Salt Creek Winery: A Small, Beautiful Experience

Salt Creek Winery is at 7630 W. Co. Rd. 925N near Freetown, Indiana in (I think) Jackson County.  The Little Woman and I were coming back to Indy from Louisville via a detour to SR 135 (due to her aversion to Interstate Highways and my driving on them) so that we could visit Mallow Run Winery near Bargersville on the way back, but as I needed to make a pit stop to see a man about a horse and maybe drop off the kids at the pool, when we saw the sign on 135 that said "< Salt Creek Winery 2"  we decided to detour off the detour, and am I ever glad we did (and not just because of that pit stop thing)!  

SR 135 is very, very pretty in itself, but the little county road back to the winery is right out of a Thomas Kinkade/Currier & Ives/Ansel Adams picture, and the gravel drive off the road takes you right into the front yard of the owners' beautiful home where the little winery sits.  I dunno if General Steel or some other design company mass produces that type of building, but the exterior and interior layout of SCW is an almost exact duplicate of Buck Creek Winery in Acton (which I like very much).  Whereas BCW overlooks I-74, the back porch of Salt Creek Winery overlooks wooded hills and a beautiful green valley that stretches away for several miles.  We had a free tasting then each bought a glass of wine, and we drank them while relaxing in comfortable patio chairs on that back porch while enjoying the view and listening to the outdoor sounds of late summer/early fall accompanied by the giggles of two little children playing in the field that is the foreground for the long scenic view.  The field is about an acre or so, and has a deck/stage at its edge that I suspect hosts small musical acts, on occasion. 

Oh, yeah, the wine:  I'm not really a connoisseur but their wines are very good, although not as bold in flavor as some others, more of a subdued, subtle taste, very smooth.  The Merlot was very dry and thin, not nearly as strong as to what I'm accustomed, but the Cabernet Sauvignon was very tasty and the Sunrise Red was as good as any table wine I've ever tasted.  My favorite by far, though, was the Chambourcin, which was very complex, several different flavors melding together perfectly. We're dry not sweet wine drinkers, but She sampled their Blackberry wine and although She deemed it too sweet for her, I thought it was, again, smoother and less bold than most other places' fruit wines.

It was an idyllic, relaxing experience.  (Insert contented sigh here).  We tarried as long as we could, but eventually resigned ourselves to going back out onto the road home.  After this stop and another at Big Woods Brewing Co. in Nashville (look for a future post) we were, alas, too late to make it to Mallow Run, so that would have to wait for another day.  :-)   www.saltcreekwinery.com 

The Rainbow Coffee Shop: Good Eats, Cheap. The Service Not So Much....

After attending an annual party at a friend's house in the boonies of Hancock County, our host generously allowed everyone to stay the night rather than try to negotiate the myriad country roads and turns required to safely get back home to Indy.  There was one legendary occasion several years ago where one regular attendee tried to drive home after one too many and wound up getting arrested in New Castle, of all places! This year the festivities ended relatively early and we got to bed at what even my Great-Grandma would say was a decent hour, for a Saturday anyway, thus we were awakened by the crowing of a rooster at 5:30 a.m., were hungry and dehydrated, and rather than wait for everyone else to rouse from their respective stupors, we drove to the bodacious burg of Morristown and, seeing that the Copper Kettle wasn't open yet, we spied the Bluebird Coffee Shop, Restaurant, and Dinner Theatre at 158 E. Main Street.

There was a huge dining room with a buffet table for the restaurant, but only the coffee shop on one side of the place was open at that early hour on Sunday, and there were already ten or twelve locals in there chewing the fat, er, talking, that is, while they also were actually chewing the fat....  There was only one waitress, so I guess she can be forgiven for being a little slow to get us a menu.  I had the Three-Egg Cheese Omelet with sausage, onions, green pepper and tomatoes added, along with a side order of fried potatoes and coffee, and She had a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich with hash browns and iced tea.  It was all decent but not outstanding:  Being of Southern extraction, I always expect a spicy breakfast sausage, but this stuff was kinda pale-looking and bland, but it tasted okay otherwise.  My fried potatoes were underdone, perhaps owing to the cook having to get a bunch of orders out as quickly as possible, but the hash browns  were DEEELICIOUS, browned and seasoned quite nicely, and the coffee and tea were good, too.

The really delightful thing about this breakfast was the price-- $13.65!  The base price for the omelet was $3.50 plus 25 cents each for the sausage, onions, green peppers, and tomatoes.  Her Sausage & Egg Sandwich was $2.50 and the has browns and fried potatoes were $1.50 each.  WHAT A DEAL!!!  When we were ready to pay, however, the waitress vanished for an extended period, so I wound up just leaving $15 cash (a 10% tip, sorry Mabel!) so we could amscray.  I've heard they have a breakfast buffet from 6-11 a.m. during the week that is quite good, and the Fried Chicken Dinner is supposed to be good, too.  Maybe we'll check that out after NEXT YEAR'S party...

