Super Bowl Update: kid friendly

Showing posts with label kid friendly. Show all posts

Union Jack - Revisit

3:49 AM | Labels: Broad Ripple Restaurants, kid friendly, Pizza, Union Jack Pub

So one of those really snowy nights not long ago, we got really stir crazy and had to get out of the house, even though the roads were really bad. Not a lot of places were open, but we found out that Union Jack was, so we got in the 4 wheel drive and headed out with the kids. The roads were fairly empty, but apparently, a lot of people had the same idea because the restaurant was doing a booming business. Unfortunately, they were short several staff members, so things were a little crazed, although our server did an awesome job—she was really up front about certain things taking a very long time (pizza) and I am pretty sure she was waiting on the entire family side by herself. Honestly, considering everything, she did a great job.

Hubby has a thing for the cheesy fries ($7.95) at Union Jack. We had them once before and he really wanted to get them again. Pretty straight forward—a mound of fries, bacon bits, a ton of melted (real) cheese, and ranch dressing for dipping. The kids loved these too. What’s not to like about fries, cheese, bacon and ranch? The fries were crispy and the cheese was cheesy (and gooey like only actual cheese can be). This apparently reminds hubby of a favorite bar in New Orleans that he used to hang out at in college. They sort of remind me of potato skins. Same kind of flavor.

In spite of the warnings, the kids ordered kid’s pizzas ($5.65 ea)—one with just cheese and one with sausage. We did order them immediately, before we even placed our drink orders after our server warned us. The pizzas were great. I am assuming this is their “regular” crust pizza and it was crisp on the edges but with a really nice light, airiness to it. This was some of the better pizza I have had in awhile. The kids both decided they liked the sausage the best (they call them sausage meatballs because they are such big pieces of sausage). We had the thin crust awhile back and it was just ok, but this was great. And it has been years and years since we had the deep dish pizzas—I really want to try one of those (we were scared off by the warning on this night since they take 40 minutes normally according to the menu). Hmmm..only question would be Chicago style or deep dish (in other words, one crust or two)? I think very soon, we will be back in for some more pizza.

Hubby and I split fish and chips ($12.95) for our actual dinner (although we sort of stole a fair amount of our kids’ pizzas). They weren’t bad, and the fish was juicy and tender, but they were breaded, not battered which isn’t my favorite thing. They are made in house though, and the breading has a nice amount of seasoning and flavor. They also do a breaded tenderloin in what I am assuming is the same breading, and I bet it would be really good if the pork is done well. We had a house salad on the side as well. Pretty standard—they do make their dressings as well and I liked the blue cheese. The rest of it was standard—mostly romaine lettuce and croutons as well as some cherry tomatoes.

We had a fun night with the kids and they really liked the pizza. And so did we. So we are going back soon for the full enchilada, so to speak.

Union Jack Pub

924 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/257-4343

www.unionjackpub-broadripple.com

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Elevation Burger

3:24 AM | Labels: Burgers, Chain Restaurants, kid friendly, Northside Restaurant

We had to hit the mall to return a couple of things over the holidays, so I figured, hey, a new burger place! And everyone in my family likes burgers (a rare thing that we can all agree on something) and I knew would be good second, third and fourth opinions for this post. So Elevation Burger is part of the new food court that has opened up in the Fashion Mall. Right now the only other things are Pinkberry yogurt and Freshii, so everything in there is a chain—but soon a branch of Naked Tchopstix is opening as well as Napolese (or so I have heard).

Elevation Burger’s motto is “The Best-Tasting, Better-For-You Burger.” They use 100% organic, grass-fed, free-range beef. They freshly grind the beef; hands cut their fries and fry them in olive oil. They also partake in environmentally friendly practices, recycle, and tell you exactly how many calories are in what you are eating (presumably to help you maintain a healthier lifestyle). All of those things made me go into it with a pretty positive attitude. I mean who wouldn’t want their beef to be organic and freshly ground, etc. etc?

Here’s the problem for me—the burger was only okay. I got a kid’s burger (the only way you can get a single patty burger) ($3.79) with cheese, grilled onions and pickles. The meat honestly wasn’t that exceptional tasting and was cooked more than I would normally want (although I guess you can’t really expect it to be cooked to order at what is basically a fast food place). I liked the grilled onions that were chopped into small pieces because they were easy to eat on the sandwich. The bun was the biggest failing for me—it was really soft and kind of too small for the burger (even the kid’s burger). It could barely hold up. Hubby had the regular Elevation burger (which is two patties) ($5.29) and I can’t imagine having even more meat with that bun. He said if he came again he would get the kid’s burger too—that there was no need for extra meat.

