Review: Moe’s Southwest Grill

Moe’s Southwest Grill
http://www.moes.com/

Southwest Grill, I think not.  This is the standard format $6.00 burrito joint. Think Chipotle, Qdoba, the list goes on.  My favorite is still Chipotle and it all comes down to the taste of the meat, I just like it the best. Although, I am a fan of the queso from Qdoba and their killer breakfast burritos.

Moe’s is owned by Focus Brands, the same people that bring you Seattle’s Best Coffee, Schlotzsky’s Deli and Cinnabon. Not convinced that coffee people can make a good burrito, but…

What I ate:  Joey Bag of Doughnuts ($5.85 or somewhere around there)
Meat, Beans, Rice, Cheese, Pico de Gallo

As I understand it, they name their food after “Friends” the TV show. Honestly, that is ridiculous. Whoever thought that it would be a good idea to name a burrito after a 90’s TV reference is a moron.

Since I am trying to shave a few calories, I decided to get this in a burrito bowl format. Meat options are pork, beef, chicken and tofu. Yes, tofu.  You have to be one crazy hippie to order a tofu burrito. I went with the pork.

You walk down the line and they ask you if you want black beans, pinto, etc.  Then I asked for them to add veggies (grilled onions and peppers), so they did. It is free at Chipotle, but Moe’s adds 79¢ for veggies and that was total horse shiznit.

As far as taste it is pretty much what I expected. It was an honest portion, but the Kraft style Mexican cheese mix was bland, the quality/taste of the meat was below the competitors, lame iceberg lettuce and the salsa had to be out of a bag. The pork was a little sweet. I have been to Moe’s a few times and I actually like their pork the best.

Moe’s also has a salsa bar and they give you free chips with your order. The salsas again seemed bagged and just emptied into the bowls. They were not offensive, just boring and bland.

Would I Buy It Again? Probably not. I had a BOGO coupon and I got a ton of food for about $6.50. If I had to pay full price, I would choose Qdoba or Chipotle over Moe’s. It is not horrible, but compared to the many taco joints in this town making wonderful fresh authentic Mexican food or even similar chains that just seem to be better.   Moe’s lacks a market niche…except for the ridiculous names they call their food.

-WIBIA

Review: Kolache Factory

Kolache Factory
9650 Allisonville Road
Fishers, IN 46038
Open for breakfast & lunch

http://www.kolachefactory.com

Other Locations: St. Louis, Kansas City, Texas

What is a Kolache? Kolache (also spelled kolace, kolach, or kolacky, from the Czech and Slovak plural koláče) is a type of pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits (including poppy seed, raspberry, and apricot) to cheeses inside a bread roll. (Wikipedia) Kolache’s in the United States often include a meat filling instead of the traditional European filling.

At the Kolache Factory, all of the Kolache’s are pre-made and in a case similar to the way the doughnuts at Dunkin’ Donuts are displayed. They will warm them up for you or you can take them to go and warm them up when you get to your destination.

What I Got:

1. Ham, Egg & Cheese Kolache $2.19: The Kolache’s stuffed with egg are much larger than the traditional Kolache’s and are a bit more costly. The ham in this Kolache is sliced into thin squares and stuffed with the egg. You can also choose sausage or bacon but the Ham Kolache is the best of the three and the only one where you can actually taste the meat.
2. Ranchero Kolache $2.19: If you like the idea of the Ham, Egg & Cheese Kolache but are missing some kick, the Ranchero is identical with the addition of jalapeno. The jalapeno adds enough spice to it to make it enjoyable but not give you heartburn or indigestion to deal with all day.
3. Ham & Cheese Kolache $1.29: This is one of my favorites because it reminds me of something grandma would make. The ham is minced like your grandmother’s ham salad and the cheese is melted evenly within the ham to give you a gooey consistency with the finely minced ham.
4. Italian Chicken Kolache: $1.69 This Kolache fits the lunch menu and is filled with an Italian seasoned chicken cuts into small strips. Although it packs a nice taste, the Kolache is not packed and filled like the other Kolache’s and it is easy to eat a lot of these as a result.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes. I have been back to the Kolache Factory many times since my original visit and have enjoyed most of their products.  The variety and uniqueness of the product make it an interesting choice for breakfast. However, it is easy to spend $6 on breakfast getting three Kolache’s when you can spend half of that and get a breakfast combo at other restaurants. Often, coupons can be found in local coupon books, mailers or even online to bring down the cost. Give a Kolache a try and you will not be sorry.

