FIND SOME GREAT ASIAN FARE AT JS GARDEN

A standing ovation and a thunderous "welcome to the neighborhood" goes out to JS Garden.  Located in a kind of hidden strip center behind Rally's at 54th and Keystone you will find a smallish, clean and politely staffed Asian restaurant.  I like my King Dragon or Bamboo House for the more typical Chinese/American cuisine, but it sure is nice to have a more "authentic" option so close by.  I stopped by the first time today for lunch, and I am already thinking about about my next visit!.  Lunch specials run until 4 PM and include a main dish, steamed rice and a small fried spring roll.  If memory serves me, there were five or six items to choose from.  I had the curry chicken and potatoes and added a bowl of hot and sour soup.  I am always on the prowl for the best H&S soup and this one was TOP SHELF!  My entree was off the charts delicious.  My wonderful server asked me if I would like it spicy, and my positive response resulted in a pleasantly fiery flavor explosion in my mouth.   I'm not sure what they were eating, but the couple at the next table were giddy with delight, expressing their happiness between themselves and the entire staff!  Now for my "if this was my place....I would....." two cents worth.  If you feel like you need a TV, show a slideshow of the countries that you represent.  Have some nice ethnic music playing in the dining room.  A bigger issue, to me, is the lack of a vegetation section of the menu.  There is no mention at all about which items can be made veggie.  I am not vegetarian, but I have many friends that are.  A look at the menu would possibly discourage some from coming in.  I asked about vegetarian options, and was told that they will gladly make almost any dish meat free.  I hope that the next printing of the menu will have a  better meat free presence.  I step off of my pedestal and encourage everyone to stop by this great new addition to So-Bro.

NAPOLI'S II PIZZA...GOOD RIDDANCE TO PIZZA HUT RUBBISH

OH..The high school memories of cruising around the Pizza Hut, Gringo's Taco House and Taco Bell on  North Arlington Ave. after the games.  Those days have come and gone, and thankfully the stank that is now calling itself Pizza Hut has moved out.  A new tenant, Napoli's II, has moved in, painted the exterior, done some re-decorating on the inside and is up and running!  Nothing fancy here, just REALLY GOOD New York style pizza.  Several varieties are ready all day to be served as slices along with calzones and subs, or order a whole pie to eat in and enjoy or take it home and pop a few cold ones.  They also offer delivery to a pretty wide area around Irvington.  Call them for details, they are super nice people! My pal JH met up with me for a late lunch and we ordered the daily special.  A two topping 18" monster served with breadsticks and two drinks for only $20!  The perfect NY style thin crust, flavorful sauce and super fresh topping made for a great pizza.  I had a small tossed salad with super crisp iceberg lettuce, onions, cucumber and olives with a homemade Italian dressing.  It was a great way to start the meal.  The breadsticks were huge and very light, not heavy and doughy like they often are.  Your choice of cheese or marinara sauce are offered.  No alcohol is served at this time, just soft drinks.  Napoli's II is a great place for an inexpensive family night out.  Delivery is nice, but I'm a take out and have it at home kind of guy, but to each his own.  ENJOY!

TOW YARD BREWERY NEEDS TO BE TOWED AWAY

After reading a mostly positive review of the Tow Yard Brewing Co. in the Indianapolis Business Journal recently the "Almost Every Monday Night Dinner Club" decided to check the place out.  It was about 7:20 as the four of us approached the building, one of us on the verge of starvation after a long day at work, we were informed, by an obviously perterbed employee, that the "management" had decided to close the kitchen early because it had been kind of slow.  WTF?  You DO NOT just close your kitchen willie nilly.  There was not even a creative attempt at some "technical difficulties" or "the chef's dog just died" excuse.  Come on.  I would love to tell you about the beer, food, service, prices etc. but..... I CANNOT.  WHY BECAUSE THEY CLOSED THE KITCHEN EARLY.  We took our business down the street to Ralph's Great Divide and had a wonderful evening.  Checking out their reviews on YELP they better get their act together in a hurry or they will be GONE.  There are way too many great drinking and dining options within a pints throw of this place!  I emailed them that evening and never received a response, so they just don't care.  Or maybe they turned off their computer early because it was slow!

MEXICO CITY IN FISHERS?

