La Margarita: Slightly Upscale Mexican

La Margarita Restaurant and Tequila Bar just recently opened in the heart of Fountain Square at Virginia Avenue and Woodlawn Avenue (part of the old GC Murphy Building).  It has a trendy, comfortable decor and  quite a selection of tequilas behind the bar, of which I was unable to sample any because it was lunchtime and I was working, dangit! We were immediately presented with tortilla chips and three different salsas:  a pureed spicy tomato sauce similar to other restaurant's salsas, a spicy green tomatillo salsa that I found to really delicious, and a watery kind of pico de gallo that was good but hard to keep on the chips.  The chips themselves were thick, hard, and crunchy, so much so that I got a fragment stuck in my gum, but it did have good flavor, right up until I pried the chip shrapnel out with a drink straw....  I had the lunch special quesadilla & tortilla soup combo and the Little Woman ordered a taco salad.  The quesadilla was a little smaller than I expected and the outside was a toasty brown, also unexpected but quite tasty.  The tortilla soup was a little bland for my taste, compared to say, Don Pablo's (maybe La Margarita's is more true Mexican-- most of the food I had in Mexico had more subtle flavors than the way they're presented in the US).  The taco salad had very fresh greens and was in a pastry bowl that, like my quesadilla, was more browned than we're used to, but it was nevertheless tasty.  At $7.25, lunch was moderately tasty and not a bad deal, but it didn't provide the giant mounds of food you usually get at your run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurants.  If we go back it will likely be just for a tequila tasting....  !Andale!

Don Hall's Castleton Grill: The Decathlete of Restaurants!

Okay, the Castleton Grill is just outside the Castleton Square Mall is not on Indy's Southside, but you should know about it in case you're ever hungry after a day shopping at Mall and don't want to pay the hostage-ransom priced food places that are actually IN the Mall, but don't want to go far from there to eat.  In our case, we go there as part of our special occasion getaways.  On Valentines Day, for instance, we went 'way up north to Eddie Merlot's, then drank in the bar of and stayed the night in the Four Points Hotel. The next day after a night of passionate lovemaking (Hey! It's my blog, I'll fantasize if I want to), we went to Castleton Grill for brunch. I call CG the decathlete of restaurants because "Jack of All Trades" is just SO cliche, and "Master of None" doesn't automatically go with the title.  CG offers a rich and varied menu of comfort food, like a Denny's on steroids, and it makes all of its dishes very well. There is a full bar, too: they have an awesome Bloody Mary, which is unequaled by any other restaurant or bar's Bloody Mary, and on Sundays it's on special presumably because it is a great hangover cure, if indeed such a thing exists.  The drink itself is a large one of the horseradish-imbued variety, with a generous amount of Hair of the Dog and a wonderful combination of the lime, celery salt, pepper, and spices you would expect in a Bloody Mary.  But oh, the accompaniments that come with it!  There are two stalks of asparagus, a stalk of celery, a pickle wedge, a sliver of red bell pepper, and its crowning glory, a single bite of sirloin steak!  It is almost a meal unto itself, and is even worth the 8 bucks they charge for it during the week.  On our most recent visit, the Little Woman had the Flank Steak Sandwich that was not the Great Steak Sandwich that Kyler is trying to find, but was more like a Penn Station sandwich, and just as good.  I had a Patty Melt, which was two 1/4 pound patties ensconced in two pieces of wheat toast and surrounded by bacon and giant gobs of Swiss cheese, accompanied by the best onion rings I've had in a long while.  I've never had the same thing twice there, only because there are so many menu items I have yet to try!  Until our next special occasion, I await the delight that is Don Hall's Castleton Grill!    

Great China Buffet: Not Different, but Really Good.

Great China Buffet,  in the strip mall (sigh) on the northeast corner of Madison & Hanna, is not to be confused with Fun China Buffet, or Great Wall Buffet, or China Buffet.  If there is anything individual about Great China Buffet, it was that is is the neatest, cleanest Chinese buffet I've ever been in, with the nicest proprietor I've ever met-- I wander around buffets like an Alzheimer's patient in Grand Central Station until I finally cover every bar, so I can choose only what I want from their humongous cornucopias of goodness, and he twice asked me very nicely if he could help me find something, and since no cops or ambulances arrived to take me back to the home I can only assume he was really trying to be helpful. Almost all of the dishes offered were the standard Chinese fare (with one exception- they had roasted chicken thighs that had been cooked bone-in and then sliced, bone-in. They were very good if you're not squeamish about exposed bone marrow-- the meat charred a little on the outside and tender inside.), but all the dishes I sampled were well-prepared and tasty.  This place and Tokyo Buffet (see previous post) are now my go-to Asian buffets.

