Asia Bistro
7426 Fishers Station Drive
Fishers, Indiana 46038
http://www.asiabistrofishers.com

It what is becoming almost a monthly Sunday night tradition, it was time for me to venture out again for some Chinese takeout and since I was spending some time with my mom and her husband at their house, we decided to try out one of the relatively new takeout places in her area, Asia Bistro.  Since it was my first time trying the place, I decided to go with one of my “testing” Chinese dishes and got…

What I Got:  Quart of General Tso’s Chicken (comes with white rice); $8.95.

As you can see from my very “arty” photo, the dish comes with a quart of General Tso’s chicken mixed with broccoli and then a smaller pint sized container of white rice.  Visually, there’s not a whole lot there.  The chicken bits were covered in a sticky sauce and there were noticeable red pepper flakes in the sauce on the chicken (you can also see them on the broccoli in the picture above).  One thing I did notice that the chicken was particularly soft and the breading of the chicken was also soft as well.  I’m all for tender chicken, but not for mushy breading, so I was little worried as I got ready to eat this one.

My worry subsided a bit, but I can honestly say I was not particularly impressed with this version of General Tso’s chicken.  It’s not that it was overwhelmingly bad, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly good either…it was just edible.  The thick sauce was neither overly spicy, nor overly sweet, but instead somewhere in the middle.  When you order something like General’s chicken, you’d like the sauce to be one of those things (I prefer the spicier version), but this one was neither and that was a big disappointment.  As suspected, the chicken was tender and that was nice, but the breading was soft and doughy and since I like a bit of crunch in my General’s chicken, I really missed that.  All in all, this was just boring.

Would I Buy It Again?  No to the General’s Chicken and probably not to Asia Bistro.  Just too boring and not really worth a purchase.  If I want Chinese food, I don’t want to be bored by it and Asia Bistro gave me that sensation.  The name of this place is deceiving, because this is not what you think of when you think of “bistro quality” food.

As an aside on some of the other menu items, my mom and her husband got different dishes and my mom’s response to her Shrimp with Lobster Sauce was “I’ve been eating this for forty years and this is the worst I’ve ever had” and her husband’s response to his Roast Pork Lo Mein was virtually the same as my review of my food as he said his was “bland.”  Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a place, eh?

-IndianapolisEater

Mexico City Grill
11653 Fishers Station Drive
Fishers, IN 46038
http://www.mexicocitygrill.com

Saturday night brought me to a restaurant location that EatHSE has reviewed on this blog before, Mexico City Grill.  I have been to this restaurant several times before and always ordered the same thing, so I figured I would mix it up a bit this time and order something different and do a review.  I reiterate the chips and salsa part of his review, so I’ll just stick to what I got as my entree and here we go…

What I Got:  Pollo Loco; ~$9.50 (can’t remember the exact price and the menu is not posted online for me to verify).

My outstanding three years of Spanish in high school tells me that Pollo Loco loosely translates in English to “crazy chicken” so I was handed a seasoned and grilled chicken breast served with Mexican rice, lettuce, two avocado slices and pico de gallo.  Served on the side were three warm flour tortillas (not in the photo).  If you can’t tell in the picture, this chicken breast was pounded thin and when I say thin, I mean extremely thin.  Frankly, it was so thin that it was borderline comical and I’ve got to say that I was disappointed in how absurd it was.  I guess the thinness of this chicken breast was the loco part because no one in their right mind should pound a chicken breast that thin unless they are telling a joke.

I was disappointed in the flavor as well because while the seasoning was nice, the chicken breast was pounded so thin that it probably took about 7.3 seconds to grill and that was about 2.5 seconds too long because they dried this one out quickly.  When I was able to mix the chicken with the rest of the plate in a flour tortilla it was palatable, but once I ran out of tortillas and had to start eating just the chicken breast, I was pretty disappointed because not only was it dry, but it was also tough.  What a major, hardcore disappointment.

The remainder of the dish was pretty much standard stuff.  The avocado slices were nice and I always appreciate that and the rice, while fluffy did taste as if it was made in a big batch and then kept in a warmer tray for a long period of time.  Thankfully, it hadn’t dried out yet and was still flavorful with a bit of spice too it, but it was nothing to write home about.  The pico de gallo had a slight tang, but again, nothing to write home about.  All of this stuff wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either.  It just existed.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes to Mexico City Grill, but no specifically to the Pollo Loco dish.  I have had good meals at Mexico City Grill (the dish with seasoned pork chunks is my go-to dish, but I can’t remember the name and the lack of menu stops me from looking it up), so I’ll just stick to the stuff that I know well and like and not venture out again next time.  I know that there is a large seafood tortilla that my mom and her husband swear by too, so they do have good dishes here.  Unfortunately, I chose one of the dishes that is not one of those good ones.  Oh well, you live and learn.

