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

Red Robin
13215 Harrell Parkway
Noblesville, IN 46060
http://www.redrobin.com/

Since I’ve decided to give my cholesterol medication the fight of its life, I have a “Red Royalty” card at Red Robin. Yes, I love burgers and if you’re going chain, I don’t think you can beat Red Robin. If I was listing my top 10 chain burgers, I think Red Robin would have at least three of them, if not five or more.

So when I got an email saying that Red Royalty members could currently order a burger that isn’t on the menu but will soon be available on a limited-time basis, I was sold. I was so pumped, you would’ve thought I was a White Sox fan and someone told me we were gonna jump the 80-year-old first-base coach.

What I Got: Big Melt Bacon Burger; $9.99.

This isn’t the first time Red Robin has run this out. The description I tracked down via an internet cache (seriously, I’m doing this detective work for free?) is as follows: loaded with applewood smoked bacon, melty cheddar and swiss cheese on top of sauteed mushrooms, onions and barbeque sauce. Served on a toasted onion bun with fresh lettuce and ranch dressing.

You can tell I’m an amateur because I just dove in right away. I didn’t inspect to see if all the ingredients were the same this time around, but I can tell you there are now fried onion strings on there. The cheese, meat and produce were as stated, and there was definitely some barbeque sauce, but not a lot. As for the ranch, I didn’t really get it. I should have at least looked, so I apologize for that (again, note the cholesterol issue and my affinity for burgers…I wasn’t patient). If they stuck with it this time around, it was so mild it was lost in the shuffle.

The reason I ran to Red Robin the day after I got the email is because everything listed is something I love on a burger. The only worry, albeit incredibly slight, was that there would be too much going it. That worry soaked away on my first bite, just as I let the medley soak over me.

Absolutely everything worked and there was just the right amount of cheese melted along with the BBQ sauce. There were a decent amount of onions and mushrooms under the cheese without it being too much. This was a home run.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes (an emphatic one). In fact, I’m already mapping out when I can do it again, probably within the next few days. It’s now one of my favorite chain burgers, and that’s saying something. It’s probably not for everyone, because that’s a lot of toppings — but if you like all that, this is an absolute can’t-miss.

-Show

Tavern on South
423 W. South Street
Indianapolis, Indiana  46225
http://www.tavernonsouth.com/

Tavern on South got a good amount of press when it first came out.  Some mixed reviews in there, so I thought that I would give it some time to get on their feet.    I like the location as there is ample parking right outside.  The restaurant itself is very nice.  Good pictures of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it is approachable.  You can feel equally comfortable wearing a suit or wearing jeans.

What I Ate:  Tavern Smoked Bison Burger; $11.50.  BBQ Glaze, Bacon on a Brioche Roll.

Let’s make this quick:  I didn’t like it.    Bison is a bit dry compared to 80/20 chuck.  I thought that the BBQ glaze was a nice touch, but there needed to be about two to three times as much on there.  The produce left a little to be desired as well.   The tomatoes were pretty white, the lettuce was a day past fresh.

However, I will admit that that smoked bacon was very flavorful.   They could make a killer BLT with this.

Would I Buy It Again?  Maybe.  The menu doesn’t excite me.  However, I like the restaurant, they have a good beer list and the service was good.  I will give it another try and report back.

-wibia

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

Show-Me’s
724 N. First St.
St. Louis, MO 63102
http://showmes.com/

I wasn’t planning on a visit here, but IndianapolisEater twisted my arm on Twitter the night before (it was only two tweets, but we all know his impeccable sales record). I had been there before, and for those unaware, Show-Me’s is an absolute Hooters rip-off. I remember when a group of us, IndianapolisEater included, went to the original location (this one) about nine years ago and our waitress told us the owner was a former GM at a Hooters and thought he could “do it better.”

Evidently “better” is basically having the waitresses less clothed.

