Milktooth: Hard to Not Like

We hit Milktooth, 534 Virginia Avenue for a late breakfast on a Saturday.  It is NOT in a strip mall (PRAISE THE LORD!) but in what used to be an auto repair garage.  It is very nicely decorated inside, and they have a few outdoor tables, too.  The place has a kind of hipster/yuppie kind of vibe, and being the more plebeian working-class guy I consider myself to be, I didn't want to like it.  The parking lot is kind of small (there is street parking out on Virginia) but luckily we were able to navigate past all the Subaru Crosstreks and Mercedes G420s and find a space for our Dodge.  And that is almost the last negative thing I can say about the place:  Despite being busy, they seated us promptly, waited on us promptly, and brought our food much sooner than "promptly".  I had the Red Coarse-ground Appalachian Grits with Bacon ($9) and TLW had a Pecan Sticky Bun ($7). I had coffee, of which they had several blends available ($3 to $5).  Everything was very, very good... what there was of it.  My bowl of grits was smaller than any cereal bowl we have at home, although it was garnished with a fair amount of green onions (or were they chives?) and the bits of applewood bacon were thick cut and delicious.  The Pecan Sticky Bun was smaller than your average Cinnabon but was almost as thick and had a nice amount of pecans.  It was baked perfectly, was very tasty, and was almost worth the $7.  The coffee was excellent, too.  All in all it was very tasty, so I guess I can recommend you eat there... and if you're still hungry when you leave, you can always go down the block to The Peppy Grill for a heaping mess of greasy spoon diner food.... Thus sayeth the Old Fat Guy!

The NY Slice: DON'T Fagedaboutit!

The NY Slice, 5564 Madison Avenue just south of Epler, began its existence as a food truck in 2011, of which there are now two.  There is a (fairly) new owner, and since local health regulations require food trucks to have a fixed base kitchen of operations, it appears he has decided the kitchen might as well be a restaurant unto itself, and YAHOO, am I glad he did, because I seem to almost never be near a food truck when one's open.  The store's website says the owner is a CIA-trained (Culinary Institute of America, I think, not Central Intelligence Agency, although the site doesn't really specify which.  Hmm....) chef who previously operated Eh! Formaggio, a small short-lived pizza parlor on the northwest side of Indy that I really liked but only got to visit once before it closed.

The store is on one end of a tiny, incredibly ancient strip mall with no name, but the place is very clean and neat, with a tiny "dining room" that holds about 6 tiny two-person tables.  You order at a tiny counter from a menu posted on the wall.  In true food truck fashion the pizza menu is rather simple, although it does also have a selection of sandwiches, calzones, and salads.  A basic slice is $3.29 plus 59 cents per additional topping, and it definitely ain't tiny.

Not sure when I'd be allowed to visit again (The Little Woman and I are supposed to be losing weight), I opted for a whole pizza: They have only 16" and 20" pies, the former starting at $15.79 with $1.59 for each additional topping.  We love what most places call a Supreme, so by the time I was done reciting our desired 9 toppings it cost $29 and change.  Oooh, but it was WORTH it!  The aroma that filled the car was indescribably mouth-watering, and when the box was opened it was a fragrant thing of beauty. I've never actually been to NYC to experience the real NY style of pie, but there was an elderly gent with an actual New York accent who came in while I was waiting, and he told the counter girl theirs was the best Brooklyn-style pizza he'd ever had outside The City.  The crust is thin and toasty on the outside without being hard, perfect for folding your slices in half, New York style, if you want.  The pie is not as cheesy as Eh!'s was, but the sauce makes up for it, incredibly fragrant and filled with Italian flavor and not vaguely sweet like the more traditional pies at Vito Provolone's, my go-to favorite up till now. I could go on and on about how good it is, but you've probably already stopped reading by this point, so just GO AND EAT AND BE DELIGHTED!  www.thenyslice.com