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Thr3e Wise Men - Revisit

2:44 AM | Labels: Beer, Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, Pizza, Thr3e Wise Men

We met up with some friends of ours and their kids the other night at Thr3e Wise Men (I still have a really hard time typing that name). I have only eaten in the place once before, and it was outside and quite awhile ago, so I figured a revisit was in order (we have ordered carry out several times before).

The place was very busy and I didn’t think we would get seated right away until we saw there is a small back room as well—it feels a little removed from the restaurant, but was probably for the best given that my son and his best friend were there together. I like how kid friendly they are at Thr3e Wisemen as well—they give them crayons as well as a little dough ball to play with, which seemed to make them all happy. There is also fresh popcorn delivered right away which the kids love as well. The adults were happy because we had a long table and could sit down at the other end and have some adult conversation.

We started with some loaded potato chips ($6.50) which are housemade potato chips that are seasoned and topped with Maytag blue cheese cream sauce and bacon. I was not a huge fan of these. I don’t know if it was the seasoning on the chips, or the blue cheese sauce, but something was making the roof of my mouth burn—it just wasn’t enjoyable to me. I also appreciate the housemade chips, but these were a little too thick for me—I prefer a thinner potato chip. Although you certainly didn’t have to worry about them breaking under the weight of the toppings. The kids got breadsticks and were happy.

We ordered a pizza for the kids and the Moms split a special pizza—it was a veggie pizza with white sauce, and a bunch of veggie toppings-tomatoes, spinach, onions, green peppers and mushrooms (I actually asked for ½ of it to be without green peppers, but they only gave me about 2 pieces without them). The pizza was good though. The crust was nice and crispy and there were a decent amount of veggies. I enjoyed the variation from the regular red sauce (although I do like their red sauce). The white sauce had a decent amount of garlic flavor. I like their cheese blend as well—it isn’t rubbery they way pizza cheese can often be.

The menfolk had a pepperoni and mushroom pizza ($12) and seemed to enjoy it as well. I was happy to see they were really on their game with getting the crust right. Occasionally the kitchen seems to have problems with consistency based on our carry out experiences—it seems like sometimes they don’t stretch it enough or something and it is too dense and the pizza is much smaller than normal.

We also shared an elephant ear ($4.50) which I really enjoyed. They take their pizza dough, deep fry it, and coat it with cinnamon and sugar. Simple, and really tasty—and I enjoy the slightly sour taste of the dough that comes from the crust (and I am guessing the beer that goes into it). Everyone at the table, adults and kids alike, agreed on this one.

The atmosphere is totally casual and just noisy enough that it isn’t annoying, but that slightly drowns out your own loud son’s voice so he isn’t annoying others. I liked our server, especially since she carded all of us, which I always appreciate. All in all, it’s a good option for pizza and kids, although I am still looking for my ideal pizza in this town.

Thr3e Wise Men

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

www.thr3ewisemen.com

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Brewstone Beer Company

7:35 AM | Labels: Beer, Brewstone Beer Company, Castleton Area Restaurants, Chain Restaurants, kid friendly

First impression of this place? Loudest. Restaurant. Ever. Let’s just get that out of the way. If you have a loud kid (as I do), you will not have to worry about anyone hearing them over the roar of the game being played over the speaker system. There are also a ton of tvs playing lots of different sports, and there really doesn’t appear to be a different dining room for families (or non-bar folk) so you are in it if you are there. The regular tables sort of surround the bar on all sides. The interior was a bit nicer than I thought it would be—on the walls where there weren’t tvs, there were large photographs of travel destinations around the country. We had fun picking out some we recognized.

Honestly, I did not have high hopes regarding the food based on everything I had heard and read (42% on urbanspoon--ouch)—but I was pleasantly surprised. Hubby ordered the fish and chips ($15) and it was good. There were 4 cod fillets that were beer battered—they had a nice crispy exterior and the fish was still moist inside. A lot of restaurants use other fish in their fish and chips and often it is too thin to be cooked as long as you need to for the outside to be the right crispiness. These were very good. The fries were fine—nothing special—honestly we had so much food on the table, we didn’t eat many of them.

I decided to be adventurous, and possibly a little hard headed, and order the tuna poke appetizer ($12). They had a couple of seared tuna dishes on the menu as well and our server told me they were popular, so I was hopeful that the fish would be good and fresh. You know, I was pleasantly surprised again. The dish had quite a bit of flavor from their marinade—there was even a bit of heat from what appeared to be chili oil (ok, I did add just a bit of soy sauce). The dish itself was made up of chunks of tuna, avocado, lots of radish sprouts and thin sliced onions. It was served with fried wonton chips to scoop it up. The only bad part was the wontons were stuck underneath the tuna mixture for presentation which made one edge of them soggy. It might not have been as pretty, but would be better off to serve them on a separate plate or something. I was happy with it overall though and would order it again. I appreciate that in a restaurant that focuses mostly on bar food that there was an option that was lighter and not as heavy and traditional options.