From what I remembered, the food was nearly identical to Hooters (for me, that’s a plus … I love the wings, specifically the breading) and the outfits on the waitresses were eerily similar. Even the tables, plates and everything else was basically the same as Hooters. Fast-forward nine years …

Uh, wow.

It’s funny, I sometimes hear older women whine and moan about Hooters, only to later find out they’ve never even been inside a Hooters. I hate judging things you haven’t seen for yourself and I don’t see how a reasonable person can be overly offended by the outfits Hooters waitresses wear. Yes, they’re tight, but walk around a mall in the middle of the summer. Whatever, it’s a discussion for a different day/website.

If you walk into a Show-Me’s now, though, my guess is that this is actually what the complainers think Hooters is. Just look at the bottoms those girls are wearing on the front page of the website. And the tops I saw in the actual restaurant all revealed way more cleavage than you’ll see on the website. I was surprised there wasn’t a cover charge.

Anyway, let’s focus. I went there for lunch on a Thursday and it was completely dead. My service was fine, but the entire staff was a bit pre-occupied with planning for the evening. Considering it was the day of Game 6 of the World Series, I wasn’t about to be offended.

What I Got: 10 spicy BBQ wings, fries; $6.99.

The wings were Hooters/Show-Me’s wings. We all know what we’re getting there and I was pleased that they were good sized wings and had the signature breading that I love. If you don’t like the breading, you can get naked wings and they’re still better than Buffalo Wild Wings (then again, what wings aren’t?). I do like the spicy BBQ option because I’m completely burnt out on buffalo sauce at this point, no pun intended. It’s just been done to death. Enough already. But I do like spice and I love barbecue sauce, so this option sounded perfect. As it turned out, I was right. I really liked this sauce. If you’re a heat fanatic, these won’t be enough, because the kick was subtle. It was there, sure. You wouldn’t mistake it for Sweet Baby Ray’s (my choice at home) or anything. It just wasn’t overly hot. The chicken meat inside the sauce/breading was juicy and tasty, as per the norm at Hooters/Show-Me’s.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes, I would. It has to be the right fit, of course. There aren’t any surprises here. You’re going to have loud music, sports on TV, girls dressed in basically lingerie and greasy wings/burgers/hot dogs/breaded chicken sandwiches. And plenty of beer (they even had Natural Light on tap, which cracked me up). If you have a group of people who can handle that and want a quick bite of the aforementioned fare, it’s certainly reasonably priced. I’d imagine it’s a great time when busy, too.

As for this location, it’s in Laclede’s Landing, which has lots of restaurants and bars in just a few blocks’ radius and is walking distance from a casino and the Arch. I’d actually recommend this area for bachelor parties with all the bars and casinos (and another important fixture is across the river, if you get me). But that’s not what we’re here for, so I’ll stop now.

- Show

[Editor's Note: Show-Me's is a small chain with several locations throughout the midwest.]

Big Hoffa’s BBQ
800 E Main St
Westfield, IN 46074
http://www.bighoffas.com/

I love barbecue.  As a red-blooded American, I have a special relationship with smoked meats.  That being said, I’m shocked at how long it has taken me to get to Big Hoffa’s in Westfield.  I live down the street from this little locally-owned gem, so I desperately wanted to like it.

What I Got: Half-rack of Baby Back Ribs ($9.49), Half Pound “Meat on a Plate” (Pulled Pork with Fries and Baked Beans) with two Garlic Butter Rolls ($7.39) and a Mexican Coke ($1.79).

First off, take a look at the picture.  I was more than a little disappointed when I saw the ribs.  The sauce (I chose spicy for all meats and found it to be better than the mild/sweet) appears to have been an afterthought on the ribs.  I guess I expected total sauce coverage with a modicum of carmelization. Unfortunately, this presentation suggests that the ribs were held at temperature in a steam table after smoking, then sauced upon order.  Further inspection revealed a sliver of hope. They were stupid tender.  I poked it with my fork, tugged on a rib, and the bone came out clean.  Even further inspection revealed perfect texture – held together but easily separated, not too fatty – and a smoke ring that make my eyes light up.  These ribs were darn tasty and perfectly smoky.

