Cook’s Pizza
14300 Mundy Drive #700
Noblesville, Indiana 46060
http://mycookspizza.com/

I’ve recently moved after spending close to a decade in the same place, so as part of my move, I’ve been exploring the restaurants in my area.  One of those places is a local pizza joint called Cook’s Pizza.  They were established in 1971, but being that the strip shopping center that they are in has definitely not been around since 1971, it’s definitely not their original location.  Anyway, a craving for pizza (and a recommendation from a friend) let me to give them a shot on a recent Sunday Night.

What I Got:  Medium Margarita Mani pizza; $12.00.

What better thing to order from a pizza joint with an American sounding name than a classic Margarita pizza, right?  LOL.  Anyway, joking aside, Cook’s Margarita Mani was described as being topped with basil, tomato, mozzarella and garlic (obviously the crust and tomato sauce are included as well) and I can confirm all those were there, although I was a bit disappointed by the lack of garlic and the basil was a bit more diced up than I would have expected.  That said, I was impressed with the amount of freshly diced tomatoes that were spread throughout (you can see some big chunks in my picture).  There was a lot more crust here than I expected, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

When I took my first bite, I wasn’t particularly impressed.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, but nothing about this pizza made my socks want to jump off my feet.  The sauce, while thick and hearty, was not particularly sweet at all and since I love tomato sauces to trend toward the sweet side, that was slightly disappointing.  The garlic and basil, while somewhat noticeable when you got a piece in your bite, was mostly bland through the pizza.   The two things that were better than average and not bland with this pizza were the crust, the cheese and the diced tomatoes.  The crust was soft and spongy and that was kind of fun to chew through.  After I flipped it over, I noticed that it seemed to have just a slight dusting of pepper in it too, so that brought a little flavor that I wasn’t expecting as well.  It’s spongy quality also made it great for dipping as well, which was kind of fun.

Now, to the other better than average part…the cheese.  This cheese congealed in a way that made it almost creamy and made it delicious.  A lot of times, especially at fast pizza places (Papa John’s, etc.), the cheese can get oily, salty and just plain gross.  Cook’s mozzarella did not do that and I certainly appreciated it.  In fact, it was the cheese that made this entire pizza for me because I very much enjoyed it.  The last part that made this pizza better than boring were the diced tomatoes and I can’t say that I’d had that on a lot of pizzas in my life and it brought a level of freshness to the pizza that I don’t typically see.  Combining those three components together saved this pizza from a life of mediocrity.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, I would.  While it was only slightly above average pizza in the grand scheme of life, it was certainly better than a typical delivery joint.  There are some things that I wish were different about this pizza, but the performance of this was good enough that I’m willing to order from Cook’s again to see if perhaps I can find a better pizza.  If I can’t do that, I at least know that this Margarita Mani will do just fine.

-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

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

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

Mudsocks Grill
14741 Hazel Dell Crossing
Noblesville, IN 46062
http://www.mudsocksgrill.com

I am not sure how to describe Mudsocks Grill and what their target market is.   The interior is pretty nice (think Charleston’s) and their menu has anything from salads, pastas, steaks, sandwiches and a few other entrees.  There was also a list of daily specials.  A quick look at them menu and some parts of it seemed pretty pricey with $12.00 for chicken fingers?   Salads were mostly $10 and up as well.

What I Ate:  Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich with Mac and Cheese; $10.00.

A relative bargain compared to other items on the menu.  The sandwich came with lettuce tomato, pepperjack cheese, mustard and…onion strings.  This is the last time that I am going to get onion strings on a sandwich as they get soggy and they really don’t add anything, except fat and calories.

The BBQ was actually pretty decent.  Knowing that it is not a BBQ joint, I am curious about how they made it.  Either way, I would give the actually meat a 5-6/10.  It wasn’t anything better than what most people pass off as BBQ around here.  The sauce was a little sweet for my liking, but it wasn’t bad nor…awesome!

