Smorgie.com is a new website focusing on restaurant lists similar to Urbanspoon and Yelp.  On the site, you can check out local restaurants and add them to a recommendations list to share with your friends and/or the general public, if you so choose.  It’s backed by Gannett (publisher of the Indianapolis Star and USA Today, among others), so it has some solid financial backing

I did a phone survey and online survey for them last week to help them out (their site is currently in beta testing), but I think they have a decent idea for a product here.  If you want to check out the site, start your own list or contribute content, feel free to go to www.smorgie.com or click on the banner just below.

Thanks again for reading and we’ll have a new review in the morning!

-IndianapolisEater

Smorgie.com – Make and Share lists of Yummy
**This sponsorship is brought to you by Smorgie.com who we have partnered with for this promotion.**

As you may have noticed if you are a longtime reader here at WouldIBuyItAgain.com, our writers occasionally post reviews from other cities as they are traveling for business or pleasure.  It’s because of this that we’ve created a new review category called “On The Road”.  This category will consist reviews from restaurants outside of the Indianapolis metropolitan area and will be an easier way for us to aggregate all of these reviews.

That being said, we are adding a new writer that is going to write almost exclusively for our “On The Road” category named Matt Snyder.  Regular readers may know of him as he sometimes pops up in the comments section as “Show” and actually writes for a living at the Eye on Baseball blog at CBSSports.com, so with that pedigree, the quality of writing work here is bound to go up.  I understand that we are already all Pulitzer Prize quality writers, but it never hurts to get better, right?  I’ve already linked the blog and the website, but if you want a direct link to his work click here.

As part of his job at CBSSports.com, he’s been traveling to cities across the country for the World Series, All-Star game, baseball winter meetings, etc. and will be filing reviews from some of the food joints that he hits in those cities.  It’s a way for us to branch out and also a source for you to do a little research on a restaurant if you were considering going there on a trip of your own.

Just as a little quick background on Matt/Show:  he and I have known each other since he beat me up on the playground in second grade nearly 25 years ago.  Just knowing that is kind of funny, but this makes it a real knee slapper:  I was about a foot taller (I’m still about half a foot taller) than him and still got my clock cleaned!  Not my proudest day.  Throughout the past 25 years, we went to school together, played sports all our lives together and remarkably are still speaking!

So, with that brief introduction, all of us at WouldIBuyItAgain.com welcome Show to the fold and look forward to his first review tomorrow and the reviews to come.

-IndianapolisEater

In what is now seemingly an annual tradition, Chipotle will be offering discounted food to customers that come in on Halloween dressed in a costume.  According to this website, customers will be able to get a $2 burrito if they come in wearing a costume inspired by the family farm (?!) between 6:00 p.m. and closing.  Here’s the text from their site:

“A Bigger Celebration for the Smaller Farms

So, if you have no self respect and/or want to make people laugh, head out to your local Chipotle dressed in your family farm costume and get some discounted burritos!

-IndianapolisEater

Marion County Health Department Website

When talking about food in Indianapolis, this is the most valuable link that you can have. Yes, even more than this site.

I was in Louisville last weekend and they post the grade on the outside window.  Tennessee posts a score right by the entry of the restaurant.  As far as I know, Indiana has nothing.  I looked up a few of my favorite restaurants and I was surprised to see the amount of violations.

I have steadfastly maintained that this website is not a buyer’s guide to the Indy scene, but the Health Department website should be.  In my opinion, any critical violation is unacceptable.  If you have a few too many newspapers in the kitchen, so be it.  Food stored at improper temperature, blood on the bottom of your cooler, not cool.

If you are a restaurant and have zero critical violations, e-mail me at wouldibuyitagain@yahoo.com and I will add you to my Cleanest Restaurants in Indy list.  I will post it occasionally and add a link on my site that anyone can visit.  It will be a self reported list because I am not going to scan the website.

-wibia

Is the subject of a Restaurant: Impossible episode that was done here in Indianapolis closed?  We had a comment on our Snooty Fox post from Ploughman saying this place is closed.  Can anyone else confirm Ploughman’s comment?  I don’t see any news on their website, so I’m curious.

