Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

May 9, 2015March 24, 2016 / Dora Hiers

This edition of “Excited about Eating” takes us to the downtown district of Indianapolis, Indiana. Downtown Indianapolis is more modern than we expected, with professional sports teams, hotels in all price ranges, and restaurants featuring almost every cuisine. We chose three of our best experiences to be included in this edition. Dora here. Want to know the coolest part of Indy? An intricate maze of sky bridges and walkways that allowed us to wander through downtown without ever having to brave the wind and 30 degree temps! And, for Pete’s sake, there’s a four-story mall!

Our first evening we visited Rock Bottom. During our visit, a fire department instructors conference was taking place at the convention center so the restaurant was decked out in fire department paraphernalia.

Dora here. Imagine that. Isn’t that why we were in Indy? Lol. Even bursting with fire personnel, we didn’t wait long for a table, and our server was friendly and knowledgeable, even recommended a couple spots for ice cream later.

I chose the Chipotle Brisket Barbacoa Pizza with honey chipotle BBQ sauce, mozzarella and asiago cheeses, beef brisket and pineapple salsa. The pizza was outstanding, and the sweet pineapple salsa took this dish to a new level.

Chipotle Brisket Barbacoa Pizza

Dora here. I stole a piece of hubby’s pizza, and I totally agree! I opted for their famous Classic Mac’n Chicken, creamy spiral macaroni and cheese loaded with chunks of chicken and chased with a bit of a kick from Tabasco and Paprika. Awesome, and just the right portion size for me. Some of the best Mac’n cheese we’ve ever tasted.

Classic Mac’n Chicken

I would rate this restaurant 5 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant that serves outstanding food.

For another dinner, we dined at Weber Grill, the first location outside of the metro Chicago area. One thing that makes this restaurant unique is that all cooking is done over authentic giant Weber Charcoal grills.

Weber Grill

Since there was so much on the menu that we wanted to try, we chose the three meat BBQ Combo with Hickory BBQ Ribs, Beef Brisket, and Black Angus Meatloaf served with a sweet and tangy Hickory BBQ sauce, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Mac N’ Cheese. The ribs were BBQ competition quality, tender but not fall-off-the-bone. The brisket was tender and had deep smoke favor, and the meatloaf was smoky with great texture. The sides were equally good; the mashed potatoes full of favor and the mac n’ cheese firm and cheesy. Dora here. Only one word: yum!

I would rate this restaurant 5 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving outstanding food.

We’d read good things about Pearl Street Pizzeria in the Warehouse District and couldn’t wait to try it. This locally owned back-alley restaurant is in the heart of downtown and just a couple of blocks from Monument Circle, Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pearl Street Pizzeria

For dinner, we shared a twelve inch deep dish pizza, meatlovers on half with sausage, pepperoni, bacon, ham and mozzarella, and just pepperoni on the other half. This pizza would stand up to any deep dish pizza we have eaten in Chicago. The meatlovers side was full of meat and the entire pizza had just the right amount of cheese and sauce. The crust was firm and the pizza was not greasy. So tempting, we dug into it before taking a picture. Sorry.

Dora here. Not a fan of real saucy pizzas or thin crusts, so whenever I can talk Ernie into deep dish, I’m all over it and this pizza was perfect! Just the way I love my pizza. Heads up, though. The place is small, and it was jammed and really loud. Get there early if you don’t want to wait to sit or order one to go. 🙂

I would rate this restaurant 5 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving outstanding food.

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

May 2, 2015March 24, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 3 Comments

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to Three Amigos Mexican Grill and Cantina located in the Midwood area of Charlotte. Dora here. You getting tired of Midwood yet? I’m not. 🙂 This restaurant located in a small strip center provides an ideal location for a quick drop-in lunch or a family get-together for dinner.

As part of an online app promotion, we started with a free Beef Empanada, a pastry shell turnover made by folding dough over a filling, beef hamburger in this case, sealing it, and frying it.

Beef Empanada

This Empanada was great, fried golden brown, with a juicy filling including cheese. Dora here. And what a great start it was! Gooey cheese pocketed in the perfect crust.

