Swoon List: 5 Things We Adore Right Now
Over a month ago, we reported that Martha Hoover, the owner of Napolese, was cool as a cucumber while preparing for yet another opening. Yesterday, she opened her new downtown Napolese (30 S. Meridian St., 317-635-0765) in the stunning Deco-style skyscraper that originally housed the L.S. Ayres men’s shop.
If the old rule about eating only at international restaurants where the natives eat is true, then Sichuan Chinese Restaurant (11588 Westfield Blvd., Carmel, 317-844-7559) must be one of the most authentic ethnic eateries in central Indiana. Stopping in on a recent weeknight at this storefront eatery in a slightly timeworn Carmel strip mall, we were the only people not chattering away in Chinese or some other Asian language. Clearly this is a favorite among immigrants longing for a true taste of home.
But even if you do not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, you can get a pretty inspired array of stir-fries and noodle dishes with plenty of chili oil, that ubiquitous Sichuan staple, to wake the palate. Feel like some “rabbit dices” or the “pork kidney stir fry”? Then ask for the Chinese menu, and you will have over double the choices, some of which are translated into English and many more of which are written out in Chinese on the back of the menu.
Having come to love Dan Dan noodles from other area Sichuan restaurants, we ordered them as a starter, along with more ubiquitous crab Rangoon, no doubt a popular item on Sichuan’s lunchtime buffet. The noodles looked like so much dry spaghetti until we stirred up the dark, rich, sinus-clearing sauce from the bottom. The crab Rangoon were generous, not-too-greasy wontons stuffed with a fresh-tasting filling that actually did seem to contain a little crab.
For entrees, we went for one of the house specialties, scallops in garlic sauce (which promised that no garlic would linger in the customer’s mouth), as well as Mongolian chicken and an eggplant dish our waitress recommended from the Chinese menu. The big, meaty scallops did indeed have a spicy sweet sauce that, while redolent of garlic, lacked the bitter pungency of other Asian dishes we had eaten. Slices of white-meat chicken in a drier sauce with crisp slices of sweet onion made for a nice contrast, and the delectable, not-too-viscous sauce on tender strips of eggplant drew the two dishes together deliciously with plenty of white rice. With a short selection of Asian beers and a friendly staff standing by to tend to your needs (and not look askance when you ask for a dish that natives might eat,) Sichuan is definitely worth forsaking your neighborhood takeout for the drive north to Carmel.
Latitude 39, a rambling family-entertainment center laid out in the gutted multiplex at Clearwater Crossing, contains not only a large dining room built around an open kitchen and a ceramic-tiled pizza hearth, but also a dine-in cinema, a dinner theater, and a sports theater with full food-and-beverage service. Not that you would notice any of these. The fact that you can eat here gets lost somewhere between the row of Skee-ball ramps and the 20-lane luxury bowling alley with disco balls and white leather sofas.
The crabcake was an inauspicious start. Ensconced as we were in the dark-paneled Fireplace Room of Dunaway’s Palazzo Ossigeno, with gentle flames licking the intricately carved hearth and the candelabra twinkling, we were looking for some evidence that this shrine to Indy’s industrial past—which made a splash when former St. Elmo co-owner Jeff Dunaway opened the sleek eatery in 1998—still had some culinary chops. The appetizer did little to restore our faith: a flat puck of over-mixed crab, its too-smooth exterior wearing an insipid remoulade. At $13, it almost seemed a crime.
Seven of Indiana’s top culinary dogs are strutting their stuff as 2013 James Beard Foundation nominees, selected from more than 44,000 online entries in 20 categories. Last week, the foundation unveiled its “long list” (421) of the year’s semifinalists—which will be cut down to the final list of nominees on March 18 during a press brunch in Charleston, SC. (NOTE: nominations will also be announced live via the Foundation’s Twitter feed.)
The only sign on its exterior simply says “Open.” And “humble” may not begin to describe the barebones storefront for what is becoming a cult favorite pizza takeout and delivery in the Holy Rosary neighborhood. But Humble Pie (1039 S. East St., 317-686-0900) is indeed back in business after a brief hiatus earlier this year. Based in Greencastle, where DePauw students in the know have been getting stromboli, pepperjack breadsticks, and custom pies for their late-night study fix since November of 2009, Humble Pie quietly opened its Indianapolis outpost in December of 2011. It is the brainchild of David and Damien Gibson, father-and-son Greencastle natives with decades of experience in the pizza industry (David has owned a Domino’s Pizza in Greencastle). The Indianapolis location, which the Gibsons hope to expand (or offer in-store dining at a nearby location), had to close in late December when a fire destroyed the family home. But the Gibsons more than met their promise to open in the spring, coming back online on January 25.
We figured it was time to check it out. Currently, Humble Pie’s delivery area is small, so we ordered ours for pickup and headed south of downtown. We didn’t get out a ruler, but the 14-inch Greek pie, to which we added slightly spicy “Chicago” sausage, certainly seemed bigger, loaded as it was with artichokes hearts, real-deal Kalamata olives, baby spinach, Roma tomatoes, and tons of feta. A fairly sturdy, flavorful crust might have been a bit crispier, but this was worlds beyond the average neighborhood pizza takeout. But what impressed the most? The generous house dinner salad with spring mix heavy on mizuna and chard, topped with portabella mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, red onions, green peppers, and Monterrey jack cheese. At $6, it was something the Gibsons could brag about, but these humble owners are more about providing their customers with a quality meal.
After arriving in Indianapolis last August, Nic Mink has already carved out quite the niche for himself as the “Salmon Guy.” He was hired by Butler University’s Center for Urban Ecology as an urban sustainable foods fellow to help develop and administrate the Indy Food Fund
A homey, stick-to-your-ribs rustic chicken pie from Duo’s Kitchen (2960 N. Meridian St., 317-508-8614), with plenty of chunky veggies and a crisp square of puff pastry on top. Hearty and completely vegan vegetable curry with coconut and just the right amount of heat at
Playful craft-cocktail concoctions like the Fire & Ice margarita will come with a mild basil-hibiscus-habanero reduction, chilled with balls of ice made with three chiles. “The more the ice melts, the hotter and hotter the drink gets,” says Harlan-Oprisu. Fans of New Latin fare can munch ceviche and warm octopus tostones to their hearts’ content. There will be salads draped with nopales (cactus), seared scallops drizzled with tequila-lime crema, and stewed pork flavored with plantains. And in the spring, she plans to offer street or takeaway fare next door at La Piccolina.