It’s always sad to see a restaurant go, but based on the stubbornness of the owner on the show and also the reports I read of the restaurant’s behavior after the show, I can’t say I’m surprised.

Regardless, if anyone can confirm this information, it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

-IndianapolisEater

I doubt it this is the case, but perhaps some of you have noticed that I haven’t been doing as many reviews around here over the past few months and that’s mainly been a function of budget and dietary reasons.

Since I enjoy doing food review blogging, I’ve decided to expand my efforts into a new site that reviews products that you can purchase at the store and the result of that has been the creation of CrazyFoodDude.com.  On that site, I’ll focus primarily on reviewing “healthy” and/or lower calorie products, but may occasionally venture into the comfort food arena with reviews on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, frozen meals, etc.  The one thing that all products that will reviewed will have in common is that they’ll be available at any retail store (Kroger, Meijer, CVS, etc.).

The ultimate determining criteria as to whether I feel a product is worthwhile will be similar to what you see here at WouldIBuyItAgain.com.  My tagline will be “Buy It” or “Fly By It”, which basically symbolizes what  you should do if you see it in the aisle as you are walking through the store.  As I’ve proven here, I’m no expert when it comes to food reviewing, but maybe having another voice out there will help people decide whether to make a particular purchase or not.

That said, I’m not permanently disappearing from WouldIBuyItAgain.com as Crazy Food Dude is just a side project.  You’ll still see my cluelessness around here for the random restaurant review from time-to-time (I’m sure that just made your day.  Ha!).

First review has gone up today and I’ve posted a detailed Q & A in the “About” page of the blog to tell what it is all about (including the meaning of the name) as well, so feel free to check the site out if you like.

Thanks for reading WouldIBuyItAgain.com and I hope to see you at CrazyFoodDude.com as well!

-IndianapolisEater

Maybe I need to do a better job of reading calendars as these two kind of snuck up on me… 

From September 6th through September 18th, you can take advantage of Northside Nights and Savor the Southside.  These events are similar to Devour Downtown where several restaurants are offering deals at the $30 price point. 

What’s interesting about these two events is that the participants aren’t just clumped together in one small geographic area like the downtown event.  These restaurants consist of establishments scattered across their loosely defined metro areas.  For example, Northside Nights consists of restaurants in Carmel, Castleton, Fishers, Geist, Noblesville and Zionsville. 

For your reference, we have reviewed several of these participating establishments.  Here’s the list:

Northside Nights

Claddagh Irish Pub

Daddy Jack’s #1

Daddy Jack’s #2

Eddie Merlot’s

Mitchell’s Fish Market

OAKLEYS bistro #1

OAKLEYS bistro #2

Peterson’s

Pizzology #1

Pizzology #2

Sahm’s Bar & Grill

Scotty’s Brewhouse #1

Scotty’s Brewhouse #2

Scotty’s Lakehouse

Stone Creek Dining

Savor the Southside

Augustino’s

Fireside Brewhouse

Stone Creek Dining

So, if you are looking to dine with a deal at some quality Northside or Southside establishments, check it out before it ends on the 18th.

-IndianapolisEater

Sometimes our sponsors/advertisers turn us on to good causes and ask us to post information in order to drum up interest.  This post is one of those requests and is referring to a team running in the 2011 New York Marathon that is trying to raise money for cancer patients to help them pay their bills, etc.  It’s a great cause and if you feel like getting more information or donating, you can check out their website at http://www.pixelsofpromise.org/.

Here is the official press release from Team CAN on their participation in the event.

————————————————————————————

Not Called Team CAN For Nothin’

Founded as a not for profit charitable organization in 2003, Team Continuum provides immediate, vital, non-medical assistance to cancer patients and their families. What we do is quite simple, but has a direct, profound effect on their lives.

Team Continuum is honored to be an official Charity Partner of the New York Road Runners. With several hundred entries we are among the largest independent teams in the world-class 2010 ING NYC Marathon. Athletes who did not get in via the lottery or did not register at all can secure their entry by joining the team and registering online at www.teamcontinuum.net. Benefits include coaching, race day gear, and a private pre-race pasta party.

For more information visit our website http://www.teamcontinuum.netor call 917-595-4168.

This sponsorship is brought to you by Team Continuum who we have partnered with for this promotion.