Small, Quiet Setting, But Big Hot Flavor at Thai Cafe

1041 Broadripple Avenue

Indianapolis, IN

(317) 722-1008

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday

11:30AM-9:30PM

Located in a hopping Broadripple Strip Mall, next door to Shalimar Indian Restaurant and across from Sunflower Market, lies a tiny, hole-in-the-wall: The Thai Café.  When you walk into the doors, a bell rings in your presence and a friendly hostess ushers you to your table.

Although the restaurant is tiny, it is packed with an intimate, cozy charm.  The lighting is relaxed and the walls are lined with an awning full of white lights and green ivy.  The atmosphere makes you feel like you’re dining in a little Thai trattoria. The restaurant mostly accommodates couples and small groups since it’s so small.  My friends and I noticed a plethora of couples, and decided that it would be a great place to go on a date.  If you look above there is a weird looking piece of artwork.  My friends and I debated whether it was an onion, a baby, or two molars.  Who knows, but the atmosphere definitely lends itself to titillating conversation.

The only downside to the restaurant is the flat-screen T.V., which proved to be distracting.  A National Geographic episode aired showing a baby elephant dying.  Not the best compliment to your hot beef and noodles entrée.  If they would just get rid of that T.V., the place would be nearly perfect.

What makes this restaurant special aside from it’s unique, personal atmosphere, is it’s hot food!  I don’t think I’ve ever tried food this intense.  On their website, Thai Café boasts that “since 1998, we have specialized in burning the taste buds of Indianapolis.”  And burn, baby burn they did!

But before the entrees, I tried the complimentary Lemon Grass Soup.  This soup consists of a sweet and sour broth, fresh basil and parsley, and topped with crunchy noodles.  The soup base is salty, with a vegetable flavor to it, and whetted my appetite for the entrees.

The first entrée I tried was the Gai Yaang ($9.95).  For those of you who don’t like dishes that are too hot or spicy, this one is perfect for you.  It consists of a grilled, marinated boneless chicken served with rice and sautéed vegetables.  The dish is covered with a sweet and sour sauce, reminiscent of a Chinese dish.  The chicken was juicy, the vegetables tender, and the sauce added a subtle sweetness to the mix.  To me the dish was traditional, nothing out of the ordinary.

And in my opinion, if you’re going to a Thai Restaurant, which specializes in hot dishes, you might as well make your dance a little.  And that explains my second entrée, The Drunken Noodles ($10).  The name in itself is catchy enough for you to try.  The dish consists of stir-fried, thick rice noodles prepared with vegetables, sweet soy sauce, sweet basil and eggs.  This dish doesn’t have to be eaten spicy hot, but you can choose so if you’d like.  Their menu lists the five levels of hotness, which increase 1-5.  I tried level 3 for my noodle dish, and let me tell you, it puffed up my lips!  If I go again, I’ll probably try a level 2, just because it made eating a little uncomfortable at first.  However, with time and lots and lots of water, you mouth acclimates to the heat.

The noodles themselves in this dish are amazing, and ike nothing I’ve ever tried.  They are about the width of a finger, long, and tender.  I topped mine with beef—upon the waiter’s recommendation.  The beef was served in varying sized shards, and was delicious and juicy; kind of like the kind you’d taste on pot-stickers.  And if you don’t want beef, no worries; you have the option of shrimp, chicken, or pork as well.

So whether you’d like to stay on a more traditional safe side or whether you’d like to take your tastes on the ride of their lives, hop on over to the Thai Café for an experience that’s sure to make everyone tearful.  

Five Star Ratings:

Service: 5

Atmosphere: 4

First Impression: 5

Food quality: 5

Bang for your buck: 4

Bathrooms: 4

Sunrise Cafe Offers Homey Flavor Without the Fuss

You’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s what’s inside that counts?”  Well, this well-worn phrase fits Sunrise Café like a little, black dress.  Actually, make that a maroon jumper with forest green tights.  Why?  Because the atmosphere of Sunrise Café makes you feel like you’ve stepped into your Grandma and Grandpa’s 1980s-style house.  Before you walk in, the restaurant offers nothing more than a small sign at the end of a hard to find strip mall on East 86^th Street.  In fact, there are so many other cafes on 86^th street—Le Peep, Ruth’s Café, Torito Grill, and Café Patachou—that you might first stop there because of their closer proximities or fancier names.  However, if you want homey flavor without the fuss, Sunrise Café is where you ought to stop.  

