Restaurants

We were regulars at Casa Miguel’s in Greenwood, Indiana when Mike and Angie Lee owned this little house converted to a restaurant. We tried to support the folks who bought the Mexican concept when the Lees retired, but it just wasn’t the same. My husband swore they fiddled with the recipes. I simply felt sad walking in to everything the same, but different.

Albatross Pizza Emporium soars

So when the sign changed to Albatross Pizza Emporium, we knew we’d drop in for a test run, if only to do our “support your community” duty.

OK, we’re done with the charity  on this one. Albatross earned our full-blown patronage because we loved the pizza. And it didn’t hurt that the owner, Julianne Featheringill, made it a point to stop by our table for comments, suggestions and just a good old-fashioned chat.

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Welcome, Monical's Pizza

I hate it when my brother gets something I don’t.

Never mind that we’re both in our 40s, adults with professional careers, mortgage payments and all those life balance questions middle-age Americans struggle with. He had a Monical’s Pizza on his side of Indianapolis and I didn’t. And he was always waving it in our face, saying things like, “Hey, you guys want to go over to Monical’s for dinner? The kids love that place.”

See what I mean? That kind of superiority from the kid brother eats at you over time.

Well, nana nana boo boo. Guess who just opened their doors in Greenwood? Yep, now I, too, can enjoy their thin and pan crust pizzas whenever I want to, and I don’t even have to drag along kids. But don’t tell my sibling this secret: I failed to notice this new addition to our restaurant families until last week.

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It’s not especially fun to be female when your birthday rolls around. Oh, I couldn’t give a fin flip about my age — but as the organizer, scheduler and event planner in this house, it means I have to coordinate my own party.

Mouth-watering salmon at Bonefish

The calls usually start at the beginning of the week: “So, where are we going to celebrate your birthday on Friday?” Now this is a tricky proposition, because you never want to name something out of your guests’ budget comfort zone. On the other hand, they looked rather aghast when I threw out the idea of ordering some pizzas and whooping it up in the back room at Donatos. After all, since my teen-age friend landed a job there, we’ve done that on plenty of ordinary nights.

I had already eaten at On the Border this week (uh, twice), and I spent a few minutes considering Famous Daves, because nothing says happy birthday like BBQ stains on your jeans. Still, the fact that we were looking for dinner at 6:30 in Indianapolis on a Friday all but required me to choose a restaurant that takes reservations. Once I realized that, the dilemma was over. We were heading to Bonefish Grill.

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My favorite deli

It’s true I had lunch today at Paradise Cafe. I have my share of receipts from Panera Bread, and I hung out at Atlanta Bread Company when it was still with us. But when it comes to sandwiches and baked goods, I’ll choose independently owned Ricci’s Deli for my lunch stop a majority of the time.

Yep, Ricci’s is my personal hole-in-the-wall choice, and I have the lifetime refillable mug to prove it.

Over the years I’ve learned that the potato soup here is a gamble (some days it rhymes with Campbell), the egg salad sandwich is not, and the chili over pasta kicks butt and takes names. I’m such a fan of this mess on a plate that the cooks still throw it together for me on request even though it officially hasn’t been on the menu since probably 2005. Likewise, they know my husband well enough to secretly start making a reuben before he places his order at the register, too.

So you’d think all this familiarity would mean I have my order down cold. You’d be right until it comes to picking out a muffin. You see, Ricci’s sells day-old muffins for half price, which I think is a heck of a deal — if only I could learn the difference between a chocolate chip and blueberry one. Read More »

Cozy atmosphere

My husband has finally done it. He wanted to surprise me for our Friday lunch last week, using those famous words, “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

When he pulled up outside a run-down strip center across from our old neighborhood — a collection of stores including a Bob’s Tu Your Door pizza, a laundry mat and a barber shop I don’t think anyone has walked into in five years — I balked. No way was I going into Simple Brew Cafe. I could make food that bad at home for free.

We sat there in the parking lot for a few moments, arguing over whether dirty brick and daily specials painted on the window constituted a dump (my husband helpfully offered to walk into Bob’s, which earned him a dirty glare from the passenger’s seat of the Trail Blazer. Anyone who can’t spell “to” isn’t serving me pizza) when he pulled out his trump card: Alan recommended it.