The surprise hit were the fries ($2.69). They are hand cut thin fries and they are fried in olive oil. I was kind of skeptical about this wondering if they would be crispy, but they were really quite tasty and had a nice crunchiness to them.

All in all, if you think of it as a mall food court, it is a good burger—for a food court. If you compare it to a lot of our local burger places, it is just an ok burger. The kids said they liked it but when I asked them to compare it to their favorite spots, they both agreed there were others they liked a lot more.

Elevation Burger

The Fashion Mall

8702 Keystone Crossing VC01

Indy, 46240

www.elevationburger.com

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Harry & Izzy's - Brunch

3:41 AM | Labels: brunch places, Harry and Izzy's, kid friendly, Steakhouses

What is the deal with brunch in this town? If you want to plan on going somewhere, and getting actual brunch type food AND make a reservation (and having booze doesn’t hurt), Indy is a tough place. We had relatives stopping for a visit as they passed through town, and it was a fairly large group, so we wanted to make sure we had a reservation somewhere. A lot of places simply don’t take reservations and on weekends, wait times can be endless at the usual suspects. I don’t usually go near a “chou” restaurant on the weekends, even though they are regular haunts for me during the week.

After doing some research, I was excited to see that Harry & Izzy’s has brunch on Sundays! There’s a real brunch menu and everything! They also take reservations, and serve alcohol, and as a bonus, the north side location is like 3 minutes from my house. I was surprised I haven’t heard about this option before—I wonder if they have always had brunch.

The brunch menu isn’t huge, and you can order off of their regular lunch menu as well (they actually didn’t bring the brunch menu until I asked for it). Hubby and I agreed to get a couple of different items and share them. I had the steak and egg wrap ($10) and hubby had the steak and egg sliders ($15). The wrap was good—there were a couple of chunks of beef tenderloin (I would say all in all it was close to the same amount of meat that is in the sliders, but for a significantly lower price), lots of scrambled eggs, queso blanco, and homemade cilantro salsa. There was also some pico de gallo on the side. All in all, I liked it. The meat was pretty tender, the eggs weren’t dry and the salsa that was inside gave it a nice fresh, slightly vinegary flavor. I added some pico to most of the bites as well, and the tomatoes took the acid level even a little further. If I could make it better, I would cook the meat perfectly medium rare and then chop it into slightly smaller pieces—often you took a bite only to pull out a very large piece of the beef. They gave you a choice of a fruit cup or potatoes—I had the fruit and it was good fresh fruit. I liked that it wasn’t all melon (fruit cup pet peeve).

Hubby’s sliders were basically the same thing you get on the regular menu which we have enjoyed several times, except these also had some scrambled eggs and creamed spinach on top. Sort of like a mini steak dinner with eggs on top. They were good too and the meat here was cooked to order so they were nice and medium rare. This was not the case with my son’s beef medallions plate (from the kid’s menu)($10) which he ordered medium rare and they sent out well done. The boy knows what he wants though and promptly sent it back. I am not sure why they couldn’t cook his properly because they were basically the same pieces of meat that were on the sliders.

My father-in –law had the breakfast sandwich ($9) which looked really good as well—it had scrambled eggs, this time with bacon (or you can have sausage), cheese, and served on asiago cheese bread. I didn’t get to try it but he seemed to really enjoy it. I had a bite of hubby’s potatoes and they had a decent flavor. I don’t get that excited by roasted potatoes at restaurants, but these were seasoned well.

All in all, Harry & Izzy’s is a good option for a Sunday brunch meeting all the criteria I mentioned above. The food is pretty solid (if not overly exciting) and they can make you a good mimosa or bloody mary. And you can make a reservation. I will certainly store it in mind for future such needs. Now, you guys tell me, what are your favorite brunch spots around town? And which ones take reservations?

Harry & Izzy’s

4050 East 82^ndStreet

Indy 46250

317/915-8045

www.harryandizzys.com

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A couple of rolls - Wild Ginger and Wasabi on 82nd

12:28 PM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Japanese restaurant, kid friendly, sushi, Wasabi on 82nd, Wild Ginger

So I have randomly eaten a couple of rolls at a couple of different places—both when hubby was out of town, and both with my kids, who seem to always be game for Japanese food. And I always appreciate that there is no fear my son having an allergic reaction, since Japanese food rarely uses any kind of nuts. Interestingly, Wasabi (the second one I discuss here) was originally owned by the people who own Wild Ginger now. So I guess it isn’t surprising that there are several similar items on the menus.