A unique trait about this restaurant is their staff.  I was surprised to be seated by a girl—a Dakota Fanning look-alike no less—who couldn’t have been more than twelve.  I’m five-foot-two so it’s not very often that my waitress is shorter than me!  However, she acted like a trained professional and seated me.  I looked over at the rest of the staff, and with the exception of two men, the rest had to be twenty years old or younger.  When the waitress came to take my order, I asked her if the place was family owned.  She said,

“No, but a lot of us are neighbors.  My teenage brother works here too.  It’s a really laid-back place.”  Indeed.  I felt like I was over at Grandma and Grandpa’s.  I say this because of the wide décor of dark woods, gold, forest green and burgundy reds.  Each booth was separated with little burgundy curtains, the thin carpet floor was a forest green floral pattern, and the coffee cups were a dark brown color, reminiscent of my early childhood.  In addition to the 1980s style, the restaurant is also teeming with Indianapolis Sports paraphernalia.  There are lots of black and white photos of the Pacers, Colts, and even one wall fittingly devoted to American Olympic winners from the 1970s and 80s.  I thought the sports theme was a little over-the-top because the homey décor in itself was enough to sustain a relaxed atmosphere.  

So now you know that the atmosphere is homey, but what about the food?  Does that live up to Grandma and Grandpa’s weekend breakfasts?  Well, almost.  I started with a Yogurt Fruit Parfait that had its ups-and-downs.  The ups were its granola and yogurt.  The yogurt was smooth, sweet, and reminded me more of cream cheese and whip cream fruit dip than thick, curdled yogurt.  The granola was in large chunks, crunchy, and sprinkled in cinnamon.  The fruit, however, could be tweaked.  Most parfaits offer tangy fruits like strawberries and blueberries.  This parfait offered some fun surprises—like pineapple, grapes, and raisins—but for the most part cantaloupe and melon overtook the bowl.  These fruits are very mild, and as a result, the parfait didn’t tempt my taste buds to their full potential.

After the okay parfait, came the entrees.  The quantities for the entrees were medium sized, and not too overwhelming for one person.  Also, the meals were all under eight dollars, most of them no more than six bucks.  The first was the French Toast.  The menu boasts that the French Toast is “two slices of our Homemade Bread soaked in our unique Sunrise Batter served with Powdered Sugar, Butter and Warm Syrup.”  Sounds amazing, right?  The French Toast, however, was less than amazing.  The bread was very heavy and dense, and didn’t have the light, crisp, buttery flavor I was craving.  In fact, if it hadn’t been for the syrup, I would’ve been eating two pieces of bread.  Luckily, the entrée did come with three strips of bacon, which were crisp and crunchy, but I was expecting greasier, meatier strips from a down-home joint like Sunrise Café.

But soon I had my faith restored with their Omelet meal.  I ordered an Omelet with Ham, Onions, Green Pepper, and Cheddar Cheese.  These eggs were yum.  One of the Omelet’s highlights was the ham.  This ham wasn’t just artificially processed cubes, but big juicy, shards of meat.  In addition to the omelet itself, this meal also came with hash browns and two biscuits.  The hash browns were amazing and as big as my outstretched hand.  It was crunchy, and not too greasy, on the outside, and the inside was full of rich and juicy potato flavor.  And if you dump some Heinz ketchup on it, you have a potato ecstasy in your mouth.  And for the biscuits, those were mediocre.  I was expecting some crumbly, buttery, homemade flavor.  Instead, the biscuits were soft and doughy, more like the consistency of dinner rolls than full-fledged biscuits.  Ironically, the Sunrise Café menu declares that it “specializes in Homemade Fresh Baked Breads.”  However, I was much more impressed by the flavor of their meats, eggs, and potatoes, than by their French Toast and Biscuits.  

Although Sunrise Café is most popular for breakfast, they also have quite a lunch menu with specials such as: Tuna Melts, Clam Chowder, and Taco Salads.  When I was there on Saturday, around noon, the place was cleared by one.  And in fact, when I asked the cashier, I found out the café is only open from 6am-2pm, seven days a week.

