Steak ‘n Shake
http://steaknshake.com/

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading my Facebook news feed and I saw a post by my brother noting how he had just had a great lunch at Steak ‘n Shake and topped it all off with a Nutter Butter milkshake.  In case you didn’t know and you probably don’t unless you’ve read my review of the Dairy Queen Nutter Butter Blizzard that I did last year, I feel that Nutter Butter cookies are the most underrated cookie that there is.  In my mind, they are better than Oreo cookies. I know a lot of people don’t feel that way, but that’s just my opinion.  Anyway, after reading my brother’s post and having no prior knowledge that these existed, I knew I HAD to get my hands on one of these as soon as possible to give it a shot and compare it to the Dairy Queen Blizzard version.  I know milk shakes are different from Blizzards in some respects, so it’s only a loose comparison.

You may wonder why I’d put of a review of something like a milk shake, but since I’ve put up plenty of reviews of ice cream places, yogurt places, milk shakes, Blizzards, McFlurrys, etc. around here, meaning that me reviewing one of Steak ‘n Shake’s newest milk shake offerings shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise, so here we go…

What I Got:  Regular Nutter Butter Milk Shake; $3.49.

This is a “premium” milk shake (as opposed to chocolate, vanilla, etc.), so this one costs a bit more than a standard milk shake.  I was willing to pay the price for Nutter Butter though, so as this seemingly gigantic, ice cold glass of milk shake arrived at my table, I was anxious to dive in.

As you can see the top of the milk shake is littered with ground up Nutter Butter cookie bits piled on top of whipped cream.  Underneath the whipped cream is milk and vanilla ice cream.  All of this is topped by a cherry and frankly, I’m not quite sure why I’m describing how a milk shake is built.  What I should be talking about is the taste and honestly, I was majorly let down.  The Nutter Butter dusting that you see on top is the only Nutter Butter in the entire milk shake.  There’s nothing mixed in the shake, there’s nothing at the bottom of the shake, there is just nothing.  All this really consists of is a vanilla shake with a tiny bit of Nutter Butter on top.  I was expecting a mix of Nutter Butter throughout the glass, but instead, all I got was a tease at the top and that tease was clearly not enough to give this a strong Nutter Butter taste, even after I mixed all the cookie bits in myself.  What a letdown.  The vanilla part of the shake was fine, but really, there’s not a whole lot for me to say here…it tasted like a thick vanilla milkshake.  What faint amount of Nutter Butter I did get was nice, but there just wasn’t enough.

Would I Buy It Again?  NO, not unless they allow you to basically order it with more Nutter Butter stuff on top (and maybe they do).  Frankly, I was mad and disappointed after this and the fact that my waitress hyped this up in my mind talking about how good it was when I ordered it made me even more upset.  The whole idea of this milk shake is so much better than how Steak ‘n Shake delivers it.  This is a failure on all ends and the only reason I bother to bring this review to this blog is so that you readers out there don’t make the same mistake I did and waste your money on an inferior product.  If you still want to try it yourself, see if they’ll let you order it with an extra heaping amount of cookie bits so you don’t end up as disappointed as I did.  I’m not going to risk it though and I’ll just steer clear of ever trying to order this again.  Chalk this one up to another case (recurring theme) of the enjoyment of a ice cream-related product directly correlating to the person that made it and not necessarily the product itself (perhaps).

I like Steak ‘n Shake in general, just not this milk shake as it was served to me.  Too bad.  Now, if only Dairy Queen would bring back their Blizzard version, I would be in heaven.

-IndianapolisEater

Hardee’s
http://www.hardees.com 

I rarely order chicken fingers because I always think that they are something that kids or really bad dates eat.   However, I got a sheet of Hardee’s coupons and noticed that they have Buffalo Chicken fingers featuring Frank’s Red Hot sauce.   I am a big fan of Frank’s Red Hot sauce.  I like a few dashes in my mac and cheese, eggs, you name it.