Anyhow, the first dinner was Wild Ginger on 116^thStreet in Fishers—the kids were totally into it, I have to say. They loved the origami crane light fixture (a cool idea) and our table in the window (the place is certainly kid friendly). They split an order of chicken teriyaki and I ordered a roll and a couple of orders of nigiri to split with my son.

Wild Ginger

The roll I had there was the “mistake roll” ($7) which was spicy tuna inside and then the entire thing is lightly tempura fried. There was also spicy mayo drizzled on top. Honestly, I didn’t really care for it that much mainly because all I could really taste was the rice and the sauce. The amount of the spicy tuna inside was very minimal, and the amount of rice certainly dominated. I appreciated the crunch on the outside, but overall, there wasn’t enough of a fish (or really anything else) flavor to make it interesting for me. The couple of pieces of nigiri ($4.75 per order) were kind of mixed too—I liked the albacore with the ponzu citrus sauce that is served under it (although I had to ask for it even though it is listed on the menu), but the fish on both orders of nigiri was not as tender as I would have liked—it seemed like it might have been sliced awhile ago or something.

Indy Roll- Wasabi

The other roll I had more recently with the kids once again, was at Wasabi on 82^nd. The kids also enjoy this place because they like sitting at the sushi bar and watching them make everything. I ordered the “Indy roll” ($15)—this one was stuffed with shrimp tempura and then topped with thin sliced tuna, salmon and avocado. The whole thing was drizzled with eel sauce and mayo and topped with a bit of fish roe. Not including the sauce, this is my kind of roll—a little bit of nearly all my favorite things in a roll—crunch from the tempura, tuna, and avocado—and the fish was nice and very thinly cut. And it was a roll I could fit into my mouth without any crazy contortions. I thought the sauce was a little over the top though. I really could have lived without the just plain mayo (I scraped most of it off). I like a little bit of some sauce just to add some moisture, but I think I would ask them to hold the mayo. The eel sauce (a sweetened soy based sauce) was good, but there was maybe just a bit too much as well (although a lot of it was on the plate, so it was easier to avoid if you didn’t want too much). The tuna nigiri ($4.95) here was very good—it seemed really fresh and tender and was a very generous portion.

Nigiri-Wasabi

Of the two, I certainly preferred the Wasabi roll, although they are so different, it is really unfair to even compare them. I would be willing to try either place again, although Wasabi is much more convenient for me. I do think it tends to be a little on the expensive side. So what are your favorite rolls at these places?

Wild Ginger

8235 East 116^th Street

Fishers, IN 46038

317/842-9888

www.wildginger116.com

Wasabi on 82^nd

5025 East 82^ndStreet

Indy 46250

317/594-1188

www.wasabion82nd.com

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Panchero's Mexican Grill

2:49 AM | Labels: Castleton Area Restaurants, Chain Restaurants, kid friendly, lunch places, Mexican restaurants, taquerias

A couple of people had asked me about or mentioned this place to me, and it is really close to my house, so we thought we’d give it a try with the kids for lunch. It is a taqueria, so you go up and order what you want, and they pretty much fill it however you like (extra charge for guacamole and queso). The thing that makes this place stand out from the standard quick service Mexican place is the fact that they press fresh flour tortillas to order. You go up and pick your vehicle (burrito, taco, etc) and they get out an appropriately sized dough ball, press it, and fill it. The meat choices were chicken, beef, carnitas or you could have a veggies.

I had the taco option ($4.75) which comes with 2 tacos. I had one chicken and one carnitas (the beef was a little too gray and cubed looking for me). They took smaller discs of dough and pressed them into the right size for tacos. I had mine filled with the meat, cheese, salsa and pico de gallo. Surprisingly, I liked the chicken version the best. The carnitas meat was sitting in a liquidy broth that made the meat literally drip with the broth. It kind of killed the tortilla because it soaked it so much. It was a bummer because the tortilla, as I said, it what makes this place stand out from other similar places. The fillings are pretty standard. The chicken was pretty good—not as dry and flavorless as it often can be. It was hard to tell with the carnitas—they had a bit of an almost cinnamon flavor or something but because it was so soggy, I didn’t even end up finishing the taco.