But the big question is: would I go back there?  Can I see this being a regular joint for me?  I don’t think so.  While the food is good, it’s not great.  In addition, the location was hard to find, and is not very close to campus.  But, if you want to experience an atmosphere that’s like no other breakfast joint, one that brings you back to your 80s childhood, than you have to try it, even if it’s just once.      

  

   

Shalimar Serves it Hot and Spicy

www.shalimarindianapolis.com 

1043 Broad Ripple Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 465-1100

Lunch 11am – 2:30pm 7 days/week
Dinner 5pm – 10:30pm Friday
2:30pm – 10pm Sat
2:30pm – 9:30pm Sun

Shalimar Indian Restaurant in Broadripple provides service at its finest.  When you walk into the intimate setting, you are greeted with hospitality by a happy, eager waiter.  When you look around, you feel comforted by the rich colors—greens, reds, yellows, and browns.  The atmosphere has low-lighting, and when you sit down, your waiter lights a candle at your table.  And if all this is not enough, there’s traditional Indian music playing softly in the background.  

Such service sounds pricey, huh?  But don’t worry.  This is just a perk to Shalimar.  The entrees actually range from about $7-$12, putting only a slight tear on your purse.  But where to start when you go to an Indian Restaurant?  I’m not incredibly familiar with Indian food, so I decided to be adventurous and try something new.  First, I tried an appetizer called Naan.  This is soft, chewy bread that tastes similar to pancakes.  You can eat it before your meal, but I would suggest keeping some of it during your meal.  Since Indian food leans towards the hot and spicy, bread, such as Naan, tames your tongue.  The great thing about these appetizer breads is that they come in so many varieties for all types of people.  For the risk-takers out there, you can try Keema Naan: Naan stuffed with ground lamb and cilantro.  For those who like a little bit of salt-and-spice, there is Onion Kulcha: spicy and hot bread stuffed with onions or try Paneer Kulcha: Naan stuffed with homemade cheese and spices.  I opted for the plain, traditional Naan and sweet and fruity Peshwari Naan: Naan stuffed with raisins, nuts, and coconut.  I regretted playing on the safe side with the plain Naan, because the more adventurous choice, Peshwari Naan, proved to have much more spunk and flavor.  The sweet, yellow raisins inside were the perfect compliment to my hot entrée.

One thing I admire in Indian food is its logic.  Since the food tends to be incredibly hot, there are always other foods to off-set the heat.  First, there are the breads, which I mentioned, and there are also a variety of fruit and yogurt dips and drinks.  I tried the Mango shake, and let me tell you, it was just what my mouth needed.  The Mango shake isn’t like a normal shake—cold, icy, and heavy—but warm, smooth, and light.  This drink is sweet, mild, and has just the right combination of milk and mangoes.  The mango flavor isn’t too overwhelming, but simultaneously, the milk doesn’t drown the mango flavor. 

 

But what are these hot and spicy dishes that I have been alluding too?  All talk and no action, right?  Well, here they are: Shrimp Tandoori Masala and the vegetarian Mattar Paneer.  I have had Tandoori Chicken Masala before, which is good as well, so the Tandoori Shrimp wasn’t too much of a surprise.  It comes in a creamy, bright red tomato sauce with spices.  The entrée also came with a side of Mango Chutney.  This little dip is bright red and orange and looks fruity and delicious.  However, what I didn’t know is that it’s a sweet and sour mango relish.  So imagine pickle relish with mangoes and there you go.  Not my favorite.  The dish was creamy and tasty, but also a whopping $12.95.  And in my mind, it was no better than a six buck plate from Yats.  Like Yats, all entrees come with rice.  However, Indian rice tastes different from traditional white rice, like Uncle Ben’s or the kind you get from Chinese restaurants.  Instead of heavy and starchy, this rice is thin and slightly oily.  Because of its slippery consistency, Indian rice mixes with the sauce dishes very easily, and it slips right down your throat.