The Acropolis-- Unpretentious Old World Greek

The Acropolis, on Southport Road just west of Madison Avenue, is an unassuming mom & pop place, both inside and out.  The Greek-style columns on the front of the building (sorry, they taught me the difference between Doric and Ionic columns in junior high school but danged if I can remember which is which) are understated but nevertheless a nice touch.  The inside decor is simple cafe style but with nice tablecloths (my old buddy Jim the Scumbag Attorney said you have to tip at least 20% if the restaurant has tablecloths. It was his one gesture toward decency and good manners.) There is nothing understated about the food, though.  Everything I've ever had there is deeelicious, and an excellent value for the price, which is $$ on a $$$$ scale.  Every trip to a Greek restaurant should include Saganaki as an appetizer, a plate of 1/4 inch thick slices of white cheese (Casera, Gus said) into which rum (not ouzo) is poured and then lighted.  Mmmm... flaming cheese with toasted pita bread for dipping! Mmm.... Mmm.... Oh! Anyway, all the food is great there.  If you don't know anything about Greek food you can always just order a gyro: a mixture of roasted lamb meat and beef on pita bread with onions, feta cheese, and tzadziki, a kind of creamy cucumber sauce (I'm sure you can get some sort of American food for that one person in your party with OCD who REFUSES to eat anything they've never eaten before).  There is a full bar also, and The Little Woman and I both have a shot of ouzo, although I'm not a big fan of that licorice-flavored Greek liquor.  I've never compared the price-per-ounce, but I'm pretty sure you could buy the green Nyquil cheaper and enjoy the same taste. The Acropolis is open every day of the week, but if you go during August check to make sure, because Gus the owner and his family go back to Greece to research new recipes (or so they tell the IRS) for a couple of weeks.  O-pa!

A Guest Review-- Vito Provolone's: Old Fashioned Italian

My brother-in-law sent me his impressions of Vito Provolone's in the strip mall on Meridian Street just north of Meridian School Road (it's a Strip Mall World here in the Midwest, folks).  Being as lazy as the next guy, I've included his musings here so I don't have to write a review myself, although I will say that I concur with his conclusions.  I love Vito's, and though it's a nice traditional sort of Italian restaurant with many fine dishes, the pizza there is the best I've found in Indy on any side of town.  Anyway, here is my bro-in-law's review, with some editing for content and so it will run in the time allotted.  He writes:

As a father of four I know about feeding teenagers. My youngest son is turning 16 years old and as good parents we wanted to take him out for dinner. The obvious thought was Taco Bell (ask any teenager and, for his/her money, Taco Bell rules!), but we wanted something more mature and less generic. Qdoba came to mind since we are not part of the 1%, but much to our surprise my son said he would like an Italian spot. The Little Woman and I were pleased since we both enjoy grub from the"boot"country, too. The Son said, however, that he didn't want to go to any "mall" type Italian places (He made air quotes with his fingers, like Doctor Evil talking about a "LASER").  I asked people from work and all the votes were for Vito Provolone's (except for one for The Old Spaghetti Factory, which would have been okay but we really didn't want to go downtown during Super Bowl week).


Off we went to a place of which I have heard for years but never visited. It was a Godfather's Pizza back when I used to pass it on the way to school on horseback or in the buckboard. .I don't think Mr.Caine still owns the place (or is even still breathing) but you never know!  We didn't need reservations and were greeted and seated quickly. A polite serving staff made sure our every need was met. There was even a complimentary treat for my Birthday Boy (I use the Boy term loosely, as he is a foot taller than me).
   
