Road Trip: Bloomington, IN - Janko's Little Zagreb

223 W. 6th St.

Bloomington, IN 47404

(812) 332-0694

Little Zagreb

I have been pretty excited to come back to eat at Janko's Little Zagreb. I never had the pleasure of eating there during my 4 years at IU. This is mainly because as a college student, the only time I really got to experience the nicer restaurants is when my parents came down to visit, as most of my money went to the Busch Light fund. Now that I am all grown up, it has been a treat to go back down and finally go to the expensive dining hot spots. As I have mentioned before, Bloomington is a food mecca. There are endless dining options for every palette. Little Zagreb is renowned as one of the best steakhouses in the state. I always pictured the restaurant to be a pretty classy joint, but it is the exact opposite. It is very casual. There are two dining areas which seat a fair amount of people. We were seated in the further dining room which is near the grill and food prep area. This was a unique experience in that you rarely see the food actually being cooked. The decor is typical of Bloomington in that the walls are full of IU memorabilia. The tables are covered with the old school red and white checkered table cloths. You kind of have a nostalgic feeling when you eat there, like you are eating in the past (minus the LCD tv's on the wall). The restaurant sponsors IU athletics, so you may have the pleasure of rubbing elbows with the past and future IU legends. My friends and I have been running to Todd Lindeman when we go down there. I recommend making reservations during home football weekends, Little 500, Graduation, or any other big weekend down there. Our food came out quickly, our water was always full, and our waitress was very knowledgeable of the menu.

My logo creator had never eaten at Zagreb before and he is planning on moving this summer, it was a perfect opportunity to dine there. @RFSchaffner and I had eaten there before, so we kind of knew what was good. Since there were 3 of us, we decided to get the most bang for our buck. We ordered the sirloin dinner for 3. It is over 3 pounds of sirloin, rolls, and salad. We also opted for the half order of spicy meatballs. Just a forewarning, they are surprisingly more spicy than any meatball I have ever had. You get about 8 or so in a half order. I couldn't really pin point where the heat came from. When I make my own spicy marinara, I use sriracha (or Sir ChaCha as it has been commonly referred to amongst my group of friends), and the sauce reminded me of that same flavor. I decided to get creative with my food, and I made a mini meatball slider with half a roll and a meatball. The rolls were warmed on the grill, and had a nice crusty outside and fluffy inside.

I would have to say that if there was a downside to the meal, it was the salad. The dressing was good, but the lettuce is just an average hand torn ice berg lettuce salad. We were all talking how a wedge would have been better, but you also don't go to Zagreb's for the salad. I'm pretty sure the dressings are made in house, I went with the Bleu Cheese. I think there could have been more Bleu Cheese crumbles in the dressing.

The star of the meal was the steak. We kind of had a bet before the steak came out. I was convinced the steak for 3 would be 3 different sirloin cuts. The other two said it was going to be one big steak. They were right. Our waitress did mention that there is a smaller piece of sirloin that could be cooked to a different temperature than the main cut. We ordered the main cut to be cooked medium, the small cut medium rare. It was a test to my butchering skills to divvy up the steak between us. I know you are supposed to cut against the grain of the beef to have more tender bites, but with a steak that large, I had to go against traditional methods to get equal pieces. The steak was tender, juicy, and flavorful. I'm sure it was only seasoned with salt and pepper. My only issue was there was a little more fat than I had expected on the cut. It was only along the outer edge of the steak, so it was easy to trim. We had a good amount of steak left over, so we left it for our wonderful host to reconstitute into a steak sandwich. We didn't have room for dessert, but the options sounded amazing. We ordered them to go. I went with the lemon berry cake with Mascarpone cheese. We all ordered a different dessert. All were very good, and I recommend that you order a dessert if you go. Our waitress said that the lemon berry cake and the chocolate mousse cheesecake were her favorites. She said that the lemon berry was more of a morning food and she could eat it for breakfast. I'd have to agree, it tasted like a blueberry muffin with a cool creamy center. The chocolate mousse was more rich and decadent. The NY style was your typical cheesecake with a buttery graham cracker crust. When I go back, I'd like to try the steak burger.

You have 3 days to take advantage of the Groupon for a steak dinner for 2:

http://www.groupon.com/deals/jankos-little-zagreb

"Not EAting meat is a decision, EAting meat is an instinct." -Denis Leary

 

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