April 11th - Omega Restaurant

On April 11th, I went to our usual Sunday morning brunch with my family. However, we went to a very unusual place. The old Ground Round (and old IHOP) was turned into a bright and cheerful family restaurant. The food was good, but not fantastic. However, their prices are really fair. You get a ton of food for the price.
I ordered scrambled eggs with feta, but most of my family ordered pancakes and loved them. They are huge! And you can get the 2 by 2 by 2 - 2 huge pancakes, two eggs any style and 2 pieces of bacon or sausage. Plus your choice of toast. And all of that is for about 6 bucks!

April 10th - Khoury's Meditteranean Grill

On April 10th, we had a lot going on in the morning, so we were heading to pick up lunch. I of course wanted to visit a local place that wasn't too far. So I convinced Brian we needed to try Khoury's. We drive by it all the time, since its on Broad Ripple Ave just west of Keystone. So we went inside. Every day (except maybe Sundays) they have a $5.99 lunch buffet. Since I heart Greek food, that is of course what I got. Brian ordered the Magic Chicken Sandwich. He said it was really yummy.
They also offer hooka rental in the bar area. We didn't get one (because it was noon on a Saturday), but someone else did and it looked like fun.
Maybe another time...

April 3rd - Union Jack's

Sorry these are out of order, but I realized that I haven't discussed Union Jack's yet. And honestly, that is a crime against this delicious local place. Union Jack's has 2 locations - one in Speedway on Crawfordsville Road, and one in the heart of Broad Ripple. We visited the Broad Ripple location on Saturday the 3rd to watch the Butler Bulldogs play in the Final Four over some Chicago Style deep dish pizza. Although all of their food is very very good, the reason why we go is their pepperoni deep dish. In my opinion, it is the best you can get in Indy. It takes 40 mins to cook, but it is worth every minute. They also have a very extensive domestic, import and microbrew beer list that is very reasonable in price.
We personally enjoy the Broad Ripple location because of its close proximity to home, their garage door style windows that open to the Broad Ripple strip, and their no smoking policy. The Speedway location still has smoking, so they do not allow people under the age of 18 to patronize their location. But if the westside location is closer to you, and you don't mind the smoke, the food is the same. Incredibly delicious, and reasonable in price.

April 7th - Sakura

On April 7th, my husband and I went to arguably the best sushi place in the city - Sakura. Located on Keystone and 71st Street, this inconspicuous little restaurant is almost always packed. The walls are lined with signatures from famous people throughout the years (Ahmad Rashad, Bob and Tom, the Andrettis, etc) who have come to feast on authentic Japanese goodness. This place doesn't have the habachi tables that so many Japanese restaurants use as their focus. Here, the focus is fresh sushi, and a few traditional entrees such as teriyaki chicken, tempura, udon and negimayaki.
We got a side salad, the tempura appetizer, and two rolls a piece (california, shrimp tempura, Rock n' roll, and their specialty - soft shell crab). Our food was delicious and super filling. And we walked out of there with a tab of $30 (before tax and tip) and happy tummies.
Definitely something I recommend for someone looking for authentic Japanese food. If anyone wants company when they try it out, let me know! I'll happily join you!

End of March

So, I got some business from my friends. They are telling me that, even though they aren't official followers, there are people who are reading my blog, and they were upset that I hadn't written anything this month. So! Thank you for telling me! I honestly thought that no one was reading, and that I was doing this in vain. Apparently, I was wrong. So THANK YOU FOR READING! Even if you are a lurker!

So here's a background on what I've done this month...

Marco's - very popular place! Apparently, especially popular with the gay culture (didnt know!). Pretty decent food, and lots of it! Brian thought it was a little too pricey, and we had to wait forever to be seated. Our waitress was also really nice, and really helpful. Overall it was pretty decent.

Brickhouse Burgers - this is a new restaurant where Damon's used to be off of Kentucky and 465. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE. The service is terrible, we waited for more than a half hour to get our drink order, they poured the most nasty Guinness I've ever tasted in my life, and Erin got sick off of the food. There was pretty much no redeeming value to this place.

