Shapiro's Deli

Shapiro's Deli (Carmel Location)

918 S. Rangeline Rd

Carmel, IN 46032

317-631-4041

Shapiro's Deli

This is one of the posts many of you have been waiting for. It is time to finally review my #1 Reuben. I had been waiting to write about this until ABW was back in Indy. We decided to go to the Carmel location on Black Friday. Of the two locations, Downtown and Carmel, Carmel is my favorite. Although it doesn't have the tradition and history of the Downtown location, it just has a cleaner feel to it. The downtown location is much older, and it seemed a little dingy. There is a third location located at Indianapolis International Airport in one of the terminals. Our fraternity chapter advisor once told me he plans his flights around to depart or arrive during meal time so he can stop and have a Reuben I have pictures of the Reuben's from both downtown and Carmel locations. Just like the last post, this is a restaurant you cannot judge service. It is essentially a Cafeteria, so you walk down the line with your tray and order as you move along. The sandwiches are made to order, so they bring you your food as it is finished. The food comes out in a very timely manner. Both locations have ample seating, and I have never had to wait for a seat. I don't have any pictures of the desserts, but they are top notch. The carrot cake is my favorite, where ABW prefers the German Chocolate Cake.I do have to be honest with my next statement and ABW agreed. Our Reuben experience was not up to par with our previous visits. Don't get me wrong, Shapiro's still is the best. But, we have had better sandwiches there. It felt like one of the times one of your friends over-hypes a movie, and when you go see it, you are disappointed. Maybe in our heads, we have this glorious idea of the perfect Reuben, and this time it just did not stack up to past experiences. If you compare the pictures, the Carmel Reuben lacked the meat of the Downtown Reuben. Also, the thickness of the bread was on the thick side in Carmel. Don't get me wrong, it was still delicious, but it has been better. The corned beef is tender and flavorful. The cole slaw is exactly how I prefer it, finely chopped veggies and just the right amount on the sandwich to add flavor, but not overpower the corned beef. The bread was perfectly toasted. The 1000 Island dressing adds a nice sweet and tangy flavor. I opted not to get the Mac N Cheese this time, as Thanksgiving was the day prior, and I had my fill. I usually split it with whomever I dine with. It is creamy and cheesy and for whatever reason, its just habit to order it with the Reuben. I did order a deviled egg. It was nothing out of the ordinary, a very typical deviled egg. 

Let me leave you with my favorite ABW story, which says a lot as I have known him for 20 plus years. It happened during my last year living in Chicago. ABW was going for a bike ride on a weekend morning. The CPD had some streets blocked off, and he was re-routed on his way to the lake. When he finally was able to get going on a street, he realized the streets were full of people. He then realized these people were dressed flamboyantly and were holding rainbow flags. It soon hit him, he was on the parade route for the Pride Parade. Embarrassed by the attention, he pedaled faster to get out of there. The problem was that the faster he pedaled, the louder the crowd cheered. And that is how ABW was essentially the "first float" in the Chicago Pride Parade

"Never EAt more than you can lift." - Miss Piggy

Road Trip Bloomington, IN: Buffa Louie's

114 S. Indiana Avenue 

Bloomington, IN  

(812) 333-3030  

Buffa Louie's

The first time we ever ordered Buffa Louie's was during the infamous 2004 Super Bowl (the one where Janet Jackson showed the world her boobie). We were freshmen at IU, living in McNutt Crone. We ordered 2 buckets of Buffa Louie's and snuck in a couple six packs of Rolling Rock Green Light (We didn't know any better, and my roommate was watching his carb intake). Ever since that night, Buffa Louie's became my favorite wing place in Bloomington. There is only one location now, located at The Gables on Indiana Ave. The location is famous, as Jazz great Hoagy Carmichael penned part of "Star Dust" there. The interior is full of IU memorabilia, from signed posters to flags and banners, it is a great place to see the rich tradition of Indiana University. There are essentially three levels of seating and the restaurant is pretty large. It is usually pretty packed when IU is hosting a basketball or football game. It is a great place to take the kids as well, as it is one of the more family friendly places near Kirkwood. My only knock on the place, is that the service can be on the slow side. By "service", I mean the amount of time it takes to get food to the table from ordering. There isn't a traditional wait staff, as it is a place where you order and then pick up your food at the counter. 