-IndianapolisEater

The Roost
7371 East 116th Street
Fishers, Indiana  46038
http://www.sahms.com/index.php?cID=74

Some of my friends and I have started a tradition within the past couple years where we take it easy on New Year’s Eve and do our partying on New Year’s Day while watching football.  This past New Year’s Day was the second year that we have done that, so naturally after a day of adult beverages, I was feeling the need for a nice, greasy breakfast and that led me to meet my mom and her husband at The Roost in Fishers (part of the local Sahm’s restaurant group).  EatHSE has previously reviewed The Roost, so I felt that I should order something different from what he got so that we can get some blog review variety and that led me to…

What I Got:  Jose Salsa Skillet; $7.69.  ”Two poached eggs served over chorizo sausage, hash browns, fresh salsa, and topped with mozzarella and cheddar cheese.  Served with warm flour tortillas.”

You can’t really tell in my picture because of my expert photography skills and also the way the dish was constructed with everything piled in a skillet (I would estimate it was roughly eight inches in diameter), but I can confirm that all the ingredients listed in the menu description were in fact present.

In terms of taste, a lot of the ingredients were difficult to distinguish (the two different types of cheese, for example), but when all added together this was a tasty dish.  With my tortillas (think one large tortilla cut in half to make two), I made two breakfast “burritos” by scooping the contents of my skillet into each one.  When I bit into my homemade burrito, I immediately tasted the spice of the chorizo and being that spicy food does not affect me in the slightest bit most of the time, I rather enjoyed this little kick.  My next immediate taste was the salsa and I can’t confirm for sure, but I do believe The Roost’s claims that it was fresh because the tomatoes had a nice firmness to them and it felt like they added a little onion and cilantro into the salsa to add a little extra zing.  This was all topped off by the mix of eggs and potatoes and then topped by two gluttonous melted cheeses.  Basically, this was a comfort food classic treat with a hint of Mexican flair and after a long night of consumption, this is a nice mix.  My only complaint is that somehow this dish lacked a bit of salt (I’ve come to like my potato products to be extra salty), but a few shakes of the salt shaker quickly solved that problem.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, I would.  A lot of times breakfast can just be a compilation of bland foods thrown together and without the chorizo and salsa, I think this skillet would have fallen victim to that.  But, when you add in those two key components to bring an extra spice and zing to the dish, you really end up with a winner that I would recommend to anyone that can handle a little spice in their life.

-IndianapolisEater

Golden Wok
8350 East 96th Street
Fishers, Indiana  46037

We’ve been doing a lot of Chinese takeout place reviews here recently and that is a good thing, but I always appreciate knowing about good Chinese food.  That said, have you ever tried to find one that actually delivers?  It seems like it would be an easy task, but when you live in the Castleton area like I do, it’s really not.  On a recent Saturday, I was having auto issues and therefore was kind of tied down to having food delivered because I didn’t feel like cooking.  I didn’t want pizza, chicken wings or any other sort of concoction that a pizza delivery place would offer and I was feeling like Chinese, so I embarked on a quest to find a place that delivered.  After calling five different places, I finally found a place that delivered:  Golden Wok.  I had Golden Wok years ago, so technically this is not a “new” review, but since it has been so long, I would classify this as basically a first time offering (later when I got their menu after the delivery, it said they were under new ownership, so it ends up that this could be classified as a new review).

What I Got:  Roast Pork Lo Mein combination dinner; $6.99.  Includes entree, pork fried rice, egg roll and egg drop soup.

I’ve discussed how I test out a Chinese place on a first time visit before on this blog and using that criteria (“staple” dishes like General’s chicken or Lo Mein), I decided to order one of my basic standby orders, Roast Pork Lo Mein.  As you can see from the picture above, the Roast Pork Lo Mein combination comes with quite a variety of food and frankly, it comes in HUGE portions.  On the size-to-value scale, you definitely are a leg up on the competition here.

