King Chef

8664 E 96th St.

Fishers, IN 46038

(317) 842-8989

www.kingchefindy.com

We were furniture shopping in the 96th and I-69 corridor and decided to grab lunch. I was running out of places to blog, so instead of going to Noodles & Co., I suggested we try King Chef which is next door. It was a while back, but my brother had mentioned that the food was pretty decent there. I should have called him before we actually went in because the restaurant had since changed owners and the food isn't as great as it used to be. Although I can't fault him for this suggestion, he did steer us in the wrong direction in what is to this day the WORST dining experience I have ever had. This was well before my blogging days, and I had always wanted to work in a reference to said experience into a post. The place was El Sol del Tala on East Washington St. We must have either gone on a bad night, because this place is historically rated as one of the better Mexican restaurants in the city. The service was atrocious and the food was even worse. The chicken was still pink. The food came out cold. It was just very bad. So the tie that binds El Sol de Tala and King Chef is my brother.

King Chef was very clean. The staff was friendly and welcoming, Where it lacked was the most important piece of a restaurant, the food. They are very generous with their portions for the price. You get soup, an egg roll, fried rice, and an entree for under $6. Where I used to base Chinese restaurants on how good their General's Chicken is, I have had too many bad experiences with General's Chicken and now I go with the Kung Pao Chicken. It is simply chicken, peanuts, and veggies in a spicy sauce. When my plate arrived, I was able to pinpoint how they can have their price point so low. They load up the veggies. I have never had a Kung Pao chicken with diced celery and carrots before, but this had ample amounts of both. I really don't like cooked celery in anything but soups and stews. I think it overpowers the dish. This was the case here. Each bite was mostly carrots and celery I found myself digging around and just eating the chicken. The egg roll was huge. I probably should have eaten that first, because it was the more enjoyable part of my meal. Like the entree, it was full of veggies.

 

The restaurant was very clean. The service was quick. Our server was friendly. I was watching an old episode of Top Chef this week, and they mentioned you go to a restaurant for the food, and come back again because of the service. If only the food was better, I would make a return trip.

"I was EAting at a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It was chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one." - Paul Simon

Thai Cafe

1041 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indianapolis, IN  46220

317-722-1008

Thai Cafe

The last destination to find the best Thai fried rice in Indianapolis led me to Thai Cafe in Broad Ripple. I had been told that this is the best in the City by my roommate and my brother. I had a couple days off during Christmas and JBH and I decided to give it a try. It is located on Broad Ripple Ave in the shopping center across from the high school.

Thai Cafe is bigger than Thai Papaya, but smaller than Sawasdee. The tables are close to each other, but it wasn't crowded enough that you were stacked on top of someone else. The decor is Thai inspired, just like the other restaurants. The service was quick and the wait staff is very friendly. 

Our soup came out within minutes of ordering and the entrees followed soon after. The flavor of the soup was unlike anything I have had in Thai restaurants. I seems like it has a lemongrass base with chili oil on top. The flavor develops as you eat the soup. It starts out mild then then sour, and it has a kick at the end. They also give you the crispy noodles to add to the soup. Those add a nice crunch and a little bit of saltiness. There is also cilantro and Thai basil which add freshness. I ordered the Kao Pad. It is fried rice with your choice of protien with onion, peas, carrots, and egg.  Here the heat levels range from 1 to 5. The first two times I chose 3. The last time, I manned up and ordered a 4. The 3 is how a medium should be. It has definite heat, but not over powering. I think I will stick to the four. It brought the perfect amount of heat. I broke a little bit of a sweat eating it, but it was a healthy burn. The 5 would be a little too much for me. I will have to agree with my brother and roommate and say that this is the best Thai in the city. The entire dish just worked as a whole. The peas and carrots added a little bit of sweetness to an otherwise spicy dish. The egg added texture. The rice was not as greasy as the other restaurants. I can't remember the last time I went to a restaurant 3 times in the span of a month. That is just proof how much I liked the Thai Cafe. I have a feeling that this will become like Yen Ching and the staff will know me by name whenever I come in. Apologies for the lack of pictures on the fried rice. My pictures were wiped clean on my phone and I will have to add the next time I go back. 

