Restaurants

A new pre-game routine

Here’s a sight I hope never to see again: Mother Bear’s with an empty parking lot. I guess that’s what we get for not calling ahead to see if the campus classic would be open over Christmas break — but then we assumed the mere fact we were coming to Bloomington, Indiana, for a basketball game meant they had a table ready.

Having your pizza and breadsticks expectations ripped away from you is a stunner — and so is the fact that you now have to wander Bloomington seeking something else that will go well with popcorn and a Coke at Assembly Hall. The mall is, of course, crammed with restaurant choices — and all of them the same names I could have picked less than a mile from my house. I had my IU sweatshirt. I had my striped warm-up pants. I had my leather Indiana University jacket, my red and white tennis shoes and my tickets for H 29, 108.

I was not going to ruin the pre-game good luck routine by grabbing dinner any place short of a local restaurant.

Thank goodness Scholars Inn Bakehouse was open, or I might have missed the game in that mood. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a soup, salad and sandwich shop, but with a decor the owners at Panera Bread could only dream of copying. Instead of cramming strangers shoulder to shoulder and calling it cozy, Bakehouse offers plenty of personal space in the leather chairs and high-backed booths. The double-sided fireplace adds that “welcome home” touch, and more than two people can actually enjoy it at one time.

Coach Tom Crean

The menu is handwritten on a chalk board, making you think for a split second you’ve wandered into Lush, something no doubt the college students can follow easily. Alumni stand out by the way we grab for the printed menus, the better to see them up close and interpret what in the world goes into Hangover Special. (For the record, that’s two fried eggs on a mixture of mushrooms, onions, bacon, red peppers, seasoned home fries and Monterey Jack cheese. I’d rather be drunk.)

The gal at the cash register was eager to show us their new sandwiches, but of course when you didn’t know the place existed five minutes earlier, everything is new. The cinnamon carrot soup of the day sounded great if they hadn’t ruined it with carrots, so in the end I ordered a boring bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. I almost talked my husband into a Smokin’ BLT with habanero cilantro yogurt, served on jalapeno cheddar toast, but he saw right through that as my way of trying to snarf his popcorn while he spent the next two hours in the men’s restroom.

If there’s a downside to Bakehouse, it’s that the restaurant doesn’t appear to be especially lucky as a pre-game ritual. The Hoosiers had their lunch handed to them, 55 – 42, the lowest point total in history for our home floor. I might have enjoyed it more if I’d ordered that BLT. Or shown up drunk.

Malik Story

Scholars Inn Bakehouse

3002 East Third Street

Bloomington, IN

(812) 323-7070

Photographer credits: Jetalone, Julie Sturgeon