Unfortunately, that’s where any legs up ended because this food wasn’t even average.  It wasn’t horrible, but I would classify it as below average.  If a “C” grade is average, then I give this a “C-”.  The Roast Pork Lo Mein itself was bland, dry and the meat was tough.  The pork fried rice faced the same problems and that was not appetizing at all as it was as if I was chewing on crunchy, not fully cooked rice as opposed to soft,  pillowy rice as I would prefer.  The egg roll was also one of the greasiest egg rolls that I’ve ever had in my life and I honestly felt like taking a shower after eating it to get all the grease off of me.  Yuck.  The only thing that I found even remotely appealing about all the options was the egg drop soup and frankly, it was just average at best.  It lacked salt (a recurring theme in ALL the items) and the broth was a thick texture, which was unexpected and sort of odd.  The best compliment I can give the soup was that at least it was hot.

Would I Buy It Again?  No.   Huge portions are a good thing sometimes when they are good, but in this case, all the huge portions did was give me more bland, flavorless food to eat.  I definitely was not excited after this meal and I don’t think anyone else would be either.

The problem here is that it may be the only delivery option in my area and that could be a major problem.  Does anyone else know of Chinese places that deliver in the Castleton area?  I’d be indebted for life if someone could help me out here because I’m sure this won’t be the last time that I’m feeling lazy and don’t want to go get my own Chinese food.

-IndianapolisEater

Cafe Korea
7262 Fishers Crossing Drive
Fishers, Indiana  46038
http://www.cafekoreaindy.com/Default.aspx

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never had Korean food.  I’ve always been curious about it, especially with all the Korean taco food trucks popping up nationally, but have never been curious enough to make the leap to check it out.   But, on a recent Saturday night, so families members and I were looking for somewhere different to eat and since they live nearby, we decided to give this one a shot (none of us had eaten Korean food before).  I’ve seen several positive reviews on this place before both in print and online, including this one at Indianapolis Restaurant Scene, so I was anxious to try this out.

Before I dive into the taste of the food, I have to say that the waitress/owner was perhaps one of the friendliest people that I have ever met.  She’s obviously familiar with the fact that there are a lot of people like us that have never had Korean food before, so she was more than willing to help explain the food and her culture to us, no matter how ugly of Americans we appeared to be.  So, service gets an A+++++++.

What I/We Got:  Seafood Pancake (Appetizer); $12.99 and Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop (Entree); $13.99.

We were going to start with two appetizers, one of which being this seafood pancake, but our extremely helpful server told us that would not be a good idea.  Thank goodness she did because although my photo does not really show proper perspective, this seafood pancake was about as big as a small pizza.  There were three of us and there was definitely enough for us to have second servings for each of us.  As for the taste, it was just okay.  The potato pancake and green onions were tasty, although they need an additional salt component (the pancake was served with soy sauce on the side, but not even it brought enough saltiness to the table).  The odd thing about this pancake was the pieces of squid scattered throughout the pancake.  I’m not against squid, but I’m certainly not a fan of it and every time I encountered squid while working my way through this one, it was extremely disappointing.  The squid, as it often can be, was very tough and chewy and when mixed with the relative flakiness of the pancake, that’s not really a good mix.

Next up was my entree that was listed under the “Favorites” portion of the Cafe Korea menu.  Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop is a dish made of pieces of beef and thinly sliced vegetables including bean sprouts, cucumber, carrots, cabbage and spinach served on top of a bed of white rice.  Then, this mix is then topped with an over easy fried egg and served in a PIPING hot earthenware pot.  When the dish arrives, you are supposed to mix everything together in order to get the egg yolk to spread and also because the pot is so hot, the rice will burn and stick to the bottom.  On the side, everyone is served a multi-compartment dish that includes cold spinach, cold bean sprouts, spicy cucumbers and spicy kimchi (cabbage).  Also, you are given a bottle of Sriracha-like hot sauce to top your dish.  Of course, since I am a hot food freak, I bathed mine in hot sauce and then stirred everything together.

In terms of how it tasted, well, it wasn’t outstanding, but it wasn’t bad either.  Much like the pancake, this really, really needed salt.  The thinly sliced beef was a little tough, but everything else was cooked perfectly and made a harmonious dish.  The problem was that there was nothing really particularly wonderful about it.  The thing that this dish really did have going for it was the egg yolk.  Every time I encountered some of the yolk mixed with the rice, beef and vegetables, it was creamy, warm and quite good.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough egg yolk to cover for the entire dish and was a downfall.

As for the sides, they were all good and I particularly enjoyed the spicy cucumbers and kimchi as they were both covered in spicy sauce and handsomely dressed with red pepper flakes.  The odd part about all of them, at least to me, was that they were served cold.  I’m sure that is part of the food culture, but it was something that my ugly American tastes did not expect.

