Ale Emporium: Like a Nationwide Chain But It Ain't.

Sorry, I wish this was funnier:  Maybe the Doc needs to up my meds! ...The southside Ale Emporium is in a nice strip mall (where else?) on the southwest corner of Emerson Avenue and County Line Road and opened a couple years ago after the original location was (and is) so successful at Alisonville Road and 86th Street, The original has a kind of old-fashioned pseudo-Victorian Bennigan's-like decor that makes for a comfortable living-room kind of atmosphere even though it is bustling and a little noisy, whereas this newer one down south has a trendy, modern marble and glass motif.  It has a family side and an adults-only bar side with an entire wall of flat-screen TVs, four of which are usually linked to make one great big screeen that can be seen from anywhere in the room, so it is likely a great place to watch the sporting event of your choice.  There is a covered outdoor section, too, which was nice today owing to the good weather, although I didn't see any TV screens there.  All of this gives the place a slick, polished look and atmosphere like you would expect from a major nationwide chain rather than a local establishment.  

And the food does nothing to dispell that big-box impression.  They have a full bar with a wide selection of draft and bottled craft beers, and a fairly varied menu of the usual restaurant dishes you might see at Applebee's, O'Charley's, or Chili's. They're sort of known for pizza and wings, and I have mixed feelings about both.  Like the rest of their food, it's all good... but none of it's what I'd call great.  They have both thin crust and deep dish pizza, very heavy on the cheese and almost no noticeable sauce.  The deep dish crust is rather thick and chewy compared to the pastry-like crust I've had in Chicago, the capital of deep dish, as well as some other places here.  I didn't get wings this time, but I remember being rather underwhelmed by them the last time.  ...Which is not to say I won't eat there again.  It's really a good place to eat.  I just wish it was better. 

The Cafe at the Super Kroger-- Who Knew?

We haven't been eating out much lately, so I'm reviewing the impromptu lunch we had today at Kroger, of all places. It seems like I'm the last to learn about new innovations in just about everything, so you may already be aware of things about the Kroger Company which continue to amaze me, with more and more varied offerings beyond mere groceries.  The Super Kroger or Kroger Super Center (I'm not sure what the company calls it, can't remember the actual title) at Emerson and County Line Road here in Indy is a wonder to behold, although compared to some of the other locations in other cities and states it may be rather tame:  My son in Union, KY lives near a Kroger location that is completely Online Pickup only, no indoor shopping at all.  It has numerous pull-up spaces where employees are waiting to load your vehicle with your order.  Also in Union, and in Anderson, IN there are full-fledged restaurants attached to some Kroger stores, named The 1883 Cafe & Bar, which have actual chefs and a full bar. Still others in Kentucky have their own liquor stores, some with beer bars where you can purchase samples of various ales (limit 2).

Still, our Super Kroger has a rather sizable Cafe area in a front corner of the store which you can access through its own entrance. It has pre-made sandwiches and deli-made microwaveable meals, a huge salad bar, and a deli counter with fresh baked pizza, sushi, and steam tables of baked chicken, fried chicken, and other home-made style delights with some nice sides as well.  Unfortunately for us it was 10:30 a.m. and this sumptuous smorgasbord didn't open until 11:00.  The Lovely Woman made do with a pre-made Chicken Caesar wrap and a small bag of Doritos while I had a Maple Turkey sandwich and a bag of honey-roast peanuts.  She chose a large fountain Iced Tea from the humongous drinks section which had that, a big cooler of bottled beverages, and one of those computer-controlled machines that offers myriad possible combinations of Coca-Cola brand soft drinks. I wanted coffee, but Cafe Guy apologized and said they couldn't sell coffee because of the in-store Starbucks which was like 100 feet away, even though it is run by Kroger with Kroger employees who won't let you tip them(?!) I really don't like Starbucks coffee (DON'T @ME, as they say. Most of it's too acidic for my taste, sorry... though I love their Iced Tea), so I went to the Great Coke Dispenser and had a Diet Barque's Cream Soda. Both sandwiches and drinks were fresh and delicious.  Our entire meal was like $14, a bargain these days, and the cafe was clean and comfortable, with a bunch of tables and another pit-like area around a big-screen TV.