-EatHSE

Review: Steak ‘n Shake Guacamole Double Steakburger

Guacamole Double Steakburger

Recently, Steak ‘n Shake started offering guacamole as a topping to several of their menu items (burgers, hot dogs) and as a guacamole lover, I decided to give theirs a shot to see how it held up.

What I Got:  Guacamole Double Steakburger combo $3.99 with coupon; $4.99 regular price (comes with fries)

If you’ve never had Steak ‘n Shake before, you are probably unfamiliar with the way they cook their burgers.  They cook their burger patties on a flat-top grill and press the patties to be very thin and since it is on a flat top grill, the patties cook in their own juices.  This burger had two of them.  Other toppings on this burger included the aforementioned guacamole, pepper jack cheese, tomato, red onions and lettuce.

The pepper jack cheese was a nice little addition to the burger.  I’ve always been a cheddar cheese guy on my burgers, but I’ve recently had a couple of burgers with pepper jack cheese on them and I may be quickly converting to that being my cheese of choice.  The rest of the toppings were crunchy and fresh, so that was a nice thing as well.  But, let’s not kid ourselves here though, the cheese choice was not the reason I bought the burger…the guacomole was the main attraction.

And for being a main attraction, it was a major let down.  You could obviously taste the avocados and could taste that they actually did make this guacamole fresh at the restaurant, but it really lacked tang that you usually get from good guacamole.  Their brand of it could have used more salt and more lemon juice in order to turn up the tang because this was just boring. 

Would I Buy It Again?  No, I wouldn’t.  This was disappointing, but I guess I should have expected this from a place that primarily serves burgers and milk shakes and doesn’t really dabble in “exotic” foods like guacamole.  The only time to really consider this burger is if you have a desperate craving for guacamole and you happen to have Steak ‘n Shake as your only food option.  If you have other options, definitely choose those first. 

-IndianapolisEater

Is Eating Only Pizza a New Diet Craze?

Credit tampabay.com

A couple weeks ago, we posted a story of a guy that ate nothing but pizza for thirty days on a bet from a friend and ended up losing six pounds in the process.  As I was looking back at that post on SeriousEats.com, I found in the comments section that someone else had posted another story related to the “pizza diet.”

Well, it turns out that a guy in the Tampa Bay area has done something similar with even more dramatic results as he’s lost thirty pounds in thirty days.  Impressive to say the least.  Now, if you read the article and then the comments below the article, you can see that he did introduce another variable (exercise) into the diet so that probably skewed the results some.  When you go from a sedentary lifestyle to a semi-active lifestyle, you are going to get results no matter what.  So, it’s possible that this guy’s pizza diet weight loss was totally bogus because of this new lifestyle variable.

Regardless,  of how you feel about his introduction of exercise and how it skewed the results, it is an interesting read.  Especially since he is harboring thoughts of traveling the country to praise his new “diet.” 

Now, if we could just get one of our WIBIA commenters named Diana Cheung to follow through on her statement that she’d eat carrot or cheesecake for entire month (check out the comments section of our post), then we might have our own hat to throw into this out of the ordinary diet fad that seems to be springing up out there.  C’mon Diana, you need to do it!

-IndianapolisEater

Review: Steak ‘n Shake Chicago-Style Steak Frank

Chicago-Style Steak Frank

Steak ‘n Shake has really been cooking up the menu additions recently that they have been running on promotion.  New toppings for their burgers (A1 sauce, guacamole, etc.) and now they are introducing gourmet hot dogs, or steak franks as they call them.  Options include Chicago-Style, Chili Cheese, Carolina Slaw and Southwest.  On a recent trip, I decided to give one of their steak franks a try.

