medium and was very juicy.

I really wanted to get some ice cream as well, but as it was lunch and I had a big dinner coming up we skipped it. I really look forward to taking the kids here, as it is all their favorite things (grilled cheese, quesadillas etc) and they also give tours of the farm which I know they would enjoy as well. Not to mention, how could it not be cool to have lunch in a barn?

The Loft
Traders Point Creamery
9101 Moore Road
Zionsville, IN 46077
317/733-1700
www.tpforganics.com

Restaurant Tallent

One of the main reasons for our girly weekend that started at FARMbloomington was to have dinner at Restaurant Tallent—and from every rave review I have ever heard I was maybe, just maybe, setting myself up for disappointment in some ways I guess. Don’t get me wrong, the meal was really good, just not the near perfection I was maybe wrongly expecting.

Anyhow, we were promptly seated, although as usual, I had to ask to not be seated in the 2 seats right in between two other very closely spaced tables at a banquette. This was a little annoying considering there was a two-seater available at the end of the banquette that was more appropriately spaced away from the others, and with no one on one side. We ended up sitting there at my request without too much hassle. I did enjoy sitting in the room with the kitchen and watching the chef at work. He obviously takes great pride in making sure that each plate goes out the way he wants it. I do think this “bar side” of the restaurant may be the less desirable side to be seated on in theory, because it isn’t the main room, but I enjoyed it because the noise level was not as intense. After all, the BFF and I had girl talk to discuss.

We were promptly served a nice amuse bouche of spaghetti squash pomodoro with a garlic chip on top. This was a really nice tasty bite. The tomato flavor was light and tasty and the garlic chip gave it quite an intense toasty garlic flavor on which we both commented.

The menu looked great, and to be honest it was all I could do to not just order appetizers—they all looked so good! I settled on the black truffle tagliatelle with mushrooms, spinach, parmesan and big hunks of pancetta. The pasta was excellent—homemade with an amazing truffle flavor. The mushrooms, spinach and a bit of the pancetta were really good too. If I had to complain about something, I would say it seemed like there were more pieces of the pancetta (and they were large dices) than there were mushrooms, and a few of them were a little too hard for my taste. I would have preferred a few more mushrooms and a little less bacon I guess. I did like that the overall portion was appropriately sized for an appetizer—I actually ate all of it (minus a bit of the pancetta). But overall, this pasta was really really good. Clearly my favorite dish of the evening. And you won’t want to share it, so don’t plan on splitting it with anyone!

My friend had the frisée salad with bacon, blue cheese, and a poached egg. It was interesting, they actually breaded the poached egg that was on the salad with some breadcrumbs—sort of looked like a Scotch egg on top. She shared a bit with me—it was good. Maybe a little underdressed, or maybe that was the bit I got, I don’t know.

For my main, I got the sole meuniere with sunchoke puree, bok choy and roasted mushrooms. Hmmm…not sure about this one. The ingredients were all very high quality, and were prepared properly. It was just like there was too much going on with this dish. And there was something—maybe just some very large peppercorn pieces-- that I kept biting into giving a disturbing crunch. I liked the sunchoke puree, it was a nice compliment, but there were so many different flavors between the mushrooms and the seasonings and the puree and veg, that it just seemed sort of confusing to me. You could certainly taste the lemon that is part of a meuniere sauce, but I don’t know, maybe I just expected a more delicate dish, particularly since our server told me it was one of the lighter dishes of the menu.

My friend, however, had the Cook’s farm bison with Lyonnaise potato gratin, Swiss chard, and sauce au poivre. This was really good—the bison was cooked perfectly medium rare and the potatoes were a nice complement. A wonderful alternative to the traditional meat and potatoes. And the chunky bits of peppercorns made sense here. It was really nice.

