Super Bowl Update: Carmel

Showing posts with label Carmel. Show all posts

Hubbard & Cravens

2:58 AM | Labels: Carmel, Hubbard and Cravens, lunch places

Back up in Carmel to meet my friend Suzanne for lunch again—she is becoming one of my best “try a new restaurant” dates. Sometimes it is hard to find people as enthusiastic as I am about trying new places. Anyhow, we decided to go to Hubbard & Cravens after we both had looked at the menu online.

There were a couple of pleasant surprises for me when I checked out the website. First, I really thought this was a large chain, but in fact it is locally owned—there are several locations, but all in the central Indianapolis area. Next, I was kind of excited to see all the local products being used—lots of Smoking Goose meats, Trader’s Point cheese, and many other local farmers (as well as several local beers). The one weird thing about the website is that they list a breakfast menu and a dinner menu, but no lunch menu—just an FYI, the lunch menu is the same as the dinner menu online (also, the prices aren’t totally up to date). We went to the Carmel City Center location which is located in the back of the complex.

The first thing we had was the breadsticks ($8). They were thin but soft breadsticks that were brushed with what they call “fire sauce”—we found out it is a combination of hot sauce and garlic oil. It did give a nice little heat to them, and they were really good dipped into the broiled goat cheese. You had the tangy cheese with the spicy breadsticks—we agreed this was a dish worthy of a recreation at home.

We decided to share a flatbread and a sandwich as well. We had the “ramp and ham” flatbread ($12) because it sounded good even though we were both a little unsure about how they were getting “Indiana-grown ramps” this time of year. We just assumed they were just using regular leeks and that seemed to be the case. The flatbread also had Smoking Goose city ham, thyme, mozzarella and goat cheese. It sounded like a really good combo, and I am not sure exactly what the problem was, but it just didn’t do it for either one of us. One of the most obvious problems was that the bottom of the flatbread was burned black—luckily, you could kind of peel off the bottom layer and eat it without the black part. Unfortunately, when you did that, it was no longer crispy at all, just kind of soft. But the biggest problem was that somehow, even with all those ingredients that I inherently like, the whole thing just seemed kind of bland. Not exactly what an improvement would be off the top of my head—maybe a sprinkle of finishing salt or

something would help.

The rustic chicken sandwich ($11) was better, but had its own problems. The main one for me was that the bread was way too big—which made it hard to really taste much else. There was herbed sliced chicken, Smoking Goose bacon, arugula, pesto aioli and roasted tomatoes. We had it with a side of greens. My half only had a small little piece of the bacon on it, which made me sad because I generally love Smoking Goose bacon. The pesto seemed more like straight pesto and not so much aioli—and while I was tempted to eat it without half the bun, since the pesto was on the bread, much of the flavor would have been lost. I liked the roasted tomatoes a lot—they were in the salad and the sandwich. When you got a bite of one of those, it added a nice sweetness and slight acid kick—and they were very soft and not chewy at all. I don’t know what it was, but again, even though I liked the sandwich better, it still didn’t really do it for me. It was a little dry and just too bready for me.

It is a nice interior for a lunch place and they were doing a good business—interestingly (to me at least), it was a largely male clientele which I found surprising based on the menu. I think I would try it again just because of all the things that made it attractive to me in the first place, but overall, I found it kind of disappointing. I would love to hear what you guys liked if you have been there.

Hubbard & Cravens

703 Veteran’s Way (in the City Center complex)

Carmel, IN 46032

317/805-1888

http://www.hubbardandcravens.com/

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iSushi

2:38 AM | Labels: Carmel, Independent Restaurants, isushi, Japanese restaurant, lunch places, sushi

I told you I was on a breakfast and sushi kick, and here’s the next sushi venture. I met my friend @IndyFoodSwapfor lunch at isushi in Carmel the other day—she and I have enjoyed our share of sushi together and are pretty compatible in what we like (for instance, we are both big fans of the Crazy Ho at H2O—possibly one of my favorite rolls ever). The menu at isushi is quite large as far as rolls go and there are some interesting combos that I haven’t seen before. Quite a few of them involve krab stick and/or cream cheese though which are generally non starters for me.

Suzanne had the salad to start and I had miso soup. The ginger dressing on the salad was your standard Japanese restaurant version—leaning more toward the tangy gingery side than the creamier type that you sometimes see (and which Suzanne is now spoiled for from Sushi Bar). It was basic iceberg and dressing. The miso soup was pretty standard too. Honestly, I don’t think you can vary it that much and pretty much all of them taste similar to me. It tasted good though because it was warm and the restaurant was chilly.