For the meal, I ordered the Fajitas De Camaron, shrimp fajitas cooked with onions and green peppers served in a cast iron skillet along with sides of rice and refried beans, delivered to the table, sizzling. The shrimp and vegies were tender, but I would have liked more seasoning to bring out the flavor.

Fajitas de Camaron

Be prepared for ginormous portion sizes. If we’d known, we could’ve easily shared.

Dora here. So hubby knows that I usually order fajitas at Mexican restaurants. At his prodding to try something different (I find it interesting that he ordered fajitas, don’t you? What’s up with that? 🙂 ) and the server’s recommendation, I opted for the Bistec Encebollado, grilled steak with onions along with rice and refried beans. And tortilla shells, of course.

Bistec Encebollado

In my opinion, this tasted much like steak fajitas and I would’ve enjoyed it with a bit more zest as well. Other than that, the tortillas, both flour and corn, tasted like they were made on site and the beans and rice were good. Overall, the meal was pleasant.

I would rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving great food.

What are your plans for Cinco de Mayo?

Do you have a favorite Mexican restaurant?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

April 25, 2015March 24, 2016 / Dora Hiers

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to Brandon, Florida to an area where I spent the first fifty years of my life. Brandon is located east of Tampa, Florida and sports a population of over 100,000. Only down for a quick weekend, we managed to squeeze in visits to three of our favorite eating establishments.

We couldn’t visit Tampa without stopping in at our all-time favorite Spanish restaurant, La Septima, surprised to find that they’d moved a few blocks down the road. We started with the Yuca Fries. Yuca is starchy, much like a potato. Cooked yuca tends to be a bit mushy, but fried yuca is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and La Septima sprinkles theirs with cheese.

Yuca Fries

I chose the Pescado a la Rusa, whitefish filets, fried and topped with a Russian-style sauce (butter, parsley and hard-boiled eggs), complemented with yellow rice and black beans. The fish was tender and flaky, and paired perfectly with the sauce.

Pescado a la Rusa

Dora here. My fave is the Palomilla steak. I’m not sure which kind of beef they use, but it’s pounded thin then breaded and fried, and topped with grilled onions. Tender and yum! I used to make black beans and yellow rice occasionally at home, but I never could replicate the exact flavor profile that jazzes up my taste buds like theirs. 🙂

Palomilla Steak

I would rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 forks for a family friendly restaurant serving great food.

The second visit was to our favorite BBQ place. Tucked into an obscure corner behind the Adamo Home Depot, you could probably follow your nose to FirstChoice BBQ.

First Choice B-B-Q

The combination plate includes pork ribs, sausage, fries and baked beans. The food was just as I remember from 8 years ago. The sausage was smoky without being spicy, and the ribs were fall off the bone. The fries, made from fresh potatoes, were just crispy enough and the beans were molasses-sweet and tasty, great for dipping fries. Definitely order the fritters. Crispy on the outside, but tender and moist on the inside, they’re not sweet, more savory since they stuff them with pork morsels. They are the most unique tasting, and that is in a good way, fritters I have ever tasted.

Dora here. My fave is the chopped pork with fries and baked beans, but the turkey is also a close second. Today I chose the pork. Made me want to close my eyes and just savor the flavor so I could tuck it in my memory for the next few years! We lucked out getting here early on a Saturday because normally the line is out the door. And don’t come all dressed up. It’s warm and you’ll smell like woodsmoke when you walk out, but that’s all good because the food is worth it.

I would rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 forks for a family friendly restaurant serving great food.

Our last choice was Babe’s Pizza. This favorite local pizza joint has a model train tracking around the ceiling of the restaurant and a bar to watch them make pizza, definitely a kid pleaser.

The large Greek salad easily fed five, and the fresh ingredients made it better than average. We also ordered cheese bread, thick slices of mozzarella cheesy goodness.

Go for the gusto with the double decker pizza, thin dough topped with mozzarella and your selected ingredients, and then loaded with a second layer of everything, basically two pizzas in one. We ordered one with pepperoni and banana peppers and the other with pepperoni and black olives. Both pies were great, just the right amount of sauce and cheese, and not too greasy like you sometimes get from thick pizzas. Definitely the type of pizza that you only can eat a couple of pieces before you are full.