What I Ate:  Hand Breaded Buffalo Chicken fingers; small combo was $5.60 ($3.99 with coupon)

Upon opening the box, they were not messing around with the sauce.  The fingers were doused in it.  On a “Grubbing on the Go” scale (via Grub Grade) I would give these a zero.  They are actually served with a fork and knife.  I really thought highly on the quality of the tender though as the meat looked exactly how it should and not very processed.   As a comparison, the breading was thinner than the Prime Cut tender at Arby’s.  However, the problem is that the sauce didn’t allow any crunch from the breading to carry through as the breading was soft.    As a quick note, the tenders were served with standard ranch.

Would I Buy It Again?  I would try them again, but they need to have crunchy breading for this to work.  For a fast food chicken finger, I thought the quality was on point.  If I was to get anything Buffalo from Hardee’s, I would probably go with a sandwich instead.  I didn’t love them, but I also didn’t hate them.  However, if I need a Frank’s Red Hot fix, this would work.

-wibia

Taco Bell
http://www.tacobell.com/

When I first heard about the idea of a Doritos taco shell, I thought why hasn’t this been done before and why did it take this long? Taco Bell had a great idea and I knew it was sure to drive traffic into their restaurants. I am not a regular visitor to Taco Bell preferring the Qdoba and Chipotle’s of the world and I am a burrito guy but the idea of a Dorito taco had me willing to make a rare visit to Taco Bell. There are two versions of the Doritos Loco Taco with the regular costing about $1.19 depending on location and the supreme at $1.49.

What I Got: Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme $1.49

The only difference in the regular and supreme version of the Doritos Locos Taco has the supreme including both tomato and sour cream. Being on a strict calorie count, I ordered the supreme to get the tomato but passed on the sour cream. Other than the Doritos shell, you are paying 50 cents more a taco just for the shell. The taco I received was fresh and the Dorito shell was crunchy. It is served with a cardboard holder to try and limit the amount of cheese you get on your hands but I found this to not really be needed as the taco shell seemed to have less cheese than a Dorito chip. The taco had the typical ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato combination a typical Taco Bell taco has on the menu.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes for the regular and No to the supreme. With all the ingredients included in a Taco Bell taco, there was little taste gained by having the Dorito shell. I cannot justify paying 50 cents more for a few tomatoes and glob of sour cream. I would be willing to try the regular again to see if the taco shells share the same consistency in cheese coating. If you like the regular taco at Taco Bell, you can’t really go wrong with this taco but I cannot say it is worth a trip to Taco Bell to try it or worth the extra money for the Dorito shell. My prediction is the Doritos Locos Taco will disappear from the menu in less than a year.

-EatHSE

Buttitta’s Pizzeria
12664 East 116th Street
Fishers, Indiana 46037
http://www.buttittaspizzeria.com

I was sitting at home like a loser on a recent Saturday night wondering what I was going to have for dinner and one of my dork friends kept texting me about how he was going to have an awesome night of eating Ale Emporium pizza and wings at his house since his wife was out of town and he was at home watching their infant daughter.  After thinking about it for a while, his pizza and wings dinner started to make me hungry for the same thing, so I decided I had to get my hands on some as well.  Since I wanted something that was not a chain and also something that was from a place I had never been, I was led to Buttitta’s Pizzeria.  Buttitta’s is a small family-owned shop that replaced a previous pizza place in the same location and their specialty is thin crust, New York-style pizza.  Their tagline is “Real Italian, by Real Italians!”  With that kind of tagline, you’ve got to be intrigued, right?  So, I ended up going to their store (they do have in store dining for about 40-50 people, by the way) and ended up ordering up some pizza and wings from their moderately diverse (for a pizzeria) menu.  When I was leaving with my carryout, one of the servers asked me if this was my first time visiting and I said it was and she said that I was going to love it.  With that ringing endorsement (there was also a decent crowd dining in the store), I was anxious to get home and try it out.

What I Got:  Individual (10″) Fungi Pizza; $11.95, as well as 15 chicken wings; $10.50 ($0.70 each).

