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

Qdoba
http://www.qdoba.com/

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I find if I eat a more substantial breakfast, I am less likely to snack throughout the day.  The breakfast burrito at Qdoba has always been one of my favorites, so I decided to give their quesadilla a try.

What I Had:  Spicy Chorizo Breakfast Quesadilla; $7.00.

With the breakfast quesadilla, you can go small with a  ten inch shell or larger with the 12.5″ shell, which is what you see in the photo. I went with the chorizo but you can also choose to go with grilled chicken or meatless with cheese only.  As much as I enjoy Qdoba’s grilled chicken, it just doesn’t seem right for breakfast.  You can add extra meat for a small feel but that makes this menu item and even worse health option.  Eggs and potatoes are both optional and I went with just the eggs.  All of Qdoba’s salsa options are available for breakfast and I went with the Pico and their Salsa Roja.  I liked how even the quesadilla was even though it was loaded and the evenly distributed ingredients including egg, salsa, cheese and chorizo made this work.   The quesadilla never got sloppy and held up making it easy to eat.  Even when I re-warmed a piece the next day, it maintained its consistency and the spice from the chorizo and salsa really worked well for me.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, on occasion.   If the breakfast quesadilla was not so bad for you, I would get it frequently, but the high fat and sodium content makes this go into the category of a rare treat.  I split this over two days and I think it tasted even better re-warmed the next day.  I still like Qdoba’s breakfast burrito better as long as you get there when they first open in the morning and everything is fresh.  If you don’t the potatoes in the burrito are like rubber and that is when I would pass on the burrito and go for the quesadilla.

Note: Not all Qdoba locations are open for breakfast.

-EatHSE

Nutritional Facts

Total serving size (oz): 18.58 oz

Selected Items**

Shredded Cheese, 12.5in Flour Tortilla”, Pork Sausage, Eggs, Pico de Gallo, Salsa Roja,

International House of Pancakes
9750 North by Northeast Boulevard
Fishers, Indiana  46037
http://www.ihop.com/

Over the years, I’ve seen a ton of IHOP commercials but have not been to one often (maybe not ever) because the nearest IHOP location to me was at least a twenty minute drive away.  With Denny’s, Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel all within five minutes of my house, I really didn’t have the motivation to drive that far for a similar chain breakfast.  When this IHOP location opened five minutes from my house within the past month, I knew it was time to finally break the seal.

What I Got:  Stuffed French Toast Combo; $7.49. 

Since I’m too lazy to type out the description, I’ll just ”borrow” the text from IHOP’s menu page:  “Cinnamon raisin French toast with a sweet cream filling, crowned with your choice of cool strawberry topping, warm blueberry or cinnamon apple compote and whipped topping. Served with two eggs, hash browns, two bacon strips or two pork sausage links.”  For my purposes, I chose the cinnamon apple compote and the two pork sausage links.

First, let’s go with what I’m going to call the “accoutroments” (i.e. the basic breakfast stuff) in the eggs, hash browns and sausage links.  I got my eggs scrambled and they were pretty much what you’d expect.  It was the same with the hash browns and the sausage links.  There was nothing special or memorable about them and that’s why I didn’t bother to include them in my picture.

The real main attraction of the dish was the Stuffed French Toast.  I’ve had French Toast countless times in my life, but never stuffed French Toast.  I’ve seen countless food programs where they make stuffed french toast and I’ve always wanted to eat my television while watching, so I was pretty excited for this one.  When it was delivered to my table, I thought that while it looked good, I was less than impressed with the size.  It was two small pieces of toast with filling and toppings.  I would have expected two monster pieces of toast when you are trying to make something the star of the show.  Not off to a good start here.

As far as taste was concerned, I would rate it as slightly above average.  The toast was well cooked/toasted and it did taste pretty solid.  It was a little dry for my liking, but that could be fixed with one of IHOP’s five syrup options, which inlude Original, Sugar Free, Blueberry, Strawberry and Butter Pecan.  Perhaps I’m a rube (I am), but I had no idea they offered multiple syrup options.  I tried every single one of them and chose the Butter Pecan because it was weird, yet appealing.  It really did save the dryness of the toast for me.  The sweet cream filling was tasty, but very runny.  I was expecting something a little more solid to hold the toast together.  Still, it wasn’t horrible.  The only true negative in this entire order was the cinnamon apple compote.  I LOVE cinnamon and I especially love cinnamon apple compote, but this did not taste fresh, nor was it warmed up at all.  It was cold and tasted like it had been spooned straight out of the can.  Frankly, it went from me sort of liking this stuffed French Toast to deciding that it was just “blah.”

