Three Latest and Best

Cocktails at Agio: The food may be off its mark these days, but Ron at Agio on Mass Ave is still one of the best bartenders in town. When I say "extra lime" with my G&T, Agio is a place that consistently gets it right.

Fish Tacos and King Crab at The Oceanaire: Yesterday for lunch, I went in for the fish tacos, but came away wowed by the fennel and smoked salmon salad piled high with juicy, piping hot chunks of Alaskan King crab claw meat. Why don't we eat crab hot more often? So sweet and good -- and perfect with the salty smoked salmon and spring crunchy freshness of the fennel. And yes, the fish tacos were great, too. (But why is it the Valrhona chocolate mousse that keeps me coming back? Why, why why?)

Pork Belly at Shanghai Lil: Monday, a few of us food folks popped in to Shanghai Lil to preview a few new menu items and get an updated take on the place. My biggest problem with this northside upscale Asian restaurant? They don't market themselves more! We had a family style feast including a wide range of new dishes owners are likely to try as specials. For dim sum you can't go wrong here with the buns, dumplings, and cakes. Don't miss the seafood "puffs" -- possibly the best version of crab rangoon I've ever had. (Next time, I'd skip the wasabi shu mai, though. I love wasabi and these were a bit much even for me.) The best of the new offerings? While the fried whole fish in a traditional sweet and sour sauce was great, the star was the pork belly braised "clay pot" style in a thick, rich broth served in shell shaped envelopes of Asian dumpling dough. Fantastic!

Three Latest and Best

Fischer from The Goose: With all the press The Goose has been getting on their sandwiches, I'm surprised one can still get in around lunch time. My latest fave? The Fischer featuring bologna from Dave Fischer's Fischer Farms and pickled onions all toasted on a fresh baguette.

Asia Mart: Saturday, popped in to an insanely busy Asia Mart on 82nd Street behind the Castleton mall (across the street from Costco). This good-sized Asian market featured mainly Chinese and Korean products including one of the largest arrays of purely Asian products I've seen in quite some time. It's a true grocery store -- not a small market -- so be prepared to get a cart and stock up. You'll even find whole fish -- albeit frozen, not fresh that I saw. (Their website touts fresh so I may have missed it.)

Open That Bottle Night: So? Did you open bottles last weekend? We sure did -- 14 or more at one count. Thanks to everyone who rolled out to spend their Sunday afternoon tasting, laughing, eating, and drinking. (And ask Arthur Black about that hip leather wine carrier he has.) Only a couple of corked bottles and the rest was delicious. (And so were the shortribs, amazing cheeses, and cake!) A couple of guests had to peel off for the Chaine dinner at The Oceanaire which I skipped. Haven't heard reports yet, but I'm sure it was delicious. Report in -- what did you open and was it good?

Three Latest and Best

Bouillabaisse at The Oceanaire: Stopped in last week for Devour Downtown and enjoyed a terrific menu at this downtown seafood staple. The three-course prix fixe menu offers several options but I chose the smoked salmon (perfectly cured on dense pumpernickel with a drizzle of aioli), the bouillabaisse (spicy, rich, and crammed with mussels, fish, and crab legs), and dessert (I had the cookies and milk!) The desserts are scaled down in size, thank goodness, since each person has one. The bouillabaisse was good, but that smoked salmon will get me back.

Comfort Food at Asian Spice: I'm not really a food snob. OK, I am, but I still like good Chinese and Thai as comfort food. Kirts, master of the good ethnic eatery, took me to Asian Spice, a tiny eatery on Emerson (in Beech Grove, maybe) with a walk up counter and a menu that made me want to try everything. We settled for fresh, spicy Tom Yum, egg flower soup, chicken in peanut sauce, and drunken noodles. All great - we need a place this good downtown. Or next door to me!

Fresh Mango from Saraga: Stopped into Saraga yesterday for some coconut milk and Thai basil and couldn't resist the fruit counter at the back of the produce section. Juicy pre-cut pineapple, papaya, and cantaloupe are just the ticket for winter. (And a bargain when regular grocery stores charge three time the price for pre-cut fruit.) My favorite? The tart but sweet mango slices -- perfect for everything from morning cereal to a bowl with coconut milk.