"If there hadn't been women, we'd still be squatting in a cave EAting raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends." -Orson Welles

Sawasdee

1222 W. 86th St.

Indianapolis, IN 46254

(317) 844-9451

Sawasdee

Round two of my trip to Thailand in the Circle City brought me to lunch at Sawasdee with my high school friends: @MJSki111, @BWL1285, and @MattFerg6. The previous time I had ate there was with my coworkers. I orderd a noodle dish and yarfed at work later that day. Again, it has nothing to do with the restaurant, but rather my weird aversion to Thai noodles. The highlight was during the meal, a young Thai boy jumped out of a closet behind us whilst holding himself, doing the pee pee dance, and then darted for the potty. I can only imagine he was back there in an intense game of Pokemon and couldn't break away until the last second. This time was a little more normal. I was very happy with the service. @MattFerg6 thinks I am too generous of a tipper. If service is good, I always go 20%, just because I appreciate good service as much as good food. Average service is 15%. Anything below average, I would rather speak to the manager, and still tip at least 15%, but let the staff know that I was unhappy with my service.The wait staff was very friendly. Our drinks were never less than half full, and the food came out quickly. This is always a plus during the lunch hour as it takes a little less than 10 minutes to get there from our new office. We were finished with the meal within half an hour, so we had more time to chat before returning to the grind. Sawasdee is the largest of the 3 Thai restauarants I visited. It was also the most crowded. The dining room was split into two when you walk in, and it seems that the right side of the restaurant was much brighter than the entry room. Of the three restaurants, it was also the most decorated. The walls are covered with Thai inspired art, there are statues everywhere, and there is a 3 foot bottle of wine one of the dining rooms. 

Sawasdee offers the most amount of food of the 3 restaurants. You get to choose 2 appetizers from soup, salad, and spring rolls. I went with two spring rolls that come with sweet and sour dipping sauce. If you laid out spring rolls from all three restaurants, I would not be able to tell the difference. It is just nice you get two appetizers and an entree for $6.95. For my entree, I ordered Kao Padd Bai Kra Prow, or the #3 on the lunch menu. I stick to ordering the number next to the entree as it easier. It is Thai fried rice with meat, onions, bell pepper, banana pepper, and Thai basil. In terms of heat level, I requested it medium. Next time I will jump up to hot instead as I did not think that the meal had a lot of heat. The hottest option is "Thai Hot". If winter ever gets to us this year, I'll try Thai Hot to warm up on a cold day. The texture of the rice was pretty sticky and oily. The flavor was great though. There were not as many banana peppers as Thai Papaya, and I like the addition of bell pepper to their dish. It is white onion instead of green onion. I prefer that because the onions soften up during the cooking process and I do not like anything crunchy when I am eating rice. I did like this dish overall better than Thai Papaya mostly because of banana peppers and onions. They also offer you sliced oranges post meal to cleanse your palate. It is a nice refreshing end to your meal. I would go back and order this again. 

In honor of the King's Birthday today:

"After a hard day of basic training, you could EAt a rattlesnake." - Elvis Presley

Thai Papaya

3905 W 96th St Suite 1000
Indianapolis, IN 46268
(317) 334-1482 

Thai Papaya

This was the Urban Spoon app restaurant chosen by the winner of the first

"Lunch on EAting Indy". @BrandonCarder was the lucky winner. Just a forewarning, I went on a mini Thai food kick, so the next three entries will be all Thai. This will come to a shock to most of my friends, as they are aware of my aversion to Thai food. For some reason, it does not agree with me. Luckily I stepped out of realm of Thai noodles and decided to try the Thai fried rice. I apologize for not trying something different at these restaurants, but I would rather not cause me to "call dinosaurs". (I have a tendency to throw up violently, and @MJSki111 has eloquently referred to it as "calling dinosaurs.") Now I know you are in the mood for some Thai food.

We had been to Thai Papaya during lunch before, but it was during my time with my loaner Blackberry flip phone, so no pictures were taken. The restaurant is located at the Southeast corner of 96th and Michigan, tucked behind the McDonald's. It is very small, no more than 15 table tops. Both times I have been, there have only been two workers, who I can presume are the owners, a husband and wife. I have been told it gets pretty busy during the lunch hour, but our service has been pretty quick. We went at the tail end of the lunch hour, so there were still plates left on the tables. I can only attribute this to lack of wait staff. It is one of those places where you pay at the counter, which we did not know the first time we went there. We kind of just sat around waiting for our bill. The decor is pretty lively with bright colors and fun statues. 