Sigh. Alan is in the construction business. Just like cops know where the best overnight diners are, and truck drivers can give you the lowdown on greasy spoons, construction workers know breakfast joints. 

I got out of the SUV.

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I rarely wear mascara. It never fails — I brush some black goo over my lashes and something makes me cry in the next six hours, sending that black streaking down my cheeks. They have yet to invent a waterproof version waterproof enough to stand up to my big tears.

Acapulco Joe's specialty

But last Saturday afternoon, I reached for the Estee Lauder wand in my make-up bag because what in the world about a job interview for a temporary position taking tickets at Colts games would make me blubber? Nothing, of course.

I had, however, overlooked the possibility my husband would want to check out the new Acapulco Joe’s Mexican Restaurant Greenwood location in the early evening, the better to beat the crowd. They have a sign painted on the window announcing that grown men will cry here, referring of course to the hot sauce. I knew all about that salsa, since it’s loaded with garlic and my husband is the type to carry the smell in his bloodstream for up to 24 hours. One good sniff and I can tell you exactly where he went for lunch.

I had simply never taken the time to drive downtown to the Illinois St. location, so this was a whole new world for me.

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Louie's before and after the show

We knew the second the sign went up at Louie’s Grill & Pub that we would add this newest Greenwood restaurant to our dinner circuit. It didn’t matter if we liked the food, really — when you open an eatery that isn’t McDonald’s down the street from the high school, adults will drop in on their way to sporting events and musical performances.

Well, at least that’s what first pulled us in. We had one hour before the curtain went up on the Christmas show, and I simply wasn’t in the mood to hit the Golden Arches and then burp along to Here Comes Santa Claus. So I sat down and ordered a club sandwich and fries in one of Louie’s booths instead. It was definitely a quality improvement move on my end.

But now, thanks to the chips and black bean salsa, we make Louie’s a destination even when we have no obligation at Center Grove High School.

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Cartoon logo -- upscale entrees

There’s a new Mexican fast casual in town … not that we didn’t already have multiple Qdobas and Moe’s Southwest Grill and La Bamba, which serves burritos as big as your head right before your eyes. But when Bajio Mexican Grill made its debut in Greenwood, Indiana, my family was waiting at the doors.

We’re fans of breaking in new restaurants, if you hadn’t already guessed.

This one gets an A for the decor, which is every bit as fancy as a sit-down joint with waitresses. It’s certainly a nod to the Bajio region that spawned the chain’s name, right down to the handmade talavera tile, hanging copper pots, decorative lights and other artisan-style details.

They also offer a choice of sweet or traditional rice in your prepared-on-the-spot dishes, which caught my attention being a connousieur of fast-casual Mexican that I am. My husband was eyebrow-raisingly surprised they prepared his steak for a fajita in a little pan on the grill as he stood there, too.

It was rather like going to a Japanese steakhouse without the show.

Yep, this is definitely a good addition to the Cinco de Mayo destinations, particularly for those without a lot of time to celebrate beyond an enchilada and a beer. But the business writer in me couldn’t help but notice how the owners’ family struggled to work its way through the order with any kind of efficiency. They walked back and forth for the ingredients (a big no-no in an assembly line environment), had no clue what the prices were, and offered us lids and napkins from a Subway franchise they own up the street.

It's hard to say no to fajitas

So in the name of research (and a hankering for a sweet pork quesadilla), we returned to see how things progressed during the first month. I’m here to report they are now on par with every other fast-casual chain in this city: blank stares while you order, rather irritated they actually have to make some food, and no friendly chit-chat while they assemble your food. And despite the fact we asked for queso and chips twice, it never made it to our tray or (thankfully) the bill.

They also installed a brass bell by the cash register to ring every time someone puts money in the tip jar, which completely destroys the upscale atmosphere they worked so hard to create in the dining area. “Well, dear, what if you figure out what sights we want to see in Rome, and I’ll take …” CLANG! “Barcelona. Do you want to research Naples…” CLANG! “or shall we go up there and pimp slap the person giving them money and creating this loud racket in my head?”

Talk about a disincentive to tip what is only average service in the first place.