Buffa Louie's offers 15 different kinds of sauces, ranging from Buffalo Sauces (Mild, Medium, Hot, T.N.T, and Volcanic), Mrs. Louie's BBQ (Sweet Q, Mild Q, Medium Q, Hot Q, T.N.T Q, and Volcanic Q), and Exotic (Teriyaki, Honey Garlic, and Hot Garlic). It is nice how boneless and traditional wings are the same price. I ordered the Louie's Dozen (15 wings). I was able to get 2 different sauces; 10 Hot BBQ & 5 Hot Garlic and celery and bleu cheese. I wanted to try new sauces and I wasn't very impressed. I think the HOT should be a little hotter. There was a strong Garlic and BBQ flavor, but the wings lacked heat. I do like that the wings are covered in sauce. It is always disappointed to find that dry spot on a wing. I really like the curly fries at Buffa Louie's and I was remiss to not order them. The random piece of bread in the picture is their cheese bread. It was nothing special, and RFS ordered it, so I tried it. When I go back, I will make sure to order the T.N.T and the Teriyaki, which were my previous go-to sauces.

"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." -Mike Ditka

Detour An American Grille: Carmel, IN

110 W. Main St.
Carmel, IN 46032
(317) 571-0091
Detour: An American Grille

Before I go on about what I hated about Detour, let me preface that with what I enjoyed. Detour is a sports bar located in the heart of Downtown Carmel. There is ample seating and many televisions. They also have a nice patio for the summertime with live music. So as a sports bar, they are great. I wouldn't mind sitting down and watching games there. To no fault fault of Detour, ESPN needs to stop showing the World Series of Poker. Its not 2003 anymore. They can fill those useless hours of the WSOP with more 30 for 30 movies. We had to ask our waiter to change the WSOP to the Monday Night Football game. More on that guy later...They have good drink specials every night of the week. Its also nice that it is family friendly, as they are catering to the neighborhood. The menu is typical for a bar and grill: sandwiches, burgers & wraps, and limited entrees. More and more bar and grills have these over bearing menus where you get lost in pages of food, Detour has a very simple menu to navigate. I just wish I would have picked something different to eat on this very simple menu.