It was quite a nice experience, and I would consider eating lunch there regularly if I worked or lived nearby.  I can only hope that someday soon Kroger adopts the 1883 Cafe & Bar concept systemwide, so I can eat, drink, and shop for groceries, home furnishings. and maybe a car, all in one place.  It'll be too easy to tell TLW "LET'S GO KROGERING!" 

Don Juan Taqueria: 'Way Authentic

 DJT, in a strip mall at Shelby Street and Hanna Avenue, is not a cookie-cutter Mexican like many other places: they have all the traditional dishes you see everywhere else, but also have a BUNCH of other actual Mexican offerings you won't find everywhere. The decor is more like many real places in Mexico, your basic storefront with polished concrete flooring, lunchroom-style chairs and tables as well as a few booths, and minimal festive decorations, which makes it a surprise when you find out they have a full bar with just about any liquor you want as well as a salsa bar with 6 or 7 different sauce selections. (The salsa bar was closed due to Covid restrictions when we went, but you could request the salsa you want to be brought to your table).  I ordered Birria, a type of mutton stew, but unfortunately they were out of mutton!  Still, they had other non-ordinary selections.  All in all, we loved eating there, and the proprietor and employees provided really courteous and helpful service.  They may not have all the carved wood and upscale atmosphere of some places, but the food is the thing there, and it is a GREAT thing.  iComemos!

Florida's "Forgotten Coast": The laid-back Florida of yesteryear--or not.

The Lovely Woman and I hit several places on vacation, so rather than put out a non-stop string of reviews I'll just try to give ya the highlights.  The Forgotten Coast is some travel promotion guru's name for 4 or 5 communities at the base of Florida's Panhandle, somewhere in between the tourist meccas of Panama City and Tampa/St. Pete.  The biggest of these is Apalachicola, the population of which is a whoppin' 2500 souls or so, but we had to stay there because TLW likes the way "Apalachicola" rolls off her tongue.  One of her recent favorite songs is Southern Voice by Tim McGraw, partly just because it mentions Apalachicola!  You may want to start over with this blog entry and take a drink everytime you read "Apalachicola", 'cause as I write this I imagine it's gonna be comin around a bunch o' times.

If you wanna stay at the beach, the best place is St. George Island, which has a reeeeally decent beach and only 2 actual hotels, The Buccaneer Inn and the St. George Inn.  The Buccaneer is a beachfront 1960's style motel with a pool that is nicely renovated and maintained and has fairly reasonable prices. The St. George is an old fashioned beachview 3-story wood construction hotel that seems like something out of the turn of the 20th Century but which was actually built in the late 1980's.  It is the tallest building on SGI except for the lighthouse, which is part of SGI's charm-- no giant hotels or resorts, only beach houses and  a few townhouse-style condo developments. SGI has one small Piggly Wiggly store/gas station, a bank, some stores, and 5 or 6 restaurants, all of which are pretty danged good.  The locals all seem to drink at Harry A's, a quintessential bar & grill you might find anywhere in the US, with old pics and junky memorabilia on the walls, etc., but the food is decent and prices are below the usual beach/resort level, which is probably why it draws the locals.  Unlike in Casablanca, everyone on SGI comes to The Blue Parrot, with outdoor dining and a bar that overlooks the beach.  It's a little pricey but a lot of fun.  Another drinking place, Mango Mike's is so unusual to me it deserves mention-- basically just a gigantic open-sided picnic shelter with an attached kitchen, where in the evenings they give you a can of insect repellent to use at your table or the horseshoe/cornhole pits.  The skeeters and no-see-ums can be murder on SGI at night, the only drawback to staying in such a  great getawayfromitall paradise.

