Indy Winter Farmer’s Market
http://indywinterfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/

It’s funny what a personal invite can do at times.  I knew about IWFM, but after a conversation with Erin from Country Mouse/City Mouse, she said that I really need to come check it out.   I have made plenty of excuses not to go, but I told her that she would see me there within the next two weeks.  Last Saturday, my two weeks were up so I packed up Mini WIBIA and we took the twenty minute trek downtown.

There are over fifty tables and there is a good variety of just about everything at the market.   On my short list was to pick up some winter veggies so I can start making my son’s food instead of him eating 100% Gerber.   The bad news was that I only found just a few produce stands.  What was there, was really good though and there were a lot of winter greens to choose from.  However, I found plenty of other goodies as well.

Rene’s Bakery
My first booth was Renee’s Bakery where I had a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast. The cookie was excellent and definitely more about the chocolate than the cookie, which is the way it should be, in my opinion. In hindsight, I should’ve bought more here.  They had a lot of good looking bread as well.
http://www.renesbakery.com/

Country Mouse City Mouse
I picked up a Romesco Sauce and Red Lentil Soup. My Sunday lunch was a bowl of the Red Lentil and a grilled cheese… a dynamite combination. I really enjoyed the Romesco sauce a lot! I found plenty of uses throughout the week, including making a few crustinis with goat cheese and Romesco.  I really like the CMCM offerings as they are consistently good and comfortable food.  Just a reminder, they also do catering.
http://www.countrymousecitymouseindy.com/

Taste of Philly Pretzel - Country Mouse/City Mouse Romesco

Taste of Philly
I first learned about Taste of Philly from local blog Indianapolis Amy.  Amy’s blog is my favorite food/lifestyle blog in Indianapolis.  If you haven’t checked it out, you should!

Taste of Philly had a table of traditional Philly pretzels.   I bought the three link pretzel (can’t remember the technical name) and I really enjoyed this. It has a nice chew to it and was really tasty.  My only recommendation would be to add a little more salt to it, but I can understand the desire to error on the conservative side.  Pic is above…sorry, I ate a link on the way home.
http://www.indypretzel.com/

Nicole & Taylor’s Pasta
I am a big fan of fresh pasta but I don’t like doing all the work, so Nicole & Taylor’s is the place to get it from.  Every time I am at a farmer’s market, they are there, so I buy their pasta and am always pleased.   $1.50 a stack and super tasty.  This time, I picked up the Porcini Mushroom and Parpadelle.
http://nicoletaylorspasta.com/

Nicole and Taylor's Pasta

I really enjoyed my trip to IWFM. It appears to be pretty popular and they are quickly running out of space. FYI, if you have a young one, it is easier to leave the stroller out in the car and strap ‘em to you.

-WIBIA

When did 16 oz. turn into 12 oz.?  I didn’t even notice, shame on you Creamette!  (a WIBIA Big Fat NO!!!!!!)

Barilla is still 16 oz.

Watch the sauce too, what is this 15 oz. non-sense?

Anyone who cuts portions on WIBIA is not a friend of mine!

Btw, if you are thinking fresh pasta and live in Indy, it doesn’t get much better than Nicole Taylor’s Pasta and Market. I had some tasty pics, but I can’t find them. Anyway, one of my favorites from the Carmel Farmer’s Market last summer.

-WIBIA

Skillet "Pizza"

I try to do the majority of my eating by cooking meals at home, but my problem is that I end up eating the same things all the time because I never really venture out and try to come up with anything new.  So, when regular blog reader Show recently sent me the recipe for Skillet Pizza, I got interested because this recipe includes a lot of things that I usually have around the house and it wouldn’t require me to go to the store.  Plus, who doesn’t love pizza, especially with a neat twist to it?  It’s also very cheap, easy to make and will give you enough for a minimum of two to three servings, depending on how big of an eater that you are (Show says that he usually gets about six servings out of this; I got three).

