Buttitta’s Pizzeria
12664 East 116th Street
Fishers, Indiana 46037
http://www.buttittaspizzeria.com

I was sitting at home like a loser on a recent Saturday night wondering what I was going to have for dinner and one of my dork friends kept texting me about how he was going to have an awesome night of eating Ale Emporium pizza and wings at his house since his wife was out of town and he was at home watching their infant daughter.  After thinking about it for a while, his pizza and wings dinner started to make me hungry for the same thing, so I decided I had to get my hands on some as well.  Since I wanted something that was not a chain and also something that was from a place I had never been, I was led to Buttitta’s Pizzeria.  Buttitta’s is a small family-owned shop that replaced a previous pizza place in the same location and their specialty is thin crust, New York-style pizza.  Their tagline is “Real Italian, by Real Italians!”  With that kind of tagline, you’ve got to be intrigued, right?  So, I ended up going to their store (they do have in store dining for about 40-50 people, by the way) and ended up ordering up some pizza and wings from their moderately diverse (for a pizzeria) menu.  When I was leaving with my carryout, one of the servers asked me if this was my first time visiting and I said it was and she said that I was going to love it.  With that ringing endorsement (there was also a decent crowd dining in the store), I was anxious to get home and try it out.

What I Got:  Individual (10″) Fungi Pizza; $11.95, as well as 15 chicken wings; $10.50 ($0.70 each).

Let’s start with the pizza first.  I was feeling frisky, so I went with one of their gourmet pizzas called the “Fungi.”  The Fungi is made up of mushrooms, sausage, onion, garlic olive oil and mozzarella cheese and when I saw those first two ingredients, I knew I had to have it because those are my two favorite pizza ingredients.  Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize when I ordered because my reading comprehension skills are obviously lacking is that the garlic olive oil is actually the “sauce” for this pizza.  That’s right, this pizza does not have tomato sauce.  Oops.  When I opened up the box, I’ve got to say that I was very disappointed that there was no tomato sauce, but since this was caused by my own stupidity, I’ve got no one to blame for this but myself.  That said, the pizza did smell DELICIOUS and once I got past the lack of tomato sauce, it wasn’t that bad.  The ingredients that were on the pizza were delicious and the sausage and garlic provided a nice spice and kick to the flavor.  The crust itself was thin, flavorful and flexible like  you would expect a New York-style pizza to be.  Unfortunately, the lack of tomato sauce ruined this one for me and I didn’t like it.   That one’s on me though and not Buttita’s, because everything was executed exactly like they said it would be.  It was just a matter of personal taste.  By the way, a 10″ individual pizza (I question that measurement) is not a good sized pizza for someone that is a fairly decent eater like myself.  It almost felt like I was eating a small appetizer.  Just another disappointment that I had to chalk up.

Next up was the chicken wings and as you can tell from the picture, these are some healthy sized wings so that was a major positive.  They’re also baked as opposed to fried wings.  There’s also no breading on these as it’s just the crispy skin, so I suppose that makes them “healthier” when you compare them to a lot of wings that you get at other places.  They are also seasoned with what I believe to have been garlic and Italian herb seasoning, but I could be mistaken as the flavoring was not powerful enough for me to discern their flavor.  What got me on these though was that they offer several dipping sauces on the side (I chose honey and sweet barbecue sauce; FYI, the sweet barbecue sauce tasted exactly like Sweet Baby Ray’s), but the wings themselves are served “naked”.  I was definitely not expecting that, but again, my lack of reading comprehension skills probably screwed me over on that one.   Regardless, these large wings were tender, meaty and flavorful, so that was very welcome and an excellent taste for my meal.  Also, since these were baked, they weren’t greasy like you might expect from chicken wings (that’s not grease in the picture, it’s one of honey dipping sauces that I spilled), so that was a nice change of pace.  All in all, I wouldn’t rate these wings as being as good as the Ale Emporium’s wings, but they are pretty darn good and definitely better than most places, especially anything you are going to get from a chain delivery place.

Would I Buy It Again?  Have you ever gone to a place that you just know is good but you ordered the wrong thing and didn’t like what you had?  That’s what happened to me at Buttitta’s.  I didn’t like the pizza that I had and the wings were fine, but I just know that if I ordered a more traditional pizza, I’d definitely have a better experience and for that, I’ll say that I’m going to give it another shot before I issue a final yes/no answer.  I have a feeling that this may turn out to be a yes, but I don’t want to say anything official until I actually find out.  That said, judging by the cult like following that it had from its guests and servers, I would definitely say that you should give it a shot and see what you think of it yourself.

