Super Bowl Update: Meridian

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Meridian - Revisit

3:07 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Layton Roberts, lunch places, Meridian, Northside Restaurant

Hubby and I realized we hadn’t yet been to Meridian since the chef change, and after a friend texted me about the steak tartare she was eating there, I knew it was time. I am a sucker for steak tartare (or tuna tartare, or whatever tartare).

Hubby and I took advantage of the lovely weather we were having (hello, autumn, I have missed you) and sat out on their patio. Alone for quite awhile (the place was just not very busy), but it was still lovely. We were mostly excited by the appetizers, which if you read a lot you know is often the case, and decided to split several. We started with the prime beef tartare (I think it was around $12) which was very good. The beef was, well, raw and nice and tender and flavorful, and when you added the egg yolk on top, it turned into a wonderful creamy mix. You need something to cut the richness, and there was some capers and onion mixed with the meat. It was served on top of a horseradish cream, which was the right amount of heat to help as well, although I wished there had been just a little more of it. The ripe bits of tomatoes were a nice acidic complement as well, and we LOVED the crispy fried garbanzo beans. We only regretted sort of stirring them in a little too soon, because they lost their crispness and they had been so great when you bit into a crispy one. Next time (and I will get it again if it is on the menu) I would scoot them aside and parcel them out with each bite. The flatbread served with it had a nice flavor too and the crispy edges were my favorite part. I would love them to be a little crispier as I am partial to things like potato chips with my tartare, but that’s just my own preference. You really didn’t care that much about the vehicle since the rest of it was so good.

We then got two more appetizers to share—the shrimp and grits ($13.25) and the hot/cold smoked salmon ($11.50). The shrimp also featured an egg, a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg that was quite honestly the highlight of the dish. Not to say the rest wasn’t good, because it was—the whole dish was great. There were two large shrimp on top of nice creamy grits with thin asparagus spears, melted leeks (one of my other favorite ingredients), that egg and little prosciutto. It was like a perfect breakfast—a little ham, a little egg, and some grits. Oh and shrimp. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to not get this again as well.

Hubby says the salmon was one of the menu items that has been on the Meridian menu for awhile, but honestly I can’t tell you if he is right or not. I can tell you that we enjoyed it although probably not quite as much as the other two dishes. It is ball of herby creamy cheese with the hot smoked salmon mixed in—it has that smokier flavor. Layered around the ball was the cold smoked salmon making a lovely presentation. The salmon was on top of red onion marmalade and drizzled with herb oil. I liked the marmalade for a little bit of sweet and tartness with the smoky salmon. It was served with nicely oiled and toasted sliced of bread, which was nice and thin to maintain all the flavor of the salmon. It is a very generous portion and probably a better portion to share with more than 2 people—it was the only thing we didn’t finish (and lick the plate). We also had a side of the fries ($5.50), which are really quite good. Our server told me one of their secrets is using a little sugar with the salt. They didn't taste sweet to me at all, but they were really good--fresh and crisp and plenty salty. They didn't really need the ketchup that came with them and they were good for dipping up leftover sauce from the other plates.

We had the classic Meridian dessert-- one which I know has been on the menu for awhile because I have had it before—the fresh made doughnuts. As always, you can’t really go wrong with freshly made hot doughnuts. They are shaken in cinnamon sugar and served with malted coffee to dip in. It’s a good one to share and hit the spot for a sweet ending, even if they aren’t mind blowing or anything.

We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and felt like with three appetizers between us, we had more than enough food. I am imagining the entrées are huge. I was a little concerned with their business though—the restaurant was pretty empty (including the patio) and a friend who went recently on a Saturday said the same thing. Our server, while exceptionally knowledgeable about the food and the chef, was almost over the top in the amount of information he gave (it was a situation in which I am pretty sure he assumed we knew nothing about food which I find annoying). But the food alone will make us return for sure.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com

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Meridian - Revisit

3:20 AM | Labels: Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Meridian, outdoor seating

So Meridian is one of those places that frustrates me. I love the space, the service is very professional and the menu can be somewhat interesting. I have yet to have an amazing meal here though. Honestly, it had been quite awhile since I had been (about 2 years), because the last couple times were quite spotty. But I figured it had been long enough, that there would probably be some new things on the menu, and I would give it a fresh review.