Here’s the ingredients that I used with estimated prices of the items when you’d find them at the store (I buy all my stuff on sale, so the prices I listed would not be the regular price).  This recipe is very user friendly, so you can add or subtract any ingredients you want depending on what you like on your pizza:

• 1 lb. roll of hot sausage – $2
• 1 16 oz. package of elbow macaroni (you could use any pasta, I just had this on hand; this will be your “crust” of the pizza) – $1
• 2 cups shredded mozarella cheese – $2
• 4 oz. fresh mushrooms (I diced them) – $1.50
• 4 oz. sliced pepperoni (this is just a ballpark guess on the amount I used) – $1.25
• 2 cans (15 oz. each) of pizza sauce (I happened to have pizza sauce at home for once; I would ordinarily just use any random jar of marinara sauce) – $2
• Total Price of Ingredients:  $9.75 (remember, this can get you several servings so your unit price should be well below $4 per person)

Cooking steps (you can review a photo diary of these steps in my Picasa photo gallery)

1. Brown hot  sausage (you’ll need to break it up obviously) in skillet.
2. Add macaroni noodles to boiling water and cook.
3. When hot sausage is about 75% complete, drain the sausage grease, add in diced mushrooms, the pizza sauce and cover skillet.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about ten minutes.
4. When pasta is done (you’ll want to try to time it up so that the pasta is done about five minutes before the pizza mix), pull out of boiling water and drain.
5. After about ten minutes, remove lid from pizza mix and add pepperoni and top of mix.  Do not stir as you want this to be layered like a pizza.
6. After adding pepperoni, spread shredded mozarella cheese over the entire mix on the skillet, cover and remove from heat (the heat from inside the covered skillet should melt the cheese, but if you have issues like I did, you can take the lid off after a few minutes and throw it in the oven on the Broil setting and that will melt the cheese).
7. Once cheese is melted, you can season the “pizza” any way that you want.  I added in a little Italian seasoning and some garlic salt (this step is optional).
8. Cut into “slices” and serve on top of the macaroni noodles.

Like I said, this one is simple, cheap and reasonably quick.  I’ll definitely be making this one from time to time and I’ll also be playing with the ingredients.  Give it a shot if you are interested.

-IndianapolisEater

Pizzology Pizzeria & Pub
13190 Hazel Dell Parkway
Carmel, IN 46033

For you out of town readers, Pizzology is Neal Brown’s heavily anticipated pizzeria.  Neal’s last restaurant, L’explorateur was the food equivalent to the scene in Back to the Future where Marty plays Johnny B Goode.  Neal of course playing the part of Marty McFly and Indianapolis diners playing the part of teenagers at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance.  Okay, I know I am generalizing, but you get the drift, right?

I can ramble for a while, but understand that a crazy talented individual has a new home.  Let’s skip to the food.  Warning…pics are lame; I needed more light!  Also, if you are looking for a Pizzology menu, hours, phone number or website online…well, I can’t find them either.

Salad heavy starters will begin the menu.  I was with family so I had the chance to try a little of this and that.

Starters:

Daily Zuppa $3.  White Bean Stew.

It was described as vegetarian friendly and it tasted like it.   Flavors were clean and well balanced.  The white beans, celery and carrots fit the season well and I enjoyed it.

Chop Salad $4 - Romaine, Prosciutto, Gorgonzola, Tomato, Citronette.

Again, very clean though it was dressed a little light and I missed the acidity.  I didn’t dislike this salad, but would order the Grilled Romaine before I revisited the Chop Salad.

Chop... with about 1/2 of it finished!

Tony’s Fritters $8 - Two Zucchini Fritters with Parmesan Reggiano and Truffle Oil.

 The clear winner out of all the starters.  Crab cake sized fritters that left me wanting more.  I specifically enjoyed the contrast in textures, between the soft and hard cheeses and the meaty zucchini.  It was perfect in a lot of ways and so outside of what I would expect to eat before a pizza…but it just worked.

Pizza:

Simple formula:  $13 for 13″ pizza.  Eight Pizza Rossa and five Pizza Bianca to choose from.   I love a white pizza, but we opted for red sauce.  You could build your own as well.

Homemade Sausage - Fennel, Onion, Fennel Sausage, Roasted Sweet Pepper

Sausage is my favorite pizza topping and this didn’t disappoint.  They have a good command over red sauce, no doubt about it.  The pizza was served with shaved fennel in the middle and it made a pretty striking presentation (for pizza that is).

