Recess

Aaaaah, Recess. Last year, the week before our wedding, Tim and I treated ourselves to a meal at Recess.  It was our first time to venture over there, despite the number of times we had been to Room Four, and we were crazy impressed.  So when we were discussing where to go for our first anniversary, I immediately suggested we go back.  I'd love to make it an annual tradition, if we can.

I started my meal with a Robert the Bruce by Three Floyds Brewery ($3.50).  Tim and I enjoy a glass of wine now and again, but we're primarily beer people (well, he's a beer guy--I prefer mixed drinks, but have come to appreciate certain types of beer since we started dating).  Robert the Bruce is my usual choice when visiting Room Four--that, or Founder's Porter--and the incredibly reasonable prices they have on these semi-local beers is yet another thing to love.

Our first course that night was striped bass ceviche.  Over the past few years I've come to really enjoy ceviche.  I have finally gotten past my squeamishness over the fact that it's not, technically, cooked (although the citrus juices do cook the fish).  The bass, cut into pretty small pieces, was well-seasoned and bright from the lime juice.  The avocado component listed in the description (see the picture of our menu at the top, by the way) was more of a smooth puree, and it added a nice richness.  The tomatoes and micro greens also gave the whole thing a freshness.  I removed all of the cilantro--sorry, it's just gross--but if you enjoy that type of thing, there was plenty sitting decoratively on top.  The chips were small but there was a good fish-to-chip ratio.  Overall, a great starter.

Our second course was halibut, and it was perfectly cooked.  I'm telling you, they do right by fish at Recess and Room Four.  I mean, look at that picture.  I could eat it again right now.  It sat atop an "orange thyme jus"--a lovely broth with an interesting kick of the aforementioned orange (we could see bits of the rind in there).  And in the broth there was bacon adding smokiness, plus asparagus, carrots, and pearl barley.  It was just lovely and light.  Oh, and those green things on top?  Sunflower sprouts!  What?!  I know!  They were kind of like an enormous bean sprout, but because of their size they had a lot more texture and were almost more like spinach.  Really good.  Really, really good.


Third course was beef ribeye, perfectly cooked to medium rare and sitting on top of a yummy bed of mashed potatoes (or 'potato puree,' if you want to get fancy).  The interesting aspect of this dish was the "cauliflower salsa"--I can only guess what was in it, but it was salty and herb-y and texturally really interesting.  It's the green and white stuff in the picture.  Super interesting.  Between the meat and potatoes were mushrooms and ramps.  I've heard tell the legend of the ramp and was excited to finally try them.  I don't think there were many on there, but it was enough to impart an delicate green-oniony flavor to the dish.  Yum.  And there was a great sauce, I think made with the mushrooms and ramps.

  
Finally, we get to dessert.  I wasn't insanely excited by that night's offering, but of course it won me over once we got it.  Unlike most of the world, I'm generally not much of a "chocoholic," so I was unexcited by the promise of chocolate honey ganache with raspberry glazed bananas and hazelnuts.  But the end result was a great balance of flavor and texture.  The ganache itself was dark and rich (as you would expect pure chocolate and cream to be--it looks like a brownie in that picture, and it was a good-sized piece).  The raspberry glazed bananas took bananas to a whole new level...they maintained some of the texture of a banana, but tasted like the incredible raspberry sauce they had been tossed in.  And the hazelnuts added a needed nutty crunch.  A bite of chocolate, whipped cream, banana, and nut was close to perfection.  And again, this is coming from someone who would usually not choose a chocolate dessert.  Great end to the meal.

I won't wax on any further about how great this place (and Room Four) is.  You know I love it.  You know I think you should go!


Website:  Recess

Black Market

Tim and I went to dinner at Black Market with some friends last weekend.  It's another great local place that changes its menu with the seasons and usually has some interesting specials.  We also kind of dig the communal table thing, even if it *is* supposedly passe now.  (Have you seen the episode of Portlandia that makes fun of communal dining?  If not, check it out). 

They have a pretty extensive beer selection, and some pretty tasty cocktails as well.  I tried the Tornado Warning, which is basically a Dark & Stormy made with the traditional Black Seal Rum and Black Market's own house made ginger beer, plus a bit of lime.  It was super good, and although I generally like more lime in my stormies, this one still had a nice balance of flavors--not too rummy, not too gingery.  There was something interesting around the rim of the glass, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was!  Not straight sugar, that's for sure.  But it was good, so I can't complain.

Tim and I opted to split a few dishes rather than each ordering our own stuff.  We started with one of that night's specials, mozzarella sticks with tomato sauce ($10, three to an order).  First of all, these were the longest mozzarella sticks I've ever seen!  Each one was at least a foot long, deep fried, and oozing with delicious melted house made mozzarella.  They make good cheese at Black Market.  We've had their fresh mozzarella before in various incarnations and are never disappointed.  The tomato sauce was great, too--very fresh.  Sorry no pictures, but we gobbled them up too quickly!

We shared the Duck Confit & Tator Tot Salad ($11) next...pictured is just half of the salad, because I didn't whip out the camera until after we had split it.  It's not very pretty in that picture, but man, it was tasty.  The duck was meaty and tender, and the apples provided a nice tart contrast.  There was also a bit of bacon and roasted tomatoes, and blue cheese which brought it all together.  The tator tots were homemade, more of a potato croquette sort of texture, but acted as a slightly crunchy element.  Those sat on top of an interesting aioli sort of dressing...it was tangy and tasted good when it was mixed in, although the greens were already dressed with some sort of vinaigrette.  You can see one of the tator tots and the aioli in the above pic.  So that was a bit confusing, but it tasted good, so again, I'm not going to complain!