My daughter was thrilled to see that they had a grilled chicken breast option on the kid’s menu instead of just the chicken tenders (which they also have, and which thankfully, she is starting to outgrow). It was a nice little plate with the chicken breast, broccoli and mashed potatoes ($5). The chicken was well seasoned and shockingly, fairly tender. And that was a good amount of food for $5 (which included the drinks as well).

My son had the mac and cheese ($5) which was pretty good as well. There was fresh grated cheese on top and it had a very homemade taste—not sure my son was a huge fan, but I thought it was pretty good for a kids meal. I don’t often even mention the kid’s meals, but these stood out to me as better than the average options.

Other then the crazy noise level (and I am hoping maybe it was just because it was a Saturday game day), this is a place that we as a family will probably add to the rotation. Everyone liked it, and it is one of the closest places to our house around. The service was a little slow, and it is a chain (a small one though with currently only 2 locations), but at least on our visit, they seemed to be taking care in the kitchen. I love it when a place surprises me.

Who else has been? I know several of you have told me about it, would love to hear what you think and see why their ratings are so low.

Brewstone Beer Company

3720 E. 82^ndStreet

Indy 46240

317/577-7800

http://brewstonerestaurant.com/index.php

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Broad Ripple Brewpub

2:05 AM | Labels: Beer, Broad Ripple Brewpub, Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, Pizza

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

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

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

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

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

Broad Ripple Brewpub

842 East 65^thStreet

Indy 46220

317/253-2739

www.broadripplebrewpub.com

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Twenty Tap

3:28 AM | Labels: Beer, Independent Restaurants, SoBro, Twenty Tap

I have been hearing a lot about Twenty Tap from various people and was intrigued to try it. Ok, I will just get it out of the way right now, I am not a beer drinker, so this is a food review (as are all of my reviews) so please don’t yell at me. Yes, this place is a bar/restaurant specializing in lots of different local and regional beers and serves appropriate grub to go along with. The kids were on fall break and I sent a quick tweet to see if they were kid friendly. I got lots of responses emphatically telling me yes they were welcoming of kids; that they have a separate dining area where kids can sit, that they have a kid’s menu and that they are in fact non-smoking. We were good to go on all accounts (and that non-smoking thing is nearly a requirement for me with or without kids anyway).

When we sat down and looked over the menu, I knew I must order the fried cheese curds ($7)—never having seen them on a menu before. I don’t usually go with a big appetizer for lunch, but like I said, I couldn’t pass them up! They were quite good and strangely addicting. They are little cheddar curds, that are soft and somewhat salty and then they were tempura-type beer batter, with seasoning in it. You got to choose from two of their housemade aiolis to dip in—we choose the roasted garlic and the chipotle (both could have used a little more zip I think, especially the garlic). Nothing like dipping fried cheese into what is essentially mayonnaise. Hubby and I had a difficult time not eating all of them…although it is a very generous portion so we didn’t finish them all. And even not being a beer drinker, I am pretty much sure that they may be the perfect pairing with beer.

For my lunch, I had heard good things about the burgers, and there are several varieties on the menu. I went with their version of one of my favorite combos, which they called the “wake up” ($9.00). It was a burger with cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli, bacon and a fried egg served on an English muffin. I enjoyed it pretty well. The beef was pretty tender and very juicy, although I would ask for it medium rare next time (to be fair, it states on the menu that they do medium unless you ask otherwise). It was certainly medium, if not a little beyond. My biggest peeve though was I specifically asked for my egg to have a runny yolk, and it was totally fried hard. I am sure that is how they normally do it, but I thought if I asked, I could get it that way (and my server didn’t tell me otherwise). I liked the English muffin part of it too, making the bun less bulky. I hate it when burgers are so big they are hard to eat. The kids both had cheeseburgers off the kid’s menu ($5 each) and really liked them. My son ate half of his and then ate the other half for dinner (it re-heated very well I might add, and I appreciated the non-styrofoam containers that they give you to go). We all had fries as a side and they are the battered-type of fries that are quite tasty, especially dipped into the aioli, although I would doubt that they are made in-house. Hubby had the Indiana brat ($8), and seemed to enjoy it, but honestly I think he was a little jealous of all of our burgers. The brat was served with beer mustard, pickles, onions and roasted peppers. I can’t speak to its taste, because I didn’t try it. I can see again, how this would probably be a good pairing with beer (duh, beer and brats right?).

Anyway, it was an enjoyable experience—we all had a good meal and I appreciate that while they are obviously going for a beer place with somewhat familiar comfort type food items, that they are putting a twist on things and are not afraid to venture a little out of the mind-numbing options that seem to appear on so many pub-type places. They have several interesting burgers and several interesting salad and sandwich options that are not just like everything else you see at other places. The service was very friendly (although slightly absent a lot considering there were only a few tables there at the time) and while I bet in the evenings it is more of an adult crowd, it was a good place for a family lunch. Nothing totally blew me away, but everything was good. Tell me what you have had, and what you think. And hey, if you want to tell me what beer you like with those fried cheese curds, maybe I’ll even order it next time.

