Brozinni Pizzeria

In my family, we like to celebrate birthdays as many times as possible.  Once with immediate family (Tim, his kids, me), again with extended family (often on both sides), and then usually yet again with friends.  To kick off Tim's birthday festivities this year, we took his kids for a family dinner at Brozinni Pizzeria (on Emerson Ave., just north of County Line Rd. on the south side). He and I used to go there often when I lived on the south side a few years ago, and we were excited to take the kids.

Brozinni's specializes in "New York Style" pizza.  Massive slices, thin and flexible in the middle (in a good way), puffy and delicious around the edge.  You can actually buy their pizza by the slice during lunch hours (think Sbarro or Luca Pizza), but this pizza is far superior to either of the ones I mentioned above.  It's not mass produced, and it's made with quality ingredients and tastes fresh, unlike those chains.

We started off with some delicious (if completely unnecessary in terms of carb requirements for one day) breadsticks ($3.09).  They are made with the same dough as the pizza, with the addition of some parmesan and herbs sprinkled on top before baking, and they're enormous.  They come with a slightly spicy cheese sauce and marinara.  We got an order of four, and between the four of us we could only finish two.  We all wanted more, but I knew that none of us would eat much pizza if we did.  The boys really liked them--our 5-yr-old, especially, and he kept trying to steal another one while we waited for our pizza.  I also recommend the garlic knuckles (4 for $2.50), which are made with the same dough and drenched in garlic butter.  I mean drenched.  They make you feel awful afterwards (which is why we didn't get them this time), but man, are they tasty!  If you can handle a lot of butter, do give them a try.

We got a 20" pepperoni pizza ($15.99 plus $2.50/topping), and it was massive.  Massive!  The picture above doesn't do it justice.  That spatula is giant-sized, too, so it's hard to get perspective.  They slice it into eight pieces, so you get the same giant slices you'd get if you bought them by-the-slice.  Each of the kids polished off one slice, and I was pretty impressed that they did.  The crust on these is just so flavorful and the perfect texture--it's probably my favorite part of this type of pizza, and they do it well.

If I had one complaint, it was that it was pretty greasy from all that pepperoni.  However, that's to be expected with pepperoni.  If you don't want grease, pick another topping.  (They do have some great preexisting combos--my favorite might be the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which consists of ham, bacon, chicken, and a 'zesty ranch sauce' instead of tomato sauce.  It is crazy good, although, no, probably not any better for you than pepperoni.)  I'd also recommend the calzones, which utilize the same flavorful crust--that might be a review for another day.

Website:  Brozinni Pizzeria

Thai Taste

 When I first started dating Tim, he introduced me to one of his favorite restaurants in town--Thai Taste.  He and his co-workers used to get the lunch specials there on a regular basis (he now works further away, or he'd still be going there all the time).  And I'd have to agree with his assessment that it's one of the best Thai restaurants in Indy.  It had been a few months since we'd been there, so this past Saturday we headed there for lunch with the kids.

We usually start with the fried spring rolls.  I love these things--rice noodles and veggies, with that thin, crispy wrapping.   They're especially good dipped into the Thai sweet and sour dipping sauce (not the same as the neon red Chinese sauce, this is vinegary and sweet with a hint of heat from chilies).  Even our 5-year-old will eat them.

Tim and I decided to get soup to start (well, to start after the spring roll starter).  I got good old Tom Yum, and he got Silver Noodle.  I like the Tom Yum at Thai Taste quite a bit--it's got the perfect amount of heat but isn't overwhelming, so you can actually eat it at a decent pace rather than sipping it because your mouth's on fire.  The broth itself is sour and salty and spicy, with pieces of chicken, tomato, and straw mushrooms floating in it.  As you can see, it also comes with cilantro but I scooped all of mine out (as I've mentioned, cilantro is my nemesis).  It is, indeed, "Yum."  (See what I did there?  Right?!)  The Silver Noodle soup is the antithesis of Tom Yum--it's a very mild chicken broth based soup, filled with ground pork, the aforementioned 'silver noodles' (very thin rice noodles), scallion, and cilantro.  It's also a very tasty soup, if not quite as bold as Tom Yum. 

Tim and I both got Pud Thai--I got just chicken, and Tim got "combo" (which includes chicken, pork, and beef).  I'd been awhile since I'd had their Pud Thai, and it was pretty good.  Theirs tends to be more on the sour side than many I've had (my personal favorite local Pud Thai is actually from Thai Spice in Greenwood), but in most other ways is just a solid, fairly traditional version of the dish.  On this trip, I forgot to specify my spice level and it came back mild--I'm talking VERY mild, no spice at all--and I think I would have preferred medium.  A touch of heat helps to balance the sweet and sour flavors that were predominant.  Tim did get medium, and his was well-balanced.

My favorite dish at Thai Taste is actually the Basil Fried Rice--it has little pieces of green and red bell peppers, scallions, and your choice of meat, and it is super delish.  I also love the red and yellow curries there, so I'll have to do another review (or two, or three) the next time I get each of those dishes. 

The kids, as I've mentioned, LOVE rice, so we get them an order of rice and an order of chicken satay to split.  That's two chicken skewers a child; depending on their hunger level on a given day and what apps they've munched on, we might order a second plate of satay (as we did on this outing).  The chicken itself is pretty good--a bit on the drier side at times, and could use a touch of salt, but they have a nice subtle curryish flavor to them--enough to make them interesting without making them un-kid-friendly.  The boys gobble them right up.  They're served with a standard slightly-spicy peanut sauce and a little cucumber relish.  The kids don't touch either, but I usually eat all of the cucumber relish myself.  It's just diced cucumber and onion in a sweet vinegar based dressing--reminds me of when my grandpa used to make cucumbers and onions marinated in vinegar and sugar (what, it's good!).  It's a nice palate cleanser if you're eating something spicy. 

Website:  Thai Taste (sorry, not much info on the site, but the fact that they even have a domain now is a step in the right direction)

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