The second entrée, Mattar Paneer, was an unexpected hit.  I’m not a vegetarian, but thought it would be fun to try one from the menu.  Mattar Paneer comes with a variety of unusual ingredients that combine to form one hot, hopping taste.  It consists of fresh, homemade cottage cheese cooked gently with tender green peas and fresh spices.  I didn’t even realize there was cottage cheese in the dish, because it’s covered in a spicy, hot brown sauce.  However, the creamy consistency from the cottage cheese, definitely add to the over all taste of the dish.  The dish also comes with Tofu!  I’ve never really liked Tofu before, but the way it was marinated in the entrée, scored big with me.  It tastes like a softer version of chicken, and I found it full of flavor.  For a while, I could imagine what it would be like as a vegetarian, and that life wasn’t too bad.  

Circling back to Shalimar’s service, as I previously mentioned is there forte, the waiters are always looking out for you.  Since I ordered a very hot vegetarian dish, I was constantly needing water refills out of the little glass.  But I never had to wait long because the waiters always scan the water glasses to see who needs re-fills.  I probably had about seven re-fills or so in the hour that I was there.  But the waiters never made fun of me, as they do in other restaurants when I get lots of re-fills, but understood that my hot tongue needed nourishment.  And even on a busy, Saturday night, I waiters still found time to smile and offer fascinating tid-bits.  As I was getting a water re-fill, my waiter told me that in the Hindu word for water is Pannai.  He said that, “I like to teach each of my customers something about my heritage, like a new word, whenever they come to my restaurant.”  And if there’s one thing I learned from Shalimar Indian Restaurant, it’s that they never run out of amazing service and refreshing Pannai. 

Five Star Ratings:

Service: 5

Bathrooms: 4

First Impression: 4

Food quality: 4

Bang for your buck: 3

Atmosphere: 4

 

Illinois Street Food Emporium: Friendly, Fast, and Full of Flavor

Cradled in a quaint section of Illinois street, across from the cute “Kid’s Ink” book store, lies my new favorite place for lunch.  I’m not kidding.  This place makes my usual plastic Meijer bag of peanut butter and jelly, pretzels, and fruit snacks as long forgotten as a middle-school boyfriend.  My new (edible) boyfriend: The Illinois Street Food Emporium.

On the outside, the humble gray strip with green awning looks like nothing out of the ordinary.  But as soon as you open the doors, you sense—indeed through all your senses: sight, sound, touch, and taste—that this is the kind of restaurant that makes you feel like you’re a part of the neighborhood.  The joint welcomes you with open arms full of cake displays: Lemon Custard, Tiramisu, and Coconut Cream pies that look good enough for a wedding.  And large, glazed pastries are displayed from floor to ceiling that look so good you need a bib to wipe all your drool.  Apart from the food on display, the setting is charming: an abundance of small tables and chairs covered with green table-cloths, and a small vase of white and yellow daffodils.  The walls are simple and white, with the exception of one impressive wall full of colorful still-lives by local artists.  And that’s just using my eyes!

What about sound?  Well, there’s lots of it!  When my friend Susan and I went Friday afternoon for lunch, the place was bustling with people from businessmen and women stopping for soup, to a mommy sharing a turkey croissant sandwich with her toddler son (Aww).  The noise is bearable enough that you can still hear your friend talking, while loud enough that you feel comforted to be around lots of hungry, happy people.

Alright, but I’m forgetting the most important sense: TASTE!!!  And this place has got lots of it.  Susan and I sat at a table for four, and when the waitress brought our food out she asked, “Is anyone else joining you two?”

“No” we laughed.  And the sight was funny, almost overwhelming because the food spread out across the whole table!  We started with the Strawberry Chicken Spinach Salad.  The light, sweet raspberry vinaigrette was served on the side.  At first I thought the dressing was dip for our bread roll! Thankfully, the classy and worldly Susan knew better.  The salad was the right size for a meal, but big enough to share between two people.  It was full of mixed lettuce, strawberries, almonds, cottage cheese (an unexpected surprise), onion, and to top it off, several warm strips of grilled chicken.  The salad in itself was warm and fresh with the juicy strawberries and chicken.  But the king ingredient was the raspberry dressing.  The sweet topping gave the salad a light, summertime flavor that made me want to sip lemonade and swim outside.  Unfortunately it’s cold to do the latter, so I ate salad instead.

After salad, we moved on to our sides.  The first, and only disappointment, was the Hot Macaroni and Cheese.  Macaroni is indeed one of the hardest foods to perfect.  It’s either too cheesy or not cheesy enough.  This time, it needed more cheese.  It was hot, but didn’t live up to its creamy and cheesy potential.