Looking for a Mexican restaurant in the Indianapolis area?  Good luck with that (extreme sarcasm).  You can throw a piñata in just about any direction in these parts and have it land close to a Mexican joint.  There are the good the bad and the ugly choices, as always, and a few outstanding ones as well.  Mexico City Grill is easily in the good catgegory.  Located in a strip center (due tell) on the Northeast corner of 116th and Allisonville Road you will find your usual Tex-Mex items with a few surprises thrown in.  The place is much larger than you would guess from the outside.  At first glance it appears as if EVERYTHING is brightly painted and carved out of wood, lots of eye candy for the easily amused.  But it was very clean and the service was outstanding.  I went for a late lunch and it was moderately busy.  Freshly made chips and table salsa came out right away with a nice big glass of ice water.  The salsa was on the mild side but was flavorful.  I threw a couple of my choices out to my server and he said the Al Pastor burrito would be to my liking.  Upon it's arrival I was impressed with the presentation and portion size.  The Al Pastor didn't seem like it had been marinated for very long, but the pork was tender and it had a nice pineapple zing to it.  I would like to go back in the evening to see how their Margaritas are and check out some of the dinner entrees that are not on the lunch menu.

DAMI Nice Korean/Japanese spot in Bloomington

     DAMI ASIAN FUSION

409 E 4th St, Bloomington, IN

(812) 339-2735

My friend Julie and I were famished at about 6pm after an amazing lecture by Lydia Lunch, which was part of the William S. Burroughs celebration at I.U.  I knew we would find something interesting to eat on East 4th street.  I had read some good reviews of Dami so we found a parking spot close by and went on in.  Like many restaurants in the area, it occupies a former house that has been nicely transformed into a comfortable dining spot. A couple of Asian students were sharing a bubbling hot pot when we came in, which was a good sign.  Our server was super friendly and dropped off menus and some ice water.  The menu is pretty comprehensive, covering all of the desired Korean and Japanese offerings one would expect, with accompanying pictures to help out the unsure diners.  We ordered a chicken Yakitori appetizer to share.  Julie went for the Dolsot BiBimBap, which is rice, pickled veggies with a sunny side up egg served on top, all in a blazing hot stone bowl, allowing the rice to get nice and crispy.  I went for the chicken Yakisoba  noodles.  It came out bubbling in a cast iron griddle.  Dinners come with a small bowl of miso soup, which was perfectly seasoned, and 5 small Korean side dishes, but no kimchi :(  My dinner was a perfect balance of sweet and savory.  The noodles were cooked correctly with nice pieces of chicken and a couple types of onion.  Julie's dinner was more of a miss, no beef, despite our servers description, and lacking the usual dollop of Korean hot bean paste.  Our Yakitori came out during our meal, not as an appetizer before hand.  But it was so good it really didn't matter.  Lunch specials are offered for $7.95 and most dinners for one person are in the $10 - $18 range.  No alcohol is served. All in all a  pretty good dinner with a few hiccups.

Dragon House in Fishers

A good friend of mine recommended the Dragon House restaurant. I have become very tired of going to bad Chinese buffet restaurants and was happy to give this one a try.  I walked into the restaurant and was pleased to find an interesting variety of items on the buffet. Not a huge number of items, but there were several people attending to the buffet making sure everything was fresh which was very promising.  Pretty good egg drop soup, and pretty good hot and sour soup, small cold fruit/salad bar, and no bagged lettuce!  Obviously made in the house items such as the crab rangoon and egg rolls... and lettuce wraps, very nice.  However, the quality of the food did not match the originality of the product. The flavors were fine, if a little bit mild, but many items were too greasy.  Lo Mein noodles and Tempura Shrimp were the stand out items of the day.  I really appreciate the fact that they do not use any MSG in their food, and they serve Coca-Cola products (drink included).  The staff was super friendly and the place is nice and clean.  I will go back again hoping it was just a bad day.
SECOND VISIT.
I wanted to go back for a second visit.  This time the oil was under control and once again the items on the line were kept fresh.  I was pleasantly surprised to find pork clear noodle soup.  I also like the fact they have a small bowl of fresh cut scallions to add as a garnish in addition to the usual fried wonton slivers.  I forgot to mention before that a full menu is also available!
THIRD AND FINAL VISIT
Due to a screw up at my credit union, I had to make a mad dash there on my lunch hour.  Being only a few blocks away and in a bit of a hurry Dragon House seemed to fill the bill.
OMG....what a disaster.  It was about 1:15, which seems to me to be still a reasonable time for lunch. There were only a few tables occupied, but almost every other table was dirty and/or un-bussed.  I moved a few items off of the cleanest one and hit up the buffet.  Salad was old and wilted for the most part, so I passed.  Two thirds of the items on the hot table were either empty or dried out beyond belief.  I got some of the above mentioned silver noodle soup and a few of the least offensive entrees and sat down.  The soup was fine, everything else was cold or lukewarm at best.  No one was attending the buffet.  I went back up to the buffet and kind of stood around looking for any hope of an employee showing up to put out something fresh.  NO LUCK.  The only employee was the girl who took my money when I came in and she was way too engaged with her smart phone to look up and help me.  I left, pissed and still hungry.  On my way out a nice young couple with a kid were coming in.  I gave them the heads up to look at the buffet before paying.  I hope they took my advice.