Tampa (left), Mikimoto and Graduation Rolls

Emperor Roll

We ordered three different rolls, and ended up getting one that wasn’t what we ordered, so we actually ended up trying 4. My favorite was the Tampa roll ($5). It was stuffed with tempura fried red snapper and chives and then topped with spicy mayo. I like snapper and this was a fun way to eat it in a sushi roll—we both love chives which was one of the things that drew us both to it. The tempura was nice and crunchy and the roll itself was nice and bite-sized. It was straight forward, but had the crunch I like and the little extra kick from the mayo.

I also liked the Mikimoto roll ($12.59) which was filled with shrimp tempura and avocado and topped with eel and eel sauce. This roll was wrapped in soy paper. The rolls were getting progressively larger though and this one was borderline too big. The other thing I noticed, particularly about the larger rolls was they weren’t rolled very tightly and had a tendency to kind of fall apart while you were eating them. The eel on top was pretty big pieces as well. The flavor of the fillings and topping were good on this one—the shrimp with the requisite crunch, and I always like avocado in my rolls.

So the roll that we actually ordered, but which we didn’t get until we pointed out the mistake, was the Emperor roll ($12.75). I did not care for this one and probably should have taken it as a sign when they didn’t bring it the first time. It was filled with salmon and avocado and topped with tuna, yellowtail and seaweed salad. Oof, I am not sure what it was about this one, or if it was just a combination of a lot of things, but I could barely stomach it. First of all, it was huge and really hard to eat. The fish that was layered on top was cut in very thick pieces and was so cold it was almost like it had just been taken out of a freezer not long before. The seaweed seemed quite cold as well. I mean, obviously you want your raw fish cold, but this was too cold, and the roll was totally unmanageable and falling apart—and the fish pieces were so big they were hard to chew (and made the fish completely dominate the flavor). Maybe some of the problems came because they made it really fast after giving us the wrong thing, but I would take a skip on this one.

Actually, the roll that they brought us that wasn’t what we ordered, was probably better than the one we did order, even though it contained both cream cheese AND krab stick (they kindly left it for us after they realized the mistake). It was the graduation roll ($12.75) and was stuffed with krab stick, cucumber, avocado and cream cheese and was topped with scallop, salmon, spicy krab stick and spicy mayo. There was a lot going on in this roll and it was hard to kind of differentiate the flavors, but the fish on top was slightly more thinly sliced at least, even though it was still challenging to eat. It isn’t something I would order again either.

I appreciated that the service was very attentive and they were right on top of it when they realized they had made a mistake and brought us the new roll quickly (possibly too quickly though). The restaurant itself opens directly into the outside though making it very chilly on a cold day, although they were doing a pretty good business at lunch. Once the rolls got past pretty simple though, they fell apart (literally and figuratively). Sushi often seems so artful in the way it is made and this just lacked that quality.

isushi

820 East 116^thStreet

Carmel, 46032

317/569-1997

www.isushicafe.com

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Blu Moon Café

2:45 AM | Labels: Blu Moon Cafe, Carmel, Independent Restaurants, lunch places

I was running errands in Carmel the other day (can someone tell me why Indy doesn’t have a party supply store?) and decided to stop into Blu Moon café. It is one of those places that has been on my radar for awhile, but I just hadn’t managed to get in there. It is a casual place where you order at the register and they bring you the food. The guy who was working at the register was really nice and helpful and helped me make up my mind about what to order.

I got the blt with avocado (around $7). Not a big surprise since this is one of my favorite sandwich combos in general. And this one was very good. The ingredients were all really good, and there was a substantial amount of a garlic aioli that really added to the flavor of the sandwich. The bacon was nice and crisp (and plentiful) and the tomato and avocado was ripe. The sandwich was on thin sliced bread that was pressed in a Panini press making the whole thing warm and toasty. If I could improve it, I would probably just make the bread a little thinner. It ended up being a fairly bready sandwich. although it was a good quality sandwich overall.

little sample of the egg salad

While I was ordering I also asked if I could try their egg salad, as I am a fan of egg salad in general, although I am kind of picky about it (tons of celery is a big turn off for me). This one looked unique though—yellower than most and I could see there was capers in it. It was actually really nice big pieces of the boiled egg with Dijon mustard and capers as well as some finely diced red onion. It was really quite good. I think next time I would get that in something. I liked the slight variation from the standard egg salad.

Blu Moon seems to be one of those places that is making a good effort to make interesting food with really good and fairly healthy ingredients. The people are really friendly, and the place is pretty welcoming. I think it is the kind of place that Carmel is probably somewhat lacking in. I would really be interested to hear what other people have eaten there and what others’ experiences have been. So let me know will ya?

