Three Latest and Best

The last few weeks were a flurry of food! I'm still catching up, but in the meantime, here are my three latest and best:

Little Goat Cheese Tarts: Sometimes having a party catered can be hit or miss. You're juggling budgets, staff, and a hope that you get lucky and get good food, but when you've got it dialed in, it shows. On Derby Day, I put on a hat and attended a lovely party with -- wait for it -- good catered food! MBP did the honors with a great buffet table balanced with sweet and savoury. My favorite? The mini goat cheese tarts with the sweet sauce drizzle. (I didn't ask, I just enjoyed.) Bonus: Best mint julips *ever*.

Smoked Onion BBQ burger at Meridian: Most days when I go to lunch with a colleague or pal, I opt for the sensible choice. A salad. Seafood. Lighter fare. (Unless I'm corrupting Cory with the burger at MacNiven's.) And the other day, fully intending to order a Bibb salad, I was sidetracked by a big ol' burger at Meridian. This one was thick with BBQ sauce, onions, (I added avocado) and fries. Why is it I always feel a little dirty afterwards?

Produce at Saraga: I had a dinner party last week and a needed fairly long and disparate list of produce. Trying to keep my grocery shopping stops to a minimum, I could only think of one place that's blowing the doors off produce right now -- Saraga. When Marsh or Wild Oats/Whole Foods consistently leave me hanging, this funky international market manages to keep an enormous array of fresh fruit and vegetables in stock -- and it's not only good but at reasonable prices. I didn't just find the basics (onions, shallots, cucumbers, fruit) but some of the harder to find -- and expensive at other stores -- items (tomatillos, leeks, true green onions, baby bok choy, mint leaves in bulk, fresh thai basil, Japanese eggplant, 3 lbs of fresh shitake, enoki, and portabella mushrooms.) The big frozen food coolers are back online for dumplings and frozen breads. And the best part? This place is always busy. So glad to see they just keep getting better and better.

A Whirlwind of Food

It's been a crazy few days of food and wine! I've been out and about and run into lots of folks. If you're new and just checking in here, welcome! And if you're an old friend, welcome back. Here are a few tidbits from my eatings:

Supper Club Deliciouso! Friday night, we celebrated summer (and a birthday) with 16 of us foodies and wine geeks who have a supper club together. It was crazy, flavorful fun! Every dish was *intense* from the rich peanut sauce of the super-fresh Vietnamese spring rolls to the pine nuts and raisin relish on the perfectly cooked salmon, to the ginger-toasted coconut-orange coated scallops to the crazy flavorful watermelon/feta salad, fresh blueberries and lemon pound cake. All so rich and good with all the best summer produce has to offer. The wines? Incredible. (My favorites? The rose Malbec "tinto" and the Twisted Oak Viognier) Thanks to our host and hostess and everyone who brought food and wine!

Race Party Central: If you couldn't find a party to hit on race weekend, you weren't paying attention. My favorite parts of the party circuit? The pineapple infused vodka punch, the wasabi chex mix, the ubiquitous artichoke dip, and, hey, who brought those mini-chocolate cupcakes? I couldn't stop eating them!

Catering from Epicurians: A big shout-out to Chef Brad Miller who was sauteing sweetbreads like a champ at a wine event on Sunday night. Miller, the catering group Epicurians, and the wine experts from Confreie des Chevaliers du Tastevin did a terrific job on the pairings with the six 2002 white Burgundies. The stars? The pea soup with white truffle oil (paired perfectly with the Macon-Village Les Vallon de Lamartine 2002) and the strawberry shooter with black truffle (interesting with a Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseigneres 2002). I also loved the Dauphinoise potatoes, the venison with cherries and chocolate, and the quince paste on the cheese plate.