Restaurants Open for Christmas in Indianapolis -- Pt 1

Some of my faithful readers celebrate Hanukkah this week and have already started tipping me off on restaurants open Christmas day. Others of you are already looking to eat out for Christmas dinner. (I'm signing up for Chinese food and a movie this year.) While Thanksgiving featured an abundance of restaurants open for lunch or dinner, Christmas Day presents limited options -- at least so far. Lots of readers are already asking who's open, so I'll try to do a weekly update. Here's what we have so far:

Shanghai Lil: This popular upscale Asian eatery on the Northside will be open from what I've heard. Call or check the website for reservations.

Capital Grille: Capital Grille, the steakhouse at the Conrad, had a stunning Thanksgiving menu and I suspect they'll do equally well for Christmas. Opentable.com shows them as available and accepting reservations on 12/25. No word on a special menu.

One South/Eagle's Nest at the Hyatt: Opentable also lists the Hyatt restaurants as open for Christmas Day. Hotel restaurants can be reliable in a pinch especially for out-of-towners. Try One South early in the day and the Eagle's Nest for dinner.

Three Latest and Best

Pommes Anna from Hoaglin To Go: Who knew scalloped potatoes could be this good? While the super-thick quiche and "Big O" omelets make this Mass Ave eatery a brunch spot to love, the thin sliced, tender potatoes in a rich, cheesy sauce -- Pommes Anna -- make it worth a commitment. Like an every-Sunday-morning-even-if-I-gain-10-pounds commitment!

Cilantro Lime Potstickers: Sometimes Saraga can be a bit of a lottery. Unless you read Japanese or Korean, you don't always know what flavors of dumplings or noodles you're buying. But lately, I've found something cravable and labled in English -- Cilantro Lime Pork potstickers. They come frozen and uncooked, but these luscious, fresh tasting, addictive dumplings are worth the extra time. (Simply boil for soft dumplings, or boil, then pan fry for the chewier style.) The pungent cilantro lends them a flavor that's great on its own -- or with the traditional soy and rice vinegar sauce.

Flavor of the Month -- Concord Grape: Maybe it's the cold weather, impending holidays, or just an increasing desire for comfort food, but concord grape has been on my mind for the past few weeks. Don't know that distinctive grape taste of Concord? Think Welch's. Think dark purple, tongue-staining, sugar-loaded grape juice and you have the dark, sweet essence of concord. It's burned in many of our brains as an essential flavor of childhood. Lately, I've seen this flavor popping up in some pretty sophisticated ways -- like an amuse bouche of a sweet concord grape and salty proscuitto, or a smear of rich concord grape sauce with a peanut butter tart. Better yet? One local chef is tinkering with an entree of seared duck breast married with a rich concord grape sauce and a savoury duck jus. Look for some appearances on winter menus just in time for comfort food cravings.

What I Learned in this Month's Dine Magazine

Absinthe is really legal? Apparently so, since testing shows that most commercial brands of absinthe carry legal quantities of the banned chemical (thujone) found in wormwood. Fans will tell you hand crafted absinthe, even by a trusted and experienced herbalist, can still be dangerous. But if you've been wanting to try a trusted brand, it should be easier to find. Who knew?

Blank of the Month Clubs: I've always loved the idea of ___ of the Month clubs. They're gifts that keep on giving year round. And today, they're moving past wine, chocolate, and flowers into the realms of coffee, olives, loose-leaf tea, and even cheese-and-wine (from our local Frasiers). Also, there's a nice mention of Artisanal in NYC, the cheese shop that's come up in many conversations in the past few weeks. I've heard more than a few foodies swear by them for mail ordering of hard to find and region specific cheeses. (On their website, you can search for and sort cheeses by milk type, country, and wine pairing.)

Best of Indy -- Pies: With pies, I didn't post a long analysis after judging like I usually do. Frankly, we had such a fun panel and we were all so sugar-fueled, all I remember of that day was just manic tasting, laughing, talking, and making some notes. I suspect all of my comments were gibberish after 34 pies. (I calculated later that I ate the equivalent of an entire pie *myself*. And was still hungry 2 hours later.) But really, how can an afternoon with judges like Krissy Tallent, uber-foodie Bob Whitt, and Pierre Giacometti not be a blast? We taste blind with a "reveal" at the end after we've turned in all our scores and we were pleasantly surprised that Peterson's pastry chef Joseph Allford blew us away with his two wining pies. (He didn't blow us away with his third entry -- a strange blueberry and banana concoction, but that's the life of a pie maker, I suppose.) Along the way, as usual, I learned a ton about baking, assembly processes, the qualities of lard and butter crusts, good fruit, bad fruit, and what works in the realm of fillings. The vast majority of the pies we had were just much too sweet (like chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and chocolate candy). One judge found a pastry tip in her piece of pie (oops!). And I also learned that pastry chefs who work with dairy toppings must have a pristine refrigerator. Toppings pick up all kinds of tastes and odors not great for your pie. All in all, it was a great day, and I may be making a trek up to Mama Bear's for that terrific berry pie this fall. That was one I could have eaten all on my own -- with no prompting.

Great Minds Think Alike! After my own visit there a week or two ago, it was such a treat to see the write up on Sandra Rice and Noodle, the fresh, new Vietnamese restaurant on Pendleton Pike. Sang Nguyen came out and chatted with us the day we were there making spot on menu recommendations. It's nice to see their interesting story and philosophy on food in print.

Three Latest and Best

Broad Ripple Farmer's Market: Ahh, the bounty of the Broad Ripple farmer's market on Saturday morning. It was a crisp, cool morning and every stand had plentiful, colorful fresh peppers, purple, ripe eggplants, the last of the fragrant basil, wonderful colors and shapes of squash, pie pumpkins, carving pumpkins, and even wonderful Asian greens, herbs, and zucchinis. There was a long line at the Royer meats stand which ought to tell most small, local meat producers that there are a lot of people who want to buy your product. I made out with a pound of fresh shitake and oyster mushrooms. (I smell risotto in my future.) Next weekend will be the last Saturday.

Lunch at Oakley's Bistro: While it didn't seem up to their usual standards, even a sub-par lunch at Oakley's is better than 90% of the other restaurants in town. The butternut squash maple soup was great (although instead of the usual lovely diced veggie bits, something in mine was a bit soggy), the pork scaloppini was delicious (although not as tender as its veal counterpart can be), and the dessert crepe was a tasty peach treat (although we had to skip the overly sticky candied walnuts after the first bite.) I still love this reliable old standard and the menu is pretty much exactly the same, even if you haven't been there in a year. Don't forget their three-course tasting menu for $29 every Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

Pho at Sandra Rice and Noodles: Saturday, popped out for lunch at this delightful little place out on Pendleton Pike. With a lighter, updated Vietnamese menu, we enjoyed traditional fresh spring rolls with shrimp, cold spicy chicken spring rolls, chicken satay with a light peanut sauce, and then a flavorful cooked pork on rice noodles along with perfectly elegant pho. In a world where too many people think Asian food has to be a greasy, brown mess, this comfortable Geist-area bistro was a modern, light, and inexpensive treat.

Two Minute Warning: Speaking of a brown, nasty mess ... well, I had a pasta dish at Puck's for dinner the other night I can only describe as just plain screwed up. While nothing at Puck's is spectacular, it's rare at any restaurant for me to find something so bad I would send it back. However, I was with a larger group of very gracious and polite non-foodies as a guest, I didn't feel it was appropriate to make a scene. The manager said the pasta for the mushroom and asparagus linguine was fresh -- made by the pastry chef that day. If so, it was either too wet before cooking, or just cooked incorrectly. (Woe to the pasta station line cook who doesn't know how to handle fresh pasta differently from dry. Boil the water, dude!) As soon as it arrived at the table, it smelled great for 30 seconds, then solidified into a gooey ball of pasta dough that both tasted and looked pretty grim. (This happened to two of us.) I left half of mine and ate part of a bowl of mashed potatoes from my neighbor's chicken instead. The desserts were pretty uninspiring despite raves from the staff about this amazing pastry chef. For the price, I'm not sure I'd consider a few bites of mashed potatoes and chocolate ice cream for dinner a success.