Blu Moon

200 S. Rangeline Road

Carmel, IN 46032

317/844-8310

(they’re on facebook)

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Kincaid's- Revisit

2:57 AM | Labels: Carmel, Chain Restaurants, Kincaid's, lunch places, seafood restaurants

I heard there was a soft shell crab sandwich special at Kincaid’s for lunch, so naturally I had to try it. Not only was it soft shell crab, but it was combined with one of my all time favorite sandwich combos, the BLT plus avocado. It wasn’t a cheap lunch at $17.95, but sometimes you have to splurge (it also came with potato salad and fries).

I enjoyed the sandwich—the crab was cornmeal crusted which isn’t my favorite crust for soft shell crab, but it was done well and the crab was large and quite juicy. I loved the tartar sauce that they served on the sandwich and alongside—it was really tangy and had a lot of flavor from chopped up artichoke. It was a nice twist on a classic. Actually, all the ingredients were good—the bacon was plentiful and the avocado nice and ripe. Honestly though, and I always remember this after I start eating a soft shell crab sandwich, I think I just prefer soft shell crab more on its own, without extra bread or anything (well, maybe a sauce or something). Who needs bread when you have deep fried soft shell crab? But it was a high quality sandwich. The herb potato salad was interesting—they were going with some different flavors than traditional potato salads, but it was a little bland. The fries were dusted with Old Bay and they were pretty good. Not exactly sure why they included two forms of potato with the sandwich, but I preferred the fries.

The real star of lunch though was the other sandwich we ordered and split—the lobster hoagie ($18.25). The other good news about this sandwich is that it is a regular menu item and not on the specials list which means you can probably still order it, unlike the soft shell crab sandwich. This sandwich was delicious. It was basically their version of a fancy lobster roll. There were sliced tomatoes and shredded lettuce on the bun as well as a runny fried egg and some tempura avocado on the side (which we promptly added to the sandwich as well). I liked the variation on the typical lobster roll. Not sure that avocado really needs to be deep fried though, although it was interesting. We both totally agreed that this sandwich was excellent and both liked it the best. There were homemade chips served alongside which were not that great—they were a little too thickly cut or something and were a little more chewy than crunchy.

It was a lovely lunch, although pretty darn expensive for lunch, but you are certainly getting good quality ingredients for the money, even though it is pretty decadent. One thing I always wonder about Kincaid’s though is that they always have these somewhat inventive and delicious sounding lunch items, but their dinner menu is pretty straight steak house. They really ought to offer that lobster hoagie for dinner—it is really good and at that price point, it might make more sense.

Kincaid’s

14159 Clay Terrace Blvd

Carmel, IN 46032

317/575-9005

www.kincaids.com

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Divvy - Revisit

4:01 AM | Labels: Carmel, divvy, Independent Restaurants, tapas

We have wanted to try Divvy again since our first experience awhile back. We went with a large group the first time and I was a little overwhelmed with all the different things we tried. This time there was just 4 of us, and while we still got to try a lot of things, I didn’t feel quite as overwhelmed. Also, our server was exceptionally friendly and helpful this time. The menu had changed a fair amount since our first visit, but there were still several of the same items as well (I assume the more popular items).

We started with a couple of the spreads/cheese starters—we had the bruschetta ($6) and the bruleed brie ($8). The better of the two was definitely the bruleed brie. It was toasted pretzel bread slices with a little fig jam, nicely melted creamy brie, and tart green apple slices. Normally I don’t get that excited about brie, but this was a great combo with the apple and the sweet jam (but there wasn’t too much of it which was nice). The bruschetta was grilled slices of focaccia with tomato, onion, roasted garlic and balsamic. There was also quite a bit of feta sprinkled on top. The whole dish was just sort of flat to me—the balsamic wasn’t tangy enough or something—it was more on the sweet side I think. I don’t remember the roasted garlic at all.

The first repeat item we ordered from last time (at my request) was the tempura tofu ($9). I really enjoyed it again. The cubes of tofu were soft inside with a nice crunch outside. They was drizzled with a teriyaki sauce and served with pomegranate-blood orange noodles and sesame seeds. The noodles were cold and had a fair amount of the fruity flavor to them—it was nice alongside the richer tofu.

We also really enjoyed the popcorn scallops ($10). It was a healthy portion of little bite-sized pieces of scallops with a salty, crispy coating. They were a little addicting—and I appreciated that they were served with a tangy, citrusy tartar-type sauce. It was a good balance. We also added a random order of the frizzled onions ($4) mid-way through the meal—they were pretty tasty too. They were basically onion straws, but they were made in house and had a nice crust and a chipotle tomato sauce with them that definitely had a distinct chipotle flavor. They were good—not amazing but good.

