Bella Vita

Last week I had the pleasure of going to dinner with two of my friends from high school.  We are from a small town in Indiana, but have all ended up just a few miles from one another in Indy, so we try to schedule dinners every few months.

My friend Emily suggested we try Bella Vita at the Marina (on Geist Reservoir), as neither Lynn nor I had been there, and we agreed.  We were seated in what seemed to be an enclosed patio space.  Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad that evening--it was sleeting and very windy--so it wasn't the ideal time of year to enjoy the what I can only assume to be amazing view of the reservoir. It was also a bit chilly, especially at foot-level--there were various lovely fire pits blazing, but we weren't near any of them. 

Tortellini Michelangelo

As we decided what to order, our waitress brought us bread and a sun-dried tomato infused olive oil for dipping.  Both were really tasty.  The menu has a variety of classically Italian dishes (pasta) and seafood/steaks, so there a fairly wide variety of things to choose from.  Not being in the mood for pasta, I opted to start with an "Italian wedge" salad ($8.99) and then have the Ahi Tuna Sliders ($10.99--possibly a strange choice for an Italian restaurant, but it sounded good).  Emily got the Tortellini Michelangelo and Lynn got the Penne Rustica. (Let me apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures--it was so dark in our corner that I had to use the flash, which rendered everything unappetizing looking.  They looked much better in real life!)

Penne Rustica

The Tortellini Michelangelo ($15.99) was cheese stuffed tortellini tossed with pancetta, onions, and mushrooms in a creamy tomato sauce.  It was very, very good.  Emily said it's what she usually gets, and I can certainly see why!  The Penne Rustica ($14.99) was spicy marinara with sliced Italian sausage, red peppers, and onions, and was topped with cheese that was then baked.  I don't normally like Italian sausage, but it gave a nice flavor to the sauce.  And, who doesn't love something topped with cheese?  I give it a thumbs up.

Italian Wedge

My wedge salad left something to be desired.  It was plentiful, and there was a good amount of pancetta, tomatoes, candied pine nuts, and bleu cheese, but the flavors of all of the above were drowned by the extremely acidic (and also plentiful) balsamic dressing that topped it.  The sharp bite of the dressing meant that I couldn't taste any of the ingredients that usually make a wedge so great.  If I ever ordered it again, I'd request bleu cheese dressing, or the balsamic on the side.

Ahi Tuna sliders

The tuna sliders hit the spot.  There was seared cajun ahi tuna on there, along with a wasabi mayo slaw.  The downside was that each slider only had about 3 thin slices of tuna, and they were overcooked.  The waitress asked if I wanted them medium, and I said sure, but they were definitely cooked all the way through--no visible pink at all.  I'm actually okay with that, but was less okay with the very small portions of tuna.  I mostly tasted the wasabi mayo slaw--which was, luckily, creamy and delicious.  The sliders came with waffle fries, which I normally love, but these were a bit limp.  All of this sounds pretty negative, but in actuality I did enjoy the sandwiches.

Because it was the holidays, we decided to live on the wild side and split a dessert.  We went with the Chocolate Volcano Cake (or something like that--the dessert menu isn't online and I've slept a few times since then).  It was really just a brownie-ish chocolate cake topped with ice cream.  Delish, but not really what we expected from the description (which made us think it might be like a molten cake, with liquid chocolate inside).

The offending water

Oh--one last note about the service.  About halfway through her glass of water, Emily realized that it had a bleachy flavor.  Lynn and I compared it to our own and verified that hers was the only one that tasted that way.  So, Emily told the waitress, who didn't act surprised AT ALL to hear that, and did not apologize--she just said, "You want a new one?" to which Emily naturally replied, "Um, yes please!"  So strange.  

In summation...I'd probably recommend only going here during the warm months, when you can enjoy the beautiful view you're paying for.  The food was pretty good, but not better than a lot of other Italian places in town, and everything was about $2-3 more expensive than it should have been (you are definitely paying for the location).  I'd love to try it again when I can sit on the open air patio with a summery drink.  But on this trip, at least the company of my amigas made up for the drawbacks!

Room Four

Room Four is officially Tim's and my favorite restaurant in Indianapolis.  Greg Hardesty and his crew consistently serve up creative, delicious dishes at both Room Four and Recess.  Don't get me wrong, Recess is at the top of our list, but it's a special occasion place.  We value, well, value, and Room Four has got it.  If splurging, you can definitely rack up a bill at Room Four, but you'll still spend a lot less than you would at Recess because of RF's a la carte menu versus Recess's price fixed one.

