Restaurants

Sigh. I have no more tricks left in my closet.

Dressed for success

On Saturday, I wore my lucky candy-striped red and white warm-up pants. I wore my favorite Indiana sweatshirt. I wore the socks with pictures of popcorn on them, and grabbed my “IU is red hot” rubber bracelet. I carried the purse made from an IU jersey. I even got out the big guns: my Indiana tennis shoes. (Yes, I have a pair of tennis shoes with “Indiana” and the university logo embroidery stitched on them in bright red.)

And if that weren’t enough to make hapless Ohio State fans nervous, I ate lunch at Mother Bear’s Pizza before heading over to the stadium for the game. How much karma can a college basketball fan cover herself in?

My husband thinks the clothing ritual is humorous — he lost his matching logoed sneakers several years back — but he’s all about indulging in a good pizza for Saturday lunch before the game. And it’s hard to turn down a bargain like a 10-inch one topping pie, an order of breadsticks (well, we could have had salads but you already know how I feel about that) and soft drinks for $13.95. The only disagreement was our usual of what to put on the pizza. He had his heart set on the deluxe with everything dumped on it, which of course violates the one-topping restriction.

Sausage has been my standing pizza order since I was a freshman living at McNutt and buying my own dinner for the first time in my life.

An IU tradition: Mother Bear's

Because we were short on time (hey, the line to get into Mother Bear’s is a bear), I won. I also persuaded him to try the toasted sesame thin crust, because I had to know what something made from three kinds of flour, Parmesan cheese and a dabble of field honey would taste like. Today I’m convinced that’s where I made my  mistake: never, ever stray from the script when it comes to superstitions. Not to mention this gourmet crust wasn’t near as satisfying as the traditional pan version, which just screams college campus when you bite into it. But hey, pour enough cheese on it and I’ll overlook it.

So we ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard again. Now I will do what every loyal fan does in the face of defeat: To the hostess there on Third Street, put me down for a table for two on February 15. I bet you can guess my order. The sniff test says I’ll need to run a special load of laundry before then, too.

Mother Bear’s Pizza

1428 East Third St.

Bloomington, Indiana

(812) 332-4495

Photographer credits:  Mother Bear’s website, Julie Sturgeon

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