Ralph and Ava's Public House:a Class Act in Mooresville

Continuing our Valentine's Day weekend, The Little Woman and I went for a (very) little drive and wound up in downtown Mooresville, Indiana looking for a good place for a late lunch.  We went into  Ralph & Ava's Public House at 6 W. Main Street thinking it was your average small-town bar, but it turned out to be a scrupulously clean little cafe with polished old-wood and brass decor that happens to have a full bar along the back wall.  There was a little group of well-dressed women at one of the tables who appeared to be taking a break from shopping...  

When I came to Indianapolis decades ago, Mooresville had kind of a country bumpkin sort of reputation, but it has become, like most of the satellite towns around Indy, a sort of bastion of middle and upper middle class living.  When we first visited M-town 'way back when, we went into a bar where there was a woman in curlers wearing a house coat, pajamas, and furry slippers who was drunk and playing pool.  We left a bit prematurely to avoid a fight when for some reason she took a shine to me and became kind of obnoxious about it! I felt disgusted and a little flattered at the same time.

That bar may still be there, but you would have to search for it among all the coffee and antique shops, tea rooms, and a vintage clothing store downtown.  Ralph & Ava's fits in nicely with them, but that's not to say I didn't like it.  They have an eclectic menu that nevertheless offers the usual pub grub. TLW and I split a Breaded Tenderloin Deluxe Sandwich and a bowl of Chili.  The tenderloin was excellent, pounded out only to about a half-inch thick with a very tasty sort of fried chicken style breading.  Our server thoughtfully split the chili into 2 small bowls: it was quintessential Indiana-style chili with fresh, quality ingredients and very little grease. It wasn't very spicy, but a little Tabasco cured that nicely. They have a number of local and imported craft beers on draft and a wide assortment of bottled beers as well, and the array of liquors on display was quite impressive. Despite all the upscale appearances, the price of our meal was not outrageous, still within $$ range.  SCORE!

The Library: No Shushing Here!

There isn't a lot of fine dining on the Southwest side of Indy, so the semi-upscale Library Restaurant & Pub on Lynhurst Avenue at Sam Jones Expressway is quite the hidden gem.  It's NOT in a strip mall, for starters: the building is quite beautiful inside and out,  a sort of French Provincial Mansion that belongs up North in Pretentioustan instead of in the middle of the urban sprawl of Airportland.  The decor inside is simple but elegant, with chandeliers and even an art gallery upstairs, but the ambiance is actually quite casual even though the price is $$$ and the food is excellent. 

The Little Woman had Beef Tenderloin pasta with Gorgonzola sauce and I had Prime Rib Manhattan, both of which were large-portioned and deeeelicious.  The pasta and tenderloin medallions were tender and perfectly cooked with a very strong Gorgonzola flavor.  Prime Rib is the specialty of the house, and the Manhattan is a smaller cut placed on a sliver of bread and covered with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and topped with onion straws. It was really, really, REALLY good, and (hold on to your seat) more than I could eat in one sitting.

We hung out at the bar after dinner, only partly because they have half-priced bottles of wine on Mondays (it was our Belated Valentine's Day dinner and we had a room in the hotel next door).  Owing to the airport/office park/industrial area in which it's located, the bar draws mostly business travelers away from their homes in other cities and likely drinking on expense accounts, so the conversations were uncensored and quite lively and entertaining.  If only I could've figured out a way to record them and then find out out whom to blackmail, we could have made it a profitable evening as well!  (JK) ...The bar prices were not a bargain but not outrageous, either, which made this $$ guy very happy.  CHEERS!

Joe's Grille: I tried NOT to like it, but....

Joe's Grille at 116th Street and Brooks School Road is definitely not on the South side of Indy, and as a Southsider I have an inferiority complex that compels me NOT to like the place. There's nothing wrong with the South side:  much of it is just as nice as up North and housing is generally a good deal less expensive. The South's worst traffic choke points pale in comparison to most of the Northside everywhere, especially the daily gantlet that is driving I-69 north of I-465.  For natural beauty, however (if you consider the Geist and Eagle Creek reservoirs "natural"), you can't beat the northwest, north, and northeast parts of the county, so most of the prosperous and beautiful people live there, The businesses located there thus generally reflect their clientele, which in my plebeian  mindset means pretentious and overpriced.

