Thursday, March 8, 2012

Twenty Tap

5408 N. College
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 602-8840
Twenty Tap

New blog followers, but old friends @Jamielinenberg & @BWL1285 asked @Pbarmann and myself to go with them to try out Twenty Tap on a Saturday night. I have been wanting to go there for a while. First, because they have a great selection of craft brews as well as I have heard that the food is amazing. Twenty Tap is located on the Northwest corner of 54th and College, which qualifies it as SoBro (South Broad Ripple). Last summer I read an article in the Indy Star about how SoBro is an up and coming neighborhood, with trendy boutiques as well as a foodie haven. What the article left out is that it is a mecca for hipsters. What's a hipster you ask? A hipster is a man or woman in their 20's to 30's that love vintage fashion, skinny jeans, indie-rock, thick rimmed glasses, side swept hair, and anything else that goes against mainstream popular culture. For example, the restaurant is called Twenty Tap, but in all reality they have 31 beers on tap. I should be more accustomed to the hipster subculture, because I lived in Bucktown in Chicago, but for some reason hipsters still annoy me. To prove my point on how hipsters do not care about social norms: Twenty Tap has two restrooms, one for men and one for women. I was waiting in line for the men's restroom, and this hipster comes up to me and says:

Hipster: "Hey bro, is this the line for the men's room."
EAting Indy: "Yes. A guy just walked in there."
Hipster: "What about this one, is it open? (Pointing at the women's door)
EAting Indy: "I don't know, its the women's restroom."
Hipster: "F*** it, I'm going to piss in there. They have a toilet too."
EAting Indy: "Sweet, make sure you flush and put the seat down."

Twenty Tap is a good place to eat. I only say eat because the bar area is pretty small, so it is not the best atmosphere to grab drinks with friends, unless you are waiting for a table in the dining room. To give you a visual, when you walk in you are looking at the restaurant side. To the left, is the bar side. There aren't many tables in the bar area. Also, two dart boards take up some space. I can't really remember how many tv's they have there. Probably not a lot because hipsters don't like sports, but they love throwing darts. We had to wait for about an hour to get a table in the dining room. Luckily we were able to snag a table and order some beers, as well as an order of cheese curds. The only time I have ever had cheese curds was at Culver's. These were infinitely better than Culver's. Imagine tiny pieces of mozzarella cheese, breaded in a beer batter. These reminded me of something you would get at the state fair, specifically because of the breading. Each bite was crispy and oozing with cheese. I honestly have been dreaming about these heavenly morself of cheese. Twenty Tap offers a few selections of aiolis for dipping. We went with horseradish, chipotle, and roasted garlic. My favorite was the chipotle which was smokey and had a little heat. I expected more horseradish flavor and a bit of a kick, but it was lacking. It had the heat of a mild cocktail sauce. The garlic aioli was very garlicky, something that would scare vampires away. This is a dip you do not want choose on date night. Well, at least early on in your relationship.

The burger was one of the best burgers I have had in the city. I went with the Tex: smoked provolone, bacon, bbq, and caramalized onions. I think all burgers are cooked medium well, as I was not asked how I would like it cooked. What I liked the most was how it was not a super fatty burger. I know the burger isn't supposed to be inherently healthy. But is was comforting to eat a burger that wasn't oozing with grease. From top to bottom, this burger had it all. The bun was soft but toasted. The toppings just worked together. The bacon added saltiness, the onions were sweet, the cheese was smokey, and the bbq sauce was a mix off all of those flavors. Each bite was a perfect sampling of all the fixins. I usually don't expect a lot out of fries, but the fries at Twenty Tap are amazing. They may be pushing the salty end of the flavor spectrum, but there are other seasonings involved. I tasted black pepper and hints of garlic. They are thicker cut, not as thick as a steak fry, but larger than a shoestring. The only part of the meal that missed for me were the house pickles. The pickling spice was more sweet than acidic. I couldn't tell if the spice that stuck out was all spice or clove, but it reminded me of a Thanksgiving pie. I know pickles should not remind someone of Thanksgiving, but the only time I ever cook with cloves or allspice is during Thanksgiving.

