The Grove: Much Like Beech Grove Itself

The Grove Sports Bar & Eatery, 3206 S. Emerson Avenue in Beech Grove, is much like the city of Beech Grove itself: medium small, tidy, and comfortable.  The city grew up (if I have the history right) around the repair shops of the Big Four Railroad (officially called, uh, the Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad, I think), which became one of Amtrak's main repair facilities, so most of the houses in the older part of the town are modest Cape Cod-types or similar, although there are some upscale areas on its fringes.  The Grove is kind of like that-- three decent sized rooms, one with two pool tables, another with a bunch of tables and three or four electronic dart boards, and the bar itself which is fairly big.  It has some nicely paneled walls in addition the painted concrete block, but there are no windows, so the regulars had the door propped open for most of the nice Spring day.  They had some pretty decent beer and drink specials, including some REALLY decent prices on a new liquor product, which tasted terrible to me, but HEY, that's the "adventure" part of adventure drinking, right?  The bartender that day was one of the best bartenders I've ever seen.  Angel (not the same Angel who worked at the Colonial, who is also a good one) has a knack for making everyone feel like she wants to hear what they have to say, and that's a special talent in the bar business, where every nattering drunk acts like Goober the time he grew a beard-- They think they're George Clooney, Jerry Seinfeld, and Josh Groban rolled into one.  In short, we had a great couple of rounds there, after which we adjusted our Terminator shades and said "We'll be baaaaach...." 

Kenny D's in Miramar Beach, FL: Old-Fashioned Fried Goodness

Two friends of ours planned to invite a bunch of us to attend when they were going to get married in Gulf Shores, Alabama, but then found it too hard to find accommodations there during Spring Break season and switched to Desitin, Florida....  Whoa!  NOT Desitin; that was kind of rash, sorry-- it was Destin, Florida. So we all made plans to go there for the wedding, but then they decided to get married here in Indy so that certain important family members could attend, and thus the trip to Destin became a sort of communal week-long party honeymoon, with the wedding couple and some friends and family in a big rental house while The Little Woman and I shared a condo next door with another couple.  

I'm a cheap bastard, but on vacation I rather like to eat out every meal and let someone else do the cleaning up.  One guy in the Big House, however, fancies himself a gourmet chef (and we discovered he's not far wrong) while the female of our roommates and TLW love to set up housekeeping wherever we go and do some cookin', which they're perty danged good at, so we ate most meals at "home" or next door. We did manage to eat out at least once every other day, however, so I relished those occasions all the more 'cuz I LOVES me some adventure eatin'.

We first hit Pompano Joe's which is (like everything else in Miramar Beach) on Scenic Gulf Boulevard, a family friendly bar/restaurant which is right on the beach and epitomizes every touristy beach bar & grill you've ever seen or envisioned, with the de rigeur driftwood and surf board decor. The food was decent and not cheap but not outrageous, although the price of drinks was stiffer than the drinks themselves.  We did get a small pitcher of Yuengling for $9.50, though, so that wasn't too bad.   A dozen raw oysters on the half shell was $12.49, and for $11.49 we had the Oysters Rastafella, six baked oysters topped with spinach, cheddar-jack cheese and Parmesan bread crust that, alas, sounded better than they tasted (Uncle Bubba's in Savannah can still breathe easy knowing that their baked oysters are still DA BEARS as far as we're concerned). The ambiance of the place was nice and comfortable, though!

We walked about a mile up the road to The Whale's Tail, a small simple place that's also on the beach.  It was like 73 degrees and sunny out, although there was a breeze.  TLW and I were in shorts and t-shirts and were still burning up from our walk, I guess, but the restaurant staff were all dressed in long pants and sweat shirts, while one female patron in long jeans and a tank top was rubbing her arms for warmth and made her boyfriend go to the car and get her jacket.  Sheesh!  That's what Winter in the Mid-West will do to us, I suppose....  We both had Shrimp Po-boys, which were very good, the shrimp fried just right.  The price was decent, too, although I was shocked, SHOCKED to find that they don't serve oysters.