The lamb medallions ($14) with a pomegranate balsamic glaze were probably my least favorite item—they were ok, but the lamb was a little more cooked than I would like—and I really think lamb gets tough when it is past medium rare. These were certainly closer to medium. There were 4-5 small medallions—one of the smaller plates of the evening as well. At this point we went ahead and ordered our second repeat item of the evening—the corn crème brulee ($6). We all enjoyed it the first time and were debating it, but when our server recommended it to go along with the lamb, we were sold. It was actually better this time around. The dish is basically a rich corn pudding with jalapenos, Romano cheese and a bruleed top. The top this time was nicely crisp which gave a really nice texture contrast with the creamy interior. It has a smoky flavor, almost making you think it had meat in it (it doesn’t).

The last couple of savory things we threw on at the end were the chorizo balls ($9) and the lobster salad ($14). These were a good couple of things to get together because one was (obviously) very meaty with spicier flavors, and the other was lighter and had a tangier, citrusy flavor. You start to notice a lot of repeated ingredients throughout the dishes though, when you order several. The chorizo balls included more of the chipotle tomato sauce and the lobster salad used more of the citrusy tartar sauce that was with the scallops. Luckily, I liked both of the sauces. The meatballs were better than I expected—they stayed fairly tender (maybe because of the fat content). They had a bit of heat to them (there was also some chopped jalapenos on top) but they had a generous drizzle of crème fraiche that cooled them down a bit. They weren’t my favorite thing of the evening, but like I said, I liked them more than I expected to. The lobster salad was pretty good as well, although again, not amazing. There was a lot of chopped lobster meat with the tartar sauce with a lot of fresh fruits and veg alongside—cucumber slices, orange wedges, sweet peppers and some radish sprouts on top. I enjoyed it, mainly as something different to go along with the spicy rich chorizo—I am not sure if I would order it again though.

For dessert we got one larger, shareable thing—the chocolate fondue ($12) and one of the “mini morsels”--the chocolate mousse ($4). I wanted to try the chocolate mousse because last time everyone told me it was really good but I didn’t get to try it before it was gone. It is a little dome of frozen mousse with a peanut butter glaze and some sea salt on top. I love the whole sweet/salty thing, so I enjoyed this. It is pretty small though—even though we all had a bit of it, it is really more of a single dessert. I appreciate all the little dessert options. It is a nice way to get something sweet without getting a ridiculously large dessert, which seem to dominate most restaurants in Indy. The fondue was pretty straight forward—a warm chocolate sauce with lots of things to dip into it—homemade marshmallows, and lots of fruit—strawberries, pineapple, banana and apple. It is an easy thing to share and tasted good. There was nothing that made it stand out from any other similar dessert I have had before though.

Overall, I generally enjoy the divvy experience. The menu is really quite large (and maybe slightly overwhelming) and as I mentioned, you start to see a lot of repeated ingredients throughout it. You kind of have to pay attention if you don’t want to repeat the same flavors. I enjoyed what we had, but none of it was blowing me away--but it is solid and creative food and there are certainly things to appease pretty much every kind of taste.

divvy

71 West City Center Drive

Carmel, IN 46032

317/706-0000

www.divvycarmel.com

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Sichuan

3:18 AM | Labels: Asian, Carmel, Chinese restaurants, Independent Restaurants

I seem to be on a roll right now of working through several places that have been on my list forever. Hubby and I intended to head to the west side to try one of the great ethnic options over there, but ran short of time and decided to head to Carmel and try Sichuan instead for lunch. They have a really interesting looking buffet, but hubby isn’t supposed to eat from them (long story) so we just ordered off the menu.

We made the mistake of ordering a couple of appetizers that were just too generic and not very good—the crab rangoon ($3.50) and the dumplings ($3.99). They were certainly generous portions for sure, but pretty sure you can get that same crab rangoon anywhere (and honestly, I am not a big fan of them anyhow). The dumplings were just pot stickers that weren’t pan fried. Typical minced pork filling. I thought the skin was a little overly doughy actually so we weren’t doing that well to start. And I kept eyeing the buffet wishing I had gotten it anyway. Lots of interesting looking things.

Then we got our entrée—chicken in garlic sauce ($7.99). Wow, was it good. There was a lot of white meat chicken that was not cooked to death with various veggies—mainly celery and carrots but with a few bamboo shoots and water chestnuts mixed in. The celery and carrots were a tad too al dente for my taste, but the chicken and the sauce alone were so good—a decent spicy kick with a lot of garlic flavor—I mean look at the close up shot and you can see all the minced garlic. We both really liked this. If it were close by my house, I would be getting this dish for carry out a lot. I really liked that it was spicy enough that you could feel it too; so many times I think Chinese places around here don’t really adequately spice their dishes, even when they are designated as spicy on the menu.