Joe's Grille, however, is not that kind of establishment.  It is a relatively small place with a simple but very nice decor.  There are 2 pool tables, a not overlarge area of dining tables, and a fairly long and elegant bar, behind which are 5 or 6 very large flat screen TVs which can be viewed from every part of the pub except the restrooms.   One of the screens is always tuned to iChive TV, which is very entertaining to those of you (us) who don't always want to watch sports.  The employees of all sexes (trying to sound progressive here) tend to be quite nice to look at, too.

There's a nice beer garden out back; I'd hoped it overlooked the creek that runs behind the strip mall but, alas, it overlooks the parking lot. I would still hang out there, though.  Their food is the usual pub grub, but I had some Chislic that was quite tasty. Prices are not a bargain but not outrageous, either, so that destroys my prejudice against drinking up North.  Prosit!

Rick's Cafe Boatyard-- Incredible Ambiance, Underwhelming Food

I'm not in the mood to be funny, so suffice to say that the title above says it all.  You may stop reading now and I won't be bothered in the slightest-- The only joke I have ready to incorporate into this blog entry is in incredibly poor taste when you consider that we went to Rick's Cafe Boatyard, 4050 Dandy Trail in Indy right after attending the funeral of a family member.  Linda had a great sense of humor, though, so she probably wouldn't be offended if I put the joke in, unlike much of the family... sorry folks!  Anyway, because of that event we were like an atheist at his own funeral-- all dressed up with nowhere to go.  (Get it? Huh? Huh?)  So, I wanted to  eat somewhere we would feel more comfortable formally dressed since that doesn't happen very often. 

Rick's seem to fill the bill, what with it's beautiful locale overlooking a marina on Eagle Creek Reservoir, a blue and white sort of expanded Cape Cod-style building with white cathedral ceilings inside along with white exposed beams.  The woodwork in the dining room is exquisite, and the brass railings of the room dividers were all decorated with lighted garlands and wreaths for Christmas. There is valet parking available during the busy season, as well as outdoor dining and live entertainment.  The servers were attentive and the food came out very quickly. Here ends the good part.

The Little Woman and I ordered off the lunch menu.  We shared the Rico's Dip appetizer, a sort of Southwest-style layered dip of a few chicken chunks, Jack cheese, green onions, tomatoes, and (I think) some cilantro. with tortilla chips for dipping and a small cup of salsa on the side.  The ingredients were fresh, but it could have used more flavor, like jalapenos, banana peppers, I dunno, something.  Then the lunch entrees came:  TLW's Fish and Chips were edible but kind of a disaster.  The tasteless armored coating on the fillets required a knife to penetrate in order to reach the actual fish.  She opened them up and scooped out what little fish was inside the same way she would've eaten a baked potato.  Her fries had been blanched-- cooked on the outside but soggy and almost raw on the inside.  My Louisiana Blackened Catfish was cooked well, but there was so much seasoning on it that it formed a solid coating on the top of the fillet and was reeeally salty, but not so much that I couldn't eat it.  

I will say the Shrimp Etoufee Rice upon which my catfish rested was well-seasoned and quite tasty, and our pitcher of Winter Sangria was delicious although not terribly potent, alcohol-wise.  Overall, the food was borderline okay but well below the quality you'd expect from a $$$ establishment. Maybe the atmosphere and live entertainment will be enough to bring us back in the Springtime? Hmm... I dunno.

Iona's Maywood Tavern: Welcome to the Time Machine!

It's also just called The Maywood Tavern, there at Maywood Road and S. Tibbs Avenue, but there is still a sign on the front that says "Iona's" which I'm told was done for Iona the owner on her birthday back before she passed.  I'm pretty sure the scene that greeted us upon entering the old country store-type front door was much the same as it would've been in, say, 1962, except for the addition of a couple of flat-screen TVs and some semi-modern refrigerators they use to cool the beer and wine these days (no booze or draft).  My Louisville peeps might be surprised to see that in an old Indianapolis tavern the walls are curiously adorned with a lot of old Falls City and Oertel's 92 Beer promotional items. Music was provided by FM radio from an old stereo system that looked like the one I bought for my dorm room in the '70s, but there are new speakers so it sounded really good, if you like old Rock 'n Roll.