We both had a dessert—I had the butterscotch semi-freddo with brown sugar phyllo crisps and butterscotch sauce. Wow this was intense in its butterscotch goodness. Really good, and I loved the phyllo crisps with it—the super crispy texture with the ultra smooth texture of the semi freddo (which is sort of like a lighter, not as frozen version of ice cream, or a slightly frozen version of custard. “Semifreddo” literally translates to “half cold.”). It was extremely rich though, and would be a great dish to share.

My friend had the cranberry streusel with cranberry-orange compote and sorghum ice cream. It was nice as well—quite tart from the cranberries, but the creamy ice cream helped balance that out. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting though—I was sort of imagining more of a messy thing with a crumb topping, and this was more like a cross between a pie and a tart—thin like a tart, but with more of a pie crust underneath and a very orderly crumb toppping. Tasty though.

So all in all it was a very nice meal, and you can see the love that goes into each dish both in the creativity of the combinations and the beautiful seasonal items being used. Maybe my expectations were a little high, and I was just a bit disappointed in my entrée, but I can promise you, I will be back—and I would like to try for Spring or Summer, my favorite of the food seasons!

Restaurant Tallent
208 North Walnut
Bloomington, IN 47404
812/330-9801
http://www.restauranttallent.com/

Maxine's Chicken and Waffles

I have a little obsession with fried chicken—it is probably one of my most favored comfort foods around. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I drove the other people I worked with crazy wanting to eat at the Merritt bakery in Oakland, CA because their fried chicken was so good. And coincidentally, Oakland was also the first place I ever had the whole chicken and waffle combo—at a place called “Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.” Anyway, Maxine’s has been on my list since I first heard about it, but I have only just now managed to get there.

I have read several different reviews of this place and have always wondered why the only fried chicken anyone ever talks about are the wings (that come with the waffles). Usually, when I get fried chicken, I would go with some other pieces myself. Once I got there, I realized, it is because any of the other pieces are a 25-35 minute wait, as they are all cooked to order, and who has that kind of time at lunch? Now granted, they are open for dinner as well, but, well, since there is no liquor, I knew I wouldn’t be getting hubby in there for dinner.

First of all, I read some pretty mixed reviews about the service, but when we went in, we were greeted and seated immediately and were waited on by a very gracious server who was extremely helpful and friendly. I even heard her back there yelling at the kitchen when something was taking too long. So, as for the service, I have absolutely no complaints.

We got some of the fried cornbread to start, which was not exactly what I was expecting, more like a cornbread pancake—but very tasty nonetheless. They were just made, and very warm and unique--unlike any cornbread I have had. They were good on their own and also with the peach butter that was served alongside them. It was a nice compliment and I think I ended up preferring them with the peach butter, although I ate them both ways.

Since I did not have that kind of time to spend at lunch either, I went with the classic chicken and waffle combo, which is one large freshly made waffle and three fried chicken wings. The waffle is obviously freshly made, pleasantly crisp on the outside with the soft inside and served with a little cup of the peach butter on top. In this case, I think I preferred the waffle just with the traditional syrup rather then the peach butter, but maybe that is just me. The chicken wings were very large wings (I would hate to run into that bird in a dark alley) and extremely meaty. The meat was very tender and hot, and they were obviously made to order. I was amazed at how juicy they were. The coating was more of a breading type coating with some seasoning, and while it was good, and the skin was crisp, I found it to be a little lacking in flavor, and not to be my favorite fried chicken in Indy. I think I prefer a bit more of a crunchy crust with a bit more seasoning. And while both parts of this meal were good, I am still not totally onboard with the chicken and waffle thing, but obviously it is a combo that people like, as it is certainly not the first place I have seen it, and it is the name of the restaurant for goodness sakes. Call me a traditionalist though, I would rather have some mashed potatoes and a biscuit next to my fried chicken.

Now, hubby, on the other hand, ordered the blackened catfish sandwich, which I was a little dubious about when he ordered it, but I have to say, it was outstanding. And he loved it. This was by far the better thing on the table. The seasoning on the catfish was perfect—amazing flavor. And the catfish itself was super juicy and thick, not overdone at all. In fact our server told us it was one of her favorites. The portion was a little crazy, it was two large fish fillets on a bun—he pretty much instantly took one off to eat it. Of course, we managed to finish off most of the other fillet before the meal was over—it was just so yummy.