My only recommendation would be to have bigger pieces of sausage.  There was good coverage on the pizza, but it was difficult to isolate the taste of the sausage.  I would like to try a spicy option with this as well.  Overall, this pizza was top shelf.

Pepperoni –  Pepperoni, Mozzarella

Executing and perfecting basics is so important in my book.  Continued emphasis on quality and freshness.  The sauce was a little sweet, but my wife loved this pizza.  Pepperoni pizza can quickly become a salty/greasy mess, but that was not the case here.

Pasta:

Pappardelle & Bolognese $15.00 (there is a $7.00 portion as well)

Wow!!  Truly one of the best pastas that I have had at a restaurant.  So simple, yet so good.  It was good enough to call the joint Pastaology.  Instead of a ground beef, think pulled pork-esque meat sauce.  My favorite item of the meal.  It was scarfed down before we thought about taking a pic!

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, easily and frequently. Strong emphasis on quality, seasonal, local ingredients and even beer selections leaned towards local brews.  There is a lot to be said with that sentence alone.

I thought the prices were in line with what I received…a lot more value than I would’ve guessed going into a “gourmet” pizza place.  The interior was comfortable and I thought the renovation from prior Goodfellas was very tasteful and it made a lot of sense to open the room.

Long story short, the pizza met expectations and they are as good as the hype.  The Zucchini Fritter reminded me that there are more choices than bread sticks and the pasta came out of nowhere to steal the show.

Done rambling…I have leftovers in the fridge to tend to.

-wibia

Welcome back to Tailgate Tour #4.  This week, as opposed to our previous tailgate, was a resounding success as the Hoosiers emerged victorious in their Homecoming battle against the Illinois Fighting Illini by a score of 27-14.  So, while the win was a nice change, we did have our usual great time with friends out in the tailgating lots.

This week’s main menu item included a burrito bar similar to what you’d find at Qdoba or Chipotle based on an idea from regular blog reader TACO.  Our main burrito meat options were Tex-Mex and Adobo seasoned chicken breasts and a marinated flank steak that included soy sauce, among other ingredients.  Our burrito topping options included black beans, white rice, carmelized white onions, homemade guacamole, homemade salsa and cheese.  You can review the recipes for the guacomole and salsa at the linked photo album.

For a side item, we included an Italian pasta salad made by EatHSE that we affectionately refer to as crack salad because once you start eating it, you’ll get addicted and won’t be able to stop.  It’s that delicious and has become a yearly staple at our tailgates.  I would definitely recommend making it to everyone.  You can also find the recipe for this DELICIOUS pasta salad at the linked photo album.

And without further delay, here’s this week’s video entry for the Tailgate Tour.  I’m happy to say that my “composure” was a little better this week.  Ha!  Regardless, we’ll see you again in a few weeks.

-IndianapolisEater

Cheesecake Factory
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com

It seems like every city in the top 20 of population in the USA has a CF or two.  I think that many people consider Cheesecake Factory as the anti-independent and in some ways, it is.  I have read blogs where people say “I am not sure why people stand outside of Cheesecake Factory for two hours while our independent restaurants are ½ full.”

Well, let me explain.  With over 100 menu items and most of them under $20 and portions big enough to have for two meals from, you are getting value/quantity and in most cases and the food that doesn’t taste that bad.

However, Cheesecake Factory is a jack of all trades, master of none.  Don’t get me wrong, I have never had a bad meal there, but I have never had a great one.  Go on a Saturday night and you will see an hour wait.  In most cases the tables are close to each other, it is loud and you can easily ring up a big bill with a few slices of cheesecake at the end.

I was with my wife and a friend and we ordered a few items of their “snacks and small plates” menu.

Fried Zucchini (served with Ranch)
Wild Mushroom Pizette

Fried Zucchini was the normal out of a bag, presented like a fried log cabin.  Nothing good or bad going on here.

Wild Mushroom Pizette was pretty lame as well.   When I think wild mushrooms, I am not thinking baby bella’s.  If they brought it with crimini or shiitake, they might be on to something.   For snacking and the price, it was ok.

