China Wok
11681 Brooks School Road # 7
Fishers, IN 46037-9758

With more time on my hands during the summer to eat out and try new places, I have begun a mission to find a place that offers consistently good Asian cuisine for a reasonable price in the north suburbs and far north side of Indianapolis.  The first stop in this series of reviews is China Wok in Fishers.  China Wok was busy even at 8:30PM on a Tuesday night and has a commonly found large menu of over one hundred menu items.

What I Ate: Crab Rangoon (6); $3.00

Too often I find Crab Rangoon over deep-fried with too small of a pocket of crab in the middle.  This Crab Rangoon had neither of those problems and the only problem I had is that I wish I had ordered my own instead of sharing with my wife.

What I Ate: Curry Chicken with Onion; $8.95 a quart with steamed rice.

I like spicy food and the first thing I did was scan the menu for spicy options.  With about 25 spicy options on the menu, I had plenty to pick from.  I am always hesitant to get curry at a place that does not focus on Thai food but decided to give it a shot.  The curry in this entrée was not overdone and provided some good kick.  The problem I had with this entrée was the ratio of onions, 50-60%, being too high in comparison to the chicken.  I love onion and this dish had several kinds including green and yellow, but in the end, the ratio of too much onion to everything else left me disappointed.

What I Ate: Shrimp Lo Mein; $7.45 a quart.

My wife went with the Lo Mein and I will admit, I rarely get Lo Mein as it I find most places serve it lukewarm or with the noodles are overdone.  China Wok is an exception to the rule.  The noodles were done perfectly and they had a good ratio of green onion and other greenery to compliment the noodles.  Some places skimp on the shrimp but I found shrimp with almost every bite.  I only wish I had gotten my own Lo Mein.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes. Prices for quantity are comparable to other restaurants and it is always a bonus to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  I like how you can stand near the counter and see your food being made fresh in what is a clean and well-kept kitchen giving me confidence in the quality of the food I am purchasing.  Although I was not satisfied with the Curry Chicken & Onion, there are many other spicy choices on the menu to pick from in addition to the above average Lo Mein and Crab Rangoon that will have me retuning to China Wok in the future.

-EatHSE

Jim Dandy Family Restaurant
2301 Conner Street
Noblesville, IN 46060
http://www.jdrest.com/

I love breakfast.  It is my favorite meal of the day and I am always on the hunt for places that offer something out of the ordinary.  I have driven by the retro looking Jim Dandy in Noblesville countless times and decided to take my family to give it a try.  I am 35 years old and on this morning, I was at least twenty years younger than the rest of the customers.  A busy breakfast on a weekday morning is usually a good sign.  As I sat and observed the surroundings, it was clear that many of the retired customers were on a first name basis with the waitstaff giving the environment the welcoming small-town feel.  Service was outstanding throughout the visit with my coffee never getting less than half full.

A breakfast bar?  Yes, for $5.00, you could have eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits and gravy and a variety of other choices.  Although perfect for evaluating a lot of food, we arrived near the end of the breakfast bar hours and fresh food was no longer coming out so I passed and went to the menu.

What We Got:

Denver Omelet $5.99 + $1 for Hash Browns

The Denver is one of just a few specialty omelets on the menu and all omelets come with a choice of pancakes or an English muffin.  I did not want either and would much rather hash browns be one of the options for $5.99 but chose the English muffin in this case.  The English muffin was clearly toasted on the griddle to perfection and went well with my coffee.  In comparison to most breakfast restaurants, the hash brown serving size was small but was thin and had the perfect crispy like crust that make hash browns one of my favorite breakfast foods.  The omelet was also thin the way I like it and had plenty of green pepper but not so much that it overpowered everything else.  The ham used seemed of lunch meat quality, yet it still worked.  I like how Jim Dandy puts some of the ingredients on top of your omelet to sort of dress it.

The only big problem I had with the food was the cheese used.  It is clear from the squares on top that Velveeta-like American processed cheese was used both on the top and on the inside.  I quit eating that kind of cheese years ago and the amount inside made my omelet taste like a Velveeta green pepper omelet and that is not a good thing.

