Caplinger's Fresh Catch Has a New Southside Location-- YAY!

For its size, Indianapolis seems to have a dearth of seafood restaurants: a few fine-dining places like The Majestic, Oceanaire, and McCormick & Schmick's, none of which impressed me very much, especially given their price; a few more cheap chains and local joints, but not that many.  I'm a little spoiled having come from Louisville, which is full of them (I've previously reviewed two of Louvul's best on here, the iconic Mike Linnig's and a hidden gem, Passtime Fish House.)  I don't know if it's because the Derby City is part of the South,  is on the Ohio River with greater access to shipping and local freshwater fish, or what. Lucky for Indy, however, Caplinger's Fresh Catch has been slowly but steadily expanding their number of locations, although up to now they were up North or Northeast in Whitestown, 75th & Shadeland, and Pendleton Pike near (I think) Post Road.  Now, finally, FINALLY they have opened a location I don't have to drive all day to get to-- 7620 S. Meridian Street.

Caplinger's is primarily a seafood SHOP, selling fresh fare flown in daily (so they claim) for you to take home and cook your own danged self, but they also have a simple kitchen and dining room (except for the one on Pendleton Pike which is carryout only, being housed in an office trailer in the middle of a parking lot) which serves up dishes in to-go containers.  All the stuff I've had at several of the other locations, both fried and grilled, seems very fresh and perfectly cooked.   The new location is in a former Pizza Hut that has been nicely renovated, with a cute 12-15 table dining room that is closed now due to (moan it with me) The Pandemic, so everything is sold to-go. 

I had a combo platter with grilled Basa fish and blackened shrimp that came with hushpuppies and 2 sides; The Little Woman had a Lobsta Roll Sandwich dinner with puppies and one side.  Our sides were Collard Greens, Chipotle Coleslaw, and Red Beans & Rice.   To me everything was EXCELLENT, but TLW's lobster had a dressing that has some sweetness that she disliked.  The Collard Greens were not as good as hers but were better'n any I've ever had from a restaurant, the Chipotle dressing did spice up the coleslaw, but the RB&R was just a little bland. The bun for the Lobsta Roll was INCREDIBLE, a sort of light pretzel outside with a soft and sweet inside-- Cap's says they buy them from a local bakery. Finally, service was fast and friendly and the prices, though a little high for this $$ fella, were not outrageous.  Mangeons!  

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant: Good Food; Value, Not So Much.

We were going out for our 9th wedding anniversary, and a friend had very thoughtfully given us a sizable gift card to Oceanaire Restaurant, but we had eaten there several years ago and been sorta underwhelmed by the seafood and overwhelmed by the price tag, over $150 for the two of us. So when we saw on the back of the gift card that it was good for any Landry's-owned establishment, I checked out McCormick & Schmick's, 110 N. Illinois Street.  It's part of a chain, but there's only one in Indy, so I feel comfortable reviewing it.  The menu appeared a somewhat less expensive $$$ than Oceanaire's, and had much the same kind of food.  

I'm a $$ kind of guy, remember, so if you want me to fork over that additional $ ya better WOW me, and sadly, M&S did not.  It was good, mind you, it just wasn't $$$ good, especially since we had to come downtown and pay to park (although I think they do have valet parking available, so never mind the paying part).  I had the Ultimate Mixed Grill- grilled shrimp, stuffed shrimp, seared scallops, and a chunk of grilled salmon, with roasted red pepper mashed potatoes and green beans for $32.99.  Little Mama had the Shrimp Trilogy: fried shrimp, stuffed shrimp, and shrimp scampi with butternut squash orzo serving as the pasta for $26.99, and we split a $7.99 chopped side salad with blue cheese. 

The huge cup of blue cheese dressing that came with the salad and the orzo were the real highlights of the meal, not the seafood.  The orzo was freaking awesome, very plump and tasty, and the little cubes of squash made me thankfully forget I was eating squash.   The light buttermilk breading of the fried shrimp made it very tasty, too.  The grilled shrimp was overcooked, dry and tough, while the scallops and stuffed shrimp seemed underdone but tasted okay.  I know it's better to under cook than overcook scallops, but the very concept of "seared" implies that the top and bottom of the scallop ought to be browned just a bit, and these things were not browned at all-- they looked like they'd been broiled or baked.  Finally, the salmon, mashed potatoes, and green beans were decent but uninspiring.  With two glasses of wine our bill came in just under $100, and to me the bottom line is that Red Lobster is almost as good and a heck of a better value.  Oh yeah-- Mama always said to try to say something nice about everyone, so I will say the service was impeccable, not $$$ impeccable but DANGIT THERE I GO AGAIN, SORRY!