Spent Memorial Day weekend in Indianapolis with the family and thought I’d bump this thread with a couple of reviews. Reached out to Kent Z, who came through with some good advice.
Hoaglin to go (448 Massachusetts Ave): Went here for breakfast and it was a bit disappointing, compared to our last visit (a couple years ago). The food was OK, but had definitely come down a few notches. Our kids (5 & 3) split the red velvet pancakes and really didn’t care for them. Neither did my wife and I, and they were probably our favorite dish last time. Mostly, they were bland bland bland and the frosting was almost pure cream cheese. Wife had the banana walnut french toast, which was thick and tasty. I had a smoked salmon/herbed cream cheese/roasted red pepper omelette. The egg part of the omelette was great, but the fillings were underwhelming: salmon was very oily, there was one small red pepper hidden in the middle of the omelette, and it was completely overflowing with cream cheese. On the plus side, they had some of the best bacon I’ve ever eaten.
Oakley’s Bistro (1464 W 86th St): OK, this place is in a strip mall about 25 min north of the downtown area. Don’t let the outside fool you, because the food was outstanding. Wife had the tilapia with red pepper marscapone risotto and proclaimed it “the best fish dish she’s ever eaten.” Granted, she doesn’t eat much fish, mainly just tilapia and mahi mahi, but I love fish and it was certainly up there for me as well. The risotto was perfectly cooked, creamy, and just bursting with flavor.
I had the meatloaf, which apparently comes from the chef’s grandfather’s secret recipe. I want to say that it’s a mix of beef, pork, and venison. It too, was really good. Not as good as the tilapia, but still quite tasty. Served with decent mashed potatoes and a mammoth piece of broccoli.
The kids split an excellent piece of grilled chicken with mashed potato and broccoli sides. Very simple prep, but also very tasty, it had a slight char on the outside and was deliciously moist and tender on the inside. Dessert was a Chocolate Torte with blood orange coulis, vanilla fluff, and cocoa puff ice cream; and a deconstructed pecan pie, both of which were very good, if a bit small for sharing.
All in all, it was an enjoyable meal, with two drawbacks. First, the cocktails weren’t very good. The wine list seemed a bit pricey, so we opted for drinks instead. I had a Manhattan, wife had an Aviation cocktail. Both were loaded with tiny ice chips which all melted in about 10 min, leaving them quite watery and they just didn’t taste very good. Second, the cheese plate was laughably small. It’s a plate similar in size to the one used for the torte with 5 teeny, tiny rectangles of cheese. Combined, they were smaller than one of pecan pie marshmallows. Both were relatively minor missteps, however, and I have no problems recommending this place.
The Loft at Trader’s Point Creamery (9101 Moore St, Zionsville): This is a farm-to-table place located about 20 min. northwest of downtown, and it’s on the second floor of a barn, very cool. Started out with the cheese plate, and it was mammoth and wonderful. Given that this place is a creamery, you’d expect them to have good cheese…and you’d be right. I can’t even remember what all was on there, but everything was great.
We also had the garden bruschetta (sweet pea & lemon, mint, feta, and cracked pepper) as an appetizer. The wife didn’t care too much for it, but I really liked it. It had a nice mix of sweetness and acidity, without being oily or heavy. Just a refreshing alternative to traditional bruschetta.
The kids split a mac-and-cheese that was among the best I’ve tried, while my wife had the filet mignon and whipped potatoes. The meat was so tender you could basically cut it with a fork and it had a great flavor to it. I went with the twin beef filets, which were small tenderloin medallions with bernaise sauce and a whiskey peppercorn cream sauce, served with braised kale. I didn’t get any pics of the meat, but our tiger sure loved the mac & cheese.
For dessert, we had ice cream and milkshakes. That day, they had vanilla, chocolate, and blackberry. All 3 were great, but the vanilla was the best by far. The wine list consisted of organic/sustainable/biodynamic selections, but we just ordered a few glasses. For you value drinkers, this might be the way to go, since the pours were pretty big (easily 10 oz, probably closer to 12). Nice setting, great service, great food, I would definitely recommend this place if you have a car.