Bacon and Cheese Omelet $5.99

My wife chose her own combination which allows for up to two ingredients that she enjoyed and would buy again.  Of particular note, this omelet had complete strips of bacon placed inside the omelet.  I like this much better than the bacon bits that become hard or crunchy like you sometimes experience at other restaurants.

Pancakes with Syrup and 5 strips of Bacon $3.99

The pancakes were huge, came out steaming hot and were grilled well with a nicely browned on the outside.  The syrup must be the cheapest stuff they can buy and I would have gladly paid an extra fifty cents for thicker syrup that did not taste watered down.  I am not sure I have been anywhere where you get four-to-five strips of bacon in a meal for $3.99.  An excellent value and my two young daughters demolished this meal with delight.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, we will be going back to Jim Dandy. If no cheese alternative is available for the omelet, I will go for some of the other well priced menu items or hit the breakfast bar.  Yes, they even have a loyalty card that gets you a stamp for every $5 you spend getting a free meal after $50.  I have also heard the fried chicken is good and would like to give it a try.  Overall, service was excellent and the value was high for a small family to have an affordable breakfast.  I am fearful that as their aging customer base passes away, so will the remaining few local diners in favor of chains that lack character and that small-town local appeal that Jim Dandy still maintains long after the end of its drive-in years many years ago.

-EatHSE

Einstein Bros. Bagels
http://www.einsteinbros.com

Einstein’s is my favorite morning place to stop and get a bagel.  No other bagel maker pulls off the Everything bagel with the right combination of garlic, onion and salt like Einstein’s.  The coffee is solid and the service is always fast for me on my way to work.  I recently got some coupons in the mail for some of their lunch items that I have never tried, so I decided to stop in and see if lunch was as good as breakfast.

What I Ate:  Club Mex Signature Sandwich combo; the combo includes their red potato salad but no drink for $6.75.  At $8 bucks with a drink for lunch, this combo was going to have to have to be top notch in taste and quality to earn a Yes rating.

Einstein’s gives you a choice to order your sandwich with a French bread, a regular bagel or bagel thin.  Looking at the ingredients of the Club Mex which included roasted turkey, bacon, pepper jack cheese, ancho mayo and veggies, I decided to go with the Everything Bagel as my bread choice.  The sandwich was dry and lacking enough ancho mayo to overcome how dry the bagel was.  I did not choose to get my bagel toasted and as you can see from the picture, it was overbaked when originally made leaving a burnt taste.  The turkey was no better than average grocery story turkey lunch meat but there was enough to make the sandwich filling.  The vegetables tasted fresh and ripe tomatoes in Indiana in March that are any good was a surprise.

The highlight of the meal ended up being the potato salad.  The red potatoes were not overcooked were firm and chunky as they should be in a good potato salad.  The potatoes were not drowning in the mayo and it had a good pepper and salt seasoning that required nothing additional to make this a good side to what was a disappointing sandwich.

Would I Buy It Again?  No. At $8 for a combo that included a drink, the product was disappointing regardless of whether the bagel itself had not been burnt.  I got my combo with a $3 off coupon making it $5 and even at that price, I’d rather have Subway, which I am not a fan of, for the price.  Stick to breakfast at Einstein’s.

-EatHSE

Qdoba
http://www.qdoba.com

I love gumbo and any other soul food that has some kick to it.  When I saw Qdoba had its own Mexican Gumbo, I decided to pass on my regular burrito and give it a shot.  Most fast food places take anything that traditionally has spice to it and makes it bland and boring for the masses.  I came into my Qdoba with low expectations of their gumbo but was curious to see how different Mexican Gumbo is from my southern favorite.

What I Ate:  Mexican Gumbo, 31 ounce bowl; $6.29

Looking at the menu after placing my order, I realized the “gumbo” was nothing more than their own tortilla soup with sour cream, cheese, and salsa topped with tortilla strips.  Soggy tortilla strips are a turnoff of mine and I generally find that sour cream overpowers the taste so I passed on both adding a half scoop of salsa verde and corn salsa to my gumbo.  Chicken, steak and pork are all available and I went with the pork option.  Overall, the aroma had me ready to go and the bowl was visually appealing when I got home and was ready to eat.