UPDATE, 12/16/2013:  There was a big fire there yesterday that started in the Long Branch Saloon next door.  I don't know the extent of the damage, but I bet the Bluebird will re-open at some point....

Carol's Cornerstone Cafe- Small Town, Big Taste.

Early on a Saturday afternoon, the Little Woman and I were on the way to attend a party at a friend's house in the boonies near Greenfield, IN, and decided to eat a small meal before imbibing.  We happened upon Carol's Cornerstone Cafe, 301 E. Main St. in Greenfield and decided it would be a good little adventure to begin the weekend's festivities.  We went to one entrance and saw a sign that directed us to the door on the front (Main Street) side of the building.  We went in that door and stumbled into a kind of 1950's diner museum in progress.  There was a '56 Ford station wagon and another old car (I think it might've been a '53 Dodge but don't remember for sure) as well as old furniture, a gas station sign, and assorted knickknacks strewn around haphazardly, but it was all roped off, so we proceeded down the hallway and found the actual restaurant, which has that cozy country charm you'll find in numerous small-town homestyle eateries.  We had to sit in the small dining room near the front door (which is on the SIDE of the building) because all the main dining room tables were reserved for a big gospel sing-in they were having later that day.

We waited a good little while, until one of the locals said we should sound the little hotel bell on our table, but just as I was about to smack it the waitress appeared.  I ordered Liver & Onions with fried potatoes, and She had the Deep-Fried Cod with french fries and cole slaw.  The meal came out surprisingly fast.... Quite a few of the menu items were deep-fried, thus I believe they must have that process down to a science, because the four pieces of cod were freakin' EXCELLENT!  They had a light, buttery breading that complemented the flavor of the fish so splendidly that they were better than most of the cod pieces (not to be confused with codpieces) I've had in any number of actual seafood restaurants.  She very generously gave me one piece but slapped my hand away when I tried to steal another one, and She's usually not that protective of fish in any form, so that tells ya how good it was.  The fries were nothing special but were fried just right, and the creamy fine-chopped cole slaw approached the quality of KFC's, the standard by which I judge all slaws. 

My Liver & Onions were good but not outstanding-- the liver could have been browned more, for my taste, and it could've used more onion.  My fried potatoes were very good, though-- I like 'em browned as much as possible without being burned, and they had accomplished that quite well.  The crowning glory was that the whole meal cost us like $17.  Dang! Eat up, y'all!

Joe's Shelby Street Diner: The Best Parts of the Diner Tradition Live On.

Joe's Shelby Street Diner, at the corner of Shelby Street and Standish Avenue, is a true diner of the old-fashioned sort-- long counter with like 15 stools and two or three small booths in the main room, 5 or 6 booths in a side dining room that was added some years ago.The decor is sort of a mock 50's deal, with a neon Coca Cola clock, posters with Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, etc. but it's not so much that it's overwhelming, and although dishes on the menu have 50's names like the Big Bopper Omelet or something like that, you don't have to use the cutesy monikers when ordering.  Ownership of the place changed a few years ago, and though I liked the previous guy, the current proprietors have actually improved the food and service.  It's your basic diner food, prepared on the griddle out in front of everyone, and it has always been perfectly prepared-- I've never had a bad meal there, and the portions are beyond decent. Their one sort of unusual item is the Tower of Onion Rings, a little wooden stand that looks like a mini-coat tree, with several big, fat, heavily-battered onion rings hanging on each rung. We seem to get the same waitress every time we go, and she is as nice as can be, always accommodating if you want something different done with yer grub. The price is low enough to warm this cheapskate's heart, too.  LET'S RUMBLE!

Between the Bun: Good, But I'd Hoped for Better.

Between the Bun, on Madison Avenue just north of Main Street in Greenwood, has moved into what was Don Miguel's Mexican Restaurant for many years, then after Mike retired a number of restaurants opened up and closed in quick succession (remember the black hole theory of ill-fated locations). With a light, airy decor that includes old advertising signs and antique board-game boxes,  BTB seems to have the best chance of surviving so far, with big BIG burgers, big BIG hot dogs, and decent barbecue, although it's not cheap:  Dad's Classic Cheeseburger had a patty that was over an inch thick, and it came with a choice of steak fries, macaroni & cheese, or another side I can't remember at this here moment-- it was $7.59.  We had the burger with fries and a Pulled Pork Sandwich with fries and Spitfire barbecue sauce, which was their hottest of 3 sauces, quite spicy.  The burger was cooked perfectly, but I'd hoped for some kind of unique flavor or seasoning, to no avail.  It was just a big burger.  The pulled pork and sauce were decent, but again, nothing unique or outstanding for the $8.99 we paid.  The steak fries, however, were dusted with some sort of seasoning and were quite tasty.  En toto is was a good, not great, meal. I think Five Guys has 'em beat except for the grease factor-- BTB was a much leaner, cleaner sammich, I think. They're on the web at www.btbindy.com .

Don Gusto PJ: Look closely or you might miss it!