On the other hand, they do have a license to serve beer, so on holidays like Cinco de Mayo, I could change my mind if they let me ring the bell myself.

Bajio Mexican Grill

670 US 31 South

Greenwood, IN 46142

(317) 889-1001

Photographer credits: Bajio Mexican Grill, Daquella manera,

Delicious Dunkin Donuts

If you’d heard our screams when my husband and I found out Dunkin Donuts was building two new units within 2 miles of our house, you’d have called a counselor for sure.

A wiser person would have called her banker looking for a way to build a franchise still closer to us.

Growing up, I took DD for granted. (Don’t click on that link unless you want to start drooling. I warned you. Isn’t that little pink one with the nuts driving you half crazy about now?) It was just a place where my early bird friends worked, and I could rarely visit them because my night owl hours at Bob Evans didn’t mesh. They served donuts. Big deal — so did the bakery section at the grocery store.

And then the franchise disappeared from Central Indiana, and suddenly I craved the Boston Kremes. It was pathetic, really — we’d stop at every Dunkin Donuts we could find on vacation, including passing on the prepaid hot breakfast buffet at our hotel to walk 5 blocks for a donut in Santiago, Chile. The entire Globus tour bus broke down laughing when we almost missed our ride to the airport because we’d run back for a sack of pastries to take on the flight. (My husband even purchased a few dozen donut holes to share with our fellow travelers so he wouldn’t feel compelled to give up his vanilla frosted treats with the pretty sprinkles.)

No doubt this is my future

Now in 2009, Dunkin Donuts has returned to the Greenwood area, this time sporting drive-thrus to make it even easier to swing by for a Boston Kreme and the white hot chocolate with whipped cream. Earlier this week, when we couldn’t agree on what or where to eat dinner, I solved the gridlock by making a run to Dunkin Donuts, where we sugared ourselves up quite nicely and called it a meal.

What’s the point of growing up if you can’t break the rules?

On the other hand, we need to get some self-control or my next investment tip will be to buy some stock in Weight Watchers.

Dunkin Donuts

Cheesecake Factory corn fritters are inviting

Some days, you simply deserve lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.

It didn’t hurt that they sent me a $10 off $30 purchase certificate, I’ll admit. But I had visions of huevos rancheros dancing through my head when I suggested meeting my friend there for our weekly lunch. It’s a dish most people wouldn’t dream of — heck, they probably wouldn’t find it buried in the back of the book this restaurant calls a menu — but when the ingredients are black beans topped with corn tortillas, sunny side up eggs, cheese and avocado slices, I’m all over it.

People watching me eat this combination me, however, usually find it … well, messy is the polite word. Diners at the next table have sneered at it. My husband flat out says it’s gross. My lunch buddy needed the $10 off incentive before she agreed to show up and pointedly ignore the black slop in front of me.

So we’re sitting in our booth, making small talk with our waiter who swears he knows me but can’t place from where. I’m confident I’ve never seen this young man in my life, but after a greeting like that you do feel obligated to pay attention to the specials. And that’s when my life changed.

The Cheesecake Factory at Greenwood Park Mall now serves corn fritters.

Yes, those big, fluffy, warm corn fritters fried to perfection and served with butter. My friend was completely baffled trying to picture this; I told her to think hush puppies with corn kernels instead of onions. Or Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits with corn instead of cheese.

Huevos rancheros looking good

Frankly, I think she was thinking “Julie has gone off the deep end now” but hey! It was my lunch money so who was she to stop me? Turns out, she thought they were worthy of a taste but not a whole fritter, which left me with enough to extend my smiles for two days when I warmed up the left-overs on Thursday.

The problem is that corn fritters and huevos rancheros don’t mix well for me, so I ordered my classic standby, a cheeseburger medium rare. It was indeed my special day because I’ve now found another restaurant to add to my list of kitchens that understand the true meaning of juicy burger.

And my friend wound up again staring at everything except my plate.

(P.S. Any one know where I can get some good cheese grits in St. Simons Island, Georgia? I’m on southern fried roll now.)

The Cheesecake Factory

1251 US Highway 31 North

Greenwood, IN 46142

(317) 887-8440

Photographer credits: Julie Sturgeon, vrvic