The portions are large—and if you are worried that chicken wings won’t fill you up, you needn’t be. Between the two of us, we were pretty uncomfortably full and in fact were still moaning a bit by the time dinner rolled around.

I think the key to this place is look over the menu and order what sounds good—just because it has “chicken and waffles” in the name doesn’t mean it is the only thing to order. And hey, why we are at it, what is your favorite spot in Indy for fried chicken? Still on a quest for the best….

Maxine’s Chicken and Waffles
132 North East Street
Indy, 46204
317-423-3300
http://www.maxineschicken.com/

FARMbloomington

Recently, the BFF and I took a little road trip down to Bloomington for a getaway—to eat, drink and just have a break. Food wise, my main goal was to eat at Restaurant Tallent (which we did, and the review will come soon), but since we aimed at getting there by lunch time, we also decided to give FARMbloomington a go as well.

The interior of this place is quite kitschy in its farm paraphernalia, but honestly, I sort of breezed over it because I was pretty hungry. You do get the feeling that someone has had the genuine desire to create a causal farmhouse feel, but has just taken it maybe one step too far.

Anyhow, it was a Saturday, and on the weekends, they serve a brunch menu, so that is what we were choosing from. After checking out the tables next to us (if you are seated at the banquette, you are quite close to the tables on either side) we decided to split the bacon and egg pizza (I told ya, I’m a sucker for eggs on stuff). A poor young college girl with her parents next to us had ordered this pizza on her own, and was a little overwhelmed by it. It is quite large, and totally appropriate for sharing (that fact might even deserve a mention on the menu if you ask me).

So the pizza was like a thin crusted flatbread layered with a bit of red sauce (I really liked that there wasn’t too much of it), layers of quite tasty bacon, spinach, Gouda and topped with two poached eggs. The crust was obviously homemade, as it was quite uneven in shape (and totally different from the one at the table next to us) but it was really tasty. Pleasantly crispy but really thin, and still held up to the ingredients on top. I took my egg and cut it up and divided a bit of it onto each of my pieces. The bacon was layered across the pizza and was slightly crisp, but still had a nice amount of chewiness as well. I tell you what, it was really good. If I lived around there, this would be something I would probably crave on a routine basis.

One pet peeve, the napkins were really cheap and thin and they only gave you one (well, until I asked for more). A meal like this, you needed more than that. Or if you are only going to give just the one, either make it cloth, or make it more substantial. The service was a little distant, and occasionally missing, but generally we got things in a decent time frame.

But we had some wine as well; lots of girl talk, and really ended up enjoying this meal. Unfortunately, because we split one thing, I don’t have more to tell you about, but if you eat here for brunch, this pizza is yummy.

FARM Bloomington
108 East Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47408
877-440-FARM
812-323-0002
http://www.farm-bloomington.com/

Taki Japanese Restaurant

****Taki appears to be out of business as of 1/1/11**************


I don’t think I have ever mentioned this, but my kids’ favorite place to go to dinner, if it is totally up to them, is Benihana. They love the whole dinner and a show thing. And the nice thing about it, they love pretty much everything they serve and have something to occupy themselves. Recently a new Japanese steakhouse opened just up the street from our house, and it is not a chain, which got me kind of excited, so we thought we would give it a try. Apparently, they used to be in Des Moines, but have moved the whole place here.

This restaurant is very large and offers both the teppanyaki (cooking at the table in front of you) and a large regular sushi area with a sushi bar and regular bar. It was not too crowded yet, as it has really just opened in the last few weeks, which was sort of nice for us because we had our whole table to ourselves and our kids are a little crazy. The menu is very similar to Benihana, except they offer more reasonable prices for their kid’s meals.