Another thing I love about Hardesty's restaurants--he is clearly giving young chefs a hand-up.  Over the past few years, Tim and I have made RF a regular stop, visiting every-other month or so (more if we can find an excuse to, and we've introduced our fair share of out-of-towners to the place).  Two excellent chefs regularly man the RF kitchen, and we've had the pleasure of striking up a friendly banter with both of them.  They recognize us and chat with us, and can usually guess what Tim's going to order (not that it's difficult--it's usually the burger).  Through this relationship, we've discovered that they develop many of the dishes they serve, and they also seem to develop dishes for Recess, too.  I love that so many chefs are getting the chance to contribute.  It definitely seems like a real team atmosphere.

Tim and I went to Room Four on a Saturday night around 6pm.  Though we've had to wait on a few occasions when we've come with another couple, or if we've arrived much after 7pm, we generally don't have to wait for a table.  I am very happy about that on a personal level, but I do find it surprising that the place isn't packed every night--particularly weekends.

Having looked at the menu before we got there, we knew we each wanted to start with a taco.  Tim ordered the steak taco to start (skirt steak, carne asada, avocado, queso fresco, chipotle salsa, cilantro $6) and I had the fish taco (fried striped bass, shredded cabbage, radishes, lime creme, jalapenos and cilantro $6).  We both agreed that my fish would have benefited from some of the avocado and salsa from his (it was on the drier side), but the fish had a great crunch-fried texture and the cabbage/lime creme combo had a citrusy twinge.  The jalapenos made some bites pretty spicy, but you could easily remove if so desired.  His steak taco had a great marinated flavor and the salsa added a nice level of spice.  Both were served on a double layer of corn tortillas.

We also both knew that we wanted the burger that night.  It's Tim's standard (and the reason why the chefs know what he's going to order); I usually try to switch it up and try something new, but a burger just sounded perfect to me that night.  Room Four almost always has a burger of some type--often beef, but sometimes lamb--and usually topped in just slightly different ways depending what's available and fresh.  Tonight's burgers (beef from Fisher Farms) came with havarti cheese, pickles, onions, shredded romaine, and house made dijonnaise ($16).  It was a classic combo, and stellar.  I mean, just look at it!  Burgers pretty much always come with their version of fries, which are probably closer to steak fries than anything else.  They're cut thick, with a crispy outside and a soft, fluffy, potatoey inside.  So good!  And yes, it's pricey for a burger, but it's a ton of filling food, made with quality, local ingredients, and completely worth it.

Just a side note:  The tacos, like the burgers, are available most nights.  They change up the types of tacos, but there are usually 2-3 options to choose from.  The rest of the dishes DO usually completely change--Tim and I just weren't being very daring on this particular night.

The highlight of our meal was the dessert.  Now, just a disclaimer that normally Room Four pretty strictly serves ONLY what they call "Candy Bar Cookies" for dessert--a basic cookie with random types of candy bars incorporated.  They are served warm with some amazing whipped cream, and they are stellar.  But before we ordered those, one of the chefs that we've become chummy with came over and asked if were in the market for dessert.  Are we ever not?  Of course we said yes.  He brought us out one of the desserts from the Recess side that he'd had a hand in creating--hazelnut ricotta cake, sugared pecans, sabayon (a light custard), and coffee ice cream.  The cake and ice cream alone weren't very sweet, but the sabayon and nuts provided the perfect amount of sweetness.  The whole thing together was complete and delicious.  SO good.  

If you haven't tried Room Four or Recess yet, do it now.  You owe it to yourself to try these wonderful places.  Indy has some real culinary talent--now we just have to take advantage of it!

Website:  Room Four/Recess

Papa Roux

Last week, Tim and I went to Papa Roux.  It was my second trip, but his first.

Papa Roux works in an interesting way.  You order at a counter when you arrive, give them your name, then go sit down and wait for them to deliver your meal.  That much is pretty normal.  What's different is that you order your sides at the table.  You get a card that you put in a stand when you want a waiter to stop by, and they take your order. The excellent thing about it is that you can order as many sides as you'd like--they are included in the price of your sandwich!

We placed our orders and went to sit down.  After Tim looked at the list of sides for a moment, we put our card up.  The waiter promptly appeared and we ordered--mushroom etouffee and cornbread for me, red beans and tomato creole for him.  The etouffee was mild, creamy, and almost a bit cheesy (it reminded me a bit of the base for Yats' chili cheese etouffee)--it's on the left side of this picture--yes, the one that's pretty much completely gone (hey, I'm just glad I remembered to take ANY pictures).  The cornbread (bottom of pic) was sweet and very moist with actual pieces of corn in it.  I really liked it.  I'm not a huge fan of beans, but Tim's red beans and rice (top of the pic) was really tasty.  I was less a fan of the tomato creole (right side of pic), which was very sweet and very spicy.  Everything but the cornbread was served over rice. (And, once again, sorry that the food is half-eaten in the picture.)