*Scotty's Lakehouse - this is a new location in the Scotty's local chain. Its on Brookschool and Fall Creek near Geist Reservoir. They have a condensed version of Scotty's huge menu from other locations, and they have Sunday brunch by Cafe' Patchou. I had the "Hippie with a Benz" omelette. It was very good, but very very overpriced. Lucky for us, there was a huge party going on so it took almost an hour to get our food. They felt so bad they comped our meal. It probably wouldln't happen again, and I'm not sure I'm willing to pay as much as they wanted me to in the future. But I will probably go by there this summer to try out some of their burgers!

I don't have much more to review. Unfortunately, I'm on both a diet and a budget, so I've been eating at home and taking my lunch pretty much every day. But every time I try something new and local, I will make sure to keep you updated!

Thanks again, lurkers!

March 2nd - Tegry Bistro

I decided I really wanted sushi for lunch. Unfortunately, I was sick of the sub-par sushi they serve at Marsh, and they closed a great local Japanese restaurant down the street - Daruma. So instead, I decided to try a new Asian bistro down the street called Tegry Bistro. Brian even decided to join me! We walked in, and the place is beautiful. Very fancy for a lunch spot. We were seated, and we ordered the chicken teriyaki / California roll bento box to share. It came with delicious miso soup, a salad with sweet ginger dressing, and the bento box. In the bento was the teriyaki chicken, a 4 pc California roll, a small serving of steamed rice, some mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots, squash) and some orange slices. All of that food was $10.99. It really was a delicious assortment, and I was glad Brian and I shared it.
Aside from the fancy decor, the only other complaint is that the Tegry Bistro is probably not a good place to go for lunch when you only have a half hour to eat. Go see them when you have a little bit more time to enjoy the food, instead of worrying about being late getting back to work.

February 27th - 14 West

Brian and I celebrated our "second" anniversary this weekend. I picked 14 West as our restaurant because they are local, and they also have a local only part of their menu. On the local only menu, they serve 4 items where everything on your plate came from farms in Indiana. They also talk a little about the farms, where they are located, and how the farmers raise their produce.
Anyway, this place is not only a local jewel, but the food is absolutely fantastic. It may just be the best food I have ever had in my life.
We started off with the crab cake. Although Indianapolis isn't known for its crab cakes, this one was incredibly delicious. It had tons of crab, and just a little bit of cake. But it didn't stop there. The crabcake had a poached egg on top, and sides of applewood smoked bacon, and sauteed mushrooms. But my very favorite part was the amazing hollandaise sauce that the chef put between the egg and the crabcake. I swear, its the best hollandaise I've ever had in my life!
After that, we shared a caesar salad. The dressing was perfectly blended. Not too sour, not too salty, and definitely not too anchovi-ey. Perfect. And the best part of our salad was the parmesan crustinis that they put in the middle of the salad. So when you got a bite of food, it went lettuce, cheese crustini, lettuce, crouton. Delicious! And just the way this cheese girl loves it!
For our main dish, I chose the local pork chop covered with brie and blackberry compote, served with a side of vanilla apples. The pork was cooked perfectly, and the vanilla apples were an excellent touch to bring out the flavors of the dish. It was just too big for me to finish! But I was really glad I ordered it. Brian got a USDA Prime Grade center cut filet, with a side of parmesan peppercorn frites. He let me have a couple of bites, and man - that was one good steak!

For dessert, we ordered a Viennese Apple Strudel, in honor of the trip to Germany we are taking this fall. They wrote "Happy Anniversary" in caramel around the plate, and it was really really good. It was the most authentic tasting strudel I've had here in the Midwest.

This was definitely a place I will go again. We may have to wait for another special occasion to do so, but I will definitely look forward to the day we can go again. Who would've thought that a "local" place would be better than those expensive steakhouse chains?