Don Gusto PJ is a tiny Mexican sandwich shop and bakery on the northeast corner of the intersection of Meridian Street and Hanna Avenue. You can't see the name until you get close to the windows, but there is a none-too-big sign on the front of the roof that says "TORTAS" and "PASTELERIA". I'd like to call it a boutique Mexican restaurant, but that might imply the place is fancy and expensive, which it is not, although the chef and the proprietor both wear chef tunics like you see on Iron Chef.  The menu offers about 10 different sandwiches but also has other traditional Mexican entrees like quesadillas, sopes, and burritos. They only have 6 tables, so much of their business is to-go orders, but when I went in to order to-go the first time,  the inside of the place was just so neat and tidy that I had to come back and have a sit-down meal.  The first time, I ordered a steak quesadilla, and it was unlike any I'd had before. Instead of being wrapped in a papery flour tortilla, it was encased in a fried pastry-like corn tortilla shell like a big empanada only it was flaky and tender, and it came with sour cream and lettuce spread across the top.  It was big enough that The Little Woman and I split it for lunch, and it was sooo tasty it almost didn't need the green tomatilla salsa and red pepper sauce that came on the side.  The tomatilla stuff lit me up a little bit, it was so spicy, but it was also so GOOD I wanted to take a gallon or so home.  The steak quesadilla and a bottle of Lipton iced tea came to $4.35, WHAT? WHAT???  The pennies in my pocket almost stopped screaming because I'd let up so much on pinching them!

On Saturday we both went there and ate-in: she had two tacos and a side of refried beans, and I had a steak burrito which wasn't as big as La Bamba's, but it was pretty darned big.  It was reeeeally tasty, I think because there was a bunch of sour cream mixed in with a bunch of cheese along with the beans and tomatoes and rice and lettuce and cilantro.  Her tacos had an even lighter, fluffier version of corn tortilla than our quesadilla had. TLW said she thought maybe they fried it in oil in a shallow pan and then folded it into a taco shell while still hot. It was light and crispy, and the steak bits were well seasoned and accompanied by fresh onion and cilantro.  She had a can of Diet Coke and I had ice water for which the waiter/proprietor provided fresh lime wedges.  Altogether it was $11.71!  I was in shock-- my pennies fell silent and breathed a sigh of relief. !Increible!

You know my theory: if an ethnic restaurant has a lot of customers of that same ethnicity, it's likely to be good, right? (A certain Asian place proving to be the exception as I reported some time ago, but that was probably only because the dishes it served were foreign to my dumb-American palate.)  Well, Don Gusto had a constant parade of Latino patrons while we were there, which ranged from scruffy working men to somewhat well-to-do-looking families, and they all looked satisfied, if that tells you anything.  I thought my quest for the non-cookie cutter Mexican restaurant was at an end with Taco Meats Potato, but alas, that went sour. I must say that Don Gusto is unique, or at least different from any other I've experienced.  !Vamanos a comer!

Ella's in Calabash, NC: A Great Seafood Place in a Sea of Seafood Restaurants

We were staying in Ocean Isle Beach, NC, which is part of a cool chain of little island communities stretching from North Myrtle Beach, SC to Wilmington, NC and beyond.  They're great for a geezer like meself because there is very little of the tiki-taki jumble of commercial development and condos that the bigger beach cities seem to be full of.  Our island had a beach store, three restaurants, a bar, and an ABC (liquor) store, and that was big compared to the island part of nearby Sunset Beach, which has only a tiny beach store and an ice cream shack!  

Calabash, NC is somewhat different:  It is a tiny town on an inlet, not the ocean, and it has a fleet of fishing boats and tens of seafood restaurants even though the town's population is only a little over 1300.  Ever since I was a first-grader in Myrtle Beach with my parents, I've heard and seen advertisements for "Calabash-style" seafood, but danged if anyone I asked really knew what that meant.  After a little research I'm proud to report that it is basically just large portions of lightly-battered, lightly fried seafood, and in Calabash itself it means really FRESH seafood right off the nearby boats, and that is hard to duplicate anywhere else that's not right next to a fishing port.  

We stopped in Calabash's American Legion post, and the local vets (almost all of whom were folks originally from other places who decided to settle there) recommended Ella's Seafood, right on the east-west main drag street that runs right down to the inlet.  We had a raw oyster appetizer plate that I thought was THE BOMB, that is until I got my combination platter which included mounds of shrimp and some roasted oysters that just BLEW me AWAY!  All the seafood was unbelievably delicious.  Ella's is neat, nautical, and nothing fancy, but I can't see how they could be beat for taste, portion size, and price (which is saying something if you know what a cheapskate the Barfly is!)  Some of the reviews I'd read complained that the cut corn tasted like it came from a can.  Geeze!  That's like saying the Mona Lisa is a terrible painting because it's not in a very pretty frame.  You want CORN, come back with me to Indiana, sourpusses!  Our fried corn will have your lips smacking, but the just-flown-in-last-week seafood in Indy will leave you depressed after you've had Ella's.  Arrrrr!