Our sandwiches arrived maybe ten minutes after we'd ordered them (the sides had come out very quickly and we finished them before the sandwiches). Tim got the sausage po-boy ($9.50).  He shared a bite with me and the rich, smokey andouille went really well with the spicy "Vouxdoux mayo" and very creamy coleslaw that comes standard on all sandwiches.  The sausage was cut up into small pieces for easier eating.


I got the catfish po-boy ($10.50), which I also had last time.  It's described as being hand-breaded and pan-fried on the menu, and man--it is TASTY.  The breading is still nice and crisp, despite the duo of mayos on the sandwich (the Vouxdoux and cole slaw, respectively).  My one complaint about these sandwiches is that, while I do love me some mayo, Papa Roux goes kind of overboard.  I know that half of the joy of eating these is the complete mess they make (in theory, anyway), but I just think I'd enjoy a bit less.  I asked for my Vouxdoux mayo on the side this time and was told that they can't (ahem, won't) do that, but that you can request they go light.  I made that request, but honestly didn't notice any less than the first time I had this.  Next time, I'll see if requesting less coleslaw helps at all.  But despite those drawbacks, this is a really tasty sandwich.

I don't know if this is my favorite Cajun/creole place in the state, but it's pretty darn good, plus it's close to home for us.  I'm sure it will be in our semi-usual rotation.

Website:  Papa Roux

Sakura

Sakura is a regular spot for my family.  Tim and I think it's the best sushi in town.  This is mostly because it's reasonably priced but still incredibly fresh (the place is always packed, resulting in high fish turn-over). And, we've finally figured out what we believe to be the perfect sushi roll combinations for the two of us to share.  So, in celebration of my step-son's 5th birthday, we went last week.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures once again--I sort of forgot about the blog when I was presented with the beautiful, delicious plate of sushi and started stuffing my face instead of getting out my camera.)

Our standard order always begins with the gyoza ($4.25 for 5 dumplings).  Sakura's are a pork mixture with thin wrappers, are lightly pan-fried, and come with an amazing dipping sauce.  I mean, I could (and often threaten to) drink the stuff.  It appears to be a fairly simple soy-based, garlicky, gingery concoction, but it's set off with chili oil.  Something about it is incredibly addictive to me.  I am getting hungry just thinking about it now.  Omnomnom.

Ahem.  Anyway.

Appetizer and soup-or-salad (your choice of miso soup or a typical orange-ginger vinaigrette topped iceberg salad is complimentary with each meal) consumed, we then turned to an order of four sushi rolls: the Florida Mix roll, Texas roll, Bob's roll, and the New York roll (prices vary from the website sometimes, but all of the rolls are in the $5.00-6.50 range).

Florida Mix:  Tuna on the inside, topped with a delish mixture of salmon, tempura crunchies (i.e. tenkasu), green onion, flying fish roe, and spicy mayo.  It's probably my all-time favorite roll and I haven't found anything equal to it anywhere else thus far.  The mayo provides a creaminess which is cut by the bite of the green onion (but not too much bite).  The tenkasu and roe give it texture.  It is just SO. GOOD.  Beware, it's a big roll.  But it's worth looking like a fool while you eat it.

Texas:  My second favorite roll.  We were only brave enough to try it about a year ago, as it does contain chili oil and "jalapeno masago" (more roe, this time green).  It's salmon on the inside, and on top is piled more tenkasu in spicy mayo with green onion (a magic combination), and the whole thing is covered with the green masago.  Another large roll, but so yummy.

Bob's:  Moving on to the simpler rolls, this one has asparagus tempura, smoked salmon, and spicy sauce inside.  The salmon gives the whole thing a salty smokiness and goes extremely well with the asparagus.  (Ever had prosciutto with asparagus?  It's a similar meaty/salty/asparagusy experience.)

New York:  This is the simplest one of all, and what we generally use as a palate cleanser after we have a Texas roll.  It's just shrimp, avocado, and again, spicy sauce.

Our boys always split an order of the Chicken Cutlets ($11.25).  They are pounded flat and breaded with panko and lightly fried.  They then slice them into strips perfect for kiddos.  To be honest, it seems a bit dry to me--it does come with a soy-based dipping sauce, which would probably help--but the boys LOVE it.  They are also rice addicts, so we divide it all up and they dig right in.  The dish also comes with a bit of broccoli and some carrots--if we're lucky, we can force them to eat a bit of veg with their meal.

This is actually enough food for our boys, who are both pretty hearty eaters.  They do also like miso soup now, so that helps round-out the meal.  The waitstaff seem to enjoy having kids there, especially on weeknights (as opposed to their insanely busy weekends), and the first time we came with the boys they gathered around and chatted to the boys before the meal.  They also willingly make the boys "practice chopsticks" which means rolling up the chopsticks wrappers and placing them at the non-food end of the sticks, and securing everything with a rubber band so that the sticks can be opened and closed easily without requiring major hand coordination.

Website:  Sakura