Now what usually goes along with cheesy things?  Why tomato soup of course!  Now, when I ordered the tomato soup, I didn’t except anything special.  I mean, come on, it’s tomato soup.  How fancy can they get?  Pretty darn fancy.  This isn’t just your ordinary tomato soup.  No, this soup has chunks of tomato and celery with basil sprinkled on top.  This soup could truly make a meal in itself, upstaging the every day grilled cheese sandwich.

Speaking of sandwiches, if there’s one thing that Food Emporium has it’s hunky sandwiches.  Susan and I split two sandwiches: the Crostini and the Italian Sausage Sandwich.  Both were served on French bread, but each offered it’s own taste-bud adventure.  The Crostini has a sun-dried tomato paste, turkey, melted provolone cheese, and spinach.  It has a fresh, vegetable flavor that left my lips dripping bite after bite.  It was served with a side of fruit: pineapples, grapes, melon, and cantaloupe.  Susan and I both agreed that the second sandwich tasted like pizza!  It had tomato sauce, grilled peppers, big hunks of sausage, and melted provolone.

And now, dessert!  We shared a slice of lemon cake.  Not only does this cake look amazing, it tastes so too.  The outside is decorated beautifully with butter cream frosting and a lemon puree on top.  The cake itself is lemon and has a light but shocking taste that wakes you up!  After we ate our first bite, we both screamed, WOW!  The cake has a kick that’s irresistible, and surprisingly it doesn’t fill you up too fast.

So next time you’re sick of going to Atherton, C-Club, or the inside of your pathetic, plastic, Meijer bag, head on down to Illinois Street for a hunky lunch that will send your taste buds rocketing to the moon!      

El Rodeo Lassoes Your Tongue in with Flavor

When David Bowie sang his song, “Changes,” he probably wasn’t thinking about restaurants.  But he could’ve.  Because the restaurant world undergoes many changes, specifically name changes.  Such was the case for Tejano Joe’s Mexican Café.  The name was recently switched from Tejano Joe’s to El Rodeo.  And El Rodeo proved that changes don’t have to be a bad thing.

But first impressions do count, and El Rodeo isn’t a stand out.  It’s located in a dark, discreet section off W. 86^th Street, and you have to keep your eyes on red hot tamale alert to find it.  Luckily, my friend and I did.  We were also surprised that our car was only one of three at 9pm on a Saturday.  However, my friend quickly pointed out the positives: it has outdoor seating.  But since Saturday night was freezing, we were quick to jump inside, and hoped for some spicy hot Mexican food.

When we reached the inside, we realized that besides another group that left soon after we entered, we were the only two customers at the restaurant.  But hey, who am I to say that popularity is the sign of greatness?  Pushing my gripes aside, I opened a dazzling menu full of—literally—a hundred choices.  Although many choices, the menu is well organized listing various Appetizers, Salads, Fajitas, Quesadillas, Tacos, Chimichangas, and Mix-and-Match Specials.  So where to begin?  One of the two waiters suggested the Shrimp Quesadillas.  So, after ten minutes or so of deciding, we chose: The Chicken and Rice Soup, the Shrimp Quesadillas, and a Vegetarian Platter.  

While we waited, we munched on chips and salsa.  The chips weren’t anything special, not too salty.  And the salsa was fairly thin and bland.  We also scoped the setting.  The restaurant itself is large and accommodates big groups, even though none were present while we were there.  It would be a great venue for a party or fiesta.  The walls are painted a burnt yellow, with spare decorations, like a green, wooden lizard on the wall.  A Spanish channel plays on T.V.s and you’re able to watch Soccer or Fútbol games.  Two teams from Mexico were challenging each other, and my friend and I would laugh every time the announcing yelled, “GOOOOAAAAAL!”  So, the atmosphere was not fantastic, but good, and really just depended on your company and what you made of it.

When the food came, after a quick ten minutes or so, the waiter started us with the Chicken and Rice Soup.  I don’t expect terrific things from soups, but so far this semester I’ve been delighted.  This soup was one of the tastiest things we tried.  In fact my friend said, “It made my mouth as excited as a new flavor of pop rocks!”  It serves more like a meal, than soup in that it’s very thick and jam-packed with shredded chicken, peas, corn, green beans, green peppers, tomatoes, and topped with green onion, white onion, sour cream, and shredded cheese.  The broth was salty, spicy and delicious too.

