Meat Rugs!

These are the funniest thing I've seen -- rugs designed to emulate giant meat slices. You can choose from Salami, Bierschinken, Mortadella und Blutwurst. Courtesy of Scott Hutcheson's Blog.

Nine Thirty-Six on Virginia

This week's IBJ is reporting new life down at the former Bistro 936. Chef Chuck Davis (ex-Bahama Breeze) has occupied the building and opened The Nine Thirty-Six. Reports are it's redone with "very bright, very organize, eclectic" colors with a menu offering "a little bit of everything." Open for lunches only with no liquor license. Chef Davis is quoted in the IBJ as saying "All modesty aside, I honestly, truly believe this will be the definitive restaurant for Indianapolis." Somebody better warn Steve Oakley and Greg Hardesty about this.

Indiana Brewers Cup 2005

I've been meaning for two weeks to report on the terrific event at the Indiana State Fair grounds for the Indiana Brewers Cup. What a fun afternoon! It was terrific to see the home brewing community as well as quite a few professional brewers turn out for the competition, judging and awards. I attended at the invitation of my friend Mike Crowell (who won a blue ribbon for his Old Ale in the Scotch Ale and Old Ale category.) From the descriptions of Anita Johnson and other organizers, this sounds like a competition strongly growing! Full results here with details on the rest of the organization as well.

What I Learned in this Month's Dine

I've been delinquent again. I know, I know. No excuses. But, here are a few tidbits to tide you over, from the What I Learned in this month's Dine Magazine (since I'm sure I've been blackballed from their mailing list):

Pictures of Tyler Herald (executive chef at 6) always crack me up. With the fuzzy sideburns and beard I always expect him to have a comical Scottish brogue. Even without it he is a nice guy.

Quinoa is undergoing a popularity surge. Who knew?

Beefeater has a new gin -- Wet. I love it that gin may be coming the way of designer vodka. Maybe I'll find something to replace my taste for the no longer produced Tanqueray Malaca.

The Eiteljorg's new cafe is open with some really interesting dishes using jicama, pazole, lime, cilantro and prickly pear. With outdoor seating right on the canal, this is a museum restaurant I'll try!

Greg Hardesty and Mike Silva are selling H2O Sushi but keeping it in the family. The buyers are two former sous chefs from Elements. A good fit with former H20 chef Neal Brown now heading the kitchen at Brugge. (With the uneven service and lack of air conditioning, the food is the only thing that's remained consistent since the Belgian eatery opened.

NuJac Family Gardens has Thai eggplant at their farmer's market stand. (I've never seen them and I go to the Broad Ripple Farmer's Market almost every Saturday, but I'll look more closely. I'm always happy to see the Thai basil plants and I put quite a few in this year.)

Lastly, I love that no one seems to keep track of these things. Malibu on Maryland seems to still be running ads even though they're sold and in the process of being remodeled.

The Jungle Jim's Challenge

Last week, I ran into Lisa Cunningham, general manager at Oakley's Bistro and also author of A Woman on Wine. I trust Lisa's judgement in all things food and wine. I told her I'd been to Cincinnati to a nutty grocery store -- and she finished my sentence for me! "Jungle Jim's!" Well, yes. Hmmm. Lisa swears by it saying they have great prices on everything from cheese to international produce -- plus wine bargains if you're willing to dig for a while. Average visit for her crew? 3 hours. So, maybe it's time for a FeedMe/DrinkMe expedition. With a couple of cars and only an hour and a half drive time, we might be able to come back with a feast!

Dine Magazine Event at "6"

