Basey's: A Nice Place, NOT a Nice Price.

We visited Basey's , 415 S. West Street, on a Sunday (but not a Colts game day), because one of our favorite bartender/waitresses, Cathy, works there.  It's a deceptively small-on-the-outside but actually rather roomy place that is literally in the shadow of Lucas Oil Stadium, and it has been there since long before LOS was built, although it appears to have been recently renovated:  It has a very clean and neat interior decor, more like a family restaurant than a bar (and they do have a family room), and there is a very festive covered open-air bar in the back that has roll-down transparent plastic curtains and overhead space heaters for cold days, although on this day in the early fall it was completely open and quite pleasant.  We ordered some hot wings and an order of fried pickle chips, both of which were decent and not outrageously priced, although the "Boom Boom" sauce for the chips was just okay, seemingly a combination of Thousand Island dressing and cocktail sauce.  Arrrgh, Matey! Here be the end the of "good" part of the review....

Apparently Basey's has NO well drinks or well liquor:  If you order, say, a Gin & Tonic, they give you something like freakin' Tanqueray and charge you accordingly, like $7 or $8 a round.  Cathy even apologized when she brought the bill, knowing we'd better be sitting down when we read it: With our two appetizers and our usual 3 drinks each (Honest, Officer, I've been PBT'd before and never tested over the limit, I swear!), plus a non-alcoholic 8 oz. ginger beer that I later learned was $4.50 (!), our total was right at 80 bucks, with a decent tip for Cathy's excellent service bringing it up to almost $100.  I guess you have to expect to pay more to drink Downtown, but for us that won't be happenin' until the next time we win the Lottery.  Drink up, but very SLOWLY! www.baseysdowntown.com  

El Jalapeno: Good Mexican, and a Little Bit Different

El Jalapeno, 4902 S. East Street, is (yay!) free-standing restaurant in the building that formerly housed Dimitri's and before that Denny's.  It still retains the nice interior woodwork the Dimitri's folks installed, but they have added bench booths with colorful carved woodwork that depicts Mexican village scenery.  They have uncovered all the windows, too, which gives the place a light and airy feel, at least during the day.

The first and best thing we experienced when eating lunch there was the chips and salsa, which wree excellent.  The salsa had just the right amount of heat, and the amount of cilantro and onion in the puree made it quite tasty.  We had some hot salsa also, but though tasty, it was just the standard stuff. I actually found some dishes on the menu that weren't standard Mexican fare, though.  For lunch, I had El Burrito Roqueta, pork tenderloin and melted cheese rolled into a soft tortilla and topped with El Jalapeno (red) sauce and pico de gallo.  It was very good: the meat was browned nicely and the pico de gallo was very fresh.  I think it would have been better as a Chimichanga, but I'm not sure that was on the menu.  Service was fast and polite, and the lunch prices were really reasonable.  !Andale!

The Thompson House: Great Drinks, and Definitely NOT Your Ordinary Pub Grub

The Thompson House Bar & Grill, 711 E. Thompson Road, is around the corner in the same old strip mall as my home away from Home, the Green Door Lounge, but don't hold that against it-- the place is new, clean, and attractively furnished, although the rather ornate bar with a brass rail supported by brass elephant-head brackets seems a little fancy in contrast to the otherwise simple decor.  It's also next door to El Compadre Taqueria, the home of the best tacos I've had in Indy (see review), so a range of evening entertainment and dining options can be had right there in that one little commercial center.  Some of TTH's owners used to own Lizard's, a gun & knife club at Thompson & Madison that closed a couple of years ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have taken such care with this place.

TTH is first and foremost a bar, with ten or more electronic dart boards and a couple of arcade games around the walls, as well as eight TV's scattered about the room, and a stage where live entertainment plays three (?) days a week.  The sound system for the jukebox is GREAT, which has seduced me into putting a lot of moola into playing the songs I want to hear.  Something about that speaker set-up makes it possible to hear the music AND engage in conversation with the people at your table without either drowning the other out.  Since they opened about 6 months ago, the crowd has mainly been composed of middle-class working people with a few well-to-doers, too.  There are usually at least 4 or 5 Harleys parked outside with their weekend warrior owners stopping in for only 1 or 2 before continuing their ride.  The drinks are decent and not overpriced, and they have a number of meaningful specials through the week.

All this down-to-earth ambiance makes TTH a very comfortable place to relax, which is reason enough to go there, but, OHMIGOSH, you have to try the FOOD!  It is 3 cuts above your usual pub grub:  I've been trying something different off the menu every time I visit, and have yet to be disappointed.  The best thing I've found so far is the Reuben sandwich:  fresh rye bread, homemade corned beef, and sauerbraten grilled in teriyaki sauce make it ever so tasty, every bit the equal of Gandolfo's Deli (see review) and at little more than half the price. I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention Robert's Ribs available on Fridays.... LET'S EAT, Y'ALL!