The lunch combo ($6.80) comes with entree and choice of soup, salad, or spring roll. The first time I tried the soup, and I did not care for it. It tasted kind of fishy. There were pieces of cilantro and drops of chili oil on top. My next visit, I opted for the spring roll. It was nothing extraordinary, just thinly sliced cabbage, carrots, and onion. It comes with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. I just enjoyed it more than the soup. For my entree I ordered the Kao Padd Ka Prow. It is fried rice with your choice of protein (chicken, pork, beef, tofu), banana peppers, Thai basil, green onions, egg and carrots. Here they level of spiciness is mild, medium, or hot. I went with medium as I prefer spicy food and medium is a good starting point, as most restaurants differ on their gauge of heat. The dish itself is inherently spicy with the banana peppers, and what ever spice they add just enhances the heat. I couldn't actually feel the heat until afterwards. The initial bite is not hot, but it grows as you continue eating. I would call it a healthy burn. The heat is not unbearable, but it is very prevalent. The banana peppers were kind of a conundrum during my second visit. They were sliced in all different sizes. Also, they were different shades of yellow. I had the feeling that they ran out of fresh banana peppers, and switched to the jarred variety. The rest of the veggies are pretty large as well. Even though the green onion has a milder onion flavor, the large pieces are a little much. For protein, I chose chicken both times. It was all white meat chicken, diced into about one inch pieces. The rice itself was kind of greasy. I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a healthy meal, but it was very filling. I would go back again and probably ask them to cook with less banana peppers. By the end, they were overpowering the rest of the dish. 

"EAting is not merely a material pleasure. EAting well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale." -Elsa Schiaparelli

Tomo: Japanese Steakhouse

7141 N. Keystone Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46240-3375
317-254-8665
Tomo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

I knew you all were getting excited since a week had gone by without a post. Better luck next time! I just got my phone back yesterday, so expect me to tweet more pictures. I had a loaner phone from Best Buy while mine was being repaired, and it was the worst. I don't think I could ever go back to a Blackberry, especially the flip phone that I had to use for 4 days. Am I overreacting? Probably. But those of you who saw what I was working with can feel my pain. I want to also apologize for the lack of pictures. I got antsy and dove in before I took any pictures. All I have is a picture of the soup. I know I'll be back, so I will add more at a later date.

I have been to Tomo twice in the past month. I feel like Butler Basketball guard, Ronald Nored, who is all about this restaurant. There was a streak over the summer where he went multiple times in the same week. So it was not so surprising when I saw #5 and a few other Bulldogs dining there. The Teppanyaki part of the restaurant has 4 total grills, two on each side of the room. I would say that the room holds about 30 patrons, with about 10 other tables in the main part of the restaurant. The interior was a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be, as it is located at the end of a strip mall which houses a tanning salon and a smoke shop. The service both times was terrific. As soon as you sit down, you are offered a warm towel. The first time I was offered a warm towel was when I went on Spring Break with MWF's family. We flew first class from Indy to Cleveland and I was sitting by myself. I had to take MWF's lead on what to do with the towel. The food came out quickly and we did not have to wait very long for the Teppanyaki chef to come and prepare the food. For those of you familiar with the wire, it was like the time Bunny Colvin took the hooligans to Ruth's Chris. As you know the cooking at a Japanese steakhouse, is essentially a show. Almost all the classic Teppanyaki tricks were done for us: the sake fire, the onion volcano, and the egg roll into the egg toss into the hat. The only thing missing was our chef did not toss the shrimp tails into our mouths. Instead, he threw clumps of rice. All in all, both experiences were fun and entertaining.

I was overly impressed by the food. I ordered the combo of steak and shrimp both times. The meal comes with a salad, soup, grilled veggies, two shrimp, and fried rice. The salad has carrots, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and a ginger based dressing. The soup is a clear based soup with thinly sliced shitake mushrooms. The grilled veggies are mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, and onions. The fried rice was my favorite part of the meal. I don't know why it tastes so good, but it does. It is the best fried rice I have ever had. My best guess as to why it is so delicious, is it contains the perfect mix of "yummy yummy sauce" and "Japanese Coca-Cola". If you have ever been to a Japanese steakhouse, you know what I am talking about. The dipping sauces at the table are the "yummy yummy sauce" and some other ginger based sauce. To cap off the meal, they leave a sliced orange for you. It is a nice refreshing end to a very solid dinner. I want to try the sushi sometime, but after having the Teppanyaki I find it hard to stray away from the grill.