I was proud to have passed on my normal 1200 calorie burrito only to find out later that the bowl of gumbo was 1100 calories.  So much for the low carb healthy approach.  As I ate, I found there to be a variety of flavors in the gumbo and what looked like some kinds of peppers that were so soft like the pork that it almost melted in your mouth.  As I ate, the heat began to build and I found the gumbo to have just the right amount of kick to keep things interesting and meet my need for heat.  As I ate, I never had a spoonful that had a chunk of one ingredient that overpowered the rest of the ingredients finding even distribution throughout the serving.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes. I look forward to getting a burrito at Qdoba and have been reluctant to try anything besides a burrito when I visit.  Being someone who enjoys good southern fare and it being Qdoba, I had low expectations of whether their Mexican Gumbo but thought it would be a lower calorie option.  Although the bowl of gumbo has nearly as many calories as a burrito, I enjoyed the variety of flavors, how tender the pulled pork was and that it actually had some spice to it, which you rarely find at fast food restaurants.  On a cold Midwest day, I would be plenty satisfied with another bowl of Qdoba’s Mexican Gumbo and find it to be a good substitute for Yats Gumbo or the best gumbo in Indianapolis at Black Diamond.

-EatHSE

Taco Bell Quad-Steak Burrito
http://www.tacobell.com/menuitem/Quad-Steak-Burrito

It has long been my thinking that Taco Bell should focus on what it does well and that is providing cheap and fast tacos and burritos.  At about $1.70 less than the Poblano Pesto Burrito I get from Qdoba, I had expectations that this would be a signature product for Taco Bell that would be comparable to other chain burritos but probably not as good at Qdoba or Chipotle.  In this review I will compare the Quad-Steak Burrito to Qdoba’s Steak Poblano Pesto Burrito, a fast food favorite of mine.

What I Ate: Taco Bell Quad-Steak Burrito $4.99

The Quad-Steak comes in at 13.4 oz in comparison to the 23 oz burrito from Qdoba making it more expensive per ounce.  The ingredients are simple including four servings of steak, sour cream, rice, salsa, and cheese.  Comparing nutrition to the Qdoba burrito has the Quad-Steak at 690 calories, 26 g of fat and 2140 mg of sodium to the Qdoba burrito at 1235 calories, 50g fat, and 3035 mg of sodium giving the lower quality Taco Bell Quad Steak slightly more fat and salt per ounce.  Neither will be on the list of anyone watching what they eat.

The appearance of the burrito completely turned me off.  Unlike the Qdoba burrito where you can clearly see the ingredients you have ordered, the Taco Bell Quad-Steak Burrito’s contents looked similar to all of the drop droppings in my backyard after a long winter full of snow.  Unfortunately, the taste did not save this burrito.  The steak tasted rubbery like it was a week old and was drowning in so much sour cream that you could not taste the rice or small amount of salsa included.  I tried adding some hot sauce to balance the source cream but it did not help this burrito disaster.

Would I Buy It Again?  Never! There are many menu items at Taco Bell that are half the price and are at least five times better than the Quad-Steak Burrito.  I enjoy Taco Bell but my guess is that this burrito will disappear from the Taco Bell menu and the sooner, the better.

-EatHSE

Mexico City Grill
11653 Fishers Station Dr.
Fishers, IN 46038
http://www.mexicocitygrill.com (same menu as Fishers location)

Mexico City Grill recently opened its newest location in the recently renovated Fishers Station Plaza at 116^th St. and Allisonville Road.  Fishers has several other Mexican restaurants within a mile of this location makingthe long term success of Mexico City Grill dependent on setting higher standard than its competition.  Since I work nearby, I inquired about whether they plan to offer delivery at lunch and it is not currently part of their plan.