Sichuan

11588 Westfield Blvd

Carmel, IN 46032

317/844-7559

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Shapiro's

6:13 AM | Labels: Carmel, delis, Downtown Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Shapiro's

Ok, so I finally went to Shapiro’s. Well I had been as a child, and maybe even a teenager, but that was, *ahem*, awhile ago so really it was like a first visit. And I am just going to preface this whole post by saying, honestly, this isn’t my favorite kind of food—I know a lot of people live for the whole New York style deli sandwiches, but I am not one of them (sorry). But everyone said to get corned beef in some fashion, so I let hubby order that while I focused on some other things (based pretty exclusively on twitter recommendations).

So I had the meatloaf meal ($10.25) with macaroni and cheese and bread. Several people had recommended the meatloaf and I can understand why even though it isn’t something I eat a lot. The ground beef was about as juicy as meat in a loaf can be—very tender. Of course it was drenched in a tomato sauce which probably helped keep it that way, but even when you cut into it, the middle was very tender. I am not so sure about the tomato paste based sauce—I think I am a traditionalist with meatloaf and prefer a little sauce on the top of the loaf, and not so much that the slice of meatloaf floats in it. But that is just a matter of preference I guess. The mac and cheese was interesting—very creamy in a different kind of way. I am guessing maybe they use a lot of sour cream in the mix—it was not as cheesy as most mac and cheese I have had. My favorite part (as always) was the crunchy slightly burnt noodle parts on the top. I think if I went back, I would ask for extra burnt parts.

Ideally, hubby wanted to get half a Reuben and a cup of soup (they do have these types of combos) but apparently they don’t do it with the Reuben. So he ended up with just the Reuben ($12.05). We knew when we went that we were going to get a giant overstuffed sandwich at Shapiro’s and we did. I am not a big fan of sandwiches that don’t fit in my mouth, but as we discussed it, we realized one of the reasons that maybe they put so much meat on it is because the bread itself is not very big—so maybe in order to get the equivalent amount of meat that you would get in a larger sandwich bread-wise, they started adding more meat? Just a theory. But regardless, for both of us the proportions were off. With all that meat, it was hard to taste the sauerkraut and the thousand island dressing, which is what makes a Reuben unique right? All of the ingredients were good—the corned beef very good. But it is just not our style of sandwich. The rye bread, incidentally, which I also got with my meatloaf, was also very good—nice rye flavor and a crispy crust.

I did get a piece of the marble cake with chocolate icing ($3.95) which was actually probably my least favorite thing. The cake was a bit dry and the icing too sweet—I hardly tasted the chocolate flavor because of the pure powdered sugar flavor.

And yes, the portions are huge, and that is what people expect at Shapiro’s. I didn’t eat even half of what I ordered. (Hubby did eat his whole sandwich though, minus some of the meat). And yes, the prices are pretty high ($12 for a sandwich) for lunch. My overall thoughts? It’s obviously an Indy tradition, and people go there for sentimentality I think (and good corned beef). We wondered how well it would do if it opened now for the first time. The food is honest, basic food. Nothing was bad, and for me, nothing was great. Would it be a place I would go a lot? Nope. And most of the people in there were older than I am. I think people go for comfort and sentimentality as much as they go for the food. But who knows, maybe some people are really passionate about the food there. Tell me what you think.

Shapiro’s

918 South Rangeline (and there is one downtown and one at the airport)

Carmel, IN 46032

317/573-3354

www.shapiros.com

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Pizzology - Revisit

3:59 AM | Labels: Carmel, Independent Restaurants, Neal Brown, Northside Restaurant, Pizza, Pizzology

We hadn’t been to Pizzology and ages, and had never taken the kids there. We had recently had some mediocre pizza experiences and wanted to go back and see if Pizzology could remedy that situation. It was Friday, and we didn’t want to get stuck in a wait (like I said, we had the kids with us), so we went on the early side. By 6:00, there was a substantial wait, and when we left it was packed in there with people waiting to sit down.

I was tempted by the Northside Nights menu—it was a great deal, one of the few places that really seems like a bargain (I like that they include 2 glasses of Prosecco with the meal), but as soon as our server told us about the special gnocchi ($12), we knew were getting it. It was their version of a carbonara-- black pepper and parsley gnocchi that were seared and served with seared sliced green olives, and little crispy dices of pancetta. The whole thing was topped with parmesan and an egg yolk. As soon as we got it, we broke the egg into it making a creamy, eggy, sauce. I like carbonara in general, but I loved the slices of green olive in this to give it that extra slightly briny flavor that rounded out all the rich ingredients. I think I liked this more than hubby though, who thought they egg was just a little too much for him, and made the dish just a little too eggy. We also got an order of breadsticks ($5)—there were 4 of them, and they were clearly being made in house of the same dough the pizza crust is made with. They were slightly charred and had that lovely chewy, yeasty flavor I really like. The kids really liked them. I also liked that they gave you not only a tomato sauce, but a cream based (and slightly cheesy) Mornay type sauce as well. But honestly, with the sprinkling of Parmesan on top of them, they were good on their own as well.