There were four of us meeting to celebrate DJBG's birthday. RFS, JJS, DJBG, and myself. At first the hostess sat us in a corner where we really couldn't see a TV, so we asked to be moved. Our waiter came and took our drink orders as 3 of us were waiting on JJS. (Shockingly, DJBG made it on time. For those of you who know him, know that he says he will be somewhere in 20 minutes, but then shows up 3 hours later. Shameless plug for him after ripping him a little bit. He DJ's at Blu Martini on Friday nights, and he does a damn good job.) Dos Equis was on special for $2 for a pint, and I had one of those (I did say the drink specials were decent, right?). We also decided to put in an order of the fried dill pickle chips to start. It comes with a side of horseradish sauce or ranch, we got both. The pickles were lightly breaded in flour. There wasn't a whole lot of seasoning on the pickles. I did manage to eat a few without dipping in the sauces. I would have to say the dill chips are better at Scotty's. Detour has one of those eating challenges that you see on Man Vs. Food. It's called the Triple Bypass. It is 2 pounds of Italian beef, giardiniera, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses on a French Baguette with a pound of waffle fries. You have to finish the sandwich within 45 minutes to get your picture on the wall AND your finishing statistics listed in the menu. DJBG suggested I try this endeavor, I respectfully declined. There is no chance in hell I'm even going to try to attempt something like that. A: It's $35. and B: That's disgusting. I instead opted for the Single Bypass, the smaller version of the Triple bypass. It has the exact same toppings as the Triple. Now I am still searching for the best Italian beef sandwich in this city. Portillo's is by far and away the King of Italian beef sandwiches, with Al's Beef a nice second. The problem is both of those franchises are in the Chicagoland area. The closest Portillo's is in Merrillville, IN. So where does the Single bypass stack up to the Kings of Italian beef sandwiches? I just finished The Wire today. So in the words of Omar, "You come at the King, you best not miss.". Well, Detour missed. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the sandwich, and I think that cheese ruins it. A good Italian Beef sandwich is: Gonnella brand bread, slow roasted beef, spicy giardiniera, dipped in au jus. MWF's family introduced me to this sandwich at his high school open house, and we had it catered for BWL's bachelor party. My frustration's with the sandwich at Detour start with the bread. I'm used to the bread dipped in the au jus, so its not as crispy. Instead, they give you a tiny cup of au jus to dip or pour on the sandwich. Also, when I ordered the sandwich, our waiter said, "It comes with giardiniera, which is a spicy blend of celery, carrots, and peppers. Do you want that on there?" I'm thinking to myself, "Hey Dummy, I know what giardineira is. If I didn't, it clearly says what it is on your menu, so if I didn't want it I would tell you." I was over this waiter from the second we arrived. He was awful. We asked for waters 3 times before he brought them out to us. He wasn't very timely, and DJ and RFS had to ask twice for their beers. As you can see in the picture, there isn't a whole lot of giardineira on the sandwich. I had to ask for some more, because I couldn't taste it. The beef itself was good. It had good flavor and was very tender. More often than not, the beef is too salty. They at least got the taste right. The star of the meal, for me, was the waffle fries. They were nice and crispy and had better seasoning, that lacked in the dill chips. But even the fries had their flaws. There aren't a whole lot of fries that come with the meal. Also, they gave you the same small cup for ketchup that they gave for the au jus. MWF would not like this place for that reason alone. At the time, I thought that they are looking out for your health and monitoring your portion size. Then I remembered they are offering a sandwich named after a heart surgery to relieve clogged arteries...

So for what its worth, I would go back to Detour, but not for the food. As I stated before, it is a great place to hang out with friends. I'd like to go out in Carmel more often, because I think the downtown is beautiful. I guess our problem is that not a lot of our friends live their, only their parents, so it would be awkward to go crash at their house after a night of partying. As I always say, Drink Responsibly. **Especially in Carmel. The Carmel fuzz are the worst. I've seen someone get pulled over for stopping past the stop line.**

"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy EAting, and in fourteen days, I lost two weeks." - Joe E. Lewis

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

Boogie Burger

1904 E. Broad Ripple Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 255-2450
Boogie Burger

It was a Friday night and my roommate asked if I had dinner plans. Now if you know KJM, the restaurant choices are pretty thin. As previously mentioned, I can say these things, as he doesn't read this blog. Having eaten at Chipotle for lunch, I had already thrown out one of his go to restaurants. Being friends with someone for 20 years, you pretty much know everything about that person. KJM's Chipotle order: Chicken burrito, no beans, extra rice, mild salsa, lettuce, and cheese. So when I offered the suggestion of going to Boogie Burger, I thought I would be able to pin point exactly what he would order when we got there. He had never been there before, and I had never visited their new location off Broad Ripple Ave. The nice thing about their old location was that you could order food while you were out on the patio of Monkey's Tale. The downside was that it was WAY too small. Both times I went it was too crowded to sit down. These burgers are on the messy side, so you definitely need room to eat. I just hope the new location is just as successful. The last restaurant there, The Red Eye Cafe, was only open for a brief period of time. We went a few times on a hungover morning, and it wasn't bad. I think the problem was that it is kind of off the beaten path and they had strange hours. Closed one day during the weekday, and they would deliver late night food. I can just assume the operating costs were astronomical. It was also pretty dark and dingy. Boogie Burger did a bang up job of redoing the interior. It is much brighter and there are more booths. They also built an outdoor patio. The downside is there is not a lot of parking. The staff was young, upbeat, and very friendly. The young lady taking our order decided she wanted to try to guess the names of the patrons before they ordered. She chose Frank for me and Brandon for KJM. I guess if that helps you get through the work day...more power to you.