Finally, after a year or so, I attended my first Dine Magazine event on Thursday evening. Many people I know attend these frequent events (or have) and I've always had a schedule conflict. I think the concept is a good one -- have sponsors or advertisers provide free drinks and snacks in exchange for the magazine promoting itself and having it's subscribers attend an "exclusive" members-only style event, not-unlike the Indy Men's Magazine monthly launch parties (or book launch parties or other promotional events in New York, Chicago and other cities.) There was a sizable line when I arrived -- due mainly to the fact that magazine staffers were having attendees sign liability waivers! And not only that, but they made you fill out the entire one page form including name and address which they should have from their own subscriber list. The woman at the door led me to believe it was a management requirement for the restauarant (must make working the door on Saturday nights at a nightclub interesting) but on further investigation, it seems to be a requirement for attending Dine Magazine events. What gives? I asked a couple of people who seemed in the know and they said a) it was required by their lawyers, and b) that lots of events required waivers. Um, hmmmm. Must not be the same lawyers advising any number of other givers of promotional events. I've never, ever encountered it before -- and I attend a *lot* of events with open bars. One of the marketing folks asserted that for an event with "hundreds of dollars" of value to me, the attendee, it should be a small price to pay. Well, I don't know what they charge for two cosmos, a glass of $9.99 grocery store wine and three bites of appetizers at "6" but maybe I'm underestimating. (He then accused me of being "hostile".) Not hostile -- just weirdly curious.

I'm always lauging when Indiana people invent some new "way" of doing things that they profess to be in sync with the rest of the country when they apparently haven't visited the rest of the country lately. Having to fill out a waiver each time (geez, you'd think they could keep them on file for regulars!) probably won't stop me from attending other events, but it certaintly won't stop me from making fun of them for their over-cautious attitude. Unless I've missed some important case law lately of a club or event sponsor being sued by an overexhuberent guest, I'm mystified. Of course, at an event with open bar and passed snacks, it usually too difficult to drink yourself into a stupor -- free liquor often flows very slowly. And it's probably a moot point since I'm sure I was removed by hand from their mailing list this morning due to my complaints.

State Fair Beer Judging Awards Ceremony

This from a friend who is a terrific home brewer and usually does very well. I've been looking forward to this for weeks!

From my friend: State Fair Beer Judging: heavy hors d'oeuvre and a keg or two of last years winning beers on tap Last year I had 5 entries & had 2 winners. This year I have eight entries but win lose or draw this is a great event.

When: July 9th
Time: 4:00
Where: State Fair Grounds, Farm Bureau Building
Tickets: $15 at the door, also available at Great Fermentations

My Three Latest and Best!

Am back from a few weeks of travel and vacation. Thought I'd catch everyone up on the best meals of the past few weeks:

1) Cape Cod National Seashore, Cape Cod, Mass. My hosts decided to forego the fancy pants Provincetown expensive dinner and hosted me on the beach. Shorts, t-shirts, and an oversand permit for the Cape Cod National Seashore parked us right on the edge of the Atlantic on a calm, warm, evening, watching the sunset, drinking Pinot Gris, and eating sandwiches on foccaica from a local bakery along with desert treats like pecan tarts and a mini-chocolate cake. Heinekin for dessert. Best meal of the trip.

2) DB Moderne, 55 W. 44th, NYC. When my lunch date cancelled, she said "don't worry, I'll call and cancel the reservations." I replied, "you'll do no such thing! You think I'm going to let you stop me from having lunch at DB?!" Well, I was a little nicer, but I was committed to lunch at Superchef Daniel Boulud's hot bistro in midtown. It was a fantastic meal from the food to the service. I had the two course menu with the day's soup -- a wonderful tangy gazpacho with tuna -- and a spearfish with a lemony hollandaise like sauce but much lighter and served with rice and white and green asparagus. The waiter recommended excellent pairings (a savignon blanc and a rose) for the meal and the wine especially took the soup from excellent to fantastic! A terrific meal with a cute investment banker table next to me as a bonus. This place is also great for people watching -- lots of media people, i-bankers and very well dressed trendsetters.

3) OK, I'm cheating that this is a meal I cooked myself, but I was so proud of it since I'm not a cook that improvises very well. On July 4, I did the grilling. Pork tenderloin stuffed with cilantro, feta cheese and apricots, roasted peppers, roasted corn, carmelized onions, and spinach salad with cranberries, pecans and red wine vinagrette. I was going to stuff pork chops but the tenderloin looked *so good*. I threw two bunches of cilantro in the food processor, mixed with 1 block of feta, and added the apricots. I was going to use dried, but found a half a tin of the Australian Glazed Apricots from Nieman Marcus that an aunt always sends at the holidays. So, in went a few of those. I threw in some white wine to make it all stick together. I marinated the tenderloin in whatever I could find -- orange juice, Italian dressing, a bit of oil, garlic and Coors Light. After I rinsed it, I sliced each piece open, stuffed it with the cilantro/cheese mixture then stacking two face together, I tied them with string. Each set of tenderloins with stuffing tied in then went on the grill. All in all it turned out very well.