So the kids and I both ordered shrimp dinners and hubby ordered a combination dinner with steak and scallops. All the meals come with soup and a salad as well as fried rice. For the soup you can have the classic Japanese steakhouse soup of broth with fried onions and sliced mushrooms or the traditional sushi restaurant miso soup with tofu. The kids got the broth, which tasted like it might be beef broth and was pretty good. I had the miso which was very good miso soup—lots of tofu which I always like.

You can get the salad with a soy vinaigrette or a ginger dressing. I am not usually a fan of soy vinaigrette but I did enjoy the ginger dressing. However, Japanese salads with the iceberg don’t usually get me that excited. These did have a bit of other field greens mixed in with the iceberg, but they weren’t super exciting.

The chef came out and cooked next and I have to say, he was super friendly and put on quite a show for the kids. If you had asked the kids which place they preferred, before even eating their food, they would have chosen this place based on the chef alone. First off, he started with making a giant flame on the table, which I have read Benihana will no longer do for liability reasons. So they were into that. Then, as he cooked the fried rice with egg, and some diced veggies, he offered to let my kids cook with him. My daughter, who has always been quite appalled by the lack of female teppanyaki chefs, of course jumped at the chance. My son, being my slightly shyer child, passed. Anyhow, he let her flip the egg around and she was thrilled. And the fact that he promised to let her do it anytime she came certainly endeared her to the place. At this point, I was just praying the food was edible since I already know where she will be requesting on her nights out.

Everyone seemed to like the fried rice (I had steamed). There is no shrimp appetizer included in the dinner however (like at Benihana), so at this point he started cooking everyone’s dinner. They have two sauces to serve with the meat, a sort of creamy slightly mustardy sauce and a thick ginger sauce. Interestingly, they recommend the ginger with the red meat and the creamy sauce with the seafood (which is the opposite of Benihana). Personally, I love the tangy-ness of the ginger sauce (as does my daughter) and have always used it for everything. But here, I had to ask to get it since I was having shrimp; initially he only gave me the other. But it was really good, thicker and even more gingery then at Benihana. The one thing I did not like though, was that they actually cook the shrimp on the grill with some of the creamy sauce, which I would not get the next time. But if you like that sauce with your shrimp, cooking it with some extra would certainly not hurt. The kids seemed to like it anyway. They also served the shrimp whole, instead of chopping it up, which bummed me out a little since I then had to cut it up for the kids. (Normally that is one of the beauties of the Japanese steakhouse. Everything comes sized to order for the kids.)

They also did veggies—onions, broccoli, carrots, and zucchini and made a very exciting volcano out of the onions which of course the kids also loved. Hubby really liked his scallops—and they looked like nice ones and were cooked well. I had quite a bit of his steak (he upgraded to a filet) which was really good, possibly my favorite thing. But the kids ate really well, and really enjoyed themselves, which is most of the battle when dining out with them. And hey, it wasn’t chicken nuggets or grilled cheese.

We also got a piece of chocolate cake, and our server was very careful to check the ingredients and let us know that is was made somewhere that processes peanuts, because my son is allergic. The cake was clearly one of the pre-made refrigerated jobbies (I hate cold cake) but my daughter loved it and mentions it, along with the fact that they have chocolate milk, and that she got to cook, whenever she tells someone about it. Oh and did I mention all the fish tanks? Also a big draw. But for adults, it has a nice modern feel with some interesting water/light features and soothing color scheme.

So we will certainly be back (it is almost a guarantee with as much as the kids loved it) and with a few tweaks for me (no sauce on the shrimp when it is cooking, or maybe one of the steak and seafood combos), I am glad to have a place to go that is local and where the people are really into their jobs. And while our server (who brought the drinks, soups and salad) was clearly still learning, she was really friendly and helpful. They were extremely accommodating to the kids, even down to the cheater chopsticks and free refills on the chocolate milk.

