The Goose, Lafeyette Square, Slow Food, and Fast Blogs

Goose, The Market Opening --Popped in on Saturday night to the opening of the Goose, the new market at 25th and Delaware. What a party! It seemed like half the neighborhood came out to celebrate the opening of the new gourmet market (and the Orange Moon salon just across the street.) Chef and owner Christopher Eley has put together a tantalizing inventory of cheeses, aged meat from several excellent -- and lesser known -- local producers cut to order and house-made cured meats like his own bacon and guanciale. (It's refreshing to see someone who's done their research and is carrying meat from some of the many excellent Indiana producers who don't happen to be "names" in central Indiana. Frankly, some of those "names" aren't as great as everyone thinks.) Along with his terrific meats and cheeses, he even has gelato. The first thing I want to try? The cocoa cardamom Wisconsin goat cheese. I didn't spend any time with the wines, but he has a nice selection of craft beers and gourmet staples in the basement as well. Plus, he's just a nice guy with lots of great experience from his last few years in Chicago (at Tru and others.) Chris, welcome to the neighborhood!

Lafayette Square Celebrates Its Ethnic Restaurants: In a very clever move, the Lafayette Square Area Coalition (a local business and neighborhood development group) is putting together it's own mini-restaurant week -- Taste the Difference, November 13-18 -- promoting the wide range of ethnic eateries in the 38th and Lafayette Rd area. With everything from Ethopian and Puruvian to Japanese and Greek, 16 restaurants in the Lafayette Square area will offer lunch for $7 or less and dinner for $15 or less. Check out their website for the list -- with addresses and hours.

Slow Food Indy: Chef Thom England sends over a note to remind us that Slow Food Indy will be meeting next weekend at Ivy Tech. From Chef Thom:

We will be enjoying a tour of our facilities and a light lunch prepared by the students. Chef Jeff Bricker will discuss the schools present make up and where it will be heading. At this meeting we will be learning more about what Slow Foods is, where it came from and what the future of the local chapter will be. The meeting will start at 11:30 in room 407 of Ivy Tech's North Meridian Center.

New Blog -- Dallas Eats: I've added one of my favorite new blogs, Dallas Eats, to the blog list. It's a group blog from the editors at the Dallas Morning News covering Dallas restaurant and chef news, foodie tidbits of interest, and good old fashioned gossip. Clearly, my kind of blog