Twenty Tap

5408 College Ave

Indy 46220

317/602-8840

www.twentytap.com

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Thr3e Wise Men

3:52 AM | Labels: Beer, Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, outdoor seating, Pizza, Scotty's Brewhouse, Thr3e Wise Men

Thr3e Wise Men is the latest project of Scott Wise, who owns the Scotty’s Brewhouses and Scotty’s Lakehouse at Geist. I always joke that the surest way to stir things up is to write a review of a Scotty’s enterprise. These reviews always seem to bring people out for comments. I will be interested to see if this is the case with this review.

Anyway, I already liked this place when I saw the fact that the menu is so much more limited than others in Scotty’s arsenal. It is pretty much pizza, sandwiches, a salad and a few appetizers (fear not fried pickle lovers, they are there). But the focus is pizza-type foods and beer, which they are also brewing in house.

We had put off going up till now because I had heard there are no backs on the seats in the restaurant (mostly picnic tables, but there are some tables in a banquette with backs) and we were waiting for a nice day to sit outside at the tables and chairs out there (with backs). Hubby has back problems and gets cranky if he doesn’t have a back. However, I will have to say, for picnic tables, they look like they are about the most comfortable ones you could imagine. The seats are padded and the tables are topped with a thick coating so you aren’t going to have those tables that never really get clean. I actually really liked the interior—it felt more welcoming and more family friendly than the Lakehouse which has always felt like a bar inside to me more than a Lakehouse.

But we sat outside with the kids who already instantly loved the place as soon as our server set down the bucket of popcorn which is being popped freshly near the back of the restaurant (the first smell I noticed when we walked in). Seriously, they could eat nothing else and get fresh popcorn and be happy. They are easy. Thr3e Wisemen doesn’t have a specific kids menu, but with pizza as a main item, most kids I know are going to be happy.

We started with an order of breadsticks ($4) and the tableside tossed salad ($7 for serving for 2). The breadsticks were a hit with the kids as well—they were pretty good. Nothing amazing, but solid and I liked that they seemed to be brushed with some garlic butter giving them a little flavor without dipping them into anything. They did bring their housemade marinara and the standard nacho cheese dip. I am still waiting for someone to come up with something different to dip breadsticks into, but maybe that’s just me. I would love just a bit more of the garlic butter on the side at Thr3e Wisemen --that would be tasty. The marinara is pretty good though—very thick and savory in flavor, none of that over-sweetness I don’t like.

The salad was chopped lettuce with spinach, red onions, mushrooms, bacon, mozzarella and goat cheese. We went with the house dressing which is an Italian-type vinaigrette. It was properly dressed (tossed and dressed at the table) and served its purpose as a nice accompaniment to the pizza. The dressing leaned a bit toward the sweet side for me—I would prefer a bit more vinegary flavor, but that is probably a matter of taste.

The pizza though, wow, the pizza was really good. Hubby and I split a small pizza with red onions and mushrooms ($11). I appreciated that our server stopped us when we tried to order a medium, telling us she thought we would be better off with a small. She was right. The small is plenty big. The crust is super thin and done the way a thin crust should be. Nice and crispy but with just a little chewiness. It had a great yeasty flavor, not sure if it is from the dough, or the fact that they use some of their home brewed beer in it. Same marinara here—the right amount so it didn’t take over the other flavors and just the right amount of toppings. The cheese is also a blend from a local dairy and had a little more flavor than your standard pizza mozzarella. If you like a really thin crust type pizza, this is a place you need to try. The kids had a cheese (with extra cheese) pizza ($9.50) and seemed to enjoy it as well. Extra cheese may be a bit much for the crust, but they were happy. On this subject, I think if you were to load up the crust with too much meat, it may not hold up as well either, but I could be wrong. I would love to hear from other people what they have liked on their pizzas at Thr3e Wisemen.

This is good pizza. Hubby and I were both really happy to have found a handmade pizza with good flavor so near our house. We have a ton of pizza places around us, but we are not in love with any of them. The pizza at Thr3e Wisemen may just fill our void for a good thin crust pizza. We will know for sure when we see how well it travels. But the current plan is to put it into the rotation for sure. I am glad to see that the narrower menu has allowed for certain menu items to really shine. The service was also very friendly and professional while still being low-key. I like that it doesn’t seem like they are trying too hard. All around, this is a nice family friendly Broad Ripple option with some high quality menu items. (Kudos to the stools in the bathrooms for kids to reach the sinks and the fancy hand dryers).

Thr3e Wise Men (is it just me, or does the “3” in the name make it more difficult to find online?)

1021 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/255-5151

http://www.thr3ewisemen.com/