If you read my friend’s blog, Indianapolis Restaurant Scene, I am the “very indecisive friend” of this review.  The reality is that Erin usually recommends bullshit places that include fruit as a side and serve crepes at lunch.  I am a man, I eat like a man.

Big Daddy’s is the food equivalent to the Miller High Life commercials.  Very straight forward bar food done really well.  The servers call you “honey” and smell like Aqua Net.  This is about my fifth time to Big Daddy’s and I ventured out of my usual go to of Beef Stew and went for their tenderloin.

What I Ate:  Breaded Tenderloin Sandwich; $7.99.

I have had half a tenderloin from here before, so this was my second time.   This is a really good tenderloin.  My only issue is that this one was pounded a little too thin for my taste and it was a bit dry.  A swipe of mayo would put it back on track.  The odd part about this tenderloin is that they use Corn Flakes as the breading.   It makes the sandwich really crispy and a bit sweetish.

Chips are out of the bag and the bun is nothing to talk about.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, to both Big Daddy’s and the tenderloin.   It is not my favorite tenderloin in the city, but it is in my top five.  I really like Big Daddy’s.  The service is friendly, the food is always good and I wish that I had a reason to go there more.

-wibia

I thought about writing a list for the Super Bowl, but Indianapolis Restaurant Scene did a nice job on her site.  Let me add a few things.

First, EAT A PORK TENDERLOIN SANDWICH!  It is our state sandwich.  You have to ask your server if it hand cut or frozen as some restaurants believe that it is acceptable to pass of a frozen pork fritter as the real deal.  If your sandwich is perfectly round and not awesome, you probably got duped.

Second, if you are looking for a few of our favorites in downtown or Broad Ripple, check these out (reviews linked where applicable):

Downtown

*Kilroy’s Bar & Grill (get the Stuffed Breadsticks)

*King David Dogs (this is a review of the airport location, but there is one downtown too)

*Scratch Truck

Broad Ripple

*Zest

*Fat Dan’s Chicago Style-Deli

As a side note, we have some of the worst Italian food in the country.  If you are visiting (especially from New York), there are probably better options for you.

That should take care of you.  All in all, if you are from New York or New England, I think that you will walk away pleasantly surprised.  Our food scene is respectable and our downtown is a lot of fun compared to other Midwestern cities.

Enjoy our city!

-wibia

Jason’s Deli
4130 East 82nd Street
Indianapolis, Indiana  46250
http://www.jasonsdeli.com

Jason’s is still relatively new to the capital city and I was slow to try it.  The menu online was kind of boring, so I decided to wait for a while.   I was going to the Nordstrom Rack to find some sweet threads for cheap and I can’t shop for anything on an empty stomach, so I had to make a pit stop.  Plus, they have free ice cream.  The only thing better than free ice cream is free love.  Depending on who’s giving the love, I might even take ice cream.

What I Ate: Half New York Yankee and salad bar.  Cost, with a soda was around $9.00

Anytime that I want a salad bar, my body is begging for some greens.  The salad bar was pretty decent looking.   I didn’t get the all you can eat option, so I loaded it up with the one trip that I had.   The bread was horrible and quickly discarded.  The produce was relatively fresh, but the ingredients seemed pretty cheap.  Bacon and cheese were definitely lacking in quality and I didn’t like the Italian dressing.   I didn’t hate it, but I would never come here for the salad bar alone.

I had to get past the idea that the sandwich is called the New York Yankee, as it is named after the most BS baseball team ever.   I see my Google stats and I don’t think that I am losing any fans saying that.    The New York Yankee is made up of hot corned beef, pastrami, Swiss cheese and mustard or mayonnaise, all served on rye bread.  The rye and the meat were the quality that I would expect from a chain.  It didn’t offend me, but definitely not the real good stuff.  I prefer for the cheese to be a little melty, but that was not the case here.   The good news about this sandwich is…huge!  This was a half sandwich and I could barely knock it down after my salad.

After my meal, I decided to gorge myself and make a kick ass root beer float with the free ice cream.  Well played and it hit the spot.

