Food in Indy

Hi everyone!

So, last week I took a short vacation in order to attend Gencon. For those who are unfamiliar, Gencon is a huge gaming convention that takes place every year in Indianapolis. Obviously, I didn't have any way to cook while I was there, but I did eat at a few fine establishments instead. So I thought, for something different, I would share with you a little bit about what and where I ate. After all, with a nerdy name like +1 Knife of Cooking, I can hardly let a huge gaming event go by unremarked, right?

Without further ado, I give you, in no particular order, a brief tour of the food Indy has to offer:


Granite City Food and Brewery
The place: A restaurant and micro-brewery, with a relaxing atmosphere and good service.
What I ate: I went with the Granite City Reuben, consisting of pastrami and corned beef on rye, with Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing, and coleslaw served in the sandwich. I also tried their beer sampler, which consisted of 8 different beers all brewed in-house.
My thoughts: We tried this place out on a whim, and we were all pleasantly surprised. My Reuben was a good size, and the meat wasn't overly salty. Adding the coleslaw was a nice touch too, I thought. And I liked the beers, even though there were three IPA's and I'm not a huge fan of those. But I'm pretty sure we'll be going back next year, so I'd say 4 out of 5 stars.

Greek's Pizzeria
The place: A definite hole-in-the-wall pizzeria. Kinda dingy, sure, with framed newspaper clippings and a pair of TVs on the walls, but everything was clean and well-kept.
What I ate: I went fairly simple with this meal, and ordered the pepperoni calzone, or as they called it, the pepperoni shell. Nothing to special about it really: meat, sauce, cheese and bread.
My thoughts: We found this place by accident, and it was pretty good. If nothing else, the pizza crust was amazing: soft, chewy and buttery smooth, everything you could want. The service was a little lackluster, but they were shorthanded that night, so I can't fault them too badly. Still, 3.5 out of 5 ain't bad.

Little Eataly
The place: A lot of food trucks congregate outside the convention center, so I decided to grab some lunch from them one day. Not much to say really; I mean, it's a food truck, what more do you want?
What I ate: The Pig and Fig sandwich, a tasty concoction of prosciutto, mozzarella, basil and fig butter of all things served on Ciabatta.
My thoughts: I initially went with this because it was kinda odd, but it really paid off. It was a good sized sandwich, and the sweet fig butter really meshed well with the fresh basil and the ham. I may have to try to duplicate it, if I can track down some fig butter. Score: 4/5

Pearl Street Pizzeria and Pub
The place: I thought this place kinda had a nice sports bar vibe, even though it was definitely a fancy pizzeria.
What I ate: My pizza was half Hawaiian, half Margherita. The Hawaiian side came with capicolla ham and a thai chili sauce, and the Margherita side came with big slices of fresh tomato and was topped with large leaves of basil.
My thoughts: The pizza took a long time to cook, but it was well worth the wait. Everything was hot and fresh, so no complaints there. I also got to try their breadsticks, which were truly amazing. 4 out of 5 stars.

Punch Burger
The place:Your basic hole-in-the-wall burger joint. Nothing much to say about the place really: minimal decorations, food served in plastic baskets, menu written on the wall in chalk.
What I ate: I tried the Aloha burger. As you can tell, I have a weakness for the ham and pineapple combinations, so when I saw they had a burger with black forest ham, grilled pineapple, Swiss cheese and teriyaki sauce, I jumped at it. I also tried their sweet potato tots on the side.
My thoughts: A good burger, and the tots were delicious. Admittedly, they messed up my order, trying to combine my Aloha with the Thai someone else had ordered (pineapple and peanut butter don't really play well together), but I got the right sandwich in the end. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Ram Restaurant and Brewery 
The place: The Ram comes off as your typical sports bar, right? Except during Gencon, when the whole place become a veritable cornucopia of nerddom. The whole place gets decorated with paraphernalia from the Warmachine and Iron Kingdoms universe, and they throw nerdy movies (Lord of the Rings, anyone?) up on the big screen TV above the bar.
What I ate: Renamed the Judicator in honor of the occasion, I partook of the Buttface Bacon Cheeseburger. The burger, served on a pretzel roll, comes with hickory smoked bacon, a large deep-fried onion ring, and a cheese sauce made using their house-brewed Buttface Amber Ale (hence the name), of which I also had a pint (the beer, not the cheese).
My thoughts: A good burger, although they skimped on the cheese sauce and I had to ask for more. Overall though, they cooked it to the correct medium rare I ordered, and it arrived hot and fresh at the table. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Slippery Noodle Inn
The place: An old blues music bar and grill. Unfortunately, I can't attest to the musical quality, as we were only eating lunch there. But it definitely has a casual music bar vibe.
What I ate: I had the Whiskey Pepper Steak Sub. It's exactly what it sounds like, and comes with thin-sliced sirloin steak, grilled onions, and provolone cheese on a hoagie roll. They also use their "famous" whiskey pepper sauce, a savory spicy white sauce, to top it all off.
My thoughts: A pretty good sandwich, if a rather messy one that was a bit difficult to eat. I would rather have had fries instead of potato chips, but the meal was overall quite good. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Weber Grill
The place: A very nice steak house, but not a suit and tie kind of place. More of a backyard grill brought indoors and cleaned up a bit.
What I ate: I went for the New York Strip (cooked medium rare, thank you kindly), served with sauteed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and a blue cheese and pecan coleslaw.
My thoughts: A good steak. Last year, my steak was really chewy, so I admit I had my reservations. But I'm glad to say that the meal turned out perfectly. I thought the coleslaw was an interesting idea, but then I've been on this blue cheese kick recently, so perhaps I'm just biased. Still, I give the place a 4 out of 5.

So, this is my first time reviewing restaurants, and I think I need to refine my technique a bit. I also need to take more notes so that next time I can give you all a more in-depth review. Still, I think these are some good overviews, and I hope you'll agree.

Thanks for reading!