The server said that I should try the mac and cheese.  Rotini-esque noodles and they tried to pass this off as a gourmet mac.  The cheese was so thick that it was the food equivalent of soft mud.  It tasted just fine, but there was a consistency issue there and I didn’t end up finishing.  It is pretty rare that I don’t finish mac and cheese.

Would I Buy It Again?  Maybe. This sandwich really hit the spot, but I can’t say that it was a great sandwich.  I had a taste for BBQ and I got my fix.

I enjoyed Mudsocks efforts to class up casual food, but while they offer some scratch made dishes, they also offer the southwest egg rolls that every bar has now and a few other items that would be better off the menu.  We had spinach artichoke dip, the aforementioned Southwest Egg rolls and wings for apps and I thought they were all pretty pedestrian.

This is one of those reviews where I didn’t dislike anything that I had, but I surely didn’t love it.  The hunger quest continues…

-wibia

Wolfie’s WaterFront Grill
20999 Hague Rd
Noblesville, IN 46062
http://www.wolfiesgrill.com/

I was in Noblesville spending the day on Morse Lake recently and after a long day in the sun, some friends and I decided to hit up the deck at Wolfie’s for dinner and a few post-lake drinks.

What I Got:  Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, $7.99.

When I received my sandwich, my first thought was “Wow, that is a healthy portion size.”  Being that I was in the sun all day and hadn’t eaten in quite a while, I was quite pleased with that.  As you can see from the picture, the sandwich topped with pickles (the sauce was served on the side) and was also served with what appeared to be homemade potato chips.

In terms of taste, this sandwich was delicious.  The pork was tender, flavorful and not slimy or greasy as pulled pork can sometimes tend to be.  The bun was toasted (and huge) and served as the perfect compliment to suck up the barbecue sauce that I had doused my sandwich with.

The potato chips were also crunchy and delicious as well and if these are truly homemade, they do an excellent job with them.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, I definitely would if I was ever up in the area again.  The sandwich was very tasty and at $7.99, I got a solid value for the price that I was paying as well.

My sandwich did not appear to be an outlier either.  I was with a group of about seven people and all but one of the people was very pleased with the taste of their meal.  The one person who was not very pleased said his food was “okay”, so it’s not like they served us any bad food.

In addition to a good sandwich, Wolfie’s on Morse Lake also has an excellent setup.  Indoors, they have the traditional bar and dining area, but they also have an outdoor deck (you can look at the pictures on their website) that is large and spacious and overlooks the lake.  On a pleasant night like the night that I was there, you can really have a lot of fun.  If I lived closer to here, I would visit quite frequently.

Wolfie’s also has a non-lakeside location in Fishers on 96th Street as well.  It’s a smaller location and doesn’t have quite the setup, but if the food is as good as the Morse Lake location, I may have to start visiting frequently since it is closer to where I live.

-IndianapolisEater

Best Bet Breakfast & Lunch
14300 Mundy Drive
Noblesville, Indiana  46060

This place has been around for a couple years now and I have been a few times pre-blog, but this was my first visit since the blog started and I figured that a review was in order.  The place is a little hole in the wall at the end of a strip shopping center and the whole place is done up in a Las Vegas/gambling motif (which is hilarious by the way).

On my prior visits, this place was kind of hit or miss.  My first visit was outstanding, my second visit was awful and my third visit was mediocre, so the real question is if Best Bet is still unpredictable and I still can’t answer that definitively after my most recent visit.

What I Got:  The Flop (playing up the gambling angle); eggs, sausage patties, potatoes and two pancakes.  Also comes with unlimited toast basket.  $7.25

In this visit, I tried hitting all the different varieties of breakfast foods available as I took a trip to the proteins (meats and eggs) and starches (pancakes, bread and potatoes).  In order to make this easy, let’s tackle this by individual menu item.