There were a few new things on the menu, but not a lot really. The appetizers looked remarkably the same. So, because in the past we have had the fried oysters and enjoyed them, we split them to start ($11.25). They were as good as I have had them at Meridian, happily fried perfectly (chicken fried). They are their version of oysters Rockefeller and the oysters sit on top of some creamed spinach and have a little sliver of bacon on top and a drizzle of Hollandaise around the plate. The oysters were the right size (not too big, which is a complaint I made last time that got me hassled by some). They were on it this night. If I had to say something I would change, it would only be to maybe add a bit more acid somewhere. There was a little lemon in the Hollandaise, but not a lot, and there wasn’t a lot of the Hollandaise period.

I was excited to see skate ($25.75) on the menu, because I love it, and because it was something new to Meridian’s menu, at least since I have been there. It was served lightly dusted with flour and pan seared, over a ragout of roasted veggies. The veggies were great. They had a great roasted flavor— slightly dry on the outside, but still quite tender to eat. I really liked these. The skate itself was fine, but I would have preferred it to be a little more browned on the outside. Seemed like the pan wasn’t hot enough. The fish (or technically, ray) was cooked through, but I missed a bit more sear. It was served on top of a Riesling mustard sauce, which sounded like a great combination to me, and wasn’t bad, but didn’t really jump out at me one way or the other. If the skate had been cooked perfectly, this dish would have been above average, but again because of the execution, I would just call it average.

Hubby had the pork osso bucco ($27.25)and was quite excited about as something different to try. It was served with spaetzle and red cabbage. This dish was pretty disappointing. It was pretty tough and didn’t have a lot of flavor. The sides did nothing to really bring it around—I thought the cabbage was okay, but it was a little sweet and was a turn off for hubby. He didn’t care for it (as I write this, I think this is a recurring problem with him and red cabbage). The spaetzle was also just okay. Nothing wrong with it per se, but nothing exciting either.

We did at the last minute, thankfully add a side of fries ($5.50) to our order after seeing them going to another table. The fries were quite good and the portion quite large. They were freshly cut and fried and the ones that were a little thinner and crispier were really tasty. These were hubby’s favorite part of the meal.

Since we shared an appetizer, we also ordered a dessert—we tried the “donuts and coffee” ($7.75). These were pretty tasty. Freshly fried mini doughnuts that came out in a paper bag that was shook by our server (assuming there was more of the cinnamon sugar that was on the plate in there). They were hot, and nice and chewy inside and were tasty dipped in the little cup of coffee served on the side. They weren’t too sweet, and the portion not ridiculous. A nice thing to split to end a meal.

So the thing about Meridian is, I really want to like it, but it just doesn’t wow me. Everything we had was not bad, a few things pretty good, but nothing we had was amazing. With a few little nuanced additions to each dish, I think they could really rise above, but so far, I haven’t seen it.

Meridian

5694 N. Meridian

Indy 46208

317-466-1111

www.meridianonmeridian.com

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Meridian-Revisit

6:09 PM | Labels: Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Meridian, outdoor seating

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency. It is so important in a fine dining restaurant (I think anyway) and Meridian has some problems here. Not just from visit to visit, but even within the same meal.

This was my third trip to Meridian—the first being not so good, the second being very good and this last one, probably closely tied with the first. I am going to jump around a bit with my description of what we had, because I have to touch on the fried oysters first as my example of the consistency problem. The last time I went, hubby ordered the fried oysters and they were so good, they stuck out in my memory. We dined this night with another couple who had their own similarly good fond memories. No one wanted to share, so we ended up with 3 different orders, hubby and one of our friends ordered them for appetizers and I ordered mine as a main dish. First of all, I noticed right away how much larger the oysters are than what I remember and for me this is not necessarily a benefit. I like the small most tender ones best, not the ones as big as your head. Plus, I think the size of them just seemed to throw the proportions off because the tiny piece of bacon on top was totally lost in the hugeness of the oyster as was the creamy spinach mixture underneath. All you could really taste was the fried oyster and none of the other things that had made this dish so yummy. If you are going to use such large oysters, you need to up the amount of the other ingredients. The next problem with the oysters that arrived as appetizers was they were not crispy enough. I don’t know if the oil wasn’t hot enough or they weren’t cooked quite long enough, but they suffered. When mine came out later, luckily, I think the oil was properly heated as mine were much crispier, but again, consistency was a big issue. And again, I still think they were too big.