So back to me trying to figure out what KJM was going to order. You see, he has a very simple pallet. So cheeseburger with ketchup, lettuce, tomato. Boy was I wrong. I said what I was going to order, and KJM said, "That sounds good, I'll have that too." Each 1/3 pound burger comes with lettuce, tomato, red onion, mayo, and a pickle spear. I had mine without mayo, KJM no onion and mayo. We both ordered the Wild West Burger, which is advertised as their most famous burger. It is a single patty with cheddar cheese, onion rings, hickory smoked bacon, and BBQ sauce. I ordered their garlic fries and KJM got the onion rings. Also surprising was we both agreed on the taste of the burger. With all those toppings, the only ingredient we could taste was the bacon. Each bite had a little bit of something else, but the bacon was the star of the show. I really couldn't figure it out why. Now I love bacon, but I just wish I could have tasted the BBQ sauce or the onion rings. The garlic fries were enough for two people, so I was unable to finish them. There was enough garlic to ward off the vampires. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, because they are delicious, but you could smell them throughout the entire restaurant. They are crispy, not soggy. It is a pretty good size fry as well, not as thick as a steak fry, but larger than traditional fast food fries. The parsley gives a nice fresh taste, but it is overpowered by the large chunks of garlic. I do not recommend this place as a first date restaurant, as you will be reaching for the Altoids soon after the meal is over.

I would definitely go back, but I would probably order a different burger. PJB said that the Buffalo Chicken sandwich is pretty good as well. If I were to rank my favorite places to grab a burger in the Nap, I would go in order: 96th St. Steak-burgers, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, then Boogie Burger. I have heard good things about the burgers at The Sinking Ship, and today my coworker raved about the burger he had at 20 Tap at 54th and College. Where is your favorite place to grab a burger?

I apologize I do not have a picture. Luckily the website has many pictures. I promise when I go back, I will take a couple pictures.

"When I EAt with my friends, it is a moment of real pleasure, when I really enjoy my life." -Monica Bellucci

Moe & Johnny's

5380 N. College Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 255-6376
Moe & Johnny's

Following the IU vs Butler Men's soccer game RFS, PJB, and I decided to grab a bite to eat. Having eaten at Yats a few days prior, Moe & Johnny's became our destination. It had been a while since we been there, and I have never eaten there. I have only had a few adult beverages there. Although it is a great sports bar, and THE place to be before, during, and after Butler Basketball games, there is a reason we call it Smokey Moe's. I think I have mentioned before that this city needs to go smoke free in bars. Who's with me? Other than that, Moe & Johnny's has an abundance of TV's and tons of space to move around (with the exception the Bulldog's Final Four runs the past two years). The patio is also a great place to hang out during the nice summer nights.

For dinner I decided to go with a cup of meat chili and a buffalo chicken salad. First, the chili. It comes with an option for cheese and onions. I would compare this chili to Steak n Shake's chili. It has beans, onion, and beef. I couldn't really pin point any other ingredients. As for flavor, it was on the mild side. There wasn't a lot of heat, which is smart. When I cook my chili, I am guilty of adding a little too much heat, so it is more of a medium to hot flavor. The texture wasn't too soupy, and there was a lot of meat. During the fall and winter, I have a hard time turning a good cup of chili. I would def order this again, maybe ask for some hot sauce. The salad was amazing. It was the perfect size. I often don't get full on an entree salad, but this was not the case. The chicken fingers were nicely sauced with buffalo sauce, they had the kick I was wanting in my chili. The tenders seem like they were breaded in just flour, as it was just a light coating. They were pretty crispy The base of the salad was romaine and field greens.. There was also croutons, cheese, carrots, tomatoes, and red onions. It came with a soft and sweet dinner roll. I went with the Bleu Cheese dressing, as I am still going on my Bleu Cheese phase. Although there were two cups of dressing, one was enough for me. I'm not sure if I would get the salad again, as I can't predict a situation where I would be going to Moe & Johnny's just for food. But at least I know, if I were to order the salad, it would be enough food to hold me over. I have known only one person to order a salad at a bar, RWG. It was at Harry's on a Friday afternoon. BOILER UP, you Cobb salad eating fool!. FYI, Moe & Johnny's has an all you can eat brunch on Sundays from 9am to 1pm. I've heard decent things about this, and plan on trying it out eventually.