Hubby and I split “The Saint” pizza ($13) which is a white pizza (no red sauce) with roasted wild mushrooms, onions, peppadew peppers, provolone cheese and sea salt. We enjoyed it and the crust was cooked perfectly. I think hubby missed his red sauce a little though. I liked the salty kick from, well, the salt, and the peppers and onions added a little spice to the rest. The provolone was a little heavy in spots, but I loved the mushrooms—there were plenty of them and they really had a nice deep roasted flavor. The crust is the thing here, and we appreciated it so much more after eating some not so flavorful crusts elsewhere lately

The kids just had a red pizza with mozzarella (we couldn’t get them to vary) ($11). Honestly, I think I would just get the 4 cheese for them next time and not tell them, because this one wasn’t quite cheesy enough for them or me. But again, the crust was cooked perfectly, and other than wishing it had a little more cheese, it was pretty much perfectly executed. Exciting? No. But that is my kids and food for you.

We also got the special dessert form the Northside Nights menu—the zeppole ($5). I found these kind of addicting once I started eating them. They were basically another version of the dough, in smaller pieces than the breadsticks that are baked and then covered in cinnamon and sugar and a bit of honey. Again, I really like the flavor of the dough anyway, and then you go and make it sweet and you can’t really go wrong. It is certainly a large enough portion to share among several people as well. Sadly, they couldn’t guarantee they were nut free (not sure why) so my son couldn’t eat them. Apparently they were a hit in the restaurant though, and have since been added to the regular menu.

Anyway, it was nice to go back to a pizza place and have a good solid meal—like I said I have had some not so impressive pizza lately, and this redeemed my faith.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

www.pizzologyindy.com

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divvy

3:42 AM | Labels: Adult-only restaurants, Carmel, divvy, Independent Restaurants, Northside Restaurant, tapas

Divvy has been on my radar since it opened—the small plates concept is one of my favorite ways to eat. Anytime I can try several items at a meal, I am happy. And I took the opportunity to expand my options even further and invited several friends to join us. We ended up with 8 of us at the meal, which was fun because--well, first these particular friends always make me laugh—but also because we got to try SO many things. The down side was I tried so many different things actually that I actually ended up overwhelming myself a little with all the constant changes in flavors as we passed around plate after plate. So I am going to do my best to hit on most of the items.

The first dish that sticks out in my mind as a favorite was the tempura tofu ($9). It was cubes of tofu that were tempura battered and fried. I really liked the texture contrast between the perfectly crisp outside and the warm, custardy inside. The pieces of tofu were served with a teriyaki sauce and super thin blood orange glass noodles and sesame seeds. The noodles (which are also served alongside the seared tuna) were good as well and added a very delicate amount of citrus. Actually, the seared tuna ($12) was pretty much identical in its set up, and the tuna was cooked nicely—basically raw with just a seared edge).

Another favorite of mine, as well as the table, was the corn crème brulee ($5). I was like an extremely rich corn pudding with some kick from jalapeno. There were some whole kernels of corn inside and the top was bruleed crunchy and topped with red sea salt. Honestly, if I hadn’t known better (it is on the vegetarian part of the menu), I would have thought there was bacon in the dish—it had such a deep smoky flavor. It was tasty scooped up on some of the bread that came along with other things. I was sort of surprised they didn’t serve it with some sort of bread though—if I hadn’t had so much from other things we had ordered, I don’t know that I would have just wanted to scoop it in with a spoon, but maybe that’s just me.

a chicken nacho

Surprisingly (to me anyway), I also really enjoyed the chicken nachos ($7), which I never would have ordered except for our large group (someone else ordered them). They were made on a base of a crispy, buttery flour tortilla and topped with chicken, crème fraiche, Monterrey Jack cheese and a chipotle pineapple salsa verde. There was a little smoky flavor from the salsa verde and I really liked the tartness of the crème fraiche. An inventive take on a bar classic. The fried biscuits ($6) were a nice thing to share as well—and who isn’t going to like what is basically a little doughnut hole of biscuit batter—they weren’t quite as dense as most fried biscuits I have had, but tasty dipped into either the apple butter (a classic combo) or the mango marmalade. Interestingly, pretty sure it was these same biscuits that showed up later sprinkled with powdered sugar, with chocolate, blackberry and butterscotch sauces and re-named “beignets” (and re-priced at $11). Still tasty though.