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Hubby and I also decided to give Taki a quick try for lunch before I posted this review. We ordered a couple of rolls and some tempura shrimp. The tempura was nice, a little different from most I have had, almost has a consistency of panko crumbs on the outside, but it was nice and crunchy and I liked that the tempura sauce was served warm, which helped keep the whole thing warm til the end.

The rolls were good. Not amazing or anything, but not bad. Ok, I think I have told you all that I am generally not a fan of rolls because I don’t like the seaweed. Lately I have been noticing a lot of rolls made with soy paper, so I thought, hey, this might just be the perfect scenario for me. So the roll I wanted to try was called the “Dynamite Lola,” which was soft shell crab (and you know how I love soft shell crab), spicy tuna, avocado and spicy sauce, and was described as being wrapped in soy paper. So, it was wrapped in soy paper, but there was still an interior part of the roll that was wrapped in seaweed, so it didn’t really help this aversion for me. The ingredients themselves were all well done and tasty, but I guess I am learning I am not a roll person. Hubby, who loves the seaweed has learned he is not a soy paper person, having never had it before. He did not care for the consistency of it.

The other roll we go was the “Taki” roll, which he liked better. It was salmon and crab tempura. It was pretty tasty (other then that pesky seaweed). They do have a ton of different rolls and sushi options, pretty much some of everything. And the fish itself seemed to be very good quality, and that is the most important thing right? They have just started serving lunch, and there weren’t a lot of people in there when we were there, but our server told us their dinners are getting more and more crowded. I do think it is a good alternative to have in this area, which is so heavily dominated by mediocre chains. I am going to go back and try a Bento box next time for lunch and see how that goes.

It is a pretty place, and a very friendly staff. If you have gone, or do go, please let me know what you think, as I am interested to see how this place does.


Taki Japanese Restaurant
4040 East 82nd Street
Indy 46240
317-849-8254

Devour Downtown 2010

Hi all-

As you know, Devour Downtown is going on through February 6th, where you can enjoy three course meals at many of our downtown restaurants for just $30.00. It is often a nice way to try restaurants that you might otherwise think are too pricey. At the request of a reader, I am making this post, asking you guys to post a comment about your devour downtown meals so that others might see some good options (and maybe some not so good ones too) for these weeks. If you have already been to a few, let us know if they were good or bad...and maybe we can all help each other out!

Cheers!

Erin

Kona Jack's- Lunch

The other day we were on our way to pick up some fresh seafood for dinner at one of the few places you can count on it actually being fresh, and decided hey, why not actually eat lunch here too? We have eaten at Kona Jack’s for dinner, and to be honest, it sort of bores me…so it has been awhile since we have been back. But we thought we should give it a go for lunch. I mean, honestly, they have the freshest seafood at their fresh fish counter of anywhere in the City (well the Goose too but you have to order it), and I buy it for home cooking rather frequently. It is really the only place I buy fish on a regular basis.

Anyhow, when we went for lunch, we literally got what I think was the second to last table in the place. It was jammed! We perused the menu and just when I thought I had decided, the server went over the specials which tempted me. I was torn between a very yummy sounding sushi roll and what I ended up ordering—the beer battered fish (cod) and chips. The fact that they had two kinds of fish and chips, a breaded fish (perch) as well as the beer battered one gave me faith that maybe this would be good. It obviously wasn’t just a “fish” that was frozen and dumped in a fryer and called fish and chips right? And I love a good battered fish and chips.

Anyhow, while the fish itself was pleasantly juicy and the batter had a nice flavor, with just the right amount of beer flavor, they did not quite pull off the requisite crunchy exterior. You need a really crispy outside shell right? And still soft but moist fish inside. There were a few bites that were crunchy, but most of them were a little soggy—i.e. soft on the outside. That does not make for good fish and chips. The chips, or French fries, were the big steak fry type, which are the traditional English-style chip, but they just don’t really do anything for me. I wish I would have ordered that roll. And judging by the amount of sushi rolls coming out of that part of the kitchen, a lot of people were ordering them.