Shiner Bock -- in hand

In the past couple of weeks of travel, I was home one evening for a brief turnaround. I had about 8 hours to repack, sleep in my own bed, and drive back to the airport. But, what joy! I had a message from Cincinnati that my Shiner Bock had arrived. (Excuse me, while I go get one from the refrigerator and enjoy it while I type this. ... Ahhh, much better.) I was worried since the message could have been as much as a week old. I rang them from the airport in Chicago the next day, breathless that they'd sold my order already. I could envision Shiner beer-starved Texans screaming behind barricades with money in their fists. They assured me they had 100 cases and mine was safe until I returned this week.

Today, I made the road trip to Cincy to pick up my beer. Now, let me say, the place I went is apparently a Cincinnati institution -- Jungle Jim's. Part amusement park, part grocery store, and garden center, I think. I was prepared for their self-proclaimed "International Foodie's Delight". I was greeted with Disney-like parking and a grocery store that was somewhere between a Meier and a giant Trader Joe's. All I can say is it was just a giant grocery store. All regular products. I saw nothing that I couldn't find here in Indy -- and a surprising few specialty international items. (I wasn't impressed.) I also saw the largest selection of cheap wine I've seen in a long, long time including an entire aisle of jug wine. Now that's class. (And this is coming from a girl who lives in Indiana!) The Shiner Bock was pallet stacked in the middle of the beer section. I was so overwhelmed by the sheer size and craziness of the place that I didn't even take the time to look for any good lambics or frambrois. It took me 10 minutes to find the checkout lanes. Luckily, my biggest decision was two cases or three. I chose three.

Malibu for Women? Chicks only.

Ahh, where o where has the late great Malibu on Maryland gone? Rick Coombes threw in the towel over the holiday weekend and a new developer already has plans for the space. As reported in the IBJ, the new developers are retooling the space to cater (so to speak) to women. In a somewhat strange turn, Chef Tony Hanslits is staying as executive chef.

Somehow, this whole concept just seems off to me. Maybe they haven't figured out yet that the reason most downtown restaurants (read: expensive and steakhouses) cater to men is that a) most expense account dinners are paid for by men, i.e. legislators, business execs and lobbyists, b) men like dark steakhouse places even when they take women out, c) men usually pick up the check and women like to go where men like, and d) women may dine on their own, but they often want to go where the men are. I'm just not sure how many shades of "bad idea" this place is going to be painted. I hope they make it, but I won't be going there. Who wants to schmooze at the bar when it's all chicks? I'll stick with Ruth's Chris, Mo's, or Oceanaire, thankyouverymuch. Plus, that last quote smacks of a developer who is about to learn the realities of the restaurant business the hard way. "It's going to be pretty." Well, that's good to know.

From the IBJ:

Restaurant to replace downtown Malibu

14 West, a California-style restaurant, is moving in at 14 W. Maryland St. To be developed by locally based Fisbeck-Fortune Development LLC, a division of Fortune Diversified Industries Inc., the restaurant will replace Malibu on Maryland, which closed its doors unexpectedly July 5. Fisbeck-Fortune plans to spend $500,000 to renovate the restaurant into what partner John Fisbeck calls a high-end "woman-friendly" place with lots of color.

"It's a new concept," Fisbeck said. The city has enough steakhouses, he added. Fisbeck's group signed a long-term lease for the basement, first and second floors of the old Indiana News Co. building and plans to open the eatery Oct. 1. Edward Locke Jr., who previously managed PF Chang's, will run 14 West, Fisbeck said.

Rick Coombes, who owned Malibu on Maryland, will continue to run the hotel suites on the third and fourth floors, Fisbeck said. Coombes did not return a telephone call seeking comment before IBJ Daily deadline. Employees of Malibu on Maryland did not know about the change and some showed up July 5 for work. "It's unfortunate for the employees," Fisbeck said. His group plans to keep some of the management team in place, he said. Chef Tony Hanslits also will stay, he said. Hiring is slated to begin Aug. 1, and training Sept. 1."It's good to have independent restaurants here," Fisbeck said. "It's gonna be pretty."