This location was previously a Mexican restaurant and the layout inside has change little from the previous owners. The décor is bright and busy in an attempt to create a festive environment but over the top for my taste.  Having just opened, it was not very busy and the large staff provided quick service to the point I was asked if everything was okay about every five minutes.  It will be interesting to see how the staff handles a full dining room and if the service remains top notch.

What I Got:

Chips/Salsa(free) and Guacamole ($4.99).  You can usually tell a lot about a place by these three staples. The golden colored chips were freshly made and were some of the best I have had anywhere.  The salsa was very runny to the point you could see water separating from the rest of the salsa making it a huge disappointment.  The guacamole can be ordered for $4.99 or you can have it freshly made table side for $8.00.  For $5.00, I was disappointed in the serving size, but the guacamole was the right mix of avocado chunks to its creaminess and is some of the best I have had anywhere.

Burrito del Campo ($9.50).  A fresh flour tortilla wrapped around a combination of steak, chicken, shrimp, cheese sauce and rice.  Topped with your choice of a green sauce or cheese sauce and fresh diced tomatoes.  The steak and chicken were marinated and tender and the burrito included six large shrimp that were just a bit overcooked.  I chose the green sauce and the combination of everything worked well together.  The beans on the plate were standard fare but the rice was very dry and overdone.  Overall, I enjoyed this burrito enough that I would order it again.

Enchiladas Con Crema ($8.99).  With this choice, you get two enchiladas and my wife got one with chicken and the other with ground beef.  They came topped with sour cream sauce and cheese, and were served with refried beans, rice, lettuce, avocado slices and sour cream.  The sauce was make or break, and in this case, my wife was disappointed.  Although I liked the seasoning combination in the sauce better than her, it did not work at all on the enchilada with ground beef but came off better with the chicken.  Between the sour cream sauce and all of the other sour cream, it was a gloppy mess and both my wife and I would pass on this menu item in the future.

Kids Chicken Chimichanga ($4.99). The server forgot to put this in with the original order but had it out to use within a couple of minutes of us receiving our meal.  The kid’s meal was large enough to feed both my three and four year old and came with a chimichanga that my wife liked more than her meal, beans and rice.  The seasoning was simple for kids but overall good value.  The kids menu had many other good options making Mexico City Grill a good family destination.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes. The service was excellent and the food was above average.  Whenever I visit a restaurant in its first couple of days after being opened, I am always interested in seeing if the quality of  food and service changes as they get busier or slower depending on first impressions.  Overall, if I am choosing between Mexico City Grill based on my first impression and the nearby Riviera Maya in the downtown area of Fishers on 116^th Street that I reviewed in May of 2010, Riviera Maya has a better environment inside, a full bar, equally good service, a better range of menu items and higher quality food with better flavor that make it the better choice of two Mexican Restaurants with similar menus and prices.

-EatHSE

Peterson’s
7690 East 96^th Street
Fishers, IN 46038
http://www.petersonsrestaurant.com/

Peterson’s is a locally owned restaurant owned by Joe Peterson that tries to fill the role of the high-end steak and seafood restaurant meeting the needs of those seeking a special night out or the social elite who like to congregate in Peterson’s bar area where live music is often part of the scene.  My first trip to Peterson’s was about five years ago to celebrate the completion of my first 500 Festival Mini-Marathon and I thought a good steak would be a reward for my accomplishment.  On that night, I walked away from Peterson’s disappointed that they could not get a rare steak order completed correctly.  Since then, Peterson’s has hired a new executive chef, Jeff Heaviland, that I had heard positive comments on from other patrons prompting me to give Peterson’s another shot.

Environment:  When you pay the prices that Peterson’s charges for its food, you know that environment is part of the cost.  My wife and I visited on what was a hot summer night and the restaurant was packed.  Unfortunately we felt packed in and the dining room was so hot that I actually sweated through most of the meal and my wife was uncomfortable.  Our table was near the entry way to the kitchen with server traffic constantly buzzing past our table.  We were not off to a good start.  On a side note, lighting in the restaurant is dim making it difficult to get good picture quality for this review.