Eggs:  I got mine scrambled and it was pretty standard stuff.  They offered to make them with cheese (a nice touch), but I declined.  The taste was pretty much what you would expect of scrambled eggs with no real huge positives or negatives.

Sausage patties:  I saw somewhere on the web that Best Bet uses locally grown pork for their sausage and I could definitely taste a freshness here.  I also have to give them kudos for cooking the sausage so that it maintained some sort of tenderness.  That may not seem like a big thing, but I’ve been to far too many breakfast places that serve you sausage patties that are about as hard as a hockey pucks.  My only gripe was that the patties were fairly thin.

Potatoes:  They certainly don’t win any presentation points with these.  When they came to me, you could tell that they just took the potatoes out of a large batch of potato mush on the griddle (I verified this on my way out) with an ice cream scoop and dumped it on the plate.  Despite the lack of visual attractiveness, these actually did taste pretty good.  They were seasoned with a peppery taste and that did a lot for them because potatoes at a lot of places are usually very bland.

Pancakes:  Again, pretty standard stuff here.  I got the buttermilk variety pancakes (blueberry pancakes were an option) and all I can say is that they made them right.  They were perfectly cooked and fluffy.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, I would, although I will continue to be leery of their up-and-down nature.  There’s not a ton of non-chain, locally owned breakfast places in the Fishers/Noblesville area, so Best Bet kind of wins by default.  Still, the food on my most recent visit was tasty and it was enough to bring me back.  The price was a bit higher than I would like for breakfast, but when you balance that with the HUGE amount of food that they give you with this order, it actually turns out to be a good deal.

One more thing:  As part of their unlimited toast basket,  Best Bet has these little homemade cinnamon and sugar covered donut balls that they serve you (I have had them on prior visits) and they are delicious.  When they weren’t part of my basket on this past visit, I was very disappointed and asked the server what happened.  Turns out that the donuts are only part of the standard basket on the weekdays.  On the weekends, you have to actually request that they bring them to you.  The good news about that is that they are usually warm and fresh and that is huge.  So, my tip to you is to make sure that you ask your server to bring some out to you.  You will not regret it!

-IndianapolisEater

Bella Pizzeria
3855 E. 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana
http://www.thebellapizza.com/

I’ve been on a big pizza by the slice kick recently and being that this place was close to my office, I decided to stop by for lunch one Friday.  Bella Pizzeria is a New York-style pizzeria and has a variety of slices, breadsticks, calzones, etc.   In addition to traditional New York-style thin crust, they also have thick crust pizza as well.

Anytime Special

What I Got:  Anytime Special; one slice of pizza with two breadsticks $6.49 ($7.07 with tax)

As you can see above, I elected the sausage, mushroom and pepperoni combination (my favorite pizza combination, by the way).  The toppings on the pizza were plentiful and tasty, although it did seem that the mushrooms were the canned variety which is a negative.  Despite that, this was a decent tasting slice of pizza.  The only issue with the slice was that the crust was not all that pliable, so when I tried to fold it in half like your customary New York-style pizza, it broke in half.  A definite fail there.

The breadsticks I chose were pepperoni stuffed breadsticks (they also had regular and cheese stuffed) and they were very filling.  Tastewise, they were only mediocre as they were overwhelmed with dough and did not have enough pepperoni and cheese stuffing.  The marinara dipping sauce was also very runny, although it did have a very good and sweet taste.  If it had been a little thicker, this would have been one of the best marinara sauces that I had ever had at a pizza joint.

Would I Buy It Again?  I guess so, but only because it was filling, I like New York-style pizza and it is close to my office.  The prices were a little high for my liking, but in terms of getting something like this for lunch, I guess this will do.  That’s not a ringing endorsement, so if you have other alternatives nearby to where you are that would allow you to get New York-style pizza, I would recommend giving those a shot before you try this one.

FYI, they also have locations at Hamilton Town Center and Clay Terrace Mall.

-IndianapolisEater