sörenberg bahnen

I was running errands in Carmel the other day (can someone tell me why Indy doesn’t have a party supply store?) and decided to stop into Blu Moon café.  It is one of those places that has been on my radar for awhile, but I just hadn’t managed to get in there.  It is a casual place where you order at the register and they bring you the food. The guy who was working at the register was really nice and helpful and helped me make up my mind about what to order.  I got the blt with avocado (around $7).   Not a big surprise since this is one of my favorite sandwich combos in general.   And this one was very good. The ingredients were all really good, and there was a substantial amount of a garlic aioli that really added to the flavor of the sandwich.   The bacon was nice and crisp (and plentiful) and the tomato and avocado was ripe.   The sandwich was on thin sliced bread that was pressed in a Panini press making the whole thing warm and toasty.   If I could improve it, I would probably just

Hubby and I realized we hadn’t yet been to Meridian since the chef change, and after a friend texted me about the steak tartare she was eating there, I knew it was time.  I am a sucker for steak tartare (or tuna tartare, or whatever tartare). Hubby and I took advantage of the lovely weather we were having (hello, autumn, I have missed you) and sat out on their patio. Alone for quite awhile (the place was just not very busy), but it was still lovely.   We were mostly excited by the appetizers, which if you read a lot you know is often the case, and decided to split several.   We started with the prime beef tartare (I think it was around $12) which was very good.   The beef was, well, raw and nice and tender and flavorful, and when you added the egg yolk on top, it turned into a wonderful creamy mix.   You need something to cut the richness, and there was some capers and onion mixed with the meat.   It was served on top of a horseradish cream, which was the right amount of heat to help a

This was a place that had been on my list for quite awhile and then randomly, several different people mentioned it to me in the course of a week, so I took that as a sign (it doesn’t take much for me when it comes to trying a new restaurant).  I was a little surprised when we walked into the place—I was expecting a basic lunchy-sandwich kind of place and it is actually quite large, nicer than what I expected,  has dinner AND beer and wine. The menu is pretty big too, and a lot of things sounded good to me, but being in an eggy mood, and always slightly intrigued by any taco I see on a menu, I tried 2 of the breakfast tacos ($3.20 each for the several varieties).  I had the # 3 and the #5 and enjoyed both quite a bit.  The #3 is egg, blue cheese, bacon and green onion mayo.  This was probably my favorite although I liked them both.  It was very creamy—between the blue cheese and the green onion mayo—and it had that salty kick from both which kept it unique and not bland at all.  Honest

It’s new, so of course I had to try it.  I have heard a lot of mixed things—but am always excited to see for myself, particularly when it is so close to my house.  We met my parents and my sister and her husband one night for dinner. I always enjoy these meals because my family knows they have to share whatever they order.  They are down with blog participation. Hubby and I perused the menu before we got there because we knew we would need lots of time for negotiations—the menu is pretty big.  After guessing what my family would order (with a high degree of accuracy I might add), we decided to go with a meal of lots of appetizers to share between us.  We started with the tuna tartare ($16) and an order of the fried calamari ($14) for the table.  Hubby and I mainly ate the tartare and enjoyed it. I liked the way they had mixed the slivers of fried wontons right into it.  It had a fair amount of avocado and was topped with some crème fraiche. The whole thing sat in a ginger ponzu sauce. 

**THIS LOCATION IS CLOSED*** I was excited about an independent casual restaurant opening near us in the Fashion Mall area (it’s over by Kohl’s)—we are always looking for nearby places to take the kids for lunch. There are about 1000 chain options, but obviously we prefer to go to a locally owned place if possible.  I have never been to the branch of Detour in Carmel, where it started, but I was looking forward to a possible new option. The first thing I noticed about the place was how sort of corporate it looked—the inside is very clean and well, I don’t know, kind of generic I guess.  You order your food at the register and then a runner brings it to you.  The menu is pretty straightforward—burgers, sandwiches and wraps with various fried side dishes.  I opted for the “hard hat” sandwich which they describe as “a grilled cheese with a twist” ($9.99).  It has 2 kinds of cheese, tomato, avocado and ham and is served on sourdough bread. I opted to go without the ham because if I am havi

After having a friend tell me that he really liked Tiger Lily, and since I haven’t been back since my first visit shortly after they opened, I met my friend wibia there for a quick lunch the other day.  My friend who had recommended I go back told me that he really liked the hot and sour soup so I ordered that to start ($2.50).  It was very good.  It was very full of all the typical hot and sour ingredients (bamboo shoots, mushrooms and lots of tofu).  I liked that the veggies were still fairly crisp, but not too crisp and I loved all the tofu in it.  It also had a decent amount of acidity from the vinegar (sour) and just enough of the spiciness (hot).  Our only complaint (we both had the same soup) is that it wasn’t very hot temperature-wise.  Not cold or anything, just not hot. So after ordering what I wanted, which was a noodle dish, our (very pleasant) server came back to tell me they were out of it.  I went with garlic chicken ($6.50), which is sort of a standby dish for me at Ch

The other day we took the kids on a trail ride at Ft. Ben (my daughter is OBSESSED with horses), and I took the opportunity to find somewhere new and nearby to try for lunch. (By the way, thanks to my twitter friends for recommending both ideas.)  We had a great time on the horses (the trails are quite pretty) and headed over to Café Audrey afterward, which is right on the Fort property.  I had checked out the menu beforehand, and noticed they offer Broaster® chicken, which is a type of fried chicken cooked in a pressure fryer.  Of course, if there was going to be fried chicken, I was going to have to try it. The interior of the place is cute—it is one of the old brick fort buildings and is full of mismatched tables and generally friendly servers.  It wasn’t totally full, but was doing a decent business.  As soon as we ordered our drinks, I ordered the 2 piece chicken meal ($7.29) because it takes like 20 minutes to cook.  After the kids and hubby pondered the menu, they settled on chi

I feel like all I have done this summer is travel.  I also feel like I have written a ton of posts lately that are not about Indy restaurants because of it.  Bear with me; this will be the last one for a bit.  We did a quickie trip to Chicago a few weeks ago and here is a brief (ok, brief for me) summary of where we ate. Quartino We were meeting an old college friend of hubby’s and the first night we went to Quartino.  It is a loud, buzzy Italian place with a pretty wide ranging menu (good for kids, whom we had with us).  Honestly, I found everything to be fairly average – the cheese/charcuterie plate ($25) was fine, the heirloom tomato salad ($7.75) could have stood a little more flavor (people, tomatoes should be AWESOME right now or you shouldn’t be serving them), and the Rustica pizza (with potatoes, pancetta, rosemary and onion) ($12) was bland (I think there were like 6 pieces of rosemary) and should not have had a red sauce on it in my opinion.  We also had a mushroom risotto ($