In case you were wondering about the soccer game, your Indiana Hoosiers prevailed 1-0. We scored with under 10 minutes left in the game. Although the score does not reflect this, IU possessed the ball for the majority of the game. Butler's keeper made a couple of amazing saves, but their scoring opportunities were few and far between. IU Futbol...so much more successful than IU Football.

"Nothing would be more tiresome that EAting and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as much as a necessity." -Voltaire

Hoaglin to Go

448 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 423-0300
Hoaglin To Go

It was a Friday afternoon, and I took a half day at work. I was going to run some errands downtown and had previously ordered take out with JBH once, and had wanted to go back. I never really eat alone, but it is a nice change of pace. Often times, you are too busy conversing and never really get the chance to relax a little bit, think, and enjoy your meal. Hoaglin is located on Mass Ave, and Michigan St. It is a quaint little bistro with about 20 or so tables. Take note of the hours, as it is not open all day. It was pretty busy, as it was the one time I went to pick up food to go. The clientele is a nice blend of workers on their lunch break, students on their laptops, moms with their kids, and a few hipsters. I'm surprised they aren't busy occupying something. I think I am going to occupy my roommate's bedroom until he lets me get cable in my bedroom. That might get a little weird though and I think he will kick me out. Good thing he doesn't read this. Back to the decor of the restaurant. I loved it. Each table had a fresh Gerber daisy in a tiny vase (I only noticed this because the ladies next to me mentioned that they always have fresh daisies). It was intimate, yet not cramped. I guess the only problem I had was that I was sharing a bench with another lady and she leaned forward and brought me with her. I didn't think that was possible as I am a pretty big guy and I had my entire weight on the bench. She wasn't an exceptionally large lady, she was just Country Strong. Right WJB?

I absolutely loved the egg salad last time I ordered it, and was debating between one of four of their chicken salads or the egg salad. I couldn't pass up the egg salad. According to Indianapolis Monthly, it is the city's best egg salad. I am going to have to agree with them. I know it is not as good as the egg salad at Lil' Guys, but it sure is close. The difference is Hoaglin's is a little more creamy than Lil' Guys. Probably has a little more mayo/mustard. The other ingredients are onion, bell pepper, and fresh dill. I chose the sourdough bread. The only problem with sourdough is that unless toasted, it falls apart pretty easily. Each bite, the bread would crumble, so it was a little on the messy side. No major complaints though, because each bit also had ample amounts of egg salad. I decided to swap out the kettle chips for a cup of soup ($3 extra). They had two soups to choose from; chicken corn chowder and black bean. I asked the waiter for his suggestion and he said the chicken complete with a caveat that one lady did not like it. I wanted some sort of meat with my meal, so I went with the chicken. I'm used to chowders being a little more creamy, this one was had a chicken stock base. It was more of like a chicken soup than a chowder. It was all white meat chicken though, and had onion, carrots, and bell peppers. It was pretty good. It was a chilly day, so it hit the spot. I promise I won't try to start a trend of soup/salad or soup/sandwich posts, but with the seasons ahead, it looks like it might be the case.

"The most important things to do in the world are to get something to EAt, something to drink, and somebody to love you." -Brenda Ueland