What I Got:  Chicago-Style Steak Frank $2.99

As you can see from the picture, this frank includes mustard, diced onions, tomatoes, a pickle slice, peppers and the unique neon green sweet pickle relish that Chicago dogs are known for.

The frank on this thing was actually quite large and quite tasty.  I was expecting just a run of the mill hot dog, but I have to give Steak ‘n Shake credit, this one was actually good.  So, they were off to a good start.

Toppings-wise, I was also pleasantly surprised.  The sweet pickle relish was very sweet and as you can see there was a lot of it.  I’m a relish lover, so having this be plentiful on top of the frank was a very welcome addition.  All the other toppings were about what you would expect and they were fresh, but there was nothing special about them.

One thing that was missing from this frank and it was noticeable was the celery salt.  Most classic Chicago-Style dogs are served with that topping and I could definitely tell that taste was missing.  Also missing was the poppy seed bun, but that didn’t really bother me as much as the missing celery salt.

Would I Buy It Again?  No, I would not.  I had very low expectations of this going in and I will admit that it was a pleasant surprise but not pleasant enough to warrant me buying this particular frank again.  I would possibly try one of the other options if I found myself at a Steak ‘n Shake at some point, but I’ll be in no rush to go out and do that.

-IndianapolisEater

Review: Pizzology

Pizzology Pizzeria & Pub
13190 Hazel Dell Parkway
Carmel, IN 46033

For you out of town readers, Pizzology is Neal Brown’s heavily anticipated pizzeria.  Neal’s last restaurant, L’explorateur was the food equivalent to the scene in Back to the Future where Marty plays Johnny B Goode.  Neal of course playing the part of Marty McFly and Indianapolis diners playing the part of teenagers at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance.  Okay, I know I am generalizing, but you get the drift, right?

I can ramble for a while, but understand that a crazy talented individual has a new home.  Let’s skip to the food.  Warning…pics are lame; I needed more light!  Also, if you are looking for a Pizzology menu, hours, phone number or website online…well, I can’t find them either.

Salad heavy starters will begin the menu.  I was with family so I had the chance to try a little of this and that.

Starters:

Daily Zuppa $3.  White Bean Stew.

It was described as vegetarian friendly and it tasted like it.   Flavors were clean and well balanced.  The white beans, celery and carrots fit the season well and I enjoyed it.

Chop Salad $4 - Romaine, Prosciutto, Gorgonzola, Tomato, Citronette.

Again, very clean though it was dressed a little light and I missed the acidity.  I didn’t dislike this salad, but would order the Grilled Romaine before I revisited the Chop Salad.

Chop... with about 1/2 of it finished!

Tony’s Fritters $8 - Two Zucchini Fritters with Parmesan Reggiano and Truffle Oil.

 The clear winner out of all the starters.  Crab cake sized fritters that left me wanting more.  I specifically enjoyed the contrast in textures, between the soft and hard cheeses and the meaty zucchini.  It was perfect in a lot of ways and so outside of what I would expect to eat before a pizza…but it just worked.

Pizza:

Simple formula:  $13 for 13″ pizza.  Eight Pizza Rossa and five Pizza Bianca to choose from.   I love a white pizza, but we opted for red sauce.  You could build your own as well.

 

Homemade Sausage - Fennel, Onion, Fennel Sausage, Roasted Sweet Pepper

Sausage is my favorite pizza topping and this didn’t disappoint.  They have a good command over red sauce, no doubt about it.  The pizza was served with shaved fennel in the middle and it made a pretty striking presentation (for pizza that is).

My only recommendation would be to have bigger pieces of sausage.  There was good coverage on the pizza, but it was difficult to isolate the taste of the sausage.  I would like to try a spicy option with this as well.  Overall, this pizza was top shelf.

Pepperoni –  Pepperoni, Mozzarella

Executing and perfecting basics is so important in my book.  Continued emphasis on quality and freshness.  The sauce was a little sweet, but my wife loved this pizza.  Pepperoni pizza can quickly become a salty/greasy mess, but that was not the case here.

 

Pasta:

Pappardelle & Bolognese $15.00 (there is a $7.00 portion as well)

Wow!!  Truