Indianapolis Motor Speedway
4790 W 16th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46222

Race season is a special time in Indianapolis.  People around here have different things they like about the race; maybe it’s seeing a loud, angry band at carb day, taking their kids to see the practices on a family day or hobnobbing with celebrities and local politicians.  I get most excited about going to the track purely for seeing the people, drinking beer outside and eating a tenderloin sandwich.  Seriously.  The fast cars and all that is pretty good, but it’s only part of it.  I go with some friends and neighbors and we have a great time, but I’d be hard-pressed to say what my absolute favorite part of the day is.  After digging into our Marsh box lunches (and trying in vain to trade my baked beans for someone else’s chocolate chip cookie), eating some fried chicken, potato chips and maybe a turkey sandwich, I’m almost ready for the main attraction.  Wait, did I mention I’m maybe four or five beers into my day at this point too?  That’s probably a pretty important factor in this review.

What I Had: I got what I get every year:  a plain pork tenderloin sandwich.  There are no choices as to what comes on it, and it’s six dollars even.  It seems like every year there are none available when I go to get one (usually around section 18 of the paddock) and I have to wait anywhere from five to fifteen minutes.  This year it was five minutes, and that only added to the anticipation of what was to come.  I also had to wait about ten minutes for it to cool down before it was edible.  It didn’t help that it was a hot day.

This sandwich is utterly plain.  It’s a big flat piece of pork, breaded, seasoned maybe with pepper, deep fried and put on a plain hamburger bun.  It reminds me of the burger Ron Swanson recently made on Parks and Recreation; nothing but the basics.  There’s a fixings bar where I wouldn’t touch anything (see how many people are standing there just now?), but when I get back to my seat I spread mayonnaise from my box lunch on the top bun.  The bun only covers about half of the pork, which adds to the presentation, but decreases my mayo coverage.

Would I Buy It Again?  Absolutely. Whenever I eat this sandwich, I enjoy it immensely.  What is it that makes it so good?  Is it the pepper?  The batter?  The smell of the racetrack?  The multiple beers leading up to it?  I think it’s a combination of all of these things.  Buying one the first time was a real gamble as you’re hoping it will be good, but you know the odds are that it won’t be.  But that gamble paid off, with dividends I collect every year.  I wonder whether or not I would ever order one of these without the beer, the track and the excitement of race day, but I’d rather not learn the answer to that question.  For now, I will instead look forward to having this sandwich again next spring.

Do you have a favorite track food that you look forward to every year?  I did see a guy walk by with a turkey leg that looked really good…

-BigRedEater

Tomato Pie
9611 North College Ave
Carmel, IN 46280
http://www.tomatopiebistro.com

Pizza is a magical thing.  It’s a dish that delights the young and the old and it can be prepared in numerous ways with very different outcomes.  And like the saying goes:  even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.  With this in mind, I’m always excited to try a new pizza place.  One place I’ve driven by several times on my way to Broad Ripple is Tomato Pie on College Avenue right near the Interstate 465 overpass.  I’d read a few good comments about it and wanted to try it out. 

What I Got:  A friend and I went for lunch and I had a pepperoni pizza ($10.50 for a ten-inch pizza) while my friend had a stromboli ($8.50). 

The pizza was a reasonable size for a single person and had a nice thin crust.  The sauce was slightly sweet and maybe a bit spicy as well.  The cheese appeared to be fairly generic mozzarella and they were generous with the pepperoni.  It was pretty good pizza, but not good enough to draw me in again just for the pizza.  There are other styles of pizza in town I prefer more, so I probably wouldn’t head here just for that.  I also think it’s a bit overpriced for a lunchtime meal.  For example, Some Guys has a pizza/salad lunch combo for $7.95.  Pizzology also has a lunch special for a measly seven dollars that includes a pizza, salad and a soda.  Given a choice, I think I would go to one of those places instead for both the taste and the value.

My friend remarked on how good his stromboli was and that he really enjoyed it.  It came with plain potato chips (like a basic bagged Lay’s chip) and appeared to have a good variety of stuff inside it with large chunks of pepper and sausage (heartburn at no extra charge!).  They also have a meatball sub in a similar style that I’d like to try in a future visit.

Would I Buy It Again?  Maybe.  I would go there with someone else if that’s what they had a hankering for, but I think I would try one of their pasta dishes next time.  They feature lasagna, meatballs with artichoke, seafood ravioli and several other pastas that looked good.  I would like to try one of those because the only thing better than finding a good pizza place is finding a good lasagna place. 

Outside of the food, the service was also quick and courteous.  There was nothing wrong with the restaurant or with our food, but at the same time, it wasn’t a standout.  Given what I had, I’d give them another chance with a pasta dish.

-BigRedEater

Silver Beach Pizza Company
410 Vine Street
St. Joseph, Michigan
269-983-4743
http://www.silverbeachpizza.com

St. Joseph, Michigan is a beach town on the southeastern portion of Lake Michigan that’s about three hours from Indianapolis.  It’s a straight shot drive up US 31 to get there and the lake and beaches are very pleasant in the summer time.  The town of St. Joseph is quite charming, with almost no chain restaurants downtown, except for Jimmy Johns (?), and also not too many antique stores (I hate antique stores).  This is a very nice town with a lot of character and it’s a great place to spend time with your family.  I also get the feeling it may be okay without kids as the beach seems to have a ton of college age kids running around it.  

Silver Beach Pizza is a restaurant located at the Amtrak train station about a thousand feet from Silver Beach.  It’s a ‘live’ train station too where you can actually take the train from this station to Chicago in under two hours.  We were here with the kids after riding the midway rides at the Venetian festival in St. Joseph on a Saturday afternoon.  This year’s carnies looked distinctively less disturbing than last years, though the carnie that was sleeping in the cart next to us on the Ferris wheel was definitely disturbing.  After riding the rides, we were ready to eat, and despite the pleas from the children, we were not having carnival food for lunch.  What I was looking for in lunch was air conditioning, comfortable seating, and some pizza in a kid-friendly environment.  We definitely found all of that.

What I Got:  We started with the “Nacho Mama” nachos, which was the simplest nachos you can have; corn chips with two plastic bowls of melted nacho cheese. 

While this may not be an acceptable restaurant form of nachos for most people, it was, for three dollars, perfect for little kids.  Our children liked the simple chips and dipping cheese (no jalapenos to navigate around).  I thought they were too salty, but I was in the minority, as I usually am.  This was just enough to take the edge off the kid’s hunger while we waited for the main course.

We then had a medium cheese pizza with pepperoni on half of it ($12.50).  The pizza was actually very good.  It had a slightly sweet taste, and the cheese topping may have had some cheddar mixed in.  The crust was tasty and the serving size was quite good. 

For a family lunch, taking a break in the air conditioning from the hot sun, this was a great lunch.  Also, my wife points out that they had stepstools in the bathroom for kids to wash their hands.  The ambiance was actually much nicer than we would have expected from the fairly modest exterior.  You can eat indoors or outdoors as well.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  I’ve heard from numerous people that this is a favorite pizza spot in St. Joseph, so I figured I’d better try it.  It was a terrific place to eat with children (there were many children, and even stroller storage near the bathrooms); they actually gave the kids little globs of pizza dough to play with while we were waiting for our food.  And the pizza was good enough that I would go back just for that.  They also have an extensive beer list, salads, sandwiches and pasta.  Add all of this to their terrific location right off the beach, and this can round out a perfect summer day with the family.

We also love the town of St. Joseph.  I highly recommend it as a summertime destination, particularly from Indianapolis.  It’s just far enough away that you feel like you’ve gone somewhere, but not so far that it’s a hassle to drive.  The town, weather, and lake are all lovely.  It’s not unlike Cape Cod, except that your dog can drink the beach water, and there are no funny accents (well, except for some of the folks from Chicago).

-BigRedEater

Taylor’s Bakery
8395 East 116th Street
Fishers, IN  46038
(317) 596-CAKE
(also located at 6216 Allisonville Road)
http://www.taylorsbakery.com

Do you like cake?  I do.  Do you hate disappointing, crappy sheet cakes from Marsh?  I do.  If I’m going to eat something sugary, calorie-laden, and bad for me, then I want it to be worth my time.  A chocolate chip cookie from Meijer?  No way.  A cookie from Paradise Bakery?  Absolutely.  So a good store-bought cake is of particular interest to me.  I’ve had too many cheap supermarket sheet cakes to count, but a couple of years ago, a co-worker brought in a cake from a local bakery that was like a revelation.  It was a chocolate ganache cake from Taylor’s Bakery.  I love getting cake for dessert when I’m out at restaurants because frankly, you don’t make cake at home too often, outside of a birthday.  And I didn’t realize you could buy a cake this good somewhere locally.  One bite and I was sold.