Would I Buy It Again?   Sure, why not?    I didn’t love what I had, but I didn’t hate it.   Considering that I had a salad, huge sandwich, chips, pickle and a root beer float for under $10, I thought it was a good value.    I like to think about what I would compare it to and if you like McAlister’s, Paradise or Panera, you will probably be fond of Jason’s.   However, at Paradise, you get an awesome cookie and here you get ice cream.  Kind of a toss up.

-wibia

Granite City Food & Brewery
150 West 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
http://www.gcfb.net/

Every now and then you just feel like eating a huge meal and being fat.  That feeling happens to me more than I’d like, but I try to control it by limiting myself to no more than two giant meals a month.  If I didn’t do that, well, we’ve been there before.

Anyway, I was experiencing one of those moments a while back and that led me to Granite City Food & Brewery for their Sunday Brunch.  I’ve been before and didn’t do a review, but since I’ve told so many friends about this offline, I figured that it was time to share with my blog friends as well.  FYI, WIBIA has been there before to review their non-brunch food items and has been there for brunch as well.

What I Got:  Sunday Brunch; $14.99.

Here’s a link to the menu their brunch offerings on their site, so I’ll spare listing them all out and just hit what I got and took photos of.

When you first arrive, they bring out a plate of caramel rolls and that’s what you see in the picture in the top of this post.  They bring one roll per person and these things are about as big as your head.  If you know anything about nutrition at all, you know that cinnamon rolls are just about the unhealthiest thing in the world, so when you are getting a giant cinnamon roll dripping with warm caramel sauce to start your meal, well, you might as well throw your calorie counts out the window for the day and/or week.  In terms of taste, these things are soft, sweet, gooey and basically the most sinful  and delicious thing you could ever eat in your entire life.  Frankly, you could stop after this and be okay, but I had to get my money’s worth in this meal!

After gorging myself on a caramel roll, plate #1 was a stop at the make-your-own Eggs Benedict station with assorted meats, cheeses and vegetables and as you can see above, I was definitely not shy about my creation.  They have a cook working there that will construct everything to your liking, so I chose a mixing of just about everything they had on the line (by the way, that’s a sausage patty under the poached egg).  Ha!  Unfortunately, while it looks delicious, it really wasn’t all that great.  The hollandaise sauce was flat and since this was a make-your-own station, a lot of the food had been sitting for a while so it wasn’t fresh/crunchy.  It’s too bad too, because when done right, Eggs Benedict is awesome.

Plate #2 wasn’t exactly healthy either.  From top in clockwise direction, you’ve got hickory smoked bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy and then baked reggiano hash browns.  Let’s start with the bacon and I’ll use one word to describe it:  delicious.  First of all, it’s extremely thick and that is awesome.  Secondly, it straddles the line between being too soft and being too crunchy…in other words, perfectly cooked.  The peppery kick from the seasoning added a nice bounce to the bacon and frankly, I can’t say enough good things about it.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the biscuits and sausage gravy.  The biscuit was pretty standard, but the gravy was pretty weird.  First of all, it could have used more flour because it wasn’t particularly thick.  Secondly, it had more of a yellow-ish color instead of your traditional white coloring and that was not something that I would ordinarily expect.  As you can see in the picture, there’s also little specs of red and green in the gravy and that comes from the pepper and herb seasoning that they put into the gravy and I can honestly say, I was not a fan.  Peppery and spicy sausage gravy is something I don’t mind…I prefer it in fact, but that is usually a black pepper heat.  The spice in this gravy was more of a red pepper flake spice and zingy (nice word) and I was not a fan of that.  Granite City gets points for trying to be different here, but it just didn’t work.  The last item on the plate is the baked reggiano hash browns and once again, one word describes these:  delicious.  The reggiano makes these things thick and creamy and also adds a nice salty bite to the mix in general.  It also makes them creamy and when you add in the fact that these were baked to add some crunch, you get a bit of heaven.  If I had the recipe for these, I would seriously make them at least once a week because these are the best hash browns that I’ve ever had in my life.