I almost forgot we had more food coming, but then the waiter brought out two Shrimp Quesadillas.  A unique thing about El Rodeo is their tortillas.  They are slightly charred on the outside, but have a chewy, lightly greased flavor on the inside.  And inside the quesadilla I found juicy hunks of shrimp, green and red peppers, onions, and lots of melted cheese.  The cheese wasn’t stringy like pizza cheese, but creamy, like white queso dip. 

 

We also chose the Vegetarian Entrée that came with a bean burrito, a cheese enchilada, and a cheese quesadilla.  A special characteristic about these three items were their toppings.  The enchilada came with a dark brown sauce that had a hot and spicy kick to it.  And the burrito had a red, salsa topping that also gave the burrito more flavor and heat.  The entrees were both under ten dollars, however I was disappointed they didn’t come with beans and rice like other Mexican restaurants.

We still had a little room in our tummies, so we indulged in dessert too.  The dessert list is fairly short with predictable choices like Churros, Flan, and Fried Ice Cream.  But who said predictability has to be bad?  We got the Fried Ice Cream, and it was just what I needed to soothe my spicy stomach.  Even after all the explanations, I’m still amazed and confused by how people make fried ice cream.  How can it not melt?  But cold it stayed contained in a shell of sweet, crunchy goodness, inside a taco shell, drizzled with chocolate, and topped with whip cream, more chocolate, and a big ol’ cherry on top.

Before leaving the restaurant, we scoped out the bathrooms.  The room is painted mauve, had some trash on the floor, and was decorated with the most random pictures ever.  And according to my friend, “The bathrooms were as cheesy as my quesadillas.”  And those quesadillas were pretty darn cheesy.  There were some interesting photographs like a Mexican woman sitting next to a pineapple, and an even weirder one with a little blonde equestrian girl sitting next to her horse.  But hey, at least the bathroom’s not boring.

We left the restaurant close to 10:30pm, right as they were closing, and smiled when we saw the two waiters, still inside, had their cars running.  We too braced ourselves in the cold wind, but left with our insides full of warm, spicy Mexican food.

Address: El Rodeo (formerly known as Tejano Joe’s)

5501 W. 86^th St.  Suite A

Indianapolis, IN 36268

Hours: Mon-Thurs.: 11-10pm

Fri-Sat: 11-10:30pm

Sundays: closed

Prices: range from $7-12 / meal

First Impression-3

Service- 4

Atmosphere- 3

Quality of Food- 4

Bathrooms- 3

Bang for your buck-4

Eat Til the Ship Sinks at Cheeseburger in Paradise

How do you like your cheeseburger?  

“I like mine with lettuce and tomato/Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes/A big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer/Oh good God Almighty which way do I steer?”  

Jimmy Buffet’s words automatically get into your head when you enter the restaurant Cheeseburger in Paradise.  Not only because of the catchy name, but also because a band welcomes you with the song when you arrive.  On most nights, a two-man band plays a variety of beachy type songs—especially Jimmy Buffett songs—to get the patrons in the Caribbean mood.  The restaurant has both outdoor and indoor seating, and a bar section.  The area is adorned with everything you’d expect from a restaurant inspired by Jimmy Buffett songs: a tiki-bar, palm trees, fake parrots, and lots of other sea-inspired paraphernalia.  

So even though you’re actually in cold, windy Indiana, you feel like you’re in Florida checking out the best local joint on summer vacation.  The atmosphere gets you in a fun, carefree mood.  You can sit back, take your time, and enjoy your meal while listening to a fun—although rather loud—band.  You can relax, that is, unless you’re participating in the 2007 Cheeseburger in Paradise Eat-Off.

My friend and I went to the restaurant not only with the intention of doing a food review, but also to challenge each other to a food duel.  We each had to eat an entire appetizer, entrée, and dessert; licked-clean plates and all.

Along with a bunch of our other friends—who served as our cheering section, we pushed ourselves as far as our stomachs could stretch.  Dressed in our homemade shirts that said: Cheeseburger in Paradise Eat-Off 2007, my friend—code name Pippi-I’m-So-Fat-I-Ripped-my-Stockings—and I—code name Fatty Pants—embarked on our eating match.