My daughter and hubby split a burrito ($6.25 + $1 for guac) which she filled exactly as she wanted it—with black beans, rice, carnitas, guacamole and sour cream. This was a much better vehicle for the pork, because it didn’t suffer from the extra moisture of the meat---in fact, it was helpful to make the entire burrito quite juicy. Again, it was all wrapped up in an even bigger tortilla and overall, I would say was the better choice over tacos. They were both quite happy and are ready to go back for another one.

My son had a cheese quesadilla ($3.95 for cheese only) which was one of the giant burrito sized tortillas folded and stuffed with cheese (of course you can fill them with whatever you want). It was fine, but he was not a big fan a declared that he does not like Mexican food (other than La Hacienda). That was his verdict.

Honestly, even though my daughter is jazzed to go back (and I think hubby would go if she asked), I didn’t find anything that exciting about it besides the tortillas—and they are pretty good. There is no salsa bar type thing, or salsa on the table, so it is hard to know what kind you want without trying them all. Not sure I have ever been in a taqueria that didn’t offer additional salsa to finish up your food (there are bottles of hot sauce). The chips didn’t seem fresh which was kind of surprising what with the whole fresh tortilla thing, although since they are corn chips, and they don’t make corn tortillas, maybe it isn’t that surprising. The chips just ok—the mild salsa we got with them was pretty fresh and tasty though. The people were super nice, although I was surprised by all the up charges for things (especially since the amount of guac you get for $1 is pretty minimal).

Obviously these types of Mexican restaurants are becoming more and more popular around town, as they seem to be springing up all over the place. Unfortunately, I think like anything, the more mass produced, the more generic the food becomes. This one has a hook with the tortillas, but for me, that’s about it. So, which one is your favorite?

Panchero’s

4335 East 82^ndStreet

Indy 46250

317/288-2677

www.pancheros.com

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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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Punch Burger

3:19 AM | Labels: Burgers, Downtown Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, lunch places, Punch Burger

Always up for a good burger, hubby and I decided to try Punch Burger for lunch. It is pretty new, and I have been hearing a lot of good things. I have also heard there has been pretty long lines at times, so we went a little early. We didn’t have to wait long in line, but by 11:40 or so, the whole place was full (there isn’t a ton of seating, but the tables turn over fast).

This is a place where you order at the register and then they call your number and deliver your food to you. So you sort of have to listen, especially if you are in the back room, because they won’t know where you are. The service was pretty darn speedy—it only took about 5 minutes to get our burgers.

We both did build your own, although some of the specialty burgers sounded pretty good. I almost went for the “good morning” ($6.25) which is a burger, bacon, fried egg, and cream cheese, but the cream cheese idea just didn’t appeal to me. I do like cream cheese, but pretty much on a bagel. Not in my sushi, and not on my burger. Anyhow, I just created my own (and there are a TON of toppings options, most of which don’t cost extra) with a 1/3 pound beef patty (you can also get turkey or mushroom), an egg (over easy) and cheese (I went with American) on the classic white bun (they also have wheat and pretzel) ($6.25). I also got a side of waffle fries ($1.50). Overall, it was a good burger—the beef was really very tender despite the fact that it was cooked pretty well done (they don’t ask) and had nice flavor. You can tell from the irregular shape and the tenderness that they aren’t overworking the meat here. The egg was runny just like I wanted it. Size-wise, the burgers are in a middle ground between the really thin burgers (a la Steak n Shake or Workingman’s Friend) and the thick burgers (a la Boogie Burger or Fat Dan's). The bun was nicely toasted and was really soft. I didn’t get the pretzel bun because I always worry they will be too hard and chewy, but I caught a glimpse of them and I am thinking about trying one next time for a change of pace—they didn’t look overly dense. If I could change something about mine, it would be that I would like the meat to be a littlepink, but I still really enjoyed it. The waffle fries were good too—seasoned and fresh and hot (you can’t really get THAT excited about waffle fries can you?).

