Cafe Korea
7262 Fishers Crossing Drive
Fishers, Indiana  46038
http://www.cafekoreaindy.com/Default.aspx

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never had Korean food.  I’ve always been curious about it, especially with all the Korean taco food trucks popping up nationally, but have never been curious enough to make the leap to check it out.   But, on a recent Saturday night, so families members and I were looking for somewhere different to eat and since they live nearby, we decided to give this one a shot (none of us had eaten Korean food before).  I’ve seen several positive reviews on this place before both in print and online, including this one at Indianapolis Restaurant Scene, so I was anxious to try this out.

Before I dive into the taste of the food, I have to say that the waitress/owner was perhaps one of the friendliest people that I have ever met.  She’s obviously familiar with the fact that there are a lot of people like us that have never had Korean food before, so she was more than willing to help explain the food and her culture to us, no matter how ugly of Americans we appeared to be.  So, service gets an A+++++++.

What I/We Got:  Seafood Pancake (Appetizer); $12.99 and Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop (Entree); $13.99.

We were going to start with two appetizers, one of which being this seafood pancake, but our extremely helpful server told us that would not be a good idea.  Thank goodness she did because although my photo does not really show proper perspective, this seafood pancake was about as big as a small pizza.  There were three of us and there was definitely enough for us to have second servings for each of us.  As for the taste, it was just okay.  The potato pancake and green onions were tasty, although they need an additional salt component (the pancake was served with soy sauce on the side, but not even it brought enough saltiness to the table).  The odd thing about this pancake was the pieces of squid scattered throughout the pancake.  I’m not against squid, but I’m certainly not a fan of it and every time I encountered squid while working my way through this one, it was extremely disappointing.  The squid, as it often can be, was very tough and chewy and when mixed with the relative flakiness of the pancake, that’s not really a good mix.

Next up was my entree that was listed under the “Favorites” portion of the Cafe Korea menu.  Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop is a dish made of pieces of beef and thinly sliced vegetables including bean sprouts, cucumber, carrots, cabbage and spinach served on top of a bed of white rice.  Then, this mix is then topped with an over easy fried egg and served in a PIPING hot earthenware pot.  When the dish arrives, you are supposed to mix everything together in order to get the egg yolk to spread and also because the pot is so hot, the rice will burn and stick to the bottom.  On the side, everyone is served a multi-compartment dish that includes cold spinach, cold bean sprouts, spicy cucumbers and spicy kimchi (cabbage).  Also, you are given a bottle of Sriracha-like hot sauce to top your dish.  Of course, since I am a hot food freak, I bathed mine in hot sauce and then stirred everything together.

In terms of how it tasted, well, it wasn’t outstanding, but it wasn’t bad either.  Much like the pancake, this really, really needed salt.  The thinly sliced beef was a little tough, but everything else was cooked perfectly and made a harmonious dish.  The problem was that there was nothing really particularly wonderful about it.  The thing that this dish really did have going for it was the egg yolk.  Every time I encountered some of the yolk mixed with the rice, beef and vegetables, it was creamy, warm and quite good.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough egg yolk to cover for the entire dish and was a downfall.

As for the sides, they were all good and I particularly enjoyed the spicy cucumbers and kimchi as they were both covered in spicy sauce and handsomely dressed with red pepper flakes.  The odd part about all of them, at least to me, was that they were served cold.  I’m sure that is part of the food culture, but it was something that my ugly American tastes did not expect.

Would I Buy It Again?  This one is a tough one.  While I didn’t dislike anything I had, I also wasn’t the world’s biggest fan.  Personally, I would say NO to buying it again.  Just not my cup of tea, so to speak.  That said, I would encourage everyone else to give this place a shot to see if they like it and/or can find a favorite dish.  It’s a small locally owned business by extremely friendly Korean business people that are trying to spread their culture to their little pocket of Fishers and I encourage everyone to help them stay in business by giving them at least once chance.  I’m certainly glad I/we did give them a chance because they deserve every bit of help they can get.

-IndianapolisEater

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
1304 E. Copeland Road
Arlington, Texas 76011
http://www.pappadeaux.com/location/?id=20

This place was recommended to me very highly by my hotel concierge in addition to two colleagues who’ve worked in the area frequently. As far as seafood goes on a personal level, I basically only really like shrimp while being able to tolerate lobster and crab. I’m fine with clam chowder, too. Otherwise, I’m not a fan of seafood at all, so I knew my options would be rather limited. Still, it came so highly recommended and was within walking distance of my hotel — I didn’t have a car — that I just couldn’t pass it up.