We took a drive toward Desitin proper (d'oh! Destin, sorry-- my typing a little rusty... and rough, and itchy), and stopped at a fancy-lookin' place called Captain Dave's or something like that, but it didn't open until 4:00, so we back-tracked a block to Kenny D's for lunch.  It's an old-fashioned diner-looking joint, all silver and neon on the outside but shaded by big palm trees.  There is an old phone booth outside by the walk (they still exist!) which had no phone but was maintained there apparently so patrons can autograph it (or maybe, as one of my buds opined, it was there so cell phone users could have a quiet place to talk on the phone and not disturb the crap out of the people around them.)  The indoor decor was very simple, with corrugated metal ceilings and just a few nautical items here and there-- I think I saw an oar on the wall somewhere, along with several Certificates of Appreciation from the Destin Snowbirds Association, which was I hoped was a good omen, an endorsement by the locals. 

The sign out front said "Best Burger on the Beach" but the menu lists a BUNCH of Cajun dishes of all kinds. Andre our waiter, a short, wiry man of about 30 in jeans and a t-shirt who looked he might have just retired  from the Thoroughbred Jockey circuit, was either Cajun or French by his heavy accent and outward air of indifference, although he turned out to be quite attentive in an unobtrusive way.  We had a dozen oysters on the half shell for $10.99 which were FANTASTIC.  I dunno how one restaurant's raw oysters can be any better than another's but these seemed fresher and juicier than others'.  She had a shrimp po-boy and I had an oyster po-boy, and they were both excellent-- possibly the best fried oysters I've ever had, lightly breaded and delicately fried.  A happy hour pitcher of domestic beer (Yuengling counts!) was, get this, $6.99!  Oh yeah, the fries with the sammiches were very good, too....  The flavor and portion size for the price were enough to warm an old $$ guy's heart!  Bon Appetit, y'all!

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!

Baked to Perfection Bakery & Deli: Who Needs Cupcakes When You Can Have a Great Sandwich??

Baked to Perfection, 112 E. Fifth Street in Delphos, OH, is in an old storefront on the edge of downtown. Delphos is a fairly small town, so you could just drive around a bit once you get to the center and you'd probably find the place.  We've eaten there twice now, and the sandwiches are so good and reasonably priced that even a cheapskate like me was very pleased.  As we entered we could see the proprietor spreading a ridiculously thick layer of frosting on a red-velvet sheet cake.  I'm not much of a cake person but that had me wanting some. I think that's kind of the philosophy of this place:  it something is worth doing, it's worth OVERdoing.  Last time I had the Black & Blue Burger, and it had so much good, strong-tasting blue cheese melted on it that the meat was actually a little overwhelmed, so I had to scrape some off (but of course later ate it with a fork!).  

This time I had the Canal Club (the historic Miami & Erie Canal runs through Delphos) and she had the Panini Reuben.  Mine was pretty much your standard club, except it was maybe 2 1/2 inches thick with only top and bottom pieces of whole wheat toast.  Her Reuben, however, was a little work of art: a decent pile of delicate corned beef and sauerkraut with just the right amount of Thousand Island dressing between two pieces of marble rye, all held together by an enormous amount of melted Swiss.  She added her own touch of a little mustard, and when she let me have a bite, I was in Cheeeeeeeesy Heaven!  Check it out  at www.bakedtoperfection.net 

Eva's Pancake House & Restaurant: A Welcome Surprise!

Eva's Pancake House & Restaurant is a mini-chain, with 3 locations.  We happened upon the one in Pendleton, IN on SR 67 just down the road from the prison while on the way to visit The Little Woman's brother in Delphos, OH (You may recall her aversion to Interstate Highways and my driving on them), and at the time I didn't know there are also locations in Anderson and Muncie.  From the outside I wasn't expecting much.  It is just a tidy little brick building painted pale yellow, and the decor inside is kind of 80's vintage paneling and booths (think Jerry's, if you remember them).  TLW has embraced my penchant for adventure eating, but I think even she was having her doubts about the place.

Ah, but when the food arrived our opinions instantly changed:  Her tenderloin sammich was huge, thick, thickly breaded and very well seasoned.  In short, I was envious even though she shared some of it with me. I ordered the lunch special, an Italian Steak Sandwich with chicken noodle soup for (I think) $6.79.  Since I'm sorta doing the low-carb thing, I asked for it without bread (but of course I didn't turn down the fries TLW offered me, for shame!) and I added a side salad.  It turned out to be cheese steak smothered in melted mozzarella and seasoned with some kind of seasoning that gave it a delightful Italian flavor.

