Mi Abuelito: More of Everything!

 Mi Abuelito is (sigh) in a strip mall on the east side of the 8300 block of South US31, in yet another of those black holes of the business universe where each new entity soon disappears: It's been 4 or 6 different types of restaurants or bars in the last 10 years or so. Mi Abuelito has been open for about 6 weeks. There is another Mi Abuelito in Franklin, Indiana, but I dunno if the two are connected.   We stumbled upon this place after finding that the newly opened Humble Taco (review to come) had a two-hour wait:  This $$ guy despises waiting in lines, traffic jams, or on hold, and I'm glad we didn't wait....

Mi Abuelito has more of an upscale appearance than most other Mexican restaurants, very beautiful with a LOT of colorful carved furniture and wall decorations.  The artsy menu also had slighly higher prices than I expected, but it was our night out, so WTH.  The Little Woman had a 3-taco plate and I ordered the Fajitas de Lujo (de Luxe).  TLW ordered a Jalapeno Margarita to drink, and when they asked what size she wanted, she said the largest one, not knowing how big that was-- turns out it was a whopping 58 ouncea, so we shared it.  It was delicious but not overly strong, and the jalapenos added a nice zest to the tart sweetness of the margarita mix.

TLW's tacos were very, very good-- traditional with lots of cilantro and nicely browned ground beef. My fajitas were excellent, a GIANT mound of meats, including a large barbecued pork rib, mixed with a decent amount of green peppers and onions. My motto is "leftovers are for quitters", but for one of only a few times in my life I had to admit it was more than I could eat, and in fact there was so much there that it made for lunch the next day for both of us!  In sum, Mi Abuelito is a great Mexican Restaurant, not because it's radically different, but because it does all the usual dishes very well and in a big, BIG way.  iComemos!

Indy's Burger Joint: Good, but Good Enough?

Indy's Burger Joint is NOT in a strip mall, it's in a free-standing building on the lot of a strip mall at Emerson and Stop 11 Road.  Since it was first built that building has been one of those black-hole locations where no business survives for very long: It was a new Huddle House, then a couple years later it was somebody's blah blah cafe, then it limped along for several years under different owners as Diana's Diner.  Now it has been open for 6-8 months as Indy's Burger Joint, not to be confused with Teddy's Burger Joint at a different black-hole which closed a few years ago (but has reopened as Between the Bun's new location).

From the menu that had been circulating I kind of assumed it was an upscale sort of place because the burgers looked a little more like $$$ and they advertised a full bar.  When we pulled in at like 9 in the evening on a Sunday night, however, it had more of a greasy spoon ambiance that was only a little spiffier than the diner it replaced, with bright lighting, wood tables, and cushioned wood chairs.  The bar looked more like a soda counter with unlabled chrome spigots for beer and no liquor bottles visible anywhere. There was a faint musty odor about the interior, too, which I thought might be natural gas but The Little Woman took to be old sour mop smell.

Those unpleasantries aside, the food and service were very good. My Cantina Burger was like $12 but it was quality ground beef perfectly cooked and had a thick slab of pepper jack cheese, spicy aoli, and jalapenos that gave it some good heat and made it very tasty.  TLW's Turkey Wrap was likewise very flavorful, with the tortilla wrap nicely browned.  Both came with a mess of seasoned natural-cut fries that were reeeeeally good.  I paid extra to get the Garlic Parmesan fries with a garlic sauce applied as well as a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan, but the base fries were just as good. Our server was very attentive and kept our drinks constantly refilled.

All in all, we will likely eat there again, probably sometime early in the day when my beloved The Tailgate (which is maybe 100 yards away in the strip mall) is not yet open. It depends on the type of burger you want, but The Tailgate's charcoal-grilled masterpieces are equal to or better than IBJ's griddle creations and a little cheaper. Dangit, I'm hungry now!

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!  

YATS spelled backwards is STAY, but I saw no reason to do so, even if you could.

YATS, the southside location of which is on US 31 across from Greenwood Park Mall is, like almost everything else, in a strip mall. It has a fairly simple dining room which is closed presently due to the pandemic, but you have to enter the store and go to the counter in the back to order your stuff to-go (although you may be able to get curb service, I dunno. I didn't see or try to find out-- this is a blog not a research paper, 'kay?) If you didn't know, YATS is ostensibly Cajun cuisine, though it was hard for me to tell except for the framed photos of New Orleans locations on the walls. Pretty much everything on the menu is a type of stew or soup: The Little Woman had some sort of Spicy Etouffee and I had White Chicken Chili, both of which seemed to us to lack any seasoning or flavor, although the few and far between bits of crawfish in the etouffee were nice.  Perhaps I was mistaken when I assumed that Cajun food was supposed to be rather nicely seasoned like it was at Zydeco's when I went some time ago.  Not so at YATS. The only positive thing I can say (and you know that's unusual for me) is that the prices were fairly reasonable for the quantity of food you receive, bland though it be. And that's all I have to say about that....