I sat in the bar area as I pretty much always do, and the atmosphere was pretty cool. There were TVs all around with college football and many people were already enjoying their Saturday afternoon with some cocktails. Service was friendly and attentive and nothing took too long at all.

And here’s the best part, this restaurant is within either walking distance or an insanely short drive of Rangers Ballpark (home of baseball’s Texas Rangers), Cowboys Stadium (home of football’s Dallas Cowboys) and Six Flags over Texas (roller coaster park). Yes, those three destinations are that close to each other, I’d guess within a mile (no more than three miles between Cowboys Stadium and Six Flags — Rangers Ballpark is in between). And Pappadeaux is right there.

What I Got: Jumbo shrimp brochette, $21.95. Menu description: “Char-grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp filled with monterey jack cheese and a sliver of jalapeno with dirty rice.”

As you can see, I got seven pieces of bacon-wrapped shrimp. The helping of cheese between the bacon and shrimp was very generous and I believe everything was impeccably cooked. I could have used a bit more of the jalapeno — to give it some more spicy kick — but the menu says it’s only a “sliver.” I was also asked by the bartender if I wanted extra jalapenos, horseradish or Tabasco sauce. So if I was that hard up for more spice, it would have easily been provided.

I’m no food expert, so I had no idea how the shrimp, bacon, cheese and jalapeno combination would blend, but it was actually brilliant, in my opinion. I was worried this one wouldn’t turn out well but was pleasantly surprised after my first bite.

As far as the portion size, each one of the seven pieces was between two and three bites, so I was fine with it. I could see pause for the price compared to only seven pieces, but there’s a lot going on in there. I certainly could have devoured a few more of these because they were so good, but I wasn’t leaving less than satisfied by any measure.

Would I Buy It Again? Absolutely, in a heartbeat. I probably wouldn’t stray much from this choice either, because, as I said earlier, I basically only like shrimp when it comes to seafood. Maybe I’d get a bit nuts and try lobster or crab or something, just to broaden my horizons. But between the recommendations I received and the meal I had, there’s every reason to believe this a good place to get some solid seafood dishes. Those who enjoy a broad variety of seafood would probably love a good amount of the menu, but that’s pure speculation on my part.

- Show

[Editor's Note:  This is a paid review on behalf of Bonefish Grill where we compare Bonefish Grill to another similar restaurant in the area.]

Red Lobster
http://www.redlobster.com

Since this is a paid review, I’ll be looking at the environment of the restaurant, the taste of the food and the overall service/experience.

Environment:  I went to this Red Lobster in the thick of the Sunday brunch-type crowd and it was quite busy.  The restaurant was clean, bright and spacious.  Despite the fact that nearly every table was filled and I was seated in the middle of the restaurant, I did not feel like I was jammed into my seat in anyway and had plenty of space to spread out and enjoy my meal.

Service:  My service was outstanding.  My waiter was attentive, personable and was willing to work with me as I was a high maintenance customer (you’ll see based on my menu substitutions below).  I was also visited by two different management types during my meal and seeing a staff so concerned with their dining experience was quite nice.

What I Got:  Ultimate Feast $22.99.

On the menu, the Ultimate Feast consists of “A tender split Maine lobster tail, steamed snow crab legs, garlic shrimp scampi and Walt’s Favorite Shrimp.”  Since I’ve had issues with shrimp in the past, I asked to have the shrimp substituted and I was given fried and steamed bay scallops as substitutes.  In addition to this, you get a choice of one side item (I chose home-style mashed potatoes) and a salad.

After I made my order, my meal started off with an unlimited basket of Red Lobster’s signature cheddar biscuits.

I do not ordinarily like biscuits because I usually find the ones I receive to be too dried out, but these biscuits did not have that problem and thank goodness these were unlimited, because I destroyed two baskets of them.  They were soft, moist and the cheddar flavor was strong, but not overpowering.  There’s no need for butter or anything else on these to soften these up because they are awesome and frankly, I could have had only these biscuits for my meal and been a happy man.

After my biscuit demolition, I was served my Ultimate Feast.

It might look like I wasn’t served a lot of food here, but that was not the case.  The plate was just huge, so it is throwing the whole perspective here.  Since there were so many different items in my feast, let’s address them individually.

Snow Crab Legs:  I wasn’t overly impressed by these, but they were still tasty.  I understand that snow crab legs are small and you aren’t going to get a lot of meat out of them to begin with, but it was still annoying to crack open each crab leg and only find a sliver of meat in each one.  The meat that I did find though was tender and tasty though (it didn’t require any sauce dipping because of its tender flavor), so each time I did get some meat, I was pleased.  Unfortunately, since I’m lazy, I doubt I’ll order anything with snow crab legs again because it’s too much work for too little of a reward.