What I Got: Taylor’s makes two different ganache cakes (ganache means “a sweet creamy chocolate mixture used especially as a filling or frosting”): chocolate, and strawberry.  They’re $16.75, though Taylor’s sometimes runs sales on them.  I endured the hardship of trying both of these cakes over a single weekend and I solicited the input of my extended family as well to ensure I was getting a realistic view of these cakes.  First, let me describe these cakes:  they include a hard shell that’s almost like a candy bar, layers of cake, layers of frosting and a layer of cream as well.  Their chocolate cake is the closest thing I’ve found to a grown-up version of a Hostess (or Little Debbie, Tastykake, etc.) dessert.  It has all the appeal and variety of textures of a Ho-Ho or Ding Dong, but with better quality all around. No waxy chocolate coating here.  I served a chocolate ganache cake for some friends and their kids for dessert and most everyone at the table was unable to finish their cake because it was “too rich.”  To me, this is the sign of a good cake; you can only have a single piece because that piece leaves you utterly satisfied.  Don’t get me wrong, my kids loved it and would demand another piece for dessert each night, but every night they had a hard time finishing pretty modest pieces.  I think that this chocolate cake is the single best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.  If you’ve had a better chocolate cake, make sure to let me know, because I’d like to try that one too. I don’t mind being proven wrong if it means I find a better cake.

Taylor’s also makes a strawberry ganache cake.  This cake is structured as the chocolate ganache cake is, but everything is white or red.  There are layers of strawberry filling inside and the hard shell is white.  We saved this cake for dessert on Easter, and this proved to be the cake that the family actually preferred.  It’s lighter than the chocolate version and didn’t seem to make anyone feel like they were going to pass out from too much sugar.  I think this is an excellent alternative to a chocolate cake if you’re in the mood for something different.  Everyone at the table, including my mother-in-law (who doesn’t always see eye to eye with me on food), thought this cake was great.  And this was the one my wife would choose to have a piece of for dessert the next night over the chocolate variety.  Also, I like to refrigerate both to maximize the crunchiness of the outer shell.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes, repeatedly.  I will continue to buy both of these cakes as frequently as I can stand to consume them, which is maybe every four months or so.  It’s a lot of cake, and by the time you’ve finished an entire cake off several days later, you’d rather not see one for a while.  But being cake-satiated is a plus in my book.  It’s a state I can never achieve with a sheet cake.

So there you have it.  Two good cakes from an independent local bakery that you can pick up for a modest price.  At $17, with discount coupons ($5 off!) available in the Zoo and Entertainment books, this is a far better value than any cheap sheet cake from the supermarket that’s a buck or two less.

-BigRedEater

Friaco’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina
11680 Commercial Dr.
Fishers, IN 46037
317-578-7511
http://friacosrestaurant.com/

Yet another new restaurant has opened in Fishers, this time across from the Target on 116^th street .   Previously this location housed Stefano’s Pizzeria, which I was sad to see close.  I was surprised to see a Mexican restaurant going in there, as there seem to be so many others around, but was happy to have another to try out.  My wife is not a big fan of El Rodeo (though I like it pretty well) and neither of us wanted to drive to Castleton, so we thought we’d poke our heads in, check out the menu, and see how it looked.  Walking in, it was actually nicely decorated, with the typical Mexican music playing, and we even spotted some friends that looked happy with the meal they were wrapping up.  So we decided to try it out. Sitting down, we were pleased to see that Friaco’s is part of a small chain, with two locations in Illinois, as well as a location in Mexico.  We figured this means they must have some sort of proven formula and know what they’re doing.

What I Got:

We started out with a bean dip appetizer ($4.49), which consisted of a layer of white queso over refried beans.  It was very tasty with chips, but what was even tastier was the salsa they served with the chips.  It had a bit of bite, and was pureed to be smoothly chunky.  But both were very good.

Next, we moved onto entrees.  I love carnitas.  What is there to not love about them?  They’re chunks of fried pork, and hard to screw up.  They’re the chicken parmesan of Mexican restaurants.  So, I ordered the carnitas entrée ($10.99).  They came with rice, refried beans, lettuce and tomato topped with a slice of avocado, which was a very nice touch.  The carnitas were absolutely delicious – the only disappointment was that I could only make it through about half of them.  I might try the carnitas chimichunga next time as that also looks good.

My wife ordered the sour cream enchildas, which we both liked.  They were filled with shredded chicken with just the right amount of seasoning, and topped with a tasty sour cream sauce. They also had rice and beans on the side.  My entrée was not loaded with peppers and onions as per my request (I’m not a big fan of either), but both dishes tasted terrific and far from plain.  We also shared a 27 ounce blue margarita that was on special ($8.99) and which was quite good.  But really, is there such a thing as a bad margarita?

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, absolutely.  Everything we had was very good, and the atmosphere was pleasant enough to make it a nice location for a date night.  Some friends of ours also enjoyed their meal, and dropped off an extra “buy one get one half-off coupon” from coupons4indy.com.  They had signs up advertising that kids eat free on Mondays and $4.99 lunch specials during the week.  There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but Friaco’s hits a sweet spot for us as a great sit-down, slightly upscale Mexican restaurant.  It’s a big improvement over Don Pablo’s.  We’ll be going back there for sure, possibly with the kids in tow.

-BigRedEater