The pulled pork, however, lacked smoke.  It was tender, not greasy, and paired well with the sauce, but I could’ve stood to see a bit more of that smokiness I found in the ribs.  The sides were delicious.  The fries (obviously not homemade) reminded me of Rally’s battered and seasoned fries.  Do yourself a favor and get a side of ranch for these babies – it is garlicky and made in-house.  Everybody remembers a kid from elementary school that put ranch on everything, including pizza on Fridays… so just put on your sweatpants and join the ranks.  There’s a reason they sell this crap by the pint even though they don’t offer a salad!  The beans were pretty good, but I’m no expert.  There was a little bit of pulled pork in there and they weren’t nearly as sweet as I make at home.  The rolls were clearly store-bought, but the flourish of butter and garlic powder made them tasty and great for constructing mini pulled pork sandwiches.  I was sharing this meal so I had to get creative.

Would I Buy it Again?  More than likely, yes.  The atmosphere was a lot of fun and I loved to see the whole family involved with the business.  Our “server” was an adorable little guy with a wicked case of bedhead and every other employee was cheery and welcoming.  Was it the absolute best barbecue I’ve ever consumed?  No, probably not.  Was it at least good enough that I feel confident recommending that you give it a shot?  Yes, definitely.

-Indy Food Geek

Pappy’s Smokehouse
3106 Olive St.
St. Louis, MO 63103
http://www.pappyssmokehouse.com/index.php

My expectations could not have been much higher here, because Pappy’s was on Man vs. Food (click here to see the YouTube of the appearance, it’s the second segment; go to the 6:40 mark), has been voted the best BBQ in St. Louis three years running — it opened in 2008, so it’s 3-0 so far — and was named one of the top 10 places to “chow down” by the Travel Channel.

Upon arrival, I noticed a huge smoker on the street and I was even more excited. Then I walked in and the smell was everything you can imagine and more. Just straight old-fashioned BBQ smell. The line was nearly out the door and I stood in line to order for about a half hour. Don’t let that worry you, though, because once I ordered they plated up the food and took it to my table within two minutes.

The restaurant bills its food as “delicious, juicy Memphis-style BBQ.” They smoke their meats from four to 14 hours over cherry and apple wood. They have three sauces on every table: Original, Sweet Baby Jane and Holly’s hot sauce.

Oh, and I’d recommend going for lunch. Since they don’t want to serve leftovers, they only have a certain amount of food for each day. Once they run out, that’s it. So if you go for dinner, you run the risk of not having a full menu.

What I Got: Rib combo; $23.99. Half slab of ribs, ¼ pound choice of meat and two sides. I went with pulled pork, green beans and deep-fried corn on the cob. I’ll hold off on ribs for a second and talk about everything else first.

The pulled pork was fine. I wasn’t a huge fan, in fact, I’d say it was pretty run of the mill. I tried it with all three sauces and I quite liked all three. None were spectacular but they were all very good with Sweet Baby Jane coming out as my favorite. I didn’t care for the fried corn, but I don’t think they did anything wrong. I think I would have just rather had regular corn on the cob and skipped the deep-fried part — I was just curious to try it once. So I’ve tried it, didn’t care for it and can move on. The green beans weren’t for me, either, and I usually love green beans. They were a bit bland and had a snap to them, meaning I’d rather them be cooked more. I don’t like my green beans crunchy at all, but if you do, these may be to your liking.

You know the saying “they knocked it out of the park?” Pappy’s more than did so with these ribs. They hit a grand slam with the baseball ending up across the street. I was chuckling when they dropped off the food and my plastic silverware. If they’re that sure you don’t need actual silverware, these ribs had to be falling off the bone. They were and then some. I could physically just grab each individual rib and pull it out, leaving myself with a bit of a rib steak, if that makes sense. It was just one body of rib meat with no bones. The flavor was incredible, too. I was so disappointed when I was done, even though I was full, that I was like an animal trying to ravage a trash can for every last bit of food — just holding each bone and desperately trying to gnaw off every last bit of meat. If there wasn’t a half-hour line, I seriously think I might have gotten another half rack. And, again, I was full.

