Ralph and Ava's Public House:a Class Act in Mooresville

Continuing our Valentine's Day weekend, The Little Woman and I went for a (very) little drive and wound up in downtown Mooresville, Indiana looking for a good place for a late lunch.  We went into  Ralph & Ava's Public House at 6 W. Main Street thinking it was your average small-town bar, but it turned out to be a scrupulously clean little cafe with polished old-wood and brass decor that happens to have a full bar along the back wall.  There was a little group of well-dressed women at one of the tables who appeared to be taking a break from shopping...  

When I came to Indianapolis decades ago, Mooresville had kind of a country bumpkin sort of reputation, but it has become, like most of the satellite towns around Indy, a sort of bastion of middle and upper middle class living.  When we first visited M-town 'way back when, we went into a bar where there was a woman in curlers wearing a house coat, pajamas, and furry slippers who was drunk and playing pool.  We left a bit prematurely to avoid a fight when for some reason she took a shine to me and became kind of obnoxious about it! I felt disgusted and a little flattered at the same time.

That bar may still be there, but you would have to search for it among all the coffee and antique shops, tea rooms, and a vintage clothing store downtown.  Ralph & Ava's fits in nicely with them, but that's not to say I didn't like it.  They have an eclectic menu that nevertheless offers the usual pub grub. TLW and I split a Breaded Tenderloin Deluxe Sandwich and a bowl of Chili.  The tenderloin was excellent, pounded out only to about a half-inch thick with a very tasty sort of fried chicken style breading.  Our server thoughtfully split the chili into 2 small bowls: it was quintessential Indiana-style chili with fresh, quality ingredients and very little grease. It wasn't very spicy, but a little Tabasco cured that nicely. They have a number of local and imported craft beers on draft and a wide assortment of bottled beers as well, and the array of liquors on display was quite impressive. Despite all the upscale appearances, the price of our meal was not outrageous, still within $$ range.  SCORE!

The Library: No Shushing Here!

There isn't a lot of fine dining on the Southwest side of Indy, so the semi-upscale Library Restaurant & Pub on Lynhurst Avenue at Sam Jones Expressway is quite the hidden gem.  It's NOT in a strip mall, for starters: the building is quite beautiful inside and out,  a sort of French Provincial Mansion that belongs up North in Pretentioustan instead of in the middle of the urban sprawl of Airportland.  The decor inside is simple but elegant, with chandeliers and even an art gallery upstairs, but the ambiance is actually quite casual even though the price is $$$ and the food is excellent. 

The Little Woman had Beef Tenderloin pasta with Gorgonzola sauce and I had Prime Rib Manhattan, both of which were large-portioned and deeeelicious.  The pasta and tenderloin medallions were tender and perfectly cooked with a very strong Gorgonzola flavor.  Prime Rib is the specialty of the house, and the Manhattan is a smaller cut placed on a sliver of bread and covered with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and topped with onion straws. It was really, really, REALLY good, and (hold on to your seat) more than I could eat in one sitting.

We hung out at the bar after dinner, only partly because they have half-priced bottles of wine on Mondays (it was our Belated Valentine's Day dinner and we had a room in the hotel next door).  Owing to the airport/office park/industrial area in which it's located, the bar draws mostly business travelers away from their homes in other cities and likely drinking on expense accounts, so the conversations were uncensored and quite lively and entertaining.  If only I could've figured out a way to record them and then find out out whom to blackmail, we could have made it a profitable evening as well!  (JK) ...The bar prices were not a bargain but not outrageous, either, which made this $$ guy very happy.  CHEERS!