This year we stayed in "downtown" Apalachicola (cheers!) a former King Cotton era shipping port. We stayed in an Airbnb apartment on the 3rd floor of the building which houses two stores on the ground floor and The Up to No Good Tavern/Up the Stairs Restaurant on the 2nd floor, which isn't a bargain but has really good food and drinks.  The crazy laid-back small town vibe of Apalachicola (chug!) means that lots of shops and eateries are closed on either Sunday 'n Monday or Tuesday 'n Wednesday, so when we arrived on Sunday it was a real hunt for somewhere to eat 'n drink, even though Apalachicola (bottoms up!) is nicknamed Oyster City due to its famous oyster industry.  Once we were finally able to eat at The Station Raw Bar on Tuesday, though, I really didn't need to eat anywhere else.  They had THE best fried oysters I've ever had, even though the delicious mollusks may not have come from Apalachicola Bay due to a present moratorium on oyster harvesting in the Bay itself (except for oyster farming) to give the oysters a chance to regenerate their populations.  Some places still get their oysters from Alligator Point, however, which is outside but near the mouth of the Bay, and they are no less delicious.        

We have yet to fully explore the other communities of Cap San Blas and Port St. Joe, but Eastpoint and Carrabelle have more of that sleepy small-town ambiance that makes the Forgotten Coast so attractive to folks who aren't drawn to the high-rise, high energy places like Miami, Ft. Myers, Clearwater and all the rest.  One culinary gem in Eastpoint is the Family Coastal Restaurant.   It's nothing fancy, with a decor kinda like the old Sunshine Cafes here in Indy, but it serves giant tasty mountains of seafood for a price that made this $$ guy's jaw drop in awe!  Carrabelle is a pretty little burg on a river cove tht not only has the World's Smallest Police Station but also a couple of great eateries, including Harry's Bar, a very dark but cool and comfortable little place downtown with really cold draft beer and decent prices.

I'm pretty sure The Forgotten Coast has all the fishing, boating, hiking, birdwatching, and other outdoor activities you could want, but why do those things when you can relax in the sun, drink, and eat???  Come to Apalachicola (thunk of beer mug hitting the floor) and enjoy the slow life!  Yeehaw!

Rager's Sausage Sandwich: Something to Look Forward To!

Rager's is in a nice, neat new space in one-half of a gas station/convenience store in Van Wert, OH, which if you're in Indy and reading this may be kind of disappointing, as it is to me because I don't have the ability to visit there EVERY DAY for breakfast or lunch like I'd want.  Pork is big around Van Wert due to the large number of hog farms there.  That and other agriculture make the Van Wert County Fair a really big deal: their fairground is much bigger than Marion County's here, for a county of only 15,000(?) people. Locally famous and one of the most popular food items offered at the fair is a great big sausage sandwich sold by a booth from the Lions' Club of the nearby village of Venedocia.  It has a big, round, dense patty that is thicker than a McD's quarter pounder and weighs twice as much, so it's almost a meal in itself.  It is well seasoned, nicely browned and VERY tasty. It seems everyone at the fair gets one sooner or later, they're so popular. 

Rager's sandwich has sort of the same rural origins but is different from the Venedocia sandwich.  Rager's store is sort of like Wheatley's here in Wanamaker, having begun as a farm and meat market in the little town of Convoy, OH, then a carnival vendor/food truck operator, and fairly recently opened their own actual restaurant.  Rager's patty is somewhat thinner and very irregularly shaped, like maybe they just grab a hunk out of a big pan of sausage and smush it on the griddle with a spatula.  It's REALLY well-seasoned, maybe more than the Lions', and is quite satisfying even though not as big.  I had Rager's lunch combo of a sandwich, some perfectly cooked fries, and fountain drink for under $7, so this $$ guy was in HOG HEAVEN!  I think Van Werters (Van Wertians?) agree, because the drive-thru line  at Rager's stayed almost 10 cars deep the whole time I was there...  SOOOOIE!  Y'all come get some!

Barry's Pizza South: A Matter of Taste, Not for Everyone...