Plate #3 brought one of my favorite foods in the world, prime rib.  In addition to that, in clockwise fashion again, we had garlic mashed potatoes, more baked reggiano hash browns and some salad.  Let’s start with the prime rib…all I can say is that I had such high expectations and left so disappointed.  First of all, as you can see above, they carve it paper thin and that is just ridiculous since this is a buffet and you can have them add more and more prime rib until you get enough.  What a joke.  Dissertation aside, the problem with thinly slicing prime rib is that it ends up with no juices and that affects your product and honestly, the roasts that they are using for their prime rib roast are not particularly high quality anyway.  It lacked flavor and when combining that with thinly slicing it, it really makes this a loser and a huge disappointment in my mind.  The garlic mashed potatoes were good, but there’s not much of a point wasting a lot of time on them.  They were creamy and had a nice garlic kick and I appreciated that.  Outside of that, there’s not a whole lot to say.  I’ve already covered the hash brown, so I’ll just say that there’s a reason they made it to the second plate.  As for the salad, I had to be healthy at some point, right?  LOL.  On a side note, if you manage to sneak up to the carving station while the carver is away, you can cut yourself your own piece of beef so that can get a little extra juice/thickness and not get the shaft like you would from the regular carver.

The Sunday Brunch also had a make-your-own station for waffles and French Toast (the slices are absurdly thick) as well, so you can hit those as well (I have on other trips for the brunch) and the toppings for those include, various jams, syrups, whipped creams, candy toppings (chips, Heath bars, M&M’s, etc.) and it’s definitely a good thing to have for kids or the little kid hiding inside of you.  They also have various other items on their buffet such as sausage links (enormous), pastas, vegetables, pastries, fruits, soups, etc.  Basically, if you attempted to try some of everything, there is no doubt you’d gain fifteen pounds before you exited.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  At $14.99 for a lot high quality food, you really are getting one of the best brunch buffet options that I’ve ever seen (keep in mind that I’ve never been to Las Vegas).  The prime rib may be substandard at best, but the quality of everything else more than makes up for the low quality beef.  Heck, I might even spend $14.99 just to eat one of those sinful caramel rolls again.  Dear lord, I’m drooling on my keyboard now…

FYI, Granite City also offers a Saturday brunch with some different menu items.  It’s more of a stripped down version of Sunday’s and I think it costs less too.  Saturday’s brunch menu has a make-your-own omelet station and that is the primary attraction.  All you need to know though is that they have the caramel rolls and the hash browns on Saturday too, so you’d be more than set no matter what day you choose.

-IndianapolisEater

Through a review done by me and comments by other readers on that post and also in other posts, our love for Black Diamond Barbecue has been shared on this blog many, many times.

So, when I was watching the news this morning and saw that Fox59 is putting together a deal this week starting this Thursday, January 12th, as part of their weekly “Be Our Guest” promotion (think Groupon-like), I knew I had to make mention of it on the site to drive traffic to Black Diamond.

Quite simply, you can buy a $50 gift certificate for Black Diamond for $25 starting at 7:53 a.m. by visiting this link.  The deal includes two $25 gift certificates.  The certificates expire within six months and there’s only 200 of them available, so you’ve got to buy them and use them quick!

So, if you want to grab a deal the best barbecue that I’ve had in the city of Indianapolis, make sure you visit the Fox59 site starting tomorrow and snatch up one of the deals.

-IndianapolisEater

It’s that time again!  Starting this Monday, January 9th and running through January 22nd, Indianapolis’ annual winter celebration of downtown restaurants is returning once again.

If you are unfamiliar with Devour Downtown, several downtown restaurants band together to offer special menu items, special/discounted pricing, etc. in order to attract business to their establishments.  The only catch is that you have to order from that specific Devour Downtown menu (They’ve even added a mobile website this year as well in order to make it easier for you to access info on your phone as well.  Isn’t technology great?!) in order to get that special pricing.  If you don’t, well, it’s just like any other visit to the establishment.  FYI, some of these establishments are offering special lunch menus, so you can check those out as well.

