Lima Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Hospital Food: Not Your Grandma's Gruel

I recently had occasion to visit with loved ones in both Lima Memorial Hospital in Lima, OH and St. Francis Hospital here in Indy, which leads one to make comparisons between the two similar institutions, especially (for me) their respective food services. When you spend hours watching your family member suffer while you have to sit there unable to do anything for them except be there, a short trip to the cafeteria can be a welcome respite from that constant anxiety.  

Lima Memorial and one other hospital serve that city of about 40,000 people along with a number of surrounding communities. It's undergoing a major renovation, so some problems, I suppose, are due to that.  The worst thing I can say is it seemed like a half-mile walk from the main entrance just to get to the elevators to get up onto the wards.  The cafeteria was down in the basement, so no windows, and was tiny for the size of the hospital, so at one mealtime I had to sit with another gent because all the other tables were full, I mean FULL of people, many of whom like me were forced to sit with people they didn't know, all taking off their masks to eat, which I doubt was a good thing Covid-wise, but maybe they were all vaccinated, at least.

On the plus side, their food was EXCELLENT!  My favorite dish was the Parmesan Chicken Breast: It appeared they had grilled the chicken, coated it with a creamy parmesan sauce and then baked it on for a few minutes more.  It was incredibly tasty, as was just about every thing else I had there.  The room service for patients was just as good: they were open until 10:00 p.m., and they accepted requests for patients' visitors as well. Every member of the hospital staff I met was as friendly and helpful as could be, and the longer I remained in Lima it seemd to be not just the hospital staff but the people of the city as well-- fast food restaurant employees, hotel clerks,  everyone!  

The staff of St. Francis (now named Franciscan-Indianapolis, although few locals call it that) are caring professionals who are very, very busy, so forgive them if they are more politely business-like than friendly.  The cafeteria is a busy place, too, but it is big enough to accommodate a lot of people very quickly with a very large selection of items.  The food is generally good but not outstanding; I have yet to find a dish I'm ecstatic about.  The two best things about the place are 1) it's on the second floor with big windows that overlook the parking lot, interstate highway, and some pastoral scenery, and 2) there is always hot Seattle's Best coffee available. I've several times spent a few peaceful minutes there at a table by the window, sipping dark roast while watching the traffic and pedestrians come and go, and not worrying about what the future holds for one particular room upstairs.  Every time a baby is born at St. Francis, the PA system plays a short music-box version of the children's hymn "Jesus Loves Me", which always makes me smile and pray that's really true. 

Newk's Eatery: Yeah, It's a Chain, but....

 ...It's not half bad, although it doesn't really pass the $$ Guy value test.  Newk's has locations across the South and Texas, with a few of locations each in Colorado and Maryland, and ONE, just one left in Indy.  It kind of reminds me of a stripped down McAlister's.  You order one of about ten sandwiches or entrees and they give you cups to fill your drink at a station in the back of the dining room. I had a Newk's Q sandwich and The Lovely Wife ordered a Grilled Steak sandwich.  Both come with a small side, so I had coleslaw and TLW had a fruit cup. The Q was sliced roast chicken on a kind of baguette with bacon and a white sauce that I supposed was meant to resemble Alabama white barbecue sauce, which was pretty good even though the sandwich was kind of small, like a 6-inch Subway sub for $8.  TLW's grilled steak was really shaved beef with a kind of minced horseradish sauce, again tasty but rather small.  My slaw was fresh but not memorable and TLW's little fruit cup was fresh and tasty.  We shared a $7.99 bowl of Tomato Basil Soup that was the hit of the meal even though it was sort of orange-colored and not very tomato-y.  They have little cups of add-ons you can take from the counter, so we added jalapenos, parmesan cheese, and crackers to the soup which made it quite flavorful.  Two large cups of UNsweet Peach Tea (which was nicely brewed and delicious) brought the price of our lunch to $34.51, which may be why the Newk's on the North side closed.  It was a nice working lunch, but not one this cheapskate could afford every day. ;-)

P.S. TLW was on a low-sodium diet at this time, and we found out too late that EVERYTHING at Newk's (except maybe the iced tea) is chocked full of sodium.  So if you're cutting down on sodium (and if not, why aren't you?!) you might want to avoid the place altogether. :-(