On the one hand, I really want to support a local business like Barry's South Pizza & Wings, 5564 Madison Avenue, Telephone 317-974-9262 (carry out or delivery).  I list the address and phone here because you won't find it if you search "pizza near me" or "pizza indy southside", or even "pizza on Madison Avenue" on Google; it comes up only if you search for Barry's South Pizza.  I suppose that's because they haven't paid or done whatever they need to do to get recognized by The Great and Powerful G. On the other hand, I have to say that I was just a little disappointed with their pizza.   The thin crust was crispy but not hard, there was a good amount of cheese and sauce, and there were enough seasonings and toppings to give one that satisfying burp that signifies you've had a good meal.  The sauce, however, was a serious problem for The Lovely Woman and me-- it was incredibly sweet, so much so that TLW could not handle more than a single piece.  I was not completely put-off by it, but by the third and fourth piece I had to apply some Frank's Red Hot sauce in order to counterbalance the Candyland flavor. If you like that sort of pizza, you should be happy with Barry's:  Their service is quick and their prices reasonable. The pizza itself, however, was just not something I would ever want again.  Maybe next time (?) we'll try the wings....

OH, Pullup Grill & BBQ, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

As a former Kentuckian (are there really "former" Kentuckians, hmm? Happy Chandler said that every Kentuckian he'd ever met was either going home or TALKING about going home) with family in Tennessee, I've eaten a LOT of barbecue in my life, so I was intrigued when reading someone's Facebook thread about good BBQ places in Indy and there were several mentions of one I'd never heard about, Pullup Grill & BBQ, 2412 E. Raymond Street. An old friend later went there and raved about it, too, so I decided life was too short to stay away from good barbecue for very long... and I'm glad I went as soon as I did, because this is truly THE BEST BARBECUE I'VE EVER HAD.  BBQ is almost a religion with some folks, and though I've eaten lots of it I have no clear idea what makes one better than the others, but whatever it is, Pullup has it.

The place is carry-out only, so I ordered online and it was ready when I got there.  The lady who waited on me was as nice as could be, and seemed truly concerned that I get everything I wanted.  The Lovely Woman at home is not a big BBQ person, so I ordered a dressed single 1/3 lb cheeseburger w/fries for her.  Now, I don't recall reading anything about Pullup's burgers, but this one was somewhere between very good and freakin' incredible: the thick patty had a nice bit of char on the outside for a rich flavor that was complimented by the soft bun and just the right amount of cheese and fixins.  The natural cut fries were merely great, cooked perfectly but with just a little salt/seasoning.  

The pulled pork in my dinner filled most of the large compartment of a three part to-go container, very pleasing to a $$ guy. I ordinarily hate the current use of periods for emphasis, but THE.BBQ.WAS.HEAVENLY. It was moist, juicy, and tender, with just enough smokiness to remind you it's barbecue. That luscious taste was combined with some kind of umami flavor the source of which I couldn't determine, so I can only conclude it is MAGIC.  I was under its spell from the first bite.  It's the only BBQ I've ever had that didn't benefit at least a little from a dab of barbecue sauce.  I found dipping a bite just a little way into Pullup's very good sauce to be disappointing because it concealed ever so slightly the delicious flavor of the meat itself, so I had plenty of sauce left over.  The sauce itself was deliciously different than most, only slightly sweet with more tomato flavor than molasses or brown sugar, and the hot variety had a lot of heat.

The Fresh Greens were good but not the best I've had, although I'm spoiled because TLW's Tennessee roots come out in her greens and are a little better.  The Green Beans are the best I've ever had from a restaurant.  Some of my Kentucky folks' beans might be a little better tasting, but I suspect that is only because they contains a dangerous level of bacon grease. Pullup's green beans had just the right amount of salty/bacony flavor to make them ever so tasty. TLW loved her burger & fries, and tasted my stuff and was duly impressed, so I know I wasn't just succumbing to the hype.

Pullup also offers ribs, rib tips, brisket, and pulled chicken, among other things.  So, that's at least four more trips I have to make there before I get back around to pulled pork.  I can't wait to get started!