Round One: The appetizer.  We shared the Mini-crab burgers for our first meal.  They give you four small crab cakes on buns, slightly smaller than a white castle sandwich, which are lightly breaded and fried with lots of lettuce and red pepper aioli.  The crab cakes themselves were very tasty and soft—a pleasant and satisfying start to our competition.  The only downside was all the lettuce.  Each burger came with handfuls upon handfuls of shredded lettuce, and because we had to lick our plates clean, we also had to fill up on the light green shards.  Excess water weight was not what we needed to pile onto our already satisfied stomachs.  But hey, it’s all for the game (and the restaurant review).  

Round Two: Cheeseburger in Paradise Burger.  Each of us had one of these whopper meals: A seven-ounce burger loaded with—just like the song says—American cheese, pickles, lettuce, red onion, and tomato.  The hamburger itself was the most promising dish I tasted.  The burger was cooked medium-well, so it was cooked enough, but still retained the juicy flavor you crave from a really awesome burger.  The toppings also had their own individual zing—the onions, pickles, and cheese—which added to the overall slam-bang taste you got with each bite.  Again, my only qualm was all the lettuce!  This time, the lettuce wasn’t shredded, but instead came with a few big leaves.  If there’s one thing I don’t like on my burger, it’s excess lettuce.  It takes away from the juiciness of the burger.  So if you go, and don’t want to be overwhelmed by lettuce, ask them to leave it off your burger.  In addition to the burger itself, this meal also came with a truck-load of thin fries and big kosher pickle.  The fries were average, but nothing that warranted any special praise.  And the big kosher pickle was one of the biggest pickles I’ve ever had on the side of a sandwich.  Imagine a big, full, uncut pickle—now slice it in half.  That’s how much pickle we ate.  By this point in the match, both of us were getting full and we had to take our time, drinking water in between bites.  And we almost gave in, without having dessert, until our friend shouted out,

“No, you have to push yourself beyond your limits.”  We knew she was right.  This was an eating competition for goodness sakes!  Of course we had to go all the way.  So we did.  And after our burgers and fries, we had our final round.

Round Three: Chocolate Nachos.  The name for these is very deceiving.  You don’t get a plate of chips, but huge nacho shaped pastries!  You’d think we’d be overjoyed at the sight, but by this point we screamed, “AHHH!  Oh noooo!  Look how big that is!”  These nachos consisted of both chocolate and flour nachos that were fried and sweetened, covered with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and colored sprinkles.  The dessert came with ten chips the size of my hand, and was also served with a bowl of strawberry and vanilla ice cream for dipping.  The chips were tasty, but were too large and fried for my liking.  This kind of dessert is one that you should share with a bunch of friends, instead of having to eat five whole fried pastries on your own.  I would’ve liked the dessert more if the nachos actually were like nachos—more thin and crispy.  The ice cream though, oh!  Thank God for that ice cream.  Ice cream has a way of soothing your stomach no matter how much food you’ve eaten.  

In addition to the meals I tried, Cheeseburger in Paradise also has a wide variety of Caribbean inspired burgers, sea food, Appetizers, Salads, and Desserts.  Also, for those twenty-one and over, there are delicious frozen drinks and cocktails to sip before your meal.  So even if you don’t have the next Eat-off, you can still relax and enjoy the tasty food and fun atmosphere at Cheeseburger in Paradise.  Oh, and in case you were wondering who the winner was of the Eat-off, we had an amicable tie.  We just couldn’t finish those last few nachos.

Broadripple Brew Pub

Hasn’t the weather just been gorgeous recently?  Doesn’t it make you want to go outside?  Doesn’t it make you want to eat outside?  If you’re like me, the answers to those three questions: yes, yes, and yes.  And what better place to spend outside eating and people watching than Broadripple?  This area has by far been the most reviewed by me because, well, I love this area.  Not only is it close to campus, but there are so many restaurants within the it’s little square that I hadn’t tapped into until this semester.  Aside from the main strip, Broadripple is full of nooks and crannies full of little gems.  To name the ones I’ve reviewed: Canal Pointe, Noodles and Company, Bazbeaux Pizza, Thai Café, Shalimar Indian Restaurant, Hogshead Barbeque, and now—Broadripple Brew Pub.  Phew!  That’s a lot of eatin’ huh?  I better keep running.

