Sassafras Tea Room

We’ve waited a long time for this.

I know that Sassafras, located in the cute house next door to La Trattoria, is not the first luncheon and tea room on the south side of Indianapolis by a long shot. Bay Window stayed busy for more than a decade and spanning two locations before its owners call it quits. My friend and I were frequent guests at Lonesome Pine,  The Gazebo and Lady Victoria’s Tea Room.

Yet one by one they each disappeared.

I caught a glimpse of a sign that said something about luncheon while leaving Mi Mexico Lindo earlier this month, and promptly forgot it until my friend dropped in for lunch last week. We went through our usual negotiations: McAlisters? No, I ate there yesterday. On the Border? Too hot. Paradise Cafe? My sister always insists on eating there and I’m getting bored with it. Panera Bread? We were mulling that one over, despite the fact it’s a bear to get there from my place now that the DOT felt compelled to take out Fry Road for the entire summer.

That’s when my friend said the magic words: “I wish we still had a tea room around here.” Seven minutes later, we were at the hostess stand at Sassafras.

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Quiet Dorsoduro Dining - Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy is a beautiful destination, perfect for a honeymoon or a special vacation. It is pure romance with spectacular views and gorgeous architecture.

Exotic and historical cities like Venice are the backdrop for many books and movies because wander down a side canal or push your way through the crowds along the Grand Canal – your imagination goes wild.

While we were here on holiday, we spent much of our time just wandering and discovering shops and restaurants that caught our eye. We avoided the more touristy restaurants on the Grand Canal that had “English Menus” displayed outside their doors.

Since this was the end of a long vacation, we decided to find one extra special restaurant for a grand night out. We were staying in the quiet neighborhood of Dorsoduro.

It was heaven and the restaurant we decided to splurge on for our romantic dinner was Ristorante Ai Gondolieri, across a side canal from the Peggy Guggenheim Museum shop. Read More »

Now home to Mi Mexico Lindo

I don’t know what it is about that little house on Madison Avenue, but it’s having a tough time making a go of restaurants in this economy. Casa Miguel successfully ran a Mexican menu from there for years, but when Mike and Angie Lee decided to sell it as a retirement investment, the new owners couldn’t maintain the steam.

The little white house closed its doors and sat empty for a while.

Then Julianna Featheringill and her partner reopened its doors as Albatross Pizza Emporium, and pretty much wowed southside diners with its made-from-scratch exotic pizzas. And yet, one day I drove by and the doors were closed.

The little white house again sat empty for a few months.

In late spring, a new sign popped up: Mi Mexico Lindo. Last week, the “Now Open” banner joined it, so my husband and I drove in. We were the only ones in the parking lot for the next hour.

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$13.50 Hamburger grilled onions w/ stale bun

Like many, we were out on Sunday for a special family dinner. We had a party of eight booked for 8:00pm to celebrate Father’s Day and my sister-in-law’s great performance in a John Steinbeck play we had all just watched together. Since we were already in the East Bay at the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, we chose to also have our dinner on that side of the Bay Bridge at a place we’d been to previously.

We booked our reservations at Cafe Rouge in Berkeley, with a credit card because the restaurant was charging $25 per person for no shows.  We got there exactly on time, the driving was only about 15 minutes and free street parking on Sundays.  However this is where our disappointment begins. This is a French restaurant with average prices for dinners about $30-60 per person depending on wine.  You would have thought our projected dining ticket would mean guaranteed great service and dinner… Read More »