Shakers Good Eats and Ale: New But Not Different

Shakers Good Eats and Ale, is located (say it with me) in a strip mall at Southport Road and Franklin Road.  It appears to be a part of a small chain based in Cincinnati, with the other locations simply called Shakers, and it has that appearance, sort of a bare-bones kind of the Fern Bars of old, like Bennigan's, Max & Erma's, or TGI Friday's. So, it IS comfortable and inviting. but rather lacks any sort of individual character. I imagine that it is nevertheless a welcome addition to the nearly non-existent Franklin Township dining scene, and all in all maybe not a bad one.

The Little Woman ordered a Breaded Tenderloin Sandwich ($10) and I had a Brisket Sandwich ($13), both of which came with fries. I was initially a little disappointed with the price until the food arrived-- both sammiches were HUGE and came with a large mound of breaded/seasoned fries that were quite tasty. TLW's tenderloin was thick and breaded with a very nicely seasoned fish-type breading.  She could only eat half of it, and she and I later made a nice snack of the other half.  My brisket was decent but a little soft and undercooked, lacking any smoked flavor. 

The place just opened on March 17th, the day Covid-19 restrictions began here in Indy, so they may not be completely organized yet.  Service was a little slow: TLW's $6 glass of Pinot Grigio arrived rather quickly, but when I ordered a flight of Oliver Moscatos for $8, they were unable to provide one of the varieties because they'd lost the corkscrew to open a new bottle!  ...Anyway, the place is decent, especially there on the edge of civilization, with a number of covered outdoor tables and a half-wall of TV screens.  They'll probably be well up and running... eventually!

Squealers BBQ - Mooresville' Finest!

I don't know if the title is true for sure, really, since I haven't been to every restaurant in Mooresville-- there are more of them than you might expect for the town's small size.  Like everyone else in Indianapolis, The Little Woman and I were going cabin fever stir-crazy, so when restaurants were allowed to reopen in the donut counties we fled the city for some dining out relief.  We had lunch at Squealers BBQ, 390 E. High Street in Mooresville, and surprise! We were seated immediately, at a table surrounded by off-limits tables to maintain social distance.  It's a sort of old-fashioned place with timber frame cabin walls, old metal signs and neon, etc., which is quite comfortable and familiar to an old fart like myself.  

TLW had the ($10) Breaded Tenderloin sandwich and a ($5) glass of house wine while I had the daily special ($7) Pulled Pork sandwich and fries along with a ($5.50) good 'n cold 22 oz. mug of Oaken Barrel Amber Ale. They have a good selection of both wine and beers.  The Tenderloin was quite good, pounded only medium thin with a fried-chicken type breading and seasoned nicely. The Pulled Pork was good but could have been a little more smoky for my taste, although their barbecue cookoff trophies on the wall might disagree with me.  I opted for their Spicy Hot barbecue sauce, which is EXCELLENT, a little smoky and sweet but not too sweet, and some very tasty heat to it.  I would have purchased a bottle to take-home (much to TLW's chagrin-- "Where're we gonna put THAT? You've got 4 other BBQ sauces already!") but their crew was beginning to get very busy with other escaping Indianapolites (er, Indianapolitans? I dunno).  Maybe next time...  YEEHAW!

The Crowbar Pub in Trafalgar - An Essential Trip!

Like everyone else in self-imposed semi-quarentine I'm bored, but The Little Woman and I managed to visit The Crowbar Pub on State Road 135 just north of SR 252 in "downtown" Trafalgar for some carry-out food.  We had been inside the place a couple weeks before the Great Lockdown began, so I'll include some obervations about that here just in case you're bored enough yourself to read them.

This is a local watering hole with the usual crew of colorful regulars who cluster at one end of the bar, but it's also a sort of roadhouse:  Motorcyclists from Indianapolis often make the scenic ride to Brown County State Park, and Trafalgar is a convenient waypoint to make a stop enroute to or from the park.  The Crowbar accommodates them with a good-sized area in the lot reserved for cycles, and they recently added a spacious enclosed rear porch with its own bar and large roll-down garage-style window doors that can be opened when the weather is nice.  The regular bar room itself is a shock to most travelers from Indy because it is so damn' clean, lacking any of the endearing/disgusting patina/dirt that most of the Big City's imbiberies (yeah, it's a made-up word) have.

Okay, I'm not bored anymore so I'll wrap it up-- the place is simple but very nice inside, the staff is generally friendly, and the food, although mostly just the standard pub grub, is very good.  I did have one unusual item, a ground pork-patty sandwich that had excellent flavor.  Prices are in the middle of the $$ range, so TLW and her Cheap Bastard husband were pleased. On the web at www.crowbar.pub ...Y'all go and get it!