Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Three Latest and Best

Duck Ham from Peterson's: For a place that used to be known mainly for steaks, Peterson's is a restaurant with range. From an amuse bouche of lobster and duck ham (housemade, of course) to the handmade chocolates that appear after dessert, everything at a recent dinner was delicious. Signature aged rib-eyes, tender veal, perfectly cooked scallops, and seared yellowtail rounded out the evening. (And don't think I didn't have an eye on someone's foie gras tart.) Even the seafood dishes are created with the diner in mind -- a perfectly nutty, pinot noir risotto gave mine depth with the slate of cabernets we were drinking. Excellent service, attention to detail, and a richness round out the Peterson's and making it one of the finest restaurants in our city.

IndyPubCrawl: So, not a meal, but Saturday, about 65 people made it for the 11:30 a.m. rock star start of the Winter Indy Pub Crawl. Pub crawlers braved freezing temperatures to make roughly 15 downtown stops -- with 45 minutes to an hour at each one. I gave it my best effort but dropped off mid-afternoon. Either way, it's a great chance to catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and check out lots of places one wouldn't normally go (like the OTB stop after Weber Grill. Hmmmm.) Thanks for organizing it, guys! Great work! I can hardly wait until the summer crawl.

Saraga Market on Sunday Night: Bustling with customers, Saraga International Market is a treat every time. Sunday evening the Mexican bakery was serving up fresh buns. The tortillas in their white paper wrappers smelled like the freshest masa, and even the halal killed lamb looked fresh from that day. The produce section expands every time I'm there. This time of year when curries and sauces taste so good, authentic rice and native ingredients (like Thai coconut milk instead of the Americanized grocery store brands) make a huge difference.

Two Minute Warning: Darn it, just when I go and tout a dish I love, they screw it up. Went back to lunch at McCormick and Schmick's for the Mahi cakes with cucumber and peanut sauce. They were only so-so -- overcooked and dryer than salmon cakes made with canned fish. My friend's salmon "stew' was a salty, gummy mess. Boo!

7 comments:

Donald said...

Glad you had a good time at the Crawl. We had to miss this one, but my wife and I have attended several in the past and always had a great time.

Jeff (Good Grape) said...

Renee,

I can't believe you feign a new revelation at the wonders of the OTB.

Who doesn't like to bet the ponies in downtown Indy?

Braingirl, I hardly know ye.

Jeff

braingirl said...

It's a testament to this city that even we folks who've tried it all still find something new and...um, exciting every once in a while.

Anonymous said...

Too late. I just checked and the Peterson's deal and the Bugg's deal have been sold out. Certs for 14 West are still available. The deals are posted on Mondays at 10:30 a.m. We've picked up day %50 off day spa certs as well.

Greg said...

A little off subject, but the Goose website is showing new hours starting feb. 10th.

Monday-Friday 10-8
Saturday 10-6
Closed Sunday

http://goosethemarket.blogspot.com/2008/01/attention-food-lovers.html

Anonymous said...

WZPL's website also have the half price hookups. They update on Thursdays. Certainly wish I would have known about Q's so I could have gotten one of those Peterson's coupons.

braingirl said...

re: The Goose

That's great news -- they'd been closed on Mondays and lots of customers had been asking them to open. I'm always happy to see how much foot traffic they get from the neighborhood. (Although I feel for Chris and Molly who work *all the time*!)