My wife can be a discerning (see "picky" in the dictionary) eater, but Sonny has Dad's sense of adventure. Son was torn between ordering lasagna or something he was worried he might not be able to pronounce (I love that boy, but as a teenager, not being embarrassed is everything to him!).  I knew Mom would opt for the pizza, because who could go wrong with that, right?(Note from SSBF: I did go wrong with pizza, once: With my blessing you may order any of the delicious dishes at Napoli Villa in Beech Grove except the pizza, trust me. -ed.) She was very pleased, although she thought they might've skimped on the cheese a little, but maybe that's the way it's done in Italy.  Sonny opted for the ravioli and soup (What, no salad?? I can't believe he hates lettuce.... Maybe he ain't my kid!), and given a choice between minestrone and cream of mushroom, he turned up his nose at the mention of mushrooms (WHAT??? Honey, what does our mailman look like?)


The boy had never had minestrone, but Captain's Wafer crackers made everything taste better. (He'd never had them, either-- maybe we should eat out more often, ya think?) A small loaf of Italian bread was nice and buttery but lacked that good gnarly garlic breath-causing flavor.  The Little Man (as I USED to call him. Our baby is all grown up, sniff sniff) really enjoyed the ravioli, saying the sauce was slightly sweet but very tasty and the lack of "chunky" tomato feel but with all the tomato taste was a real plus. He was treated to a free serving of spumoni ice cream (also new to him) and he loved it. He really liked that it came without all the birthday song and fanfare (again,  TEENAGER + EMBARRASSMENT = DEATH, Dad!  Duh!) My work buds had recommended the Pasta Diablo, but after much deliberation I chose.... wait for it.... drum roll.... building drum roll.... TA-DA! Spaghetti and Meatballs. The sauce was a little sweet and there were only two meatballs, but it was the tastiest spaghetti dish I've ever had. All in all, Vito's food was deeelicious, the price was very reasonable for the portions we received, and the servers made sure our colas and our spirits were never low!!!

Tokyo Buffet: Asian Fusion or Asian Confusion?....

Tokyo Buffet, in the big strip mall on Emerson Avenue just north of County Line Road, was an impulse lunch-- we were going to eat at another place there but that wasn't open yet, so we hungrily seized upon the only open restaurant nearby, so I wasn't expecting much-- like most Mexican Restaurants, most Asian buffet places who serve primarily Americans offer pretty much the same dishes prepared the same way.  I once stumbled onto a place 'way on the Far North Side awhile back that was alone on a wooded section of road, a mystical apparition like Brigadoon.  I know I couldn't find it again today.  I went in on a whim and discovered almost all the customers were Asian, and the buffet contained many dishes I didn't recognize, with a number of them composed of only slightly-cooked sea creatures, some of which resembled large insects.  I could only bring myself eat a few of the offerings, but I was enchanted with their flavor and the apparent authenticity of the place and the food.  Tokyo Buffet leans much more toward the familiar than does that fabled mirage, but TB was nevertheless a welcome surprise.  Its dishes are generally the well-known Asian stuff, with some appearing to be Japanese in origin, others Chinese, and still others from Thailand. But get this-- they were all very, very good!

The waitress was very polite and quite sociable despite her lack of fluency in English, which led to some awkward moments a couple times when neither the Little Woman nor I understood her, but she was so darned nice we didn't want to offend her by asking to repeat what she'd just said....  She did correctly fill our drink orders, though.  I love any place where you can get a pot of hot Oolong tea, and it was even better than usual because they gave me a tiny little cup with which to drink it (that's Japanese, right? Or is it--I dunno.)  I found that although you have to keep refilling the little cup, you get a good whiff of the tea aroma each time AND each sip is hot because you've just poured it from the pot.  Brilliant!

There is a sushi bar, too, and the wife cajoled me into trying some kind of combination seafood roll, which has Japanese dressing and rice on the outside surrounding a mix of crab and "other seafood" inside- a term that gavemesomeconcernbutsinceIcouldn'tseewhatitwasIcouldpushthatoutofmindlongenoughtobiteintoit, so it was actually quite good!  There were other rolls, some containing eel, but that was more than enough raw goodness for me....   There were some other somewhat different dishes, too, one of which I can only describe as a Japanese Taquito-- something like filo dough wrapped around tempura beef and fried-- it melted in my mouth and instantly blended several different savory flavors. All the other dishes, as I said, were pretty standard fare, but some were maybe the best examples of those dishes I've had in a long while, including the Spicy Thai Chicken, Broccoli Chicken, and the Hot & Sour Soup.  It's no Kabuto, of course, but for a fraction of Kabuto's price, TB's buffet at $5.99 for lunch was well worth it. Banzai!