Would I Buy It Again?  Stuffed French Toast…not from here.  IHOP…yes.  Heck, it’s breakfast and there are a million options, why not go there?  There’s got to be something decent on the menu, right?  For next time, I’ve got my eyes on the breakfast funnel cakes, assuming they still have them when I go.

In terms of IHOP though, it’s pretty much the exact same as Denny’s.  You can get a decent meal for a semi-decent price, but don’t expect any culinary masterpieces…that definitely includes this Stuffed French Toast.  I guess I’ll just have to go back to the drawing board to find another place that does this incredibly appealing dish right.

-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

Good Morning Mama’s Cafe
1001 E. 54th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220
http://www.goodmorningmamas.com

Good Morning Mama’s is a breakfast and lunch only place owned by the same folks that run Mama Carrolla’s Italian restaurant.  Open just 8:00 a.m.  to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday thru Sunday, this place just has to do it right to stay in business.  We tried to get in on a Sunday morning several weeks ago and the wait was crazy, so we passed.  The opportunity presented itself for a late lunch during the week so my wife and I took it.

Once inside I was surprised that the place is pretty darn big.  With the outside patio seating, Good Morning Mama’s can handle a crowd.  I liked the vibe of a dressed-up old gas station with clean, retro décor.

What I Had:  The Full Boat; $8.99.

I was in the mood for breakfast at nearly 1:00 p.m., so I was happy that breakfast is served all day.  The Full Boat consists of two eggs your way, fried potatoes, biscuit with sausage gravy and choice of meat.  Make mine bacon please.  The eggs were perfectly cooked over-easy and the fried potatoes mixed chunky, crispy planks with soft buttery rounds…nice.  I think there were five or six strips of tasty thinly sliced bacon, not a skimpy strip or two.  The sore spot was on the separate place of biscuits and sausage gravy.  The gravy was fine, sort of standard issue sausage gravy as it was good but not anything outstanding.  The biscuit short-circuited the entire plate by being dry and hard.  Not even the hot gravy could soften this thing.  It was late in the day and that may provide a bit of cover for the stale biscuit, but I am surprised that the cook put this thing out for consumption.  It had to be hard to miss how badly this thing was past due.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, with hesitation.  Let’s face it, it should not be a stretch for any professional kitchen to deliver a competent breakfast.  While this breakfast was good, the fact that a biscuit of this vintage made it to my table makes me wonder if they are really paying attention, particularly if you only serve breakfast and lunch.  I’ll give this place another try and report back.

-Smokin DB

Panera Bread
http://www.panerabread.com/

Free wifi is a dangerous idea.  I spent the prior day traveling and hoping that I could catch up with work when I get to the hotel.  Upon arrival to my awesome deal of $50 from Priceline, the hotel’s internet was down.  I then decided to forget about working and I headed out on the town to see what Dayton, Ohio has to offer and catch up with work in the morning before my meetings.   Btw, if the hotel’s internet is down, they should offer free porn.  I am not saying that I would take advantage of such an offer, however I thought about the adverse affect effect it would have on the love life of many traveling business men in the hotel.  Just sayin’…  Anyway, let’s start the review.

Free wifi brought me to Panera and I felt obligated to buy something instead of just scamming on their network.

What I Ate: Jalapeño & Cheddar Bagel Breakfast Sandwich with Ham; around $3.50.

I have never tried a Jalapeño bagel before, but I was looking forward to this one and it didn’t disappoint.  I thought that I might be put off by a spicy bagel (unless I went on a bender the prior night), but I liked the bites that had some heat to it.  However, it wasn’t really THAT spicy, so if you are the type to do lines of pureed habaneros, this is not going to register.

There is a “thick cut” slice of Vermont white cheddar and I found that to be the case, it was a pretty cheese heavy sandwich.  The egg was fine, nothing to rave/rant about.  The ham was disappointing though as it was just one slice of paper thin ham that reminded me of the cheapest prepackaged deli meats that you can find in the grocery store.

Would I Buy It Again?  If at Panera, maybe. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this sandwich, but it was surprisingly good considering my ultra low expectations. However, at 490 calories and 16g of fat, this will be a pretty rare purchase for me.

-wibia

McDonald’s
http://www.mcdonalds.com

McDonald’s continues their bipolar product launches with an offering from the healthy side.  Keep in mind, their next menu item was the Chipotle Bacon 1/3 lb. mess.  I swear they are still trying their best to continue damage control from “Super Size Me.”  No matter what they stick on the menu, to most people that hate fast food, they are still Enemy #1.