olive tapenade

We also got several dips because they are so easy to share and most all of them were enjoyable, although none of them completely wowed. My favorite was probably the olive tapenade ($5) which was a flavorful olive dip sitting in a roasted red pepper puree and served with toasted slices of pretzel bread. I love olives, so it is kind of a given I am probably going to like this. But several others mentioned liking it as well. Our least favorite was the baba ganoush ($6). It was made with the typical eggplant and well as white beans and topped with a balsamic glaze. One of my friends nicknamed it “cumin ganoush” though because it was so heavy on the seasoning. Way too much for us. The crab dip and beer cheese dip were somewhere in the middle of the two—both very good, but not amazing.

carpaccio

The beef carpaccio ($14) wasn’t bad—really heavy on the horseradish mustard on top. It seemed as if there was almost as much mustard as there was meat. And I didn’t like how some of the edges of the meat had lost their bright red color and gone to the gray place. But if you portioned out the toppings a bit, it didn’t taste bad.

The frog legs ($12) were only ok—they were sort of done in a variation of a chicken wing. Deep fried with a Thai chili sauce drizzled on top and a side of crème fraiche for dipping. Unfortunately, the fried coating wasn’t very crispy and I thought just the plain crème fraiche was a little uninspired. Hubby also told me later that his leg was totally undercooked and it kind of freaked him out (mine didn’t suffer that fate). This is one that would not be a repeat for us.

The seared seasoned scallops ($14) with brandy, melted leeks, and lime wedges were also just ok. The scallops themselves were bland and not seared at all (nothing crispy going on the edges as far as I could tell). The flavor of the sauce wasn’t bad, particularly when you squeezed those limes on it to brighten it a bit. But when the meat of the dish is so blah, I wouldn’t recommend it. We also had the ostrich tartar with crispy capers ($10). The ostrich was a little too chunky for my taste, and the flavor was kind of bland. It needed some seasoning in there (maybe some of that mustard from the carpaccio or something).

We shared several desserts and they were all good. I mentioned the beignets, which were good, but I wouldn’t get them AND the fried biscuits since they are basically the same. They also do a bunch of mini desserts which are all $3-4. Apparently, the highlight was the chocolate mousse with peanut butter and caramel sauce and red sea salt on top. I wouldn’t know, because it was gone by the time it got to me (they are pretty small). The key lime pie was also good. I’m a sucker for s’mores desserts, although there was too much of the graham cracker crumbs on this which made it too dry overall.

The biggest problematic issue we had overall was the service was pretty off (one friend was so pissed off, I doubt he will return). The service was generally slow and they were sort of weird about letting us order what we wanted when we wanted (they only let half of us pick something in our initial order and by the time our order was taken, we were getting pretty hungry). I am not sure if they were worried about overwhelming the kitchen or something, but I would think at a tapas place (that was quite crowded on a Sunday night by the way) that they could handle an influx of a lot of orders at once. Luckily we were drinking a fair amount of wine and having a good time so we looked past it, but there were definitely some kinks here. The interior is stylish and modern—much of it covered in different colors of wood. It gets pretty loud when it is crowded (which it was) but you certainly feel like you are in a lively restaurant. (Also, it is 21 and over, so don’t bring the kids).

"beignets"

Overall, I look forward to trying Divvy again—and this time with a smaller group (maybe just hubby). It was kind of crazy with all the things being passed around especially when you’re trying to focus on the foods based on only a couple of bites. I am also interested to see if the service is better with a smaller group. Food-wise, I would say there were more hits than misses, and the menu is huge, so there are still plenty more things to try (and I would keep a couple of the things I really liked this time).

divvy

71 West City Center Drive

Carmel, IN 46032

317/706-0000

www.divvycarmel.com

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Eggshell Bistro

2:39 AM | Labels: Breakfast Places, Carmel, Eggshell Bistro, Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Northside Restaurant

If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a thing for eggs. Put a runny egg on top of just about anything, and it gets better. So of course I was instantly intrigued when I heard about Eggshell Bistro, where just about every item on the menu features eggs. When I couldn’t get one of my male friends to meet me there because it was, ahem, “too girly,” I convinced my parents to join me.

The interior is quite cute, and I have to say, possibly a little girly (think “shabby chic”). Lots of antiques and cute little wrought iron tables (my one gripe being that in our particular case, the chairs seemed too short for the table and you felt like you needed a cushion to sit on). The tables for two can also be quite small, but as it turns out, the dishes are on the petite side as well, so it probably all works out.