Hubby had a “build your own” as well with cheese and bacon. Burger-wise, he pretty much agreed with me on the actual beef patty itself—he liked it. The bacon though-- it was pretty bad. I was kind of surprised in a place like this that is using such high quality, fresh Indiana beef and turkey that they aren’t sourcing bacon locally when we have a great resource like Smoking Goose (or other local Indiana bacon). The bacon was limp and tasted too much like fake smoke. Think cheap hotel buffet bacon and you know where I am at with this. Hubby pulled it off the burger after the first bite but the flavor still lingered even after he took it off. It was a little bit of a bummer since the burger itself is pretty darn tasty (and they charge an extra $.95 for bacon). The sweet potato tots ($2) are interesting—little tater tots of diced sweet potato. I loved the crispiness of them- and they were perfectly cooked. If you are a fan of sweet potatoes, I think you will like these.

boo on the bacon

Overall, I like the place. The food is good and reasonably priced, the people who work there are friendly and they serve beer and wine. If I worked downtown, I can see how this would be a good addition to the lunch options (particularly if you need something fast). My only warning: stay away from the bacon.

Punch Burger

137 E. Ohio Street

Indy 46204

317/426-5280

www.punchburger.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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Sushi Bar

2:50 AM | Labels: Asian, Broad Ripple Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Japanese restaurant, kid friendly, sushi, Sushi Bar

I feel like I have been in a rut lately and wanted to try something new. I have heard some good things about the new Sushi Bar on Broad Ripple Avenue and wanted to check it out. We were both impressed by how cute the interior of the place was when we walked in (ok, hubby would not use the word “cute,” but whatever). They have done a really nice job of giving it a feel that is more than just your typical Japanese restaurant. There’s a bay window in the front with a large sunken booth that was full with a family when we walked in—I can’t wait to take the kids back to sit there, they would love it (and the rest of the restaurant can’t hear them as well—it’s a win-win.)

see the size of the glass?

Anyway, we sat down and ordered some drinks—one of the first perks of this place is cheap alcohol. They have $1 domestic beers and $2 imports and while the wine list is, um, well, what you expect of most Japanese places, when you order a glass, it is a serious glass. As in HUGE. So you get your money’s worth here too (I think my glass was $6.99 which was one of the more expensive ones).

We started with an order of veggie tempura ($6.95). They also have an eggplant tempura appetizer that I was intrigued by and asked the server if eggplant was included in the mixed veggie option—she said no. So it was a nice surprise when she brought it out and told us they had gone ahead and added a couple pieces of eggplant. I appreciate these things. I also loved that there was a piece of broccoli in there as well (and various squash and a couple of onion rings). The tempura was only ok though—it just wasn’t quite crispy enough. The taste was good, but it needed another minute or hotter oil.

Next they brought us our rolls—we ordered the “2010 roll” which was a special on the board and was a roll with shrimp tempura inside and avocado, spicy tuna and crispy crab flakes on the outside (around $13). We both enjoyed the flavors of this one—there was also a light sauce beneath the crunchy crab flavored bits—my only problem with it was it was so tall, it was hard to get it in your mouth. I also thought it was interesting that the pieces of shrimp tempura that were inside the roll were much crunchier than the ones in the veggie tempura appetizer. I think a lot of places must fry the stuff that goes inside rolls longer to keep them crunchier once they’re in the roll. I just wish they would fry the other stuff as crunchy. Loved the crunchy bits on top to give the roll lots of texture.

We also had the red dragon roll (I am almost sure that was its name—around $12) and it was very good. Probably more up my alley because it was a little easier to eat and the tuna on top was great. It was eel and avocado inside and fresh tuna on top (actually rolled almost all the way around). There was also a lightly sweet unagi sauce on top. This one didn’t have the texture of the first one obviously, but it had a great, more simplified flavor. And the ingredients were extremely fresh and well done.

We also had an order of tuna nigiri ($4.50 for 2 pieces) because hubby really likes nigiri(which is just the rice topped with the fish). It was also very good—a good way to really get a handle on the freshness of the fish—this was melt in your mouth tender and the rice had that slight sweet/vinegar taste that makes nigiri shine. I sometimes don’t like nigiri as much because there is wasabi added (often a bit is put under the fish) but this one didn’t have that problem.

Our server was nice, but had a little bit of attitude—I think she was trying to be funny, but sometimes it came across as a little snotty. As the restaurant got busier, she was more focused on getting food and drinks out and I enjoyed myself more (the giant glass of wine didn’t hurt either). I was also entertained by the couple who came in toward the end of the meal and asked the server to explain everything to them—they had never had any type of sushi before (I love eavesdropping on the tables around me). I have to hand it to them though—way to be bold and just ask for help. The menu is quite large—I think there are probably 20-30 different rolls alone, not to mention a menu full of other good sounding things, including several noodle dishes that I would like to try.