Would I Buy It Again? I would and plan to every single time I’m in St. Louis for the rest of my life. I’ll plan my day around a trip there. There’s no need to offer any further superlatives about the ribs, as you should have gotten the idea by now. I wouldn’t get the pulled pork again. I’d think about trying the brisket, spicy sausage link or chicken, but the ribs are the specialty and just so damn good that maybe I’d just get a full slab of ribs and not mess around. I’ll be trying different sides next time, but why get caught up in that? They’re sides. I don’t yet have a large amount of experience traveling, so there could absolutely be better ribs than this somewhere in the country (one of my friends said Alabama, for example), but these are the best ribs I’ve ever had and it ain’t close. If you’re ever in St. Louis, go get Pappy’s ribs. You will not regret it.

- Show

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

It had been a while since I had eaten a nice, greasy burger and had been even longer since I had been to Steak ‘n Shake, so on a recent Sunday when both of them sounded good to me, I made a trip out for dinner.

I wanted something more than a normal cheeseburger, so I went a bit outside of the box.  Steak ‘n Shake has several different burger options and some of them seem to be blatant rip-offs of signature burgers at other burger joints.  For example, the “Royale Steakburger” is a rip-off of the Royal at Red Robin and the “Wisconsin Buttery Steakburger” is a rip-off of Culver’s ButterBurger.  While what I got is not a direct rip-off, there are several joints that have had this combination for a quite a while before Steak ‘n Shake decided to tackle the challenge.

What I Got:  Western BBQ ‘n Bacon Steakburger combo (comes with fries and a drink; I got it large sized for an additional $0.99); $6.98 + tax.

You can’t tell as well from the picture, but according to the Steak ‘n Shake website, this burger is made up of “A Double Steakburger™ topped with American cheese, hickory smoked bacon, diced and crispy fried onions, then drenched in sweet ’n smoky BBQ sauce.”  Being the regular genius that I am, I can confirm that all of these things were on there, although their usage of the term “drenched” may have been a little generous.  There was barbecue sauce on the burger, but it was far from drenched.

Physical appearances aside, the meat and bun in the burger was pretty much what you’d expect in your standard Steak ‘n Shake offering.  Cooked and flattened on the griddle in their own grease, the hamburger patties were the typical greasy and gluttonous goodness that you’d expect from an old favorite.  Unfortunately, after the burger and the bun, this one started to go downhill.  The bacon was soggy and limp and so were the “crispy” fried onions.  The barbecue sauce, while it did taste nice was not nearly as ample as it needed to be.  Put it this way, this burger needs to be drenched in barbecue sauce in order to make it work with the components that construct it.  In order to get this one to be tolerable, I had to grab some extra sauce and start dipping my burger in it just to add some flavor.  If you need to doctor up a burger outside of the actual preparation of it, you have issues.

Would I Buy It Again?  Western BBQ ‘n Bacon Steakburger, absolutely not.  I will go to Steak ‘n Shake again, but this one will not be a burger that I order.  The sad part is that it has all the components to make a darn fine burger (Ryan at Grub Grade worships Western-syle burgers, so he knows what I’m talking about and would agree that if you do it right, the Western-style burger can be one of the best items on your menu), but Steak ‘n Shake failed on this one.  Too bad.

FYI, the large size drink at Steak ‘n Shake is absurd and comical (picture above).  It clocks in at over eight inches tall!  I didn’t have my graduated cylinder or beaker from my home chemistry set out, but the volume of fluid in the drink had to be every bit of a liter or perhaps even more, especially when you order it with no ice like I do.  It was so much that I only drank half and was able to save the rest to drink at dinner the next night.  LOL.  Unreal.

-IndianapolisEater