Of course, this only brings me to me next quandary…I can totally appreciate using raw fish in a creative and tasty way, but somehow, if you have the quality to start with (which Kona Jack’s certainly does), how hard is that? You gotta be able to cook it properly too right? Well, they didn’t pull off the fish and chips so well and frankly, it is a little frustrating considering the high quality of their ingredients.

Hubby had an oyster po boy sandwich with breaded oysters and bread with a bit of cole slaw. First of all the oysters looked huge, and I think they were sort of above average in size (which I am sure you regular readers know is not my favorite thing). But as hubby explained to me (I didn’t even want to try them, they just didn’t look that appetizing) actually there was so much breading, you could barely taste the oyster—and that they actually weren’t that big. So, overall, I would venture to say, he would likely not order this again either. Again, frustrating to see a quality ingredient that just wasn’t very good once it was cooked.

So, this wasn’t a great lunch. This is true. But I have to say, watching the stuff coming from the sushi portion of the kitchen inspires me to go back. And I know the fish is good. And regardless of whether I eat in the restaurant, I will be a loyal customer of the fish market for a long long time.

Kona Jack’s
9419 N. Meridian Street
Indy 46260
317/843-1609
hwww.konajacksindy.com

Noah Grant's

One of the things I really like about writing this blog is that I go and try a lot of places that I probably never would have otherwise. I am sure that it would be very easy in this City to get stuck in a rut and go to the same few places all the time. Now sometimes these places are hits, and often they are misses, but either way, the sense of adventure is fun, and the need to keep trying new stuff gives me constant hope that I just might stumble onto a gem.

Well, I will just get it out of the way quickly, Noah Grant’s was certainly more of a miss food-wise, but hubby and I still had a very nice time exploring Zionsville a little (took us a few minutes to find the place) and the service was really fun and enthusiastic. It was a fun night, even though the food was not outstanding.

So, Noah Grant’s specializes in seafood, and has quite an extensive menu. Although strangely, while this menu is large, there is not a lot on it that really leapt out at me. Not sure why. But they sort of do that old school seafood thing with various sushi rolls as well (and of course steaks). And our server was as friendly as can be, and was happy to offer up her honest recommendations (and lack of recommendations on certain items) which I always appreciate.

She heartily recommending a couple of the salads, so I went with the Noah Grant’s version of a chopped salad. I have been really into chopped salads lately because I can really appreciate the varying ingredients, and the fact that they are so easy to eat, since the lettuce is typically in small pieces---you can grab a forkful and be sure to get a bite of all the flavors as well as usually a proper amount of dressing as well. I also like the fact that just about every restaurant has their version of a chop salad, but every restaurant’s version is different. Not like the “wedge” which is nearly identical in almost every restaurant you go to. Don’t get me wrong, I like the ingredients in a wedge, and sometimes I order them. But every time I see one on a menu, I sigh. I mean, it just seems so uninspired.

Anyhow, the salad was a little strange. It was not actually “chopped” lettuce at all—it was rather large pieces of romaine that were actually bigger than most regular pieces of lettuce in a regular non-“chopped” salad. Which was odd. It was mixed with blue cheese crumbles, tomatoes, bacon and a couple of slivers of avocado. The dressing was the basil vinaigrette which sounded nice to me, but was strangely sweet and was not my favorite. The pieces of bacon were really nice, real bits of recognizable bacon with good flavor. All in all though, I would probably pass on this salad again, and I would certainly pass on the dressing.

We did really like the dipping sauce that came with the bread though—it was a garlic and herby kind of mix in olive oil—really heavy on the garlic. I mean, really heavy. Some people probably would not like it because of it, but we did. The bread was simple slices of French baguette, but went well with the dip.

Hubby had 2 of their oysters Rockefeller and 2 of their shrimp Rockefeller (they sell them individually) to start. I had one of the shrimp which was a shrimp in an oyster shell and I suspect their spinach dip (because they have spinach dip on the menu as well) over the top and heated up. It was a creamy sauce mixed with pieces of spinach and parmesan on top. The shrimp were nice and pleasantly cooked, not rubbery at all. It was a nice mix of flavors if not a totally traditional Rockefeller. Unfortunately (since I only got one) this ended up being the best thing on the table all night.