Service:  When our server introduced herself, she also introduced a second man that would also be our server.  Two servers for one table?  I never was told why we had two but finally figured out that the male server was in training and he was given primary responsibility for our table.  Although he did a good job answering any questions I had about the menu, there was no trust put in him by the more experienced server that was training him.  As a result, she was constantly questioning us on whether we were taken care of instead of asking the other server directly.  Questions were often duplicated by the two servers sometimes less than a minute apart.  Between the hot dining room and the constant confusion and interruptions by the servers, the food was going to have to be outstanding to overcome the negatives of the environment and service.

What I Ate:

Appetizer: Oysters Rockefeller $20

Although I usually prefer raw oysters, I decided to give this baked oyster dish a try.  Peterson’s claims they fly their seafood in daily and these oysters tasted and smelled fresh.  The combination of spinach, cream and Pecorino Romano was proportioned well and had a nice crispy texture from the baking process.  Combined with the freshness of the oysters, this appetizer choice was a big hit and I would order them again without hesitation.

Bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with crab: $ Surprise

My wife loves jumbo shrimp and the idea of them being stuffed with crab and a good sales pitch from our server sold my wife on this appetizer special.  Her order came with three shrimp and they looked well done and my wife enjoyed them enough to order another three with her filet main course.  I decided to order three for myself.  Although difficult to see in the grainy picture with my main course, the shrimp were a good size and tasted fresh.  Unfortunately, they were slightly overcooked and the bacon was hard and overpowered the crab stuffing.  The shrimp I got did not look nearly as good as the same shrimp my wife had has an appetizer thirty minutes prior.  The real kicker came when I got the bill and found out the nine shrimp cost a grand total of $54.  Yes, $6 a shrimp!  Perhaps my rare visits to “fine dining” establishments is showing through here, but I was not expecting this and especially for shrimp that was overcooked.

Drink: Mojito $9 each

With it being so warm in the restaurant, my wife and I both decided to get a Mojito as a cool refreshment. It took forever to get our drinks and when they did come, they we not very cold, tasted watered down and lacked any punch. They were a complete disappointment in comparison to other Mojitos I have gotten elsewhere. Appetizer and a drink had my bill over $90.

Main Courses:

Shark Special: $30-35

Due to my prior Peterson’s experience of not being able to get a steak cooked to what I define rare, I decided to go with a seafood dish.  The server sold me about a shark special that included a combination of peppers and corn topping covered with cilantro on top of white asparagus. Perhaps the server told me the shark included white asparagus.  I honestly do not remember him mentioning the white asparagus and had I heard the dish included asparagus, I would have never ordered a side dish of green asparagus.  I have had shark before and this dense filet was cooked well.  Although the pepper corn and cilantro idea sounded good, it lacked any kind of kick making this dish just average and one I might expect to pay $22 for at another fish restaurant.  After a few bites, I was regretting my order and wishing I would have given Peterson’s another chance to see if they could make a steak that is rare to my taste.

Petite Filet: $29 Peterson’s uses Prime Grade Beef and my wife ordered her 8 oz. filet medium-rare.  After my last experience of getting overcooked steak, I had he cut into her filet and once again, I thought the filet was and overcooked medium.  Although she thought it was close enough for her taste, I would have sent it back.  Flavor of a the filet was just average and did not compare to what I have had at Eddie Merlot’s on 96^th St. or even Morton’s downtown.

Sides:

Au Gratin Potatoes: $9

Peterson’s au gratin potatoes come topped with bacon that was too crunchy and the potatoes were undercooked.  It almost tasted like they were hurried out of the kitchen before the cheese and potatoes had time to meld together.  An easy simple dish not done well.

Jumbo Asparagus: $9

There is nothing worse than overcooked asparagus but Peterson’s got this just right. Although I am sure the Hollandaise Sauce is made from scratch, it tasted no better than what I make at home using a store bought packet at the holidays.