The Broadripple Brew Pub is located on Cornell Avenue, right across the street from Hogshead Barbeque, where I was last weekend.  This place can be hard to find at first, but after a few tries you wind about on this hidden strip.  Saturday was the perfect day to go to the Brew Pub.  The sky was clear, so everyone congregated outside to eat.  There was a Motor-cycle exhibition close by that day, so the motors were revving up left-and-right.

After only a minute wait, my friends and I landed a great spot outside.  We were right next to the street, so we could watch all the commotion going on, but we weren’t right smack dab in the sun.  So it was perfect.  The only downside was that it was windy, and I kept losing my napkins.  Thankfully, the waitress gave me extras.  

It took my friends and I awhile to decide.  After all, there are so many interesting and appealing choices.  The Brew Pub has a variety of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and entrees.  We finally agreed on a starter: The Beer Cheese Crock.  I was a little skeptical of this at first, but agreed to order.  For $8.50, I thought it was just mediocre.  The description for this crock says that it’s two of their house brews blended with two kinds of cheese.  It’s served with many slices of both white and wheat bread.  Basically, you’re getting a fondue: dipping bread in hot, melted cheese.  The cheese was tart, smoky, and tasty compliments of the beer and cheese blend.  For the price of it though, more expensive than my actual meal, I didn’t find it worth the filler space.

So I was really excited to head on to something more exciting: the sandwiches.  The sandwiches are the bulk of the Brew Pubs menu, and each one is distinct and alluring.  Each choice sounded great, so it too me awhile to decide.  Since the Brew Pub is rated as having one of the best Vegetarian menus by Nuvo, I decided to try something on the greener side.  I chose the Spinach Melt.  This sandwich was a wonderfully creamy blend of spinach, sour cream, and water chestnuts grilled on sourdough bread with monterey jack cheese and a tomato.  The outside was crisp, browned and toasty, while the inside was warm, cheesy and creamy.  The spinach blend reminded me a lot of spinach dip, so much I could’ve asked for a side of chips and dipped them in the mix!  On the side comes pickles and lettuce, if you so choose to top them onto your sandwich.  Each sandwich also comes with potato chips.  I was a disappointed that the chips were actual chips—pretty much just Ruffles.  I would’ve been happier had each sandwich come with French fries of some sort.  If you want to substitute with those, you do have to pay extra.

The second sandwich I tried was the Lawnmower Chicken.  The name itself makes you’re interested peaked, right?  This baby is a tender breast of chicken marinated in their Lawnmower Pale Ale served grilled, beer battered, or fried.  I chose it grilled, to save more room in my stomach.  The chicken was juicy, and the marinara gave it an extra kick.  Make sure you ask for specific topping though.  The sandwich itself is good, but adding some extra toppings like onions, lettuce, and tomatoes makes it great!

And the last sandwich I tried was the standard: The Brewpub Burger.  The burger was grilled medium-well, topped off with melted pepper-jack cheese, and topped off with lettuce, pickles, and a tomato.  The sourdough buns that both sandwiches, besides the Spinach melt, is soft, tasty, and dusted in flour.  The meat patty is a small portion, and could’ve been a little bit juicier.  And man, if that burger had come with complimentary fries, it would’ve been so much better.  But chips it was.  I just really missed using ketchup.

But I’ve gotta hand to Broadripple Brewpub: the do the outdoor seating thing well.  The servers are quick, the atmosphere’s casual, and you can look right out onto the Monon Trail.  When the sun comes out, and the weather is fine, you need to get right up, and move on over to Broadripple.  The Brewpub is a great, traditional standard, but has interesting choices that you can try with each visit.  This is a place I’d visit again.  Next time though, I want to try their beer.

842 E. 65^th St.

Indianapolis, IN 46220

(317) 253-2739

Hours: 

Mon-Thurs: 11am-midnight

Fri-Sat: 11am-1am

Sun: 3pm-10pm

Five Star Ratings

First Impression: 4

Atmosphere: 4

Food quality: 4

Bang for your buck: 3

Bathrooms: 3