Would I Buy It Again?  This one is a tough one.  While I didn’t dislike anything I had, I also wasn’t the world’s biggest fan.  Personally, I would say NO to buying it again.  Just not my cup of tea, so to speak.  That said, I would encourage everyone else to give this place a shot to see if they like it and/or can find a favorite dish.  It’s a small locally owned business by extremely friendly Korean business people that are trying to spread their culture to their little pocket of Fishers and I encourage everyone to help them stay in business by giving them at least once chance.  I’m certainly glad I/we did give them a chance because they deserve every bit of help they can get.

-IndianapolisEater

Happy Dragon
11670 Commercial Drive, Suite 400
Fishers, IN 46038
www.happydragonfishers.com

In the last month, two new Asian/Chinese restaurants have opened in Fishers including Asia Bistro and Happy Dragon. In this first of two reviews, I take a first look at Happy Dragon.

What I Ate:

Crab Rangoon (6): $4.39.

It seemed like this Crab Rangoon was the standard fare frozen kind that was just tossed into the fryer.  I would pass on this and go with one of their many other options like their fried dumplings.

Fried Dumplings (8): $4.79.

Nice size portion for the price and fried with just a bit of crispiness but not crunch.  Dipping sauce was soy based and nothing special, yet the combination worked well.  Above average dumplings and portions size earns my recommendation here.

Shrimp Lo Mein: $5.79.

The older I get, the more I appreciate a simple, but good lo mein.  The noodles were cooked perfectly and the sauce covering was enough to provide a lot of taste without overdoing it and making it runny like you find at other places.  A good quantity of shrimp that were not overcooked and veggies had nice crunch.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  I enjoyed what I ordered and their large menu leaves plenty of other options to try.  Prices on average seem a bit lower than other local completion, service speed was reasonable and the cleanliness of the facility was above average.  I will be revisiting Happy Dragon after they are more established to try some other menu items and see if the standards remain high.

-EatHSE

[Pic quality is a little lacking; it was dark in there and the iPhone 4 did not like that.]

Stacked Pickle
11621 Fishers Station Drive
Fishers, Indiana  46038
http://www.stackedpickle.com

This is our second review of the Stacked Pickle.  The first one was done by wibia and was for the Carmel location.  This one is for the newly opened Fishers location.  I was there on a recent Saturday night for my first visit ever and was anxious to try it out.

What I Got:  Burger & Wing Combo; $9.49 (it was on special that night, so usual price is $10.49).  The combo is made up of the burger of your choosing off the menu (I chose the Black & Bleu burger), four wings of any flavor (I chose teriyaki) and fries.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  I love blue cheese.  Because of this, the Black & Bleu burger had my name written all over it for my menu selection.  I ordered it medium rare and at first glance, it appeared that they kitchen did an excellent job cooking it to that temperature because you could still see some of the juices seeping out.  That was definitely a check in the positive column.  Also on the outward appearance side, the burger was served with two nice sized slices of bacon and a heaping of blue cheese.  If this was a burger beauty contest, this one was performing well so far.  So, how did it taste?  I would definitely say well above average.  It was quite good in fact.  It was meaty, cooked perfectly and served with just the right amount of toppings (toppings also included lettuce, tomato and onion).  With its size, I would have been happy with just this burger for dinner, but since I don’t like wasting food, it was on to the wings!

First glace at the wings was telling me that these guys do not serve you skimpy wings and I LOVE it when businesses do that because it means that they care about not screwing their customers over and charging high prices for tiny wings (I’m looking at you Buffalo Wild Wings).  As for the taste, the teriyaki was just okay.  It wasn’t spicy and it wasn’t sweet, but it was somewhere in between.  I was expecting either spicy or sweet and when I didn’t get that, I was disappointed.  Still, these were tasty wings and I would not discourage anyone from ordering them.

The fries were just typical fries.  It was a nice sized portion, but they were nothing to write home about.  As you can see from my photo and from previous reviews where I’ve been busted for it, I rarely treat fries as anything other than ketchup delivery vehicles and these did the trick for that.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes to this combo and yes to the Stacked Pickle.  This was a healthy amount of food and one special, it was a great price and value too.  Even at the regular price of $10.49, I still think this is a good value and a good buy, so go for it.

This was also a nice establishment with walls full of televisions and sports memorabilia.  It’s non-smoking all day and kid friendly until 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays (not sure about other days), so you can take the family here for some grub and a game.  They have bands or DJs on the weekend and are open until 2:00 a.m. on those days, so if you are looking for a late night hang out, this could be an option for you too.

-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