In continuation of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives week, I recently visited 3 Sisters which was also recently featured on one of the recent Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I had been to 3 Sisters once before, but pre-blog days, so I thought it was a good time to give it another try. What I remembered about this place from before was that they had a pretty extensive menu, use a lot of high quality healthy ingredients, but that I hadn’t been inspired to return for several years.
The restaurant is set in an old Victorian house in Broad Ripple, and I like the homey feel and squeaky wood floors (I love a good creaky floor). The service staff was pretty friendly, although possibly a little harried. I think the DDD publicity has been good for business.
The menu has been re-vamped since the DDD visit, with notations on the menu pointing out which items were featured. The BFF ordered one of them, the D’Nai, which is a crusty French roll covered in house roasted ham, sautéed kale and jack cheese. So, this sandwich is enormous. As in, you can’t pick it up and eat it; you pretty much have to use a knife and fork. And not only that, but they actually brought her a steak knife because apparently a regular knife is not enough. I liked the flavor of the kale—giving it a distinct cooked greens taste, a little more robust than just spinach. The flavor of the ham was interesting, drier like in sliced pork tenderloin almost, but with a decent flavor. But it was a little too dry for me. I really liked her side of potato salad (again, a huge portion), but with a nice mustardy flavor (you could see the grains of mustard in there). Only a little bit of celery, mostly large chunks of potatoes.
So for my entrée, I went with breakfast because we were eating on the early side of lunch. It was the “Mom” scramble with 3 eggs, red onions, “exotic” mushrooms, avocado, and Swiss cheese (around $7). See-- all those things, good. Together, they are also good, but not blow you away good—the exotic mushrooms were seemingly mostly Portobello and creminis, and there was a little too much red onion in there for me—and really big chunks of it. But I tend to like a scramble better than an omelet because they are less dried out, and that was the case here. It came with a side of toast, which was warm and heavily buttered (I chose sourdough from the list of options). Again, it ended up being quite a large portion.
I also got a side of the powerhouse potatoes ($3 for the small (!) portion), which I enjoyed—they were like home fried potatoes with lots of herbs, onions, garlic, bits of tofu and cheese on top. They were tasty, and I enjoyed the herby kick to them. So often breakfast potatoes are very bland. The onions and garlic livened them up as well, but were better than the onions in my scramble because they were smaller and more cooked. They were served with an extremely fresh tasting salsa on the side that was awesome on its own and awesome with the potatoes—totally took the potatoes to a higher level with the acidity and slight spiciness. I was glad I went with the small portion though (they have two sizes), because there is no way I could finish these (even with help from BFF) let alone any more.
Which brings me back to the whole enormous thing. I get a fair amount of grief for complaining that portions are too large, but seriously, these were insane. Normally, when I want feedback on a lunch I have with the BFF, I email her later and ask her for her comments. This time, an email was waiting for me when I got home in which she said while she thought the food tasted pretty good, that the portions were so ridiculously large that they must be throwing a ton of food away, which bothered her. And this place reminds me of a place that could easily be in Berkeley—very hippy-ish. Lots of vegetarian and even vegan options and lots of healthy veggies mixed into everything. So it sort of seems slightly incongruous that they put this kind of pile of food in front of you. But maybe it’s just me. My advice would be to go with a compatible friend and split a couple things. There will be more than enough.
So overall, my take on 3 Sisters was pretty similar to my first visit—I appreciate the variety, healthy fresh food and care going into the food. It is hearty, and will certainly fill you up. A good option for breakfast or lunch if you like ‘em large. Again, out of this world? I would say no.
3 Sisters Café
6360 Guilford Avenue
Indy 46220
317/257-5556
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