"Women EAt while they are talking, men talk while they are EAting." -Malcolm de Chazal

Sensu Indianapolis

Sensu Indianapolis
225 S. Meridian St.
Indianpolis, IN 46225
Sensu


I had a Living Social deal to use at Sensu. Speaking of Living Social like deals, I had to explain the concept to a lady at Old Navy the other day. She was completely clueless. My sister sent me a $20 for $10 Groupon to use, and I guess they have had problems processing them in their system, so I just assumed the lady in front of me just was having the same issue, then the following conversation took place:
Nitwit Consumer (NC): "Can you help me find my Groupon?"
ME: "Sure thing, just log in on your phone."
NC: "OK, I'm there"
ME: "There isn't anything under Unused Groupons"
NC: "Well, I haven't used it yet. I just downloaded the app today."
ME: "Well it should show up here. When did you buy it?"
NC: "You have to buy them?"
ME: "Yes."
NC: "Oh, what is this Asian restaurant (Sensu) Groupon? Is it good?"
ME: "Well I ate there a couple weeks ago, and I recommend if you are going to go to purchase the Groupon, as it gets kind of expensive pretty quickly."
NC: "Well I don't want it."
ME: "So DON'T BUY IT!"

Thanks for wasting my time. Back to Sensu. Imagine a Vegas restaurant/club in downtown Indy. It has a very modern and hip decor. There are huge projection screens showing nature-scapes. Although, calming, I found it rather distracting. The ambiance was very pleasant for dinner which was nice, so I do recommend it as a place for date night, just know you will be shelling out some cash. I have never been out there late night, but I assume it starts popping off around 10. DJBG raves about the place. Clubs like this have never really been my scene. Even when I lived in Chicago, I never ventured to the clubby bars, unless it was for a special occasion. The one thing that will stick in my mind as a highlight of the meal was our waiter. It was the BEST service I have had in the city since I have moved back. Since this was our first time, he kind of explained the concept of the menu. It was more like Asian fusion tapas. They serve small plates, and based on your food preferences, they cater the menu to your liking. He asked what we liked, and gave us some suggestions. He went away for a while, giving us time to dissect the menu. Before he left, he suggested the tacos and a couple of the Kobe beef dishes. I have only had Kobe beef burgers, so it was given before we even sat down, that I was going to order the Kobe beef. Those cattle have a pretty posh life, up to the time they become food. I mean they get to eat great food, get massages, and drink Sake. I bet that fire in Chicago wouldn't have happened if someone gave that cow an Old Style and a massage. When our waiter returned, we were ready to order. I decided to go with two tacos (lobster and BBQ pork, $4.50 each) and the Kobe Beef Toban Yaki ($28). I also chose the Wasabi mashed potatoes ($5), per the suggestion of our waiter. JBH ordered Chicken Satay ($13) and Pork and Kobe Beef tacos. The only downside of the meal was the mashed potatoes. I didn't take a picture of them, because I was too focused on eating the rest of the meal. After we both had a bite, we were over them and really didn't go back for more. First the color of the mashed potatoes was pea green and not very appealing. They were very heavy in wasabi flavor. Some people love wasabi, so this dish would be great for them. I don't mind it, but it was too strong for my liking. As for the rest of the meal, it was delicious. Of the two tacos, the BBQ pork was my favorite. It had a little bit of heat, but not too overpowering. The pineapple salsa countered any heat with a sweet flavor. Lobster is one thing that I never eat often, but I really enjoy. I was torn between the tacos and the clay pot lobster. I think my ultimate decision was reached because the clay pot lobster is cooked in a red curry sauce. I can't decide if I like curry or not, and I surely was not going to pay $24 for something I wasn't positive I was going to like. So I went with a lobster taco. It was good, not great. I think I was expecting a lot of lobster, but I didn't get it. For those of you who have issues with texture, this taco is not for you. The texture is soft and chewy, with the lobster, tomato, and avocado. Now for the star of the meal, the Kobe Beef Toban Yaki. The meal is served on a sizzling hot plate with a nice mixture of mushrooms and asparagus. As you can see, the beef is served rare to medium rare. Lots of pink. The longer you leave the steak on the plate, the more it will cook. I generally order my steak medium, but I was hungry and couldn't wait to eat it. The meat was so tender. It literally melted in my mouth. The knife sliced through the beef with ease and each bite was just as good as the one before. I enjoyed the mushrooms more than the asparagus. The enoki mushrooms are the things that look like they came out of a sci-fi movie. The stems kind have the texture of an angel hair pasta. The Shitake


For those of you who don't want to want to shell out the cash. Devour Downtown starts today and runs through August 21st. For $30 you can get 4 courses at Sensu. The Toban Yaki isn't on the DD menu, but another beef dish is, as are the tacos. I plan on hitting at least 2 restaurants during DD. St. Elmo's and Fogo de Chao look like the preliminary targets. Click the picture below for a list of restaurants. Happy devouring!


"I really believe the only way to stay healthy is to eat properly, get your rest and exercise. If you don't exercise and do the other two, I still don't think it's going to help you that much. "