Dessert: Chocolate Bread Pudding $9

My wife and I split dessert and this bread pudding included milk chocolate, pecans, caramel and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  Although I have never cared for bread pudding due to the texture, I truly enjoyed this combination.  My wife who is somewhat of a bread pudding connoisseur, said it was one of the best she ever had.

Would I Buy It Again?  No. With our total bill coming to about $220 for two including a $25 gift certificate, nearly all the food had to be a hit.  Unfortunately, my main course (shark dish) lacked any special appeal, the horribly overpriced and overcooked bacon wrapped crab stuffed shrimp, hot dining room, and annoying service left me walking away from Peterson’s disappointed again.

WIBIA and I both believe Eddie Merlot’s on 96^th Street sets the bar for steak & seafood restaurants in Indianapolis.  Their service is outstanding, environment is always comfortable and service is among the best.  When pricing out a similar meal to the one my wife and I had at Peterson’s, we could have gotten the same food for about $160 saving $80 to $100 on food that is superior in taste.

-EatHSE

Greek Tony’s Pizza and Sub Shop
1732 East 116^th Street
Carmel, IN 46032

For a year, I rented a place near Tony’s and I frequently visited for my ritual Friday night pizza.  Although it does not make my list of top 2-3 pizza places, it is a solid local choice offering a good variety of pizzas that are heavily covered with toppings and a good thin crust.  Although I always carry out, the inside is very casual with a dated décor including checkered table coverings and environment that just does not feel all that clean.  You serve yourself your own drinks and the only service is someone dropping your food off at your table making Tony’s a carry-out destination for me.  On this trip to Tony’s, I decided to try a couple of subs from their large range of choices.

What I Ate:

Tony’s subs can be ordered as a half ranging in price from $4.30-$4.90 or a whole usually around $9.

Stromboli Sub (half):  I am always on the lookout for a good Stromboli and recently had a good one that I reviewed at Lennie’s in Bloomington, Indiana.  The Stromboli at Tony’s was a more traditional Stromboli on a soft white bread that tasted so fresh that it reminded me of bread made in house even though Tony’s does not seem like the kind of place that would make their own.  The Stromboli had a heavy layer of Italian Sausage that had good seasoning and was ground to the texture that I like on a Stromboli.  Although the ingredients listed green peppers and onion, there was so little on the sub that the meat overpowered any taste the vegetables may have given.  The sub had a thin layer of cheese that was sufficient but the sub was very dry with only a small amount of red sauce.  All of this combined with the sub being served lukewarm on a day when they were not busy left me disappointed.

Italian Sub (half):  Although I favor a good cold Italian sub, on this day I decided to try Tony’s toasted version.  Like the Stromboli, this sub was served lukewarm at best.  I tasted the meats individually on this sub in an effort to try and determine what they actually were and what kind of quality they had individually.  I believe the meat on the top in the picture is a Capicola which comes from the shoulder or neck and usually packs nice flavor as a fattier meat.  The quality was low missing most of the flavor that one would enjoy from a good Capicola.  Below that was just a basic pepperoni and my least favorite meat, bologna.  A good quality bologna has potential but this was just some average process bologna you could buy anywhere.

Under the meat was a heavy layer of head lettuce, which for me is always a big turn off.  If that wasn’t bad enough, some of it was turning brown as it was clearly on its last day.  Under all the ingredients was a layer of what must have been 5-6 tablespoons of mayo that shot out from all sides when I took my first bite completely overpowering any other ingredient on the sub making it almost tasteless.  I have had some bad subs over the years but this one ranked among the worst I have ever had and I ended up throwing almost all of it out even after scraping off a good amount of the mayo.  Where were the onions or some vinegar and oil like you find on a good Italian like you might get at Jersey Mike’s?  Dreadful!

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes for pizza, but no for Tony’s subs. When the best part of your meal is the bread, much like the breadsticks at Olive Garden, it is not saying much for the product.  The subs were lukewarm at best when served and either had too much in condiments or too little sauce in the case of the Stromboli, and lack proportional distribution of ingredients as any good sub should have.  If you visit Tony’s, stick with the pizza.

-EatHSE