-IndianapolisEater

Black Diamond Barbecue
6404 Rucker Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46220
http://www.blackdiamondbbqcatering.com

I’ve driven by this place on Binford Boulevard (it’s on a side street right off Binford) about a thousand times over the years and have never stopped.  In all honesty, when it first opened, I figured it would last about three months and then go out of business because it’s not in the greatest location.  Three years later, it’s still chugging along and has even expanded to include outdoor seating.  Good for them.

Ordinarily, I do all my barbecue smoking by myself, but I was feeling lazy one Sunday and didn’t want to spend my entire day waiting for meats to smoke.  So, seeing that this place recently expanded, I figured it must be good and finally gave it a shot (one of the owners was working and gave me a little ribbing by saying, “you know we’ve been here for three years right?”).

What I Got:  Hungry Man’s Special (not listed on the online menu), $19.99.  This includes three meats (I got ribs, brisket and chicken wings) and two sides (I got cole slaw and macaroni and cheese).

First things first, the name of this combo does not lie…this is a TON of food.  Any regular reader of this site knows that I can throw down some food from time to time, but even this was too much for me for one meal.  It was actually enough for two meals because they serve you ample portions of all the meats and all the sides.  As such, let’s address these individually:

Ribs:  I’ve got to say, I was really impressed by these.  You often hear the term “fall off the bone” to describe how ribs should be cooked and these ribs fit that description to the letter of the law.  They were tender and had a strong smoky flavor.  A little greasy, but when you smoke meats as opposed to grilling them, that is to be expected.  Honestly, these were the best ribs I’ve had in a while.

Brisket:  These were served in a separate container because there was so much of it (LOL) and much like the ribs, this was also tender and had a strong smoky flavor.  I prefer my brisket to have juice oozing from it when I cook it and unfortunately, this brisket did not have that.  That said, when compared to other barbecue restaurants in the area, the brisket was exceptional.  The only reason I can complain at all is because of my ego when it comes to making it myself.  Ha!

Chicken Wings:  I’ll admit, I don’t know that I’ve ever had smoked chicken wings before and since I am thinking of doing it on my own smoker, I decided to give these a try in order to see what I was in store for.  My first impression of the wings was that they were HUGE (a good thing) and there were A LOT of them (a recurring theme).  What I found interesting about these wings was that while they were meaty, tender and juicy on the inside, they had a crispy outer skin that provided a nice texture contradiction to the softness of the inside.  As with the ribs and brisket, these also had a strong smoky flavor and I liked them quite a bit.  So much so that I’m anxious to try this myself.

Sides:  Along the lines of the recurring theme, the sides didn’t come in little miniature cups…they came in sizeable containers as you can see in the picture above.  The cole slaw was obviously homemade (big positive in my book) and was more vinegar based as opposed to mayonnaise based, which I prefer.  It was crunchy and fresh, although it could have used a little something extra to give it some kick.  I would rate this as a B/B+ effort.

As for the macaroni and cheese, well, I’ve got some strong thoughts on this one.  I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been a huge macaroni and cheese fan because it is so often botched and lazily made (cheeses are too bland, not enough cheese, etc.) in so many different places.  Because of that, about the only time I will eat macaroni and cheese is when it is out of the Kraft box and yes, I know that is pathetic.  So, in what I thought at the time was an act of stupidity, I decided to give Black Diamond’s macaroni and cheese a try and I am so glad that I did because this was incredible.  It was easily the creamiest and richest macaroni and cheese that I have ever had and I loved it.  They certainly didn’t skimp on the cheese and unlike most places that I’ve eaten macroni and cheese, they actually used a cheese that had a little kick to it and I LOVED that.   Honestly, if you skipped all the meat and just got a huge order of macaroni and cheese, you would be delighted with your order.

Would I Buy It Again?  Absolutely and without hesitation. I can see why that despite an odd location, Black Diamond has managed to stay in business and actually expand in the three years that it has been open.  This is damn fine barbecue and it will always be my FIRST choice on the days that I decide to not make it on my own.  There are not a lot of great barbecue options in this city, so I would strongly advise you to give it a try if you are a barbecue lover.

By the way, Black Diamond caters (one of the owners made sure to let me know that) and also has coupons on my new favorite website, Coupons4Indy.com.

-IndianapolisEater

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

What I Got:  Large Order of Herman Wings and Large Order of Hermanaki Wings ($18.25 each)

Some friends and I were watching some basketball and were craving some wings, so we decided to get some carry-out from the Ale Emporium in order to tide us over.