Tim and I decided to try the Beef Barbacoa ($25) as our main.  Overall, the flavor profile was great, but we did have a few complaints about this one. Here is the description:  "Beef Barbacoa. quajillo-puya chile broth / grilled tortillas & lime."  Barbacoa is generally slowly cooked, fall-apart tender, shredded meat, so Tim and I both imagined it'd be mostly meat with a bit of broth, and that it'd essentially be a make-your-own taco situation since it came with tortillas.  What we got was soup.  And it was almost more of a pot roast type meal.  Broth (awesome, flavorful, meaty and spicy broth, but still, broth), chunks of meat (and a few pieces of bone), carrots, potatoes, chickpeas...yeah.  Not exactly what we had imagined it would be.  Come on, people, how about some accurate menu descriptions!  Also, even though we told our waitress we'd be splitting it, they didn't put it into two bowls for us.  I don't expect that every time I split something--that would get obnoxious--but if the entree is a soup?  Come on, throw us a bone (or a bowl, as the case may be).  So it was nearly impossible for us to both eat at the same time.  Again, it did have great flavor, but it was a downer, for sure.  Not the way to end a meal.

I've always had more luck with the starters at Black Market than the entrees.  The only entree I can remember loving is the pork schnitzel that used to be on the menu all the time.  Hopefully they'll bring it back some day!  In the meantime, I'll stick with the starters.

Website:  Black Market

Room Four: Quick Revisit

A few weeks ago, Tim and I popped into Room Four for dinner and I had one of the best meals I've had since...well, probably since the last time I was at Room Four.  Hey, guess what!  I like Room Four!

We started by sharing the truffle potato leek soup with grilled salmon ($10).  It was so, so good.  The leeks gave it that distinctive leekish mild-onion flavor and the potatoes were partially blended to give it a velvety quality (along with some cream, I'm sure).  It was peppery and the salmon had a slightly smokey grilled flavor (thanks to the char marks on it).  Actually, the char marks may have been my least favorite part--I wanted to taste the soup itself and felt the smoke was too dominant--but Tim said he really liked that aspect.  Different strokes for different folks!  I didn't taste much truffle, but it wasn't much of a loss as I've decided I'm not a huge fan of truffle (some people just don't jive with the flavor of truffles, and I think I'm one of those).  And yes, we've had a version of this soup before, only with different fish.

For my main, I had pan roasted hake, a fish  I'd never had before but ended up loving.  It was served in a brown butter sauce that also had capers and olives in it, and sat on top of some fennel and 'crushed' potatoes ($17). The hake itself was well seasoned and had a bit of color on it from the pan roasting.  It was cooked through, but remained so tender and juicy!  And that brown butter sauce...man, I need to learn to make it at home.  Killer.  It was luxurious, and with the tangy brined olives and capers it was completely addictive.  The potatoes and fennel (and I'm pretty sure spinach, also--it's been awhile so my memory's fuzzy, but I think I see it in the pic) combined with the fish to make a perfect buttery, briney, creamy, potato-y, fennel-y bite.

Website:  Room Four

On The Road: Portland, Maine

Clam Chowdah

No posts for over a week.  Sorry about that!  But my family has been on a road trip to the East Coast for Spring Break, so no local Indianapolis dining has occurred lately.

Fried Clams

I will share a few pics of food from our trip, though.  In particular, two of the best meals we had were in Portland, Maine.  We only spent one day there, but loved the little bit we got to see.  We'd like to return, and when we do, these restaurants are likely to be on our To Do list.

We stopped at the Fisherman's Grill for lunch.  It was located away from the docks, but had great reviews on Yelp, so we decided to give it a try.  So glad we did!  Tim and I split some clam chowder, an order of the "Best Fried Clams Ev-ah!" (as the sign out front boasted), and a lobster roll.  The chowder was flavorful with a strong potato-onion base and lots of clams.  The fried clams were, indeed, some of the best I've ever had--very tender, and accompanied by the best (probably house-made) tarter sauce I've ever had. 

Lobstah Roll

And the lobster roll--oh, man.  I'm not normally a big lobster fan.  I think it's often overcooked when you get it here in the midwest.  But this was sweet, perfectly cooked and tossed in a light coating of mayo, and was overflowing from a buttery bun with just a touch of lettuce for freshness.  Not cheap, but worth it.

Charlie Noble

Also in Portland was The Blue Rooster Food Company, a sandwich shop that had opened just a few days prior to our visit.  We were looking at the menu of the neighboring Mexican restaurant when the owner/chef himself, Damian Sansonetti (apparently a bit of a local Chef-lebrity, although we didn't realize that at the time) popped his head out and invited us to try his place.  It's a sandwich shop, but no ordinary one.  There were several interesting options on the menu, but I felt like going a bit (theoretically) lighter so I opted for the "Charlie Noble" sandwich--brined turkey sliced deli thin, brussels sprout slaw, and a horseradish mayo.  It was pretty delish, with the slaw and horseradish giving the turkey a bit of a kick. 

Tator Tottine

Tim and I also split the "Tottine," a twist on the Canadian favorite poutine (fries topped with gravy and cheese curds), this time made with tator tots.  We were fighting over who had eaten more and whose turn it was to hold the box they were in, so I'd say those were also a hit!
 
 Neither location has a working website, but the links above should give you all the info needed if you happen to be planning a trip to Maine!