If it seems like it is at a different time this year, well, that’s because it is!  It’s usually held a bit later in the winter, but they are doing it early this year due to the fact that there’s this sort of a big game that’s brings all sorts of festivities with it in the first week of February that is going to clog up downtown.

We’ve reviewed several of the restaurants that are participating, so if you have any questions or are curious about a particular establishment, feel free to check out our Review Archive for a little advance scouting.

Devour Downtown Winterfest ends on January 22nd, so make sure you get there between the 9th and the 22nd if you want the experience.

-IndianapolisEater

Ale Emporium
8617 Allisonville Road
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250
http://www.ale-emporium.com/ 

Ale Emporium has become a staple to Castleton dining and rightfully so, because it is really good bar food.  They have been serving up quality food and craft beer since I have been in Indy (2001).  I used to go there to get and Anchor Steam and a slice of pie.  Not much has changed in the last decade.

We have talked about their Hermanaki wings.  I love them, but I can’t figure out why they can’t make them cheaper than $18.50 for a large order.  Their pizza rocks, lets chat…

What I Got:  10″ Pan Pizza ($10.50) and 14″ Pan Pizza ($19.00).   This is a 10” with bacon and ham.

I didn’t in fact order this, my on-again/off-again friend Taco did.  He is married now, so I will assume that this is the last pizza he will get with these toppings.  With a diminishing man card, I have a feeling he will be adding veggies to his pizza.  Time will tell.

They call this pan pizza, but I am more comfortable calling it Chicago Style.  This is nothing like the pan style that you get at Pizza Hut.  Crust, then meat, then cheese (a ton of it) and then sauce.  Perfect.

When you have this amount of meat, the crust can get soggy from the oils and fat, but not here.   Still a knife and fork pizza, but the crust held it’s consistency.  The cheese was stringy enough that you had to cut it with the spatula when served on the plate.

The toppings were quality, the sauce was rich, but not too much because Chicago style is really about the cheese.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  To all of their pizzas.   No matter what crust you choose, you will be happy.  Their pizza is outstanding.  It is a cool place to chill and they have a great beer selection.  However, don’t try to order a fancy drink.

And lets do this…

HALL OF FAME.  Yeah, it has been a while.  They have possibly the best wings in the city, a great beer list and one of the best traditional and Chicago style pizzas in the city. Plus, they have bands, and I give props to any bar that supports local music.

-wibia

Maria’s Pizza
1106 Prospect Street
Indianapolis, Indiana  46203
http://www.mariasoriginalpizza.com

Maria’s Pizza is located in historic Fountain Square.   They have been open since 1955, so I figured that they must be doing something right.   Pre-show to see The Healing Sixes at Radio Radio, I decided to stop by and give it a try.

It was a Friday night and they had a piano player and a sax player knocking out jazz standards.  I was digging that, and it’s a nice touch for a pizza joint.  Tables were scattered around and there were a few couches by the fireplace as well.  It seemed like there is a better seating arrangement to fit more people in.  The place was pretty much full.

What I Ate:  Medium Sausage and Pepperoni.  I can’t remember the price specifically, but it was around $12-$13 range.

The pizza took 45 minutes to arrive.  Plus, Maria’s does not serve alcohol.  It is a rare occasion that I am out on a Friday night and there is not a drink in my hand for 45 minutes straight.  Tragic.  They were apologetic that it took so long and kind about the wait.

Toppings were strategically placed on the pizza.  The sausage was tasty and didn’t feel like the normal mass produced chain sausage.  The pepperoni was buried between the cheese and dark red sauce.  Nothing special there.  The crust was thin, but not foldy/bendy like NY Style.  It was flaky/buttery and stiff-ish with very little bend.  Not my favorite type of crust by any means.

Would I Buy It Again?  Probably not.  It surely wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t anything that I would travel for.  I liked the jazz duo and the place was homey and friendly, I just didn’t love the pizza.  Based on the audience and the recommendation from a friend, there are plenty of people that enjoy the pizza here and it is surely worth a try.

-wibia