The lady behind the bar was quite cordial, but you get the impression they don't get many strangers coming in.  In keeping with its anachronistic atmosphere the place is cash only, so when we handed her the money she made change out of a 100+ year-old National cash register.  She said NCR has several times offered to buy the register, but the Freunds said no deal.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!  They appear to have a loyal constituency of regulars, so it might be fun to come in when they're busy, whenever that is.  It's not really a night life venue, though, since their hours are something like 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., so if you go, GO EARLY, like my bedtime.  CHEERS!

Turchetti's Salumeria: Go for the experience more than the food.

Turchetti's Salumeria is on Prospect Street in the heart of Fountain Square and is part of the area's gentrification.  I'm probably using the term incorrectly, but to me it is one of many new "hipster" places there, elegant spaces where young urban professionals with more money than they know what to do with can go to spend it on very fine but pretentious and expensive food and drink.  Turchetti's (pronounced like TurKETy's) is sort of unusual in that one side of the business is a meat market with somewhat regular hours while the other is a sort of delicatessen/cafe with variable open/closed times. (Visit Turchettis.com for the list).  

We'd already eaten lunch, but the menu featured a number of deli-type dishes and appetizers ranging from 3 halves of Deviled Eggs for $5 up to sandwich or charcuterie plates just under $20.  The deli has a full bar, and TLW had a $7 glass of wine while I had a well-drink Gin & Tonic for $4, which ain't outrageous but not cheap, either.  We did order a Turchetti Tour sampler, which is 2 slices each of 5 different sausages for $12, including a form of pepperoni that was quite tasty.  The only problem was the slices were beyond paper thin-- I mean, you could see the grain of the charcuterie board through them!  We could have wadded up all 10 slices together and swallowed them without knowing we'd eaten anything.

It was a rather entertaining experience, overall.   Just watching the eclectic customers and employees was a little show in itself.  Our server/bartender was very friendly and courteous, which belied her short hair (not Sinnead O'Connor short but Dennis Quaid short), underarm hair that really should have been braided, and large cobra tattoo on her back.  We stopped in the meat market on the way out and saw many tasty-looking meats, although the sausages in which I was interested were sold at $6.50 to $8 per QUARTER POUND.  From this, as a $$ guy, I would say Turchetti's is someplace where everyone should go... once. 

Indy's Famous Pancake House - Breakfast/Lunch with a Latin Flair.

The first thing you notice about Indy's Famous Pancake House, 8028 S. Emerson Avenue in the same strip mall center as Ritter's Frozen Custard, The Tailgate Bar & Grill, Mexico City Grill, The Healthy Food Cafe, and Sushi Club, is that it has a HUGE menu-- literally.  It's like 10 pages of glossy 11" x 17" cards printed on both sides with lots of photographs of food.  When the server came back to the table with our drinks and we told her we needed a few minutes to look at the menu, she kind of smirked when she said "I understand.  It's a BIG menu!", half-chuckling at the obvious double entente.  

It's a simple little place that has all the traditional breakfast and lunch dishes, but there are a bunch of Mexican-style items as well, including several desserts.  They also have a number of booze drinks, including Mimosas and Bloody Marys-- perfect for that "hair of the dog" breakfast to kill a hangover, right?  The Little Woman had a Ham, Egg, and Cheese Croissant sandwich and I ordered Enchiladas Suizas: Both dishes were surprisingly delicious.  The croissant was so fresh, light, and flaky I thought it could be home-made, and the Enchiladas were tastier than most other Mexican restaurant dishes.  They were not the kind of pastry shell I'm used to, just corn tortillas rolled and filled with chorizo, eggs, and potatoes and covered with a spicy green salsa and a white sauce that tasted like queso and sour cream combined-- YUM!

To top it off, the price of breakfast was well within the $$ range-- enough to make an old cheapskate like me cry tears of happiness... or was that the heat from the salsa?  Anyway, I liked it very much.  iVamanos!