Noblesville, Saxony, and Broad Ripple

Matteo's Gets Robbed; Catches Burgler! Matteo's in Noblesville was one of several businesses hit in a spree of break-ins last Monday night. But with the crafty surveillance video, police were able to arrest a suspect who, as it turns out, had been fired from Asian Grill and hit them as well. (Via Indychannel.com)

Mo's Irish Pub at Saxony: Mo's Irish Pub at Saxony, the next venture from the folks who own Mo's, A Place for Steaks, will open on schedule May 2. (VIP soft launch starts 4/30 with a private dinner, followed on May 1 by a a pre-opening benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters, 6-10 p.m., $20 at the door.)

Brugge Expansion "On Schedule": Brugge Brasserie owner Ted Miller says they should be opening the new upstairs space expansion in May. (via DIG-B)

Wear a Blue Dress Day!

Wear Your Blue Dress Day: It was 10 years ago today that the first reports started trickling in that Newsweek had spiked a story about President Bill Clinton fooling around with a White House intern. Her name wasn't secret for long. So, ladies, wear a blue dress today. (Come on, we know you have one in the back of your closet.) Gentlemen, enjoy a cigar.

Brugge Expanding: In the it's-only-taken-four-years department, Mike over at Hoosier Beer Geeks reports that Brugge is finally expanding into the Netheads space above them. Ted's been wanting to do this since they opened but who knew an Internet Cafe would last so long? (Netheads is moving, by the way, not closing.) It's much needed space for Brugge and the deck should be nice in the spring and summer. (Now, if they can just keep up with the beer demand.)

Devour Downtown Menus Appearing: Don't forget to start making your plans for Devour Downtown -- winter restaurant week which starts Jan 21 and runs through Feb 8. Full list of participating restaurants here on the site. Restaurants will have a prix fixe $30 menu with three courses and are starting to announce some of their offerings. It's a great way to try some expensive downtown offerings.

Wine Judging: Old news, but Jill Ditmire mentions in her store newsletter that she's back from judging the SF Chron wine competition. Wine judging is just as educational for the judges and the competitors and if you get a chance to do it -- even spitting -- it's a treat.

757 Hiring: No matter the name of the new restaurant at 757 Mass Ave, they're hiring. Ads announce their looking to fill server, busboy, and other various front of house positions.

Quiz Answer: Garam Masala is a blend of toasted spices appropriate to much Indian cooking including (in various forms) cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, and lots of other great stuff. Ras al Hanout is a similar blend considered a staple in Moroccan cooking and containing lots of cumin, coriander, paprika, allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric and more. Chinese Five Spice is a blend of five (sometimes six) spices. And allspice? Well, allspice is the fruit of the pimento plant (of Jamaican pepper) that looks, unground, a little like a peppercorn. Answer was allspice -- 80% of you got it right.

Brugge to Bottle Beer

IBJ reports that Ted Miller of Brugge Brasserie will be bottling 10 beers using the Terre Haute Brewing Co. facility. It's been my experience (at least the few times I've been there in the past year) that Brugge can't brew enough beer to keep their own restaurant stocked so it will be interesting to see how they make the switch to a larger facility and to bottles. Miller and his Belgian style brews are some of my favorite in Indiana so I hope he pulls this off! (And at the very least, hopefully this will be enough to increase his production capacity because I really like Ted's beer.) Wouldn't it be nice to take some of his Quad home? World Class Beverage will distribute and prices for 25-oz bottles will be $6.99-9.99 for his "regular line" and $11.99 to $19.99 for "specialty beers."

The new website for Brugge Beer notes their first five beers will be available at retail on September 1. First five will be:

White
Black
Sacre Bleu Saison
Dubbel
Tripel de Ripple

Saturday at Brugge

If you're looking for an excuse to drink beer for breakfast on Saturday morning, look no further than the FA Cup finals match between Manchester United and Chelsea. (Yes, it's British football, aka soccer, but it's also an excuse to eat a huge English breakfast and drink pints!)

Brugge Brasserie will open at 9:30 a.m. and feature a special steak and egg breakfast as well as their regular frites, crepes, and mussels. (Hmmm. Nutella crepes for breakfast!) The match starts at 10:00 a.m. Most importantly, they'll be featuring their usual selection of Belgian style beers. (Thanks to Beer Geek, Jim, for the pointer.)