Let’s start with the pizza first.  I was feeling frisky, so I went with one of their gourmet pizzas called the “Fungi.”  The Fungi is made up of mushrooms, sausage, onion, garlic olive oil and mozzarella cheese and when I saw those first two ingredients, I knew I had to have it because those are my two favorite pizza ingredients.  Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize when I ordered because my reading comprehension skills are obviously lacking is that the garlic olive oil is actually the “sauce” for this pizza.  That’s right, this pizza does not have tomato sauce.  Oops.  When I opened up the box, I’ve got to say that I was very disappointed that there was no tomato sauce, but since this was caused by my own stupidity, I’ve got no one to blame for this but myself.  That said, the pizza did smell DELICIOUS and once I got past the lack of tomato sauce, it wasn’t that bad.  The ingredients that were on the pizza were delicious and the sausage and garlic provided a nice spice and kick to the flavor.  The crust itself was thin, flavorful and flexible like  you would expect a New York-style pizza to be.  Unfortunately, the lack of tomato sauce ruined this one for me and I didn’t like it.   That one’s on me though and not Buttita’s, because everything was executed exactly like they said it would be.  It was just a matter of personal taste.  By the way, a 10″ individual pizza (I question that measurement) is not a good sized pizza for someone that is a fairly decent eater like myself.  It almost felt like I was eating a small appetizer.  Just another disappointment that I had to chalk up.

Next up was the chicken wings and as you can tell from the picture, these are some healthy sized wings so that was a major positive.  They’re also baked as opposed to fried wings.  There’s also no breading on these as it’s just the crispy skin, so I suppose that makes them “healthier” when you compare them to a lot of wings that you get at other places.  They are also seasoned with what I believe to have been garlic and Italian herb seasoning, but I could be mistaken as the flavoring was not powerful enough for me to discern their flavor.  What got me on these though was that they offer several dipping sauces on the side (I chose honey and sweet barbecue sauce; FYI, the sweet barbecue sauce tasted exactly like Sweet Baby Ray’s), but the wings themselves are served “naked”.  I was definitely not expecting that, but again, my lack of reading comprehension skills probably screwed me over on that one.   Regardless, these large wings were tender, meaty and flavorful, so that was very welcome and an excellent taste for my meal.  Also, since these were baked, they weren’t greasy like you might expect from chicken wings (that’s not grease in the picture, it’s one of honey dipping sauces that I spilled), so that was a nice change of pace.  All in all, I wouldn’t rate these wings as being as good as the Ale Emporium’s wings, but they are pretty darn good and definitely better than most places, especially anything you are going to get from a chain delivery place.

Would I Buy It Again?  Have you ever gone to a place that you just know is good but you ordered the wrong thing and didn’t like what you had?  That’s what happened to me at Buttitta’s.  I didn’t like the pizza that I had and the wings were fine, but I just know that if I ordered a more traditional pizza, I’d definitely have a better experience and for that, I’ll say that I’m going to give it another shot before I issue a final yes/no answer.  I have a feeling that this may turn out to be a yes, but I don’t want to say anything official until I actually find out.  That said, judging by the cult like following that it had from its guests and servers, I would definitely say that you should give it a shot and see what you think of it yourself.

-IndianapolisEater

The Lakehouse Tavern
20805 Hague Road
Noblesville, Indiana  46062

I’ve been looking at my past several reviews and I’ve noticed that most of them two things in common:

1.  I’ve reviewed a club sandwich or some sort of derivative.

2.  If it wasn’t a club sandwich, it was a wrap of some sort (or a club wrap).

I’m starting to think that I only really eat two things and maybe I should start another blog called either “Club Sandwiching Around the World” or “Wrapping Across Indiana” or maybe a mix of the two because I’ve seemingly become the wrap/club sandwich beat reporter here on this blog.  Absurd.  Anyway, I was at The Lakehouse Tavern in Noblesville recently watching some NCAA tournament action and you can probably guess what I got (especially since you’ve seen the picture at the top of the post).

What I Got:  East Coast Buffalo Chicken Wrap (that may not have been the exact name, but I had consumed a couple beers, so sue me), a side (I chose waffle fries, YUM) and a pickle; $8.99.

It was a little dark in the bar, but I got the best picture I could with my trusty iPhone 4 camera (not sure Steve Jobs would be proud if he were still alive).  As you can hopefully see, the wrap contained fried buffalo chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and blue cheese dressing (the menu said ranch, but I substituted due to personal preference) inside a tomato basil tortilla.  Not sure how all of that entails “East Coast”, but who am I to argue naming semantics, despite the fact that I seemingly do it all the time on my other blog at CrazyFoodDude.com.

Taste-wise, this was about what you’d expect, although I will note that the buffalo sauce used on these chicken tenders had a bit more zing than a lot of the buffalo chicken wraps that I’ve sampled over the years.  There was more pepper in this buffalo sauce and while I appreciated that because I like things that kind of knock you over with heat, a lot of people would not.  The one saving grace for that though is that the lettuce, tomato, cheese and blue cheese dressing are all there to cool you off and they certainly did that in this wrap.  The tortilla, while adding some additional flavor, was really a non-starter here, although it certainly did bring something more than a boring flour tortilla would have.

As a quick note, the waffle fries were seasoned waffle fries and brought an additional punch to the entire meal and I absolutely love that since I’ve professed my love for Rally’s fries on this blog before.  My question is, why don’t all place (or at least more places) serve seasoned fries, waffle or otherwise?  They are so much better than just basic fries.  I just don’t get it and it has been something that has started to drive me batty, although that doesn’t take much.

Would I Buy It Again?  Sure, why not?  Not the greatest wrap that I’ve ever had (I’m not even sure I could name the best), but certainly one of the better ones that I’ve had in recent memory.  Combined with the seasoned waffle fries, this was an above average meal that I’d be pleased to order again.

One complaint I do have though is the parsley garnishment on the plate in order to make it more “artistic.”  Several other friends also ordered food and their plates had this garnishment as well.  It’s completely absurd, in my opinion, and I just don’t understand why someone would do it, especially in a bar.  Rant aside, still a decent meal though.

-IndianapolisEater

Monon Food Company
6420 N. Cornell
Indianapolis, Indiana  46220
http://www.mononfood.com

Monon Food Company has a prime location in Broad Ripple, a solid following and has made it past the first year.  I have been there a few times as I have a group of friends that are regulars.   They have a taco menu and a regular menu that has everything from sandwiches to entrees.   On my first trip, I tried the fish tacos.   Great in concept, but something was not on point and I couldn’t put my finger on it.  This time, I went for the sandwich side of the menu.

What I Ate:  Pulled Pork Sandwich; $7.69.  Potato salad was $1.50 extra and I scammed some Mac and Cheese from my girlfriend.

Upon arrival, it looked good, smelled good and the produce was fresh.  I thought that it was odd that lettuce and tomato were on a barbecue sandwich, but whatever.   The barbecue sauce was Kansas City-ish style.  Not that hot or sweet and pretty thick.  I wonder if it is made in house.  The sandwich wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t memorable at all.   I surely have had worse, but I have had better as well.  The pork was pretty lean, I barely could find any fat at all. It was a kind reminder that if barbecue is not the core of the business, I should skip it.

The potato salad was fresh, but again…I didn’t love it either. The mac and cheese was worth the price of admission.  The keep it pretty basic as a side.  My only complaint is that it could be cheesier and less oily.  It all depends on what cheeses they are using and they weren’t listed on the menu.

Would I Buy It Again?  It is a toss up.

Here is what I like:  Great location, locally focused, casual, interesting menu, honest pricing, most sides are really good, feels healthier than most places, good service.

What I don’t like:  The food could be a step better.  I have been there three times and liked everything that I have tried (excepts the chips and salsa, which were embarrassing), but nothing is memorable.

The bottom line, it reminds me of so many restaurants here.   Good and trying to do the right thing, but it would be awesome if…

-wibia

Arby’s
200 Noble Creek Road
Noblesville, IN 46060
www.arbys.com

I sat here racking my brain and seriously can’t remember when the last time was that I went to Arby’s. It had to have been over five years. And in cleaning out my wallet last week I inexplicably had an Arby’s gift card. It ended up having $5 left on it, so why not? I can’t remember exactly why I stopped going, but I never really hated the place or anything. Maybe it was to punish them for those gawdawful “Good Mood Food” jingles I’m subjected to about 5,831 times a day.

What I Got: Ultimate Angus Philly, $4.99 (sandwich only)

From the website: “Close your eyes and take a bite, you’ll feel like you’ve been teleported to the City of Brotherly Love. We’ve taken our juicy, lean premium Angus beef and topped it off with fire-roasted onions and peppers, melted Swiss and tasty aioli spread, all served on a toasted Philly roll.”

I’ll dispute a two things in there.

1. The meat wasn’t juicy. It was dry.

2. The melted Swiss and “tasty” aioli spread aren’t on “top” of the dry angus beef. I was presented with the sandwich open side up, as you can see in the picture. I’d guess it was sitting there prepared for a long time, because the Swiss and aioli had gathered together at the bottom of the bun. Thus, the dryness of the meat at the top couldn’t be masked. I tried to flip it over and get the wet mixture to seep over the beef, but it was just a lost cause. Then again, maybe it wasn’t made ahead of time. It’s entirely possible they slopped in the cheese and sauce before the meat, which could have contributed to its dryness. Whatever it was, it sucked.

Also, I didn’t dig the Swiss/aioli combo at all. It didn’t taste like a Philly I’ve had from many other places. Not that it has to, in fact, I’m sure they were shooting for unique. But it just didn’t do it for me.

Would I Buy It Again? Maybe I should’ve been a little more coy with my assessment above, eh? The anticlimactic conclusion is absolutely not. I don’t know if it will be another five years or more than ten before I hit Arby’s again. What I do know is that next time I go there, I’m not straying from the ol’ standby (for me, at least) Beef N’ Cheddar. They can’t really screw that up, can they? I mean, unless they only put the cheddar on about one-forth of the bun. After the Angus Philly experience, I wouldn’t be surprised. If I do want a sub from the immediate area around my house, I’ll continue to hit up Firehouse.

-Show

Hearthstone Coffee House & Pub
8235 E. 116th St.
Fishers, Indiana 46038
http://www.hearthstonecoffee.com

For months in the Fall of 2011, I drove past the Hearthstone location in Fishers and watched its slow transformation. Opening just after this past Christmas, I have been looking forward to it giving Fishers a new local gathering place a try. Their Facebook page is active and there are constantly new photos posted showing this place to be busy in the evenings with live entertainment multiple nights each week along with trivia nights and open mic nights. For St. Patrick’s Day, Jameson shots will be the special with no minors after 4:00 PM. When the Starbuck’s drive through was packed, I decided to stop by and give Hearthstone a try for breakfast.

What I Drank: Large Tanzanian Peaberry Coffee; $2.50.

I like bold “diesel fuel” coffee with enough caffeine to get any sleep-deprived human rolling in the morning and Sumatra at Starbuck’s is usually my choice. I ask what the strongest coffee they had brewed that morning was and the Tanzania was poured for me. At $2.50, it is slightly more expensive than a Venti at Starbucks. However, I would be more than happy to pay that extra any day with the quality of the travel cup their coffee was served in. The container was firm and there was no flex to the lid making you feel like the lid would pop off at any time like a Venti at Starbuck’s. The coffee was bold but smooth and did not have any of that burnt taste you sometimes get from a Starbuck’s. The Tanzania is one of the best cups of black coffee I have had and I will go back for more.

What I Ate: Flatbread Caprese; $2.99.

The Caprese is a toasted flatbread with melted mozzarella, egg white, fresh basil and fresh tomato slice. I am a meat eater but decided to go with the healthier option since I was on my way to work from the gym. The tomato was ripe and fresh and it was toasted just long enough not to make the tomato mushy but still melting the cheese but not allow the egg to get rubbery. I really enjoyed having something different for breakfast that was somewhat healthy.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes. I enjoyed everything that I ordered and the service was friendly and local. Hearthstone fits a unique niche in Fishers providing quality drinks including some interesting specially cocktails, shoots and a wide range of coffee drinks you would find at any other coffee house while offering a limited food menu and keeping the focus to what they do best. Drinks and entertainment. One addition they could provide to their drink menu would be to add and specialize in serving good Irish Coffee. It is one of my favorite drinks and would make it a destination for many people. I sent an email to their owners to see if they offered them and they were just not on the menu or if they would consider adding Irish coffee to the menu. Their website indicates they want feedback and I think it is disappointing that I have not gotten a response. So yes, I would buy it again but will not give it a full endorsement until Irish Coffee hits their menu.

-EatHSE