For my main dish, I ordered, based on the server’s recommendation, the shrimp scampi—she said it was one of the best things on the menu. It was nicely presented with some pasta underneath (and not a ridiculous amount I was happy to see). And the sauce itself was great—the buttery garlic sauce cut with the right amount of lemon and wine to keep it thin and tangy—it wasn’t one of those sauces that seems like it is too creamy for its own good. Yes, I really liked the sauce. Unfortunately, the shrimp were so overcooked, they were pretty inedible. I don’t know, I sort of had higher hopes for a place that specializes in seafood… And it was frustrating because the shrimp on hubby’s appetizer weren’t so rubbery.

Hubby ordered ½ pound of King Crab legs. Now, I know there is no guarantee about the size of legs you are going to get, but these were some of the skimpiest legs I have seen. There was so little meat in them (they were sliced in half) that what was in there was really dried out. Also a disappointment.

We did have fun, and the people were very friendly and checked on us several times. We also enjoyed giggling at the fact that there are two chair rails in this place, and neither of them were saving the walls from the chairs that have unusually pointed edges—there were dings all over the walls—right between the two chair rails. (What can I say; we have a weird sense of humor).

I don’t know, maybe sushi is the way to go here, a lot of people seemed to be ordering it. But based on our meal, and the drive, it will likely be awhile before we go back.

Noah Grant’s
65 South First Street
Zionsville, IN 46077
317/732-2233
http://www.noahgrants.com/

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

So the other night we had a last minute babysitter and we really could not decide where to go to eat. We literally drove out of the house not sure where we were headed. After toying with the idea of Miyagi’s, and sort of heading in that general direction, at the last minute we thought we would check out Ruth’s Chris’s bar and get some appetizers and skip the steak.

We wanted to sit in the bar because hubby is not a fan of the interior of the Northside location—and I have to say, the bar is much preferable. Our table next to the window was pretty cold though-we had to switch seats.

We started with the chop salad, which we split. I appreciate that they split this for us in the kitchen. But man, I can’t imagine having the whole salad myself. It would be enormous. The half portion is plenty big. Plenty. But I had seen a picture of it in one of the local magazines and thought it looked so good, I really wanted to try it. So it was chopped lettuces (spinach, iceberg and radicchio) mixed with lots of things—boiled egg, olives, avocado, hearts of palm, bacon, croutons, red onions, mushrooms, blue cheese and with fried skinny onions on top. The dressing was lemon basil vinaigrette. I really enjoyed it. It was kind of interesting though, there were so many things in it, you didn’t necessarily get a bite of every ingredient each time, but in fact every bite was a little different. But is well dressed and the dressing was the right combination of creamy and tangy.

So we ordered the barbeque shrimp, which is one of Ruth’s Chris signature items—and it is the type of “barbeque” that is found in New Orleans. It is a butter, wine, garlic and seasoning sauce (heavy on spices and I would say a bit of Worcestershire sauce). This is something that as long as hubby and I have been going to Ruth’s Chris (which we have on occasion since our San Francisco days) we have been ordering. The shrimp are properly cooked, and the sauce is delicious. Probably my favorite part is just sopping it up with the nice, warm, French loaf you get there. The shrimp were a little smaller than I remember, bust still good. The only bad part about them, is that apparently when they were bringing out our food from the kitchen, they dropped one of the other items, and had to remake it (a cold item) so by the time they got it all together, the shrimp were not exactly hot. More like lukewarm which kind of detracted.

We also ordered the crabtini which was lump crab meat served in a tall martini glass (hence the trouble carrying it out on a large tray). I really liked this one. I appreciated that they actually tossed the crab in a citrus-y vinaigrette before then also serving it with their very tasty version of a remoulade. The crab was really good quality, and the mix of flavors was more than your ordinary cold seafood cocktail.