Louisiana Chicken Pasta
Parmesan crusted Chicken served over Pasta with Mushrooms, Peppers and Onions in a Spicy New Orleans Sauce.

The pasta was bow tie and I have to admit, I like this dish.  I imagine that it is easily 1,000 plus calories, but being able to bury your face in a huge bowl of pasta has a cost.  I didn’t think that the sauce was all that spicy, I would say zesty.  Two small complaints though:  veggies were a little sparse and the chicken was a little too thin.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes to the pasta and NO to the snacks. If you are looking for the “something for everyone” restaurant that has food that is better than your casual chain (Applebee’s, etc.), then Cheesecake Factory is hard to beat.  But don’t get me wrong:

I wouldn’t wait an hour to eat here.

I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

If I was looking to have a meal to remember with my wife, it surely wouldn’t be at CF.

Also, I usually don’t comment on service, but the service at the Keystone at the Crossing location was surprisingly good.

-WIBIA

We’re back with this week’s Tailgate Tour…

This week, the mighty Indiana Hoosiers took on Western Michigan Broncos and emerged as a 23-19 victor to keep them undefeated on the season.  They might be the worst undefeated team in the nation, but hey, I’ll take it.

At this week’s tailgate, we experimented with grilled pizza, which was a first for me.  As you’ll see in the video, we used Naan bread as the crust for our pizzas.  With this Naan bread, we made three different varieties of pizza.  Those varieties were your standard sausage and pepperoni pizza and a couple of “gourmet” pizzas.  These gourmet pizzas included a chicken pesto pizza and a barbecue chicken pizza.  The toppings we used on these pizzas are in the video and in the linked photo gallery.

Along with the pizza, fellow tailgater, Tailgate Tour videographer and blog reader Taco brought a delicious Italian pasta salad mixed with fresh vegetables.  The picture and ingredients for this is in the linked photo gallery as well.

Without further adieu, here is this week’s video.  Enjoy and as always, feel free to comment below!  We’ll be back with another segment in the first week of October.

-IndianapolisEater

Stone Creek Dining Company
4450 West Point Drive, Zionsville, IN 46077
http://www.stonecreekdining.com/zionsville/

There are four locations that are locally owned, do I call this a chain?  Hmm…walking in and first impression, I really like the interior of this restaurant.  Take a look at the pictures on the website, pretty nice really.

Stone Creek has an interesting niche.   It is nicer than your neighborhood bar and grill chains (Applebee’s, Chili’s), not as nice as local/chain steakhouses and lacks the individuality of a chef owned restaurant.  Think locally owned Cheesecake Factory without the huge portions.

It was lunch time, so…

Tuscan Rigatoni – $10.99
Italian Sausage, chicken, mushrooms & scallions, in a smoked gouda cream.

My wife hates alfredo or cream sauce of any sort so when I have pasta and I am out, I will usually get my fix.  When the pasta arrived, my first thought was…that portion is a little small.   I understand it is lunch, but at dinner the same dish is $13.99.  When looking at the dish, it appeared to be under sauced (and I rarely say that).  Also, a good amount of the rigatoni were broken.  It looked like someone just threw this together…

It also tasted like someone threw this together.  IMO, chicken and sausage rarely mix well and this still rang true on this dish.  The little bit of chicken that was included was overcooked, mushrooms were sparse as well.  The smoked gouda sauce was very rich and thick.  I liked the taste of the sauce, but the consistency was too thick.

Would I Buy It Again?  No.  It has been about a year since I visited Stone Creek and I might wait that long again.  My friend that joined me for lunch did not like her salmon salad and said that it was very salty.  Based on portion size and quality of the food, I was disappointed.

I really really want to like Stone Creek, they have a beautiful restaurant, a good selection on the menu, good service, but for WIBIA, it is ALWAYS about the food.  If Stone Creek would execute on the food and they would have a real winner.  My last visit to sister restaurant Bolder Creek was good experience, so I know they have it in them.

Btw, what is a “Dining Company?”  I still wonder what a “Spaghetti Factory” is.  Funny names…

-wibia