Ale Emporium has their standard buffalo wings for $17.50 for a large order, but if you are feeling adventurous you can get them in either Herman style or Hermanaki style for an extra 75 cents.  Herman style (on the right) is a spicy wing and Hermanaki style (on the left) is a sweet and spicy combination of a wing that has a twinge of teriyaki flavor (thus the Hermanaki name).

The Herman wings are somewhat similar to what you might find in a traditional chicken wing.  They are hot, but they get their heat from traditional spices like pepper (you can see the pepper on the wings in the picture) and seemingly not from anything out of the ordinary.

The Hermanaki wings also have large flakes of crushed red pepper on them, so not only are you getting the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce but you are also getting a nice spicy blast from the red pepper flakes.

What makes these wings so special and interesting is that they are LARGE (some of the meatiest wings that you can get), and they are not really all that messy because they seem like they are more of a grilled wing than a fried wing.  I don’t know the exact process of how they do it, but I suspect it is not only the traditional way of only frying the wings.  Speculation online is that they fry them first and then finish them on the grill, but no one knows as it is a restaurant secret.

While eating them, you’ll get a little grease on your fingers, but it is nothing like Hooters wings where you are covered in grease from head to toe when you finish eating them.  They are also extremely tender as well.

The wings also get served with the usual garnishments of carrots, celery and blue cheese dressing as well.  And if you’ve never had Ale Emporium’s blue cheese dressing, you are missing out.  It has huge chunks of blue cheese in it and is about as creamy of a blue cheese dressing as you can find.  I honestly could sit around and eat just this dressing as my meal as if it were a bowl of soup because it is that good.  I believe it to be homemade, but I cannot speak definitively that it is, so I’ll just leave it with my speculation.  I just wish I had been smart enough to snap a picture of the dressing as well.

Would I Buy It Again? Undoubtedly yes. I would argue that these wings are the best wings in the city of Indianapolis and would recommend that everyone cruise down to the Ale Emporium to try them out.  They can get kind of pricey for a large order (a large order is three pounds of wings), but in this case, the price is really worth it as you are getting a unique and really excellent tasting chicken wing.

Also, Ale Emporium has outstanding pizzas, so if you and a group of friends are ever in the mood for pizza and wings, you can’t really do much better than this place.  The pizzas are also huge, so no one is going to leave hungry.  They’ve also got a great beer selection and a large party room in the back as well.  This is a really good place to hang out.

-IndianapolisEater

Everyone knows about Hooters wings.  They are breaded and up until recently were available in just the normal flavors of naked, mild and hot.  But, Hooters has recent debuted some new wing flavors such as Cajun, Samurai, Spicy Garlic, Parmesan Garlic and BBQ.  WIBIA and I decided to make a visit for $10.99 All You Can Eat Wing night (this is a running promotion on all Wednesdays) on a recent Wednesday night to give a couple of these new flavors a shot.

And since it is Wednesday and some of you may be having these same thoughts of going, here’s our “timely” review:

Samurai Wings

First up was the Samurai wings.  These wings were the standard Hooters breading coated in a layer of teriyaki sauce.  What was odd about this sauce is that it was VERY thick and mildly sweet, yet somehow also very bland.  Personally, I thought these wings were just okay, but if you don’t want to have sauce everywhere and don’t generally like thick, sweet sauces, this is not something that you want to order.

Cajun Wings

Next up were the Cajun wings and these were unlike any wing that Hooters serves.  Normally, Hooters wing breading is very compact and tightly held together.  These wings had a flaky and greasy breading.  It was so greasy in fact that WIBIA was using paper towel and squeezing the grease out of the wings before he ate them.  That’s not exactly the most appealing visual to have before you eat the wings, but hey, that’s why we try these things for you!

Anyway, despite the disgusting visual, I will say the taste wasn’t all that bad.  You could obviously tell that they had used one of those spicy/hot dried creole seasonings like you would buy at the grocery store, but the taste of the seasoning was not overpowering at all.  I felt odd sitting at Hooters eating these wings because this is definitely not something that is normally on their menu and they just seemed out of place.  Despite this, the taste was somewhat appealing.

Would I Buy It Again? If I was there on another night that was not all you can eat wing night and was only having a regular meal, then I would not buy these again.  If I was there for all you can eat wing night and had the option of mixing it up with different flavors with no additional repercussions (a higher bill), then I would maybe order a plate of these just to fulfill my curiosity.

Regardless, I will still go back to Hooters because there’s one thing that you can’t match anywhere and that’s the old reliable hot wings.  Often imitated, but never duplicated, the Hooters hot wings are the best.

Hot Wings

WIBIA can add his feelings in the comments because I know he had a differing opinion on at least one of these flavors, so you can check that out once he posts.

-IndianapolisEater