Overall, while there are certain things that could use some improvement (the tempura for sure, as well as the fact there is no website to be found), this is a good addition to Broad Ripple village proper. The food is good and the prices are pretty reasonable (particularly for beer-- although it is technically a “special,” the special sign looked fairly permanent). They have a kids menu, which so few Japanese restaurants seem to have, and I know we’ll be back with the kids to give the place a try as a family. So who has had the noodles and other dishes? What else is good?

Sushi Bar

911 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy 46220

317/257-7289

There is no website (there is a facebook page with nothing really on it). It is hard to believe in this day and age that a new restaurant doesn’t have a website, but maybe that’s just me.
***Update 11/2/12: they have a website!
www.sushibarindy.com

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Detour American Grille Express

3:52 AM | Labels: Castleton Area Restaurants, Detour, Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, lunch places

I was excited about an independent casual restaurant opening near us in the Fashion Mall area (it’s over by Kohl’s)—we are always looking for nearby places to take the kids for lunch. There are about 1000 chain options, but obviously we prefer to go to a locally owned place if possible. I have never been to the branch of Detour in Carmel, where it started, but I was looking forward to a possible new option.

The first thing I noticed about the place was how sort of corporate it looked—the inside is very clean and well, I don’t know, kind of generic I guess. You order your food at the register and then a runner brings it to you. The menu is pretty straightforward—burgers, sandwiches and wraps with various fried side dishes. I opted for the “hard hat” sandwich which they describe as “a grilled cheese with a twist” ($9.99). It has 2 kinds of cheese, tomato, avocado and ham and is served on sourdough bread. I opted to go without the ham because if I am having a grilled cheese, I want a grilled cheese, not a ham and cheese sandwich. Also, I am particular about my ham. Ok, so for $10 I was expecting a pretty big and gooey grilled cheese sandwich. I was imagining a fairly thick homemade type of sandwich with lots of stuff. Well what I got was a sandwich that reminded me a bit of a school cafeteria. There was thin small bread with a couple of slices of cheese, a couple of very thin (and have to say fairly flavorless) tomatoes, a couple of slices of avocado (it was ripe though which was good) and there really isn’t much more to say. It wasn’t gooey, it wasn’t memorable. It wasn’t worth $10 (and an extra $.99 to add the tater tots). The tater tots were as good as they get. I mean, every now and then they sound good and this was one of those days for me. But again, it added to the whole school cafeteria vibe.

Hubby was trying to be healthy and ordered tomato basil soup ($2.99) and a salad ($3.99). I can tell you he was very annoyed by the salad. It was pretty small. He kept comparing it to a garnish. And the dressing (Yuzu-ginger vinaigrette) was really oily. He thought the soup was decent—he really likes tomato basil soup. I tasted it and it was fine. Basic, nothing fancy, but good enough if you’re in the mood for tomato soup.

So my daughter just wanted a plain cheese quesadilla, which wasn’t on the kids menu, but they do serve one that is on the regular menu that comes with all kinds of other stuff inside—chicken, beans and peppers. She didn’t want any of this stuff and they made it for her, but still charged us $10.99 for it (which is expensive in my opinion either way you look at it). I didn’t realize this until after hubby had paid and told me that our bill was like $42 or I would have made her get something else. My son had mini corn dogs ($5.99) which were standard food service type. The fries that came with were pretty good—they leaned toward the thinner side with a bit of skin on them.

They also have this super fancy soda machine that you can use to mix up 100s of different flavors of soda (say you press Coke, you can get it flavored with like 6 other flavors as well if you want). My kids (and I am sure most kids) found it intriguing and wanted to play with it A LOT. I found it a bit annoying since they don’t drink soda. You can get lemonade flavored many different ways as well. The drinks (for adults) are $2.

So all in all, I feel like this place is really expensive for the quality of food you are getting. I don’t know, maybe the burgers are better, but based on our experience, I doubt we will be repeating, no matter how much the kids want to play with that soda machine. I did notice on the back of the menu and their website that they are looking for people to franchise the restaurant, and to me, it has the feel of a chain already even though it isn’t. And I think they are charging a bit too much to make it really a fast food type option.

***Note, since publishing, Detour Express has left a comment that they have lowered prices on many items.

Detour American Grille Express

8487 Union Chapel Road

Indy 46240

317/299-8888

www.detourgrille.com

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