Before the oysters, we had ordered a plate of fried calamari that was a special on this night served with 3 sauces, Meridian’s version of a cocktail, a truffle aioli, and a remoulade. The calamari suffered from the same problem as the first round of oysters in that it wasn’t crispy enough. The calamari itself was good quality and I liked the cocktail and the truffle aioli, but a little crisper crust would have made this dish shine.

For my appetizer (I said I was skipping around a bit) I had a grilled asparagus dish served with truffle vinaigrette, blue cheese, bacon, and some little polenta cakes. It was okay, but the asparagus was the size of a small tree, and similarly woody. I tend to prefer thin tender asparagus, but maybe that is just me again. It was nicely grilled, and I liked the little polenta rectangles, but I couldn’t really taste the truffle in the dressing.

Hubby had duck and said it was actually undercooked which is unusual (seems like most kitchens tend to overcook duck vs. undercooking it.) He ordered it medium rare (what the kitchen recommended) but it was very rare. Other than that he said it was ok. Our friends split the Cajun jambalaya pasta and were not overly impressed either.

It was nice to have one of the former waiters from L’explorateur wait on us, and service was attentive but not annoying. In other words, service was very professional, the way it should be (why is this such a problem in Indy?) The interior of this restaurant is very nice, but I think it will be awhile before I will go back based on the lackluster food experience.

Meridian
5694 N. Meridian
Indy 46208
317-466-1111
www.meridianonmeridian.com

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Meridian

11:15 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Meridian

This week I decided to go back to Meridian after I had been shortly after its opening and being fairly unimpressed. In case you don't know, Meridian is located at Westfield and Meridian, where the old Dodd's Townhouse used to be. Anyway, I knew the menu had changed and thought this would be a good time to re-try it and review it. The decor, as has been mentioned before, is really nice and warm. Reminds you of being in a really nice ski lodge with lots of faux candles. They also have outside dining.

I want to start out by saying, it has greatly improved. I was honest with our waiter about my first visit (he asked) and he told me that they were feeling as though the kinks were getting worked out and many had commented on the improved dining experience. The starters were really good. I had the mussels in sweet chili oil and hubby ordered the chef's version of oysters Rockefeller. The mussels were fresh and well prepared. Seemed a bit too sweet at first, but as the heat caught up, they seemed a bit more balanced. The oysters were outstanding. They were actually deep fried laid across a bed of cheesy spinach with a piece of bacon on top and some Hollandaise on the side. They were really good. I don't usually order oysters and I think I would order these if I go back.

Because I decided to order a starter for my main (I tried to get them to serve me a half order of their lobster carbonara but they said no.), I decided to get a salad as well. It was a properly sized (read, not enormous) spinach salad with the usual suspects, egg, mushrooms and onions and a nice warm bacon dressing. The only fault on this was it was maybe just a little too much dressing.

For my main, I ordered the appetizer of potato gnocchi with mushrooms, greens and bacon (seemed to be bacon everywhere) with balsamic. It was good. Maybe even just ok. But not bad. Hubby ordered duck. He liked it, but didn't love it as much as those oysters. We didn't try dessert for 2 reasons. Trying to watch the figure after a somewhat decadent vacation and also because the courses seemed to go a bit downhill each time, so we figured why risk it?

I will say this, I have been having a lot of bad luck with wine service lately (I have been to two restaurants that have served us very warm white wine), and I was really happy to be served a nice cold bottle of exactly what I ordered.

The server was very friendly and helpful, if not a little over-eager. He was knowledgeable and quite proud to be working there, which was nice to see. He sort of assumed we didn't know anything about food, which was maybe a little annoying, but maybe most of his customers are in that category, I don't know.

I hope the food continues to improve as much as it did between my first two visits. If so, Meridian could turn into an outstanding overall restaurant.

Meridian
5694 North Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317-466-1111
http://meridianonmeridian.com/menu.htm

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Meridian - Revisit

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