What I Ate:  Oatmeal (Free); usually ~$1.99.

There was a coupon for a free Oatmeal, no purchase necessary, so I said, why not?  When opening the lid, there was a lot of fruit in the container.  Dried cranberries, apple, and raisins.  The apple was crunchy, which I liked because it added a different texture.  I don’t like anything cranberry without vodka quickly following it.  Therefore, I could’ve done without them.

Which leads me to another question…if I ordered this oatmeal dried without cranberries, what do you think would happen?
1.  No fruit at all.
2.  Keep the fruit in there
3.  A teenage punk would have to pick them out of the mix, which I can almost guarantee that he would add some boogers and snot in my oatmeal.

Okay, let’s get this over with…

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  It was better than I expected.  Look, it is not stone cut from Bob’s Red Mill, but it is really not that bad.  It is a lot cheaper to go to the store and make your own oatmeal, but if you are looking for a quick grab and go, this (along with Starbucks) is the only fast food oatmeal out there, and not a bad one either.

-wibia

Author’s note: The black and white picture is not an intentional play on the French word for the color black – “noir.” I simply forgot to change the setting on my phone before I snapped the shot. Whoops.

We just moved out of Broad Ripple to the franchise-happy northern suburbs of Indy and we have been craving that unique kind of experience we could get in our old neighborhood.  So while out on a mission for groceries early Sunday morning, we stopped for breakfast at Tulip Noir, a relatively new breakfast/lunch café near 86^th St and Ditch Rd.  I had heard surprisingly little buzz about this place when it opened other than a few not-so-stellar reviews on other blogs, but I was willing to give it a try.  Most of the complaints I had heard were directed at the service and the atmosphere, which can certainly ruin an experience, but I’ll be the first to admit that the usual restaurant service model does not always sit that well with us.  We tend to prefer the bare minimum in terms of check-ins and chatter, so I often find that we can’t fully judge a restaurant base on their service.

The restaurant itself looks like an advertisement for Ikea or CB2.  Stark white, minimally adorned, yet kind of quaint.  On a bright spring morning, the place was alive with couples, large families and a surprising amount of children, which is odd since some past reviews have lambasted Tulip Noir for not being kid-friendly.  Must be something about drawing on their perfectly white tables.  Everyone in the dining room seemed perfectly comfortable and happy, so I don’t see what all the fuss was about.

We shared a pot of French Press coffee which arrived with a small hourglass timer and instructions from our server.  Some may find this pretentious, but I found it cool.  Their Sunday brunch menu had a surprising amount of choices, but it became obvious quite quickly that Tulip Noir does not strive to compete with Denny’s.  Side dishes (including toast) are a la carte and portion sizes are “restrained.”  This isn’t a greasy spoon diner and should not be judged as such.  There is a definite femininity to the whole experience, but there were plenty of men dining around us.

What I Got: Sam’s Deluxe Eggs Benedict, $8.75.

I wasn’t really in the mood to be weighed down by my breakfast, but the Eggs Benedict looked so enticing.  I opted for the meat-free version as a compromise.  With all that butter and egg yolk, who needs the extra cholesterol?  Not this guy.  Sam’s Deluxe Eggs Benedict consisted of a broccoli-cauliflower fritter, a slice of tomato, a poached egg, hollandaise sauce, fresh peas and a handful of arugula.  Undoubtedly, a Benedict purist would scoff at this unholy abomination.  Frankly, I don’t care!  This was a savory masterpiece (my exact words while chewing).  The fritter on the bottom was so delicious, despite not being terribly crispy.  The egg, MY GOD, the egg.  Folks, I have never had an egg poached so perfectly and I really doubt that you have either.  It was soft, pillowy, and the yolk was beyond perfect.  The hollandaise was so good that I had to steal some toast from my wife to harvest the last of it from my plate in a manner suitable for public view.  Everything worked perfectly and it struck a chord that was music to my ears on that particular morning.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  Yes.  YES! I would’ve paid twice the price for this breakfast.  The ingredients were extremely fresh and so un-muddled that every flavor sang a note that built to a clean and harmonious chord.  I’m gushing here, I know, but this was really good.  My wife enjoyed her breakfast as well, but I’ll be honest that I didn’t take many mental notes about her food.  The service during our visit was perfect.  The stark atmosphere that some find less-than-friendly just provided a blank canvas upon which bright, flavorful food was showcased.  We will be back and we will be bringing people with us next time.

-Indy Food Geek