 In sum, I think we've found a new rest stop on the way to Dave's house.  Maybe next time we'll invite one of those nice young hitch hikers in tan or orange jump suits to come eat with us... or not.   I don't think we could fit on of their rakes in the car with us.

Teppanyaki Grill and Buffet: Ordinary Asian, But Done Well.

I went to Teppanyaki Grill & Buffet in the Cherry Tree Shopping Center (a really BIG strip mall) for lunch with about 12 colleagues.  There seem to be two basic forms of Asian buffets- one which feels like it was built in Shanghai in the 1940's and hasn't been updated since, and the other a streamlined-looking modern cafeteria with Asian-style furniture and a few other Far-East decor items.  Teppanyaki is one of the latter, with thick carpet, colorful blue and pink indirect lighting, and drop-spotlights giving it quite a pleasant atmosphere. It's one of those where a waiter or waitress takes your drink order and then you go get your own food, and man was there ever a lot of food: all sorts of Asian dishes as well as a whole steam table of American-style food for the xenophobes who get dragged there by their more adventurous spouses/family/friends.  It even has pepperoni pizzas. I hope I don't sound racist by telling you that our waitress was a teenaged little Asian girl with her hair worn so that a long strand fell on either side of her face, resembling the heroine of every anime film I've ever seen (which ain't many).  Memory was not her superpower, though, because she had to ask me twice what drink I'd ordered and then still brought me sweet tea instead of unsweet.  She was so polite, though, that I didn't have the heart to try to correct her again, and used it as an excuse to enjoy the guilty pleasure that is Sweet Tea....

I was a little disappointed in the more common Asian dishes.  The General Tso's Chicken was sweet and had very little heat to it, and the peppery chicken and shrimp likewise were not very peppery. A notable exception was the hibachi chicken, which was not spicy but had a delicious smoky flavor.  They do, however, have an impressive array of seafood that to me was better than most other Asian buffets.  There was baked fish, fried fish, salmon, cold mussels on the half-shell pre-dabbled with a sweet pepper sauce, steamed mussels on the half-shell, and baby clams on the half-shell, to name but a few.  I'm told they have a Mongolian-style grill to order bar in the back, too, but I didn't see that and had already loaded my plate(s), but I'll have to try that sometime.

UPDATE, 07/14/2014 (Sort of)- Went to the Teppanyaki at 38th/Moller Road, and the food was completely different from the one in Cherry Tree Plaza.  It wasn't bad, really, but everything tasted strange to me, even the staples like General Tso's Chicken-- it was vaguely sweet with almost NO heat, quite unlike the General Tso's  I'm used to, and, sadly, not to my liking.  I'll stick with the Cherry Tree one....  

Pollo Michoacano: Down Home Mexican Food

I was running around for work today and happened upon Pollo Michoacano, 2134 W. Washington St.across from George Washington High School in Indy, which is NOT in a strip mall, yahoo!  It's just a block or so away from the hub of Little Mexico, Belmont & Washington.  Some folk consider that part of the 'Hood, but I felt reasonably safe, during the day at least.  Anyway, it's in kind of an old building but has been nicely renovated, with lots of bright colors on the inside, typical of many such places. The inside was generally very clean; I couldn't see into the kitchen, but the waitress station was pristine.  Pollo Michoacono sort of translates to Michoacan-style Chicken, but I have yet to find anyone from Mexico that can tell me exactly what the difference is between the cooking in the various states of Mexico, other than the fact that those along the coast have lots of mariscos (seafood), and I discovered myself that Hidalgo, having been colonized by British Miners, favored many English dishes, the most prevalent being pastes (which in English is "pasties") baked pastry shells filled with cheese, meat, and vegetables, like an empanada only more stuffed. But I digress.... 

 It was early in the day (like 9:00 a.m.), which surprised me they were even open that early,  and they weren't very busy.  I ordered a Quesadilla Mediana with beef to go for $5.99;  it was big enough for us to split for lunch and it was GREAT!  They used a corn tortilla for the outside, which is not my favorite for tacos, but it was toasted just right for a Quesadilla.  The meat was very done and nicely seasoned, and there was a lot of cheese inside.  They gave me a little cup of tomatillo (green) sauce and one of pepper (red) sauce, as well as lettuce and a dollop of sour cream to compliment it.  Both sauces were home-made and very tasty; the red had quite a bit of fire to it, which makes Daddy very happy.  I'm pretty sure my next round of errands will somehow necessitate my going by there again....  Mmmm.