Lobster Tail:  This lobster tail was excellent.  The meat was soft, tender and the seasoning made it extremely flavorful.  Much like the crab, this was cooked so perfectly that I had no need to dip this in butter or in any sort of sauce to give it any flavor.  My only complaint and it’s not really a complaint at all, is that I wanted more lobster, but since this feast is more of a sampler platter, I was getting what I paid for.  Next time I go to Red Lobster, I’ll strictly be ordering a giant portion of lobster.

Scallops:  Like I mentioned previously, they gave me steamed and fried versions and between the two, I preferred the fried.  Since these were small little pellets, anything that added additional flavor (again, I was trying to not use sauces so I could accurately assess the flavor of the meat in each option) to them was very much appreciated.  The fried scallops did this.  The steamed scallops were not bad, but they were not great either.  They were just there.  Again, I would have liked these scallops to be bigger, but I got what I paid for.

Mashed Potatoes:  When I first say these potatoes visually, I thought they were going to be dried out and gross.  I was dead wrong.  These potatoes extremely creamy and sprinkled with some fresh Italian seasonings and they were downright delicious.  I LOVED these things and would have been happy eating just these, which is funny considering that I had some outstanding lobster and other tasty dishes on my plate as well.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes and no.  Yes, I would definitely order some of these individual items again and would go to Red Lobster again, but no, I will not be ordering the Ultimate Feast again.  I’ll be sticking with lobster only or some other types of meal combinations in the future.

-IndianapolisEater

Maker’s Mark Bourbon House and Lounge at Indiana Live Casino
4300 N. Michigan Road
Shelbyville, IN 46176
http://www.Indianalivecasino.com

I’m not a big gambler.  As most of you can surmise, I’d rather spend my money on good food and drinks.  That being said, I’ve been to the Indiana Live Casino a few times with friends and generally had a good time.  Since we had a babysitter, my wife and I decided to at least try to act like adults, go to a nice restaurant and try to talk about something other than the frequency and quality of our kid’s bowel movements.  I can’t tell you exactly why the Maker’s Mark Bourbon house and Lounge was even on our radar, but we made reservations and away we went.

The décor is stylish and relaxing.  I’m sure the walk-up business is big so I was glad to have made reservations as the place was nearly full.  And here comes my bitch:  is it possible to for people to wear something other than a crappy hoodie to a decent restaurant?  I know it’s Shelbyville but seriously.  When I’ve made an effort to dress well, I hate being surrounded by people in gear that looks as if they just came from cleaning out their gutters.  There was a guy three tables away rocking the Guy Fieri look.  I am talking the spiky white hair, visor, shorts with flip-flops and even the stupid sweatband on the arm.  Dude!  I know this blog is strictly about what I ate, but I just had to get that off my chest.  We now return to normal programming:

What I Had:  King Crab Legs, 1.5 pounds of ‘em.

Okay, let me back up a bit.  We started off with a nice bread basket with good quality butter.  I ordered the old-school Baby Iceberg Wedge Salad which comes with Blue Cheese Dressing, Blue Cheese crumbles, bacon, grape tomatoes and crispy onions.  I gave up red meat for lent so hold the bacon please.  It was Blue Cheese Overload.  A little blue goes a long way and I thought this was overdone. 

So yeah, I ordered the King Crab Leg Special.  One rule that I try to follow is to know where the hell you are eating.  By that I mean don’t go to a Mexican joint and order a plate of spaghetti.  It may be on the menu but you are just looking for trouble if you order it.  Seafood at a steakhouse is, for me at least, a grey area in terms of this rule.  Most decent steakhouses have a good surf & turf option, so they have the capability to handle seafood with a degree of competence.  My intention was to order the butter poached halibut but for some reason the King Crab Legs special just struck me and soon they were sitting in a pile in front of me.

Served split in half with the obligatory drawn butter.  They were not very good.  To begin when they are served split the crab naturally cools off very quickly and while crab salad is great, cold crab is not.  I found the meat to be a bit mealy in spots and honestly several pieces we just flat out cold.  As in, not cooked properly cold and it was very disappointing.  I didn’t send them back but I should have. 

My wife loved her steak, by the way.

Would I Buy It Again?  Not a chance.  The King Crab Leg special was $49.99 tag on an extra four bucks for the salad plus beer and this was a meal that was very nearly as expensive as it was unsatisfying.

-Smokin DB

Saigon Restaurant
3103 Lafayette Rd
Indianapolis, Indiana 46222

Yup, that is me…and my best Perez Hilton imitation.

Saigon is reviewed quite a bit, check out their page on Urbanspoon.  After reading Indianapolis Restaurant Scene’s review, I had to give it a try based on everyone LOVING IT!!!!!!

The interior of the restaurant was refreshingly clean.  The menu is big…Cheesecake Factory big.  I think over 140 dishes on the menu.   It took me about five minutes to get through, though the subliminal message of the sticker on the window led me to Pho.

What I Ate:  Appetizer Sampler $7.50.  #34 BBQ Pork and Seafood PHO.

The appetizer sampler included spring roll, egg roll, crab rangoon, rocket shrimp and fried dumplings.  Honestly, I wasn’t impressed by anything here.  I could squeeze oil out of the fried dumpling, the rocket shrimp were fried with a slice of onion mixed in.  The spring roll wasn’t bad, but not as good as others that I have had in town.   All in all, I was nervous to get my pho.

However, this arrived to quickly restore my faith:

The picture doesn’t do it justice.  The BBQ Pork was tender and excellent.  In fact, some of the best I have ever had. However, the general “seafood” title to the dish included shrimp, salmon,  and scallops.  The seafood was so overcooked that I found myself spitting out a piece giving my mouth a break from chewing.  The difference between the pork and the seafood was the food equivalent of Danny DeVito and Arnold Swarzenegger in “Twins.”

What really hooked me was the broth and the smell.  If I had a cold, I am 99% sure this would cure it.  I found myself just continually eating and drinking this broth…it was really something to talk about.  However, if you are not a fan of pepper, you might want to choose something else.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  With 140 menu items, I am going to assume there are a few misfires.  I would get PHO again, but skip the addition of any seafood.

Btw, did I mention how big this bowl was?  I was starving and this is all that I ate.  There were a ton of rice noodles, about a pack and a half of Ramen (couldn’t think of a better comparison.)  See, check it out including an awesome painted on mustache on mini-wibia (he is in disguise to maintain anonymity)  However, he is possibly the best future eater in the land:

-wibia

El Bodegon

El Bodegon
8510 East 96th Street
Fishers, Indiana  46037

El Bodegon is a Tapas Bar and gourmet shop.  Although the store has a few grocery items, it is what you find in the deli case that makes this store unique to the north side of Indianapolis.  Inside the case, you will find many meats and cheeses imported from Spain and South America.  Although the prices are high, the quality and authenticity looks good.  You can buy the product to take home and prepare or choose items off their menu and have them prepared for you.

What I Got:

Paella Valenciana (Seafood Paella) $7.99 (far left of photo)

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of versions of paella in existence.  This paella was fresh and just out of the pan when I walked into the store and it smelled great.  The seafood included some whole shrimp that were quite large, some squid and some small clams mixed in with the rice.  Unfortunately, the dish was overcooked with the seafood being rubbery and the rice too soft with little taste or seasoning and clearly not cooked in fish stock.  This was a special on the menú and is one I would avoid if it happens to be on the menu if you visit.

Tapa de morcilla de arroz (Rice-filled blood sausage tapa)$2.50 (top right of photo)

I tried this because the sausage in the case looked excellent and it was something completely new and unique to me.  The bread tasted fresh and the crust had a nice crunch like you might get in a European bakery.  The sausage was freshly made and the rice complimented the sausage nicely.  They key here is fresh.  Unlike the chicken empanada this was fresh making me wish I had ordered a couple more tapas to try.

Empanadas Argentinas con pollo $1.99 (bottom right of photo)

I love a good chicken empanada if it is well made.  If you have never had an empanada, it is like a turnover that is stuffed.  Although this one had a good shape and size to it, the turnover was chewy and the chicken inside was dry.  It was only after I ordered that I noticed they were pre-made and sitting under a heat lamp at a counter behind the main counter.  What could have been great was a disappointment.

Service

I waited for 15 minutes to get my order and there were only two other customers in the store.  Considering that there were more employees than customers, I found the wait time to be unacceptable.  I took advantage of the time to talk to both of the other customers and both were returning customers that had favorable experiences previously.

Would I Buy it Again? Of the three items reviewed, I would only try the tapa again.  However, I like to see a place with a unique products succeed in a city with little character and many strip malls.  Per the recommendation of the other customers, I will go back and try one of their Spanish Bocatas made with a crusty bread, olive oil, Serrano ham and manchego cheese along with some more of their tapas.  A follow-up review will be posted early in 2010.

-EatHSE