I ordered the truffled egg brioche which was a fairly thick slice of brioche bread (a slightly more eggy, buttery bread) with a slice of Fontina cheese melted across the top, a very soft poached egg, sprinkles of asparagus and a bit of truffle salt I believe (could have been truffle oil). It was a nice light lunch, not for someone looking for a large meal, but the type of midday meal that I quite enjoy. The egg was certainly not overcooked, which I appreciated, although it actually may have been just a little undercooked even for me—the white was still just a wee bit too runny (not that I didn’t eat every bite, being a woman who will eat a raw egg without blinking an eye). But still, when you want a poached egg, you have a certain expectation. The flavor of the dish was very good though, all the flavors complimenting each other. The asparagus gave it a little crunch and earthy flavor.

I also had a side of Smoking Goose applewood smoked bacon with my dish though, and I have to say, it really made my meal. Alone the egg dish was nice, but with the bacon, I was very happy. That bacon is superb, and they cooked it perfectly. My Mom said something like, “how do they make this bacon taste like bacon used to taste?” It was so good. You must get some of this (or one of the other Smoking Goose meats—I have heard the lamb bacon is amazing too, although I have yet to have it) alongside whatever you order. Just make sure you get enough, my parents kept trying to eat mine.

The menu is somewhat small—a few egg dishes, salads and sandwiches, but I have no problem with that. They are focusing on what they want to do and doing it pretty well. I also like that they are utilizing very fresh, and often local, ingredients. My only other complaint is that it took quite awhile to get our food after we had ordered. I would be a little worried if the place was really full that there might be quite a long delay.

So is it a manly place? Um, probably not. Were there men in there? Yep, at just about every table. If you want a giant, greasy, hangover-curing breakfast, this isn’t your place. If you want a lighter, thoughtful breakfast or lunch with some wonderful ingredients, give it a try. And tell me what you think.

Eggshell Bistro

51 West Carmel City Drive

Carmel, IN 46032

317/660-1616

www.eggshellbistro.com

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Jersey’s Café

2:33 AM | Labels: Carmel, Diners Drive Ins and Dives, Jersey's Cafe, kid friendly, lunch places, Northside Restaurant

This place is interesting. It was featured awhile back on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and apparently was very overwhelmed for awhile. When I was doing a little research beforehand about the place, nearly all the comments were about how slow it was. I am not sure if the business has died down a bit since the show first aired, or if they have just gotten a handle on it. It certainly isn’t fast, that’s for sure, but I thought the wait was reasonable (about 25 minutes to get our food). Maybe that was just because I was expecting so much longer. Our server was also really nice I thought which also probably helped.

So I guess one of the things they are known for are the Philly Cheese steak style sandwiches, and they have a ton of different variations of them on the menu, but I was intrigued by other things and went a different route. The sandwich I had was called the “Ham and Egg” ($8.99 with a side). So it was enormous for sure, that was the first thing I noticed about it. The bread was that really thick cut soft Vienna loaf bread. The toppings were smoked ham (really thinly sliced), bacon, egg salad, grilled onions (they call them “onion rings”), American cheese and a pepper parmesan sauce. I really liked this sandwich a lot. Of course ham, bacon and eggs go perfectly together, but the ham was nice and smoky, which added nice flavor. And the onions added some texture variation and a little more bite to the rich ingredients. The bacon was crispy and tasty too. The egg salad was how I liked it, not too fancy, just simple eggs, mayo and salt and pepper. It was really big like everything is at this place—I only ate about half. For my side I got the mustard potato salad (they also have red skinned potato salad) because I tend to like the kick the mustard adds, but honestly, after having a bite of my friend’s red skinned salad, his was better. It was creamy and just had more flavor to it. The mustard salad could have stood to be a little creamier.

My friend had the Parsippany sandwich which is a cold hoagie type sandwich—the toppings were ham, pepperoni, capicola (a pork cold cut that taste similar to prosciutto), olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, provolone cheese and a bunch of lettuce. My bite of this was pretty tasty too—I really liked the olive tapenade with all that meat. I didn’t really care for all the lettuce and other things piled on top—it looked like it made it hard to eat.

All in all, my experience at Jersey’s was a good one—it does get quite crowded at lunch—we went a little early to try and avoid the crowd and did a good job. And since it does take a little while to get your food, if you get there on the early side, you are still eating close to lunch time right? But by the time we left, it was pretty well packed. The menu is huge and I look forward to trying a bunch of other things on the menu there, including one of the Philly-style sandwiches (I was sort of attracted to the “Bronx Bomber.”) Anyone been and found something they really liked? You know I want to hear all about it!

Jersey’s Café

13710 North Meridian Street

Carmel, IN 46032

317/846-7760

www.jerseyscafe.com

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