Finally, we had their version of the steakhouse side dish of mac and cheese (it was a special). Now it seems like everyone has one of these, with lobster, or with truffles. This one was actually both lobster and truffle mac and cheese, at least according to the menu. Honestly, I did not taste the truffle at all and as far as the lobster goes, they were very small pieces. Now the pieces I did find were quite tender and not overcooked like so many are, but they were so small it was hard to really get the flavor with all that cheese. The pasta was very cheesy, with a lot of additional cheese melted on top. Maybe all the cheese was so strong, it just overwhelmed the flavors of the truffles and the lobster. It wasn’t bad, but for the price, I wouldn’t order it again.

Our server was really professional (how nice!) and very helpful with the menu. And I really appreciate that he did not seem put out in the least that we didn’t order steak or even an entrée for that matter. Other then the slip up with the dropped crab (and hey, accidents happen, and I don’t think he was the one who actually dropped it), service was pretty near perfect.

I enjoyed this dinner, and the professionalism of the staff at Ruth’s Chris. And I do like their steaks as well, although I don’t think they are the best around. But I would certainly go back and do a similar meal again.

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
9445 Threel Road
Indianapolis, IN 46240
317-844-1155
www.ruthschris.com

Kincaids-Revisit

If we are in the mood for a little drive, Kincaid’s is still one of our favorite places to go for lunch. I love love love this salad they have—which I have reviewed before, the Maytag Blue Cheese and bay shrimp salad. I have a really hard time not ordering this when I go because I like it so much, but I did manage to get a soup and salad combination this time to try the clam chowder as well.

Now in the combo when you get the salad, you usually do not get the shrimp on the salad, just the lettuce, blue cheese, almonds, and crumbled egg with the blue cheese dressing. But I asked for some shrimp to be put on top anyhow, and they did this for a few extra bucks. As usual, the salad was really good (especially after a squeeze of lemon over the shrimp). And as I prefer, it is tossed for you so you get the proper proportion of dressing to leaves. You sort of have to dump it out of the bowl though to really eat it, because it is so full. And really a pretty nice size for lunch, especially with something else. But it was just as good as always...

The clam chowder was enjoyable as well—not the best I have ever had, but it was nice and chunky with large, recognizable pieces of clam as well as quite a bit of diced potato. It was a nice hearty soup on a cold day. And hey, at least I tried something new right?

Hubby had fish and chips and they were very good as well—nicely battered and the cod inside was flaky but still really moist. The fries are also quite good—the thin seasoned fries that are the ones I like best...

The kids really like this place too—my son had fettuccine alfredo and loved it. And with a side of fries with your pasta, how can you go wrong? I included a picture of his meal just so you could get an idea of what the kids portions look like (actually pretty much the same portions as the adult combo meals). They also get what the restaurant calls “the world’s smallest ice cream sundae” which is far from small as far as I can tell. A large scoop of ice cream and chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

I have also mentioned before the bread they serve—herby focaccia bread with a garlic butter melted on top. I really like this bread. Unfortunately, so do the kids, so we fight over it (they will bring you more though if you need it).

All in all, as I have said before, this is a great place for lunch. Although one thing about it confuses me—the dinner menu is not nearly as exciting as the lunch menu. Whenever we have thought about going up for dinner, the menu just doesn’t intrigue us that much—more of a basic steak and chop house menu. Not sure why the lunch menu is so much more creative.

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

# 2!

Hey you guys!

I just realized that a couple days ago was my second anniversary of writing this blog! I can't believe it. But I wanted to take another minute to thank all of you who read my blog and to those of you who write to me or post comments. I am just so pleased that my goal of getting people together to discuss our little restaurant scene has been realized. And I have enjoyed trying lots of places that I might not have otherwise without this blog.

I would love to hear from any of you about anything that you think would make this blog better, and as always, I would love to hear your thoughts on your favorite restaurants.

Eat well,

Erin