The service was a little on the slow end, but this was because it was a Saturday night and it was very busy. I wasn't too angry with the service, because sometimes it is just nice to hang out and relax with good friends. Also, we were having a debate on how the prefix bi- can be confusing. As in, "Lets meet bi-weekly." This can be confusing as it means: twice a week as well as every two weeks. I've only used it as every two weeks. For example, "I should be blogging BIWEEKLY, or else I have to take one you to lunch."

"Let the stoics say what they please, we do not EAt for the good of the living but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen." - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Twenty Tap on Urbanspoon

Mama Carolla's

1031 E. 54th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 259-9412
Mama Carolla's

Mama Carolla's ranks near the top of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. Just a forewarning, they do maintain special hours. They are closed Sunday & Monday, and only open for dinner which starts at 5pm. They do not take reservations and will not seat you until your entire party is present. The moral of the story is plan on waiting on the weekends and make sure you invite your punctual friends. There is also a lounge to wait with a few tables and a bar. Luckily for us, we went early on a Thursday (6:30) and my college friends are prompt people. We had a party of four; @RFSchaffner, LMH, and Jim Calhoun. No, not the famed UCONN basketball coach. Jim Calhoun is a girl. Its a long story, and I did mention these are my college friends. The hostess sat us upstairs, in a table overlooking a balcony. The restaurant is a 1920's transformed house with Mediterannean and Spanish style architecture. It has a beautiful interior with what seems like original fixtures. The restaurant has a very intimate feel, so it is perfect for a date night. There was a roaring fire near the hostess stand and you just feel welcome when you walk in. During the summer there is seating on the patio, and I believe I have expressed the need for more restaurants with outdoor seating in the city. Our service was good. Our waitress knew the menu and had many suggestions for us.

Heeding our waitress's suggestion, we started with the artichoke fritters and bruschetta. The bruschetta was large slices of Italian bread, similar to Texas toast size bread. The bruschetta was topped shredded mozarella and fresh tomatoes. It was a very typical bruschetta, with notes of garlic, basil, and vinegar. The fritters were the about size of a meatball. They were filled with goat cheese and had lemon aioli drizzled on top. I have been asked many times to define an aioli. In its simplest form, think of a fancy mayo, as it is usually a blend of garlic, oil, and egg emulsion. For my entree, I ordered the carbonara with a side of tomato bread soup. The flavor in the soup was something like I had never tasted before. It had a very thick texture, but not much flavor. I had to add salt and pepper to enhance the flavor. I could barely taste the tomato, I would not order it again. The carbonara was the star of the meal. Carbonara is one of my all time favorite dishes. The dish is comprised of fetuccini noodles with an egg based cream sauce, with a little added white wine for acidity. There are pieces of pancetta, mushrooms, peas, and a dusting of parsely for a fresh flavor. I think I like how there is an ample amount of pancetta in every bite. For those of you who don't know what pancetta is, think Italian bacon, so there is a nice salty flavor to acompany the creamy sauce. I think the peas and mushrooms are added so you can convince yourself that it is a healthy meal because there are veggies involved. In all reality it is a very heavy dish. This is the first time in a while I did not join the clean plate club as the meal was so filling. The problem with cream based sauces, is that it not great the next day. More often than not, the sauce breaks when you reheat the dish. I recommend you go easy on the appetizers, if you plan on finishing the entire meal.

I'm going to leave you with an exchange between @rfschaffner and myself during this meal. He recently became a homeowner and was talking about the previous owner's infatuation with the color red. The house had many different shades of red on the exterior doors, the garage, and the mailbox post.

@RFS: "Everything is some different shade of red on the house. I can't wait to paint it. This lady was really into the color red"

@RealEAtingIndy: "Yeah, now she's really into dirt and worms."

 

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while EAting a homegrown tomato." -Lewis Grizzard


Mama Carolla's Old Italian on Urbanspoon