Coho Salmon at The Oceanaire: Last night, Executive Chef Ryan Nelson of The Oceanaire Seafood Room rolled out a salmon feast with four courses featuring west coast Coho salmon just coming into season. My favorite? The delicate and so fresh starter of house smoked salmon with diced watermelon, cherry tomatoes and and ice wine vinaigrette. So perfect for high summer (and paired with a rose sparkler, natch.) The rest included a grilled coho fillet with his signature cherries, almonds and thyme, and a slow baked fillet with red verjus grapes, spaetzle, duck sausage and spinach. (The duck sausage gave the dish a hearty quality which worked with the spaetzle and made the grapes shine.) I'm pretty sure Ryan said that watermelon salad was on their regular menu so I'm assigning myself to check that out this week. What I won't do in the name of research. (Plus, any excuse for oysters is an excuse for me to go to Oceanaire.) Hat tip to GM Roddy for the spot on wine pairings. My favorites of the night? The Craggy Ridge NZ Sauv Blanc and the Benton Hill pinot.

What Foodies Don't Tell You: At two different dinners this week, foodies shared their dirtiest secret: We love McDonald's! From the fries to the McNuggets, just know that some of your high end eaters secretly crave a double cheeseburger, biggie fries, and large Coke. After discussing the finer points of the dollar menu, two well-known foodies last night made an interesting point (after confessing they eat lunch together at McDonald's almost every day.) On healthy days, they have the chicken sandwich and the fruit salad. For two of them, it's around $18 and 1000 calories. If, however, they were willing to settle for the double cheeseburger meal, large fries and 2000+ cals each? Around $9. An interesting commentary on how hard it is to eat healthy fast food. Me? I go for the fries!

Monday Duke's Mixture

As if I didn't have enough to pass along over the weekend, here are a few more bits and pieces to get your through the early part of the week.

Ivy Tech Releases Plans for Campus Expansion: If you haven't seen the plans yet for the new buildings on the Ivy Tech campus at Meridian and Fall Creek Parkway, you've been missing out! When their growth spurt is over, they will have built out and moved into the old St. Vincent's hospital building, built a new building behind it on Capitol, and two new parking grarage/mixed-use buildings on Illinois. Plans went out to the neighborhood last week since they'll begin demolishing buildings attached to the St. Vincent's stucture this month. Kudos to them for keeping the original structure intact and demolishing the "modern" eyesores. Kudos also to their commitment to sod the space and green it up during the construction. Congratulations to Ivy Tech for their fantastic growth due to success of programs like their culinary arts program.

Wither Buggs? Over the weekend, I was on the canal and wondered what the Sam Hill was up with the opening of Bugg's Temple? My question didn't go unanswered long. Susan Guyette reports:

And Chuck Mack's Buggs Temple project on the Downtown Canal at 337 W. 1th St. is getting closer to completion. Owners are looking at a late May or June opening, according to Amanda Cravens. The project will include Cornerstone Coffee, Ritter's Frozen Custard and a restaurant that will feature chef Brad Gates in the kitchen.

Well, that's what they were saying *last* year, so we'll see if they actually make it. Even May or June will be late for the summer canal traffic season.

Capital Grille Cometh: Speaking of an on-time opening, Capital Grille, opening in the former Restaruant du Soliel space at the Conrad touts May 2007 on their front windows. Sounds like they'll make it with training openings beginning later this month. Guyett reports the official opening day is April 30.

The Scoop on Caterers: If you want all the information you could every need on caterers, look no further than this week's issue of the IBJ. They feature Indianpolis' largest independent caterers in their Forcu list. The top 10?

1. Crystal Catering, Carmel ($22 million last year)
2. Kahn's Katering, Carmel ($7.4 million last year)

3. Ritz Charles, Carmel ($5.9 million)

4. Indy Anna's Catering , Indianapolis, ($4.7 million)

5. Thomas Caterers of Distinction, Indianapolis ($3.8 million)

6. MBP Distinctive Catering, Indianapolis ($3.1 million)

7. Hoaglin Fine Catering, Indianapolis ($2.6 million)

8. Execudine Corporate Catering, Zionsville ($2.0 million)
9. Jonathan Byrd's Catering, Greenwood ($2.0 million)

10. Malone's Catering, Indianapolis ($1.8 million)

Many of the above caterers provide higher end fare while Malone's specializes in fried chicken, ribs, pork, and fish in classic BBQ style. Sahm's was the top restaurant caterer weighing in at number 12 with Primo right behind at 13, and Qdoba Mexican Grill at number 16. The IMA has recently added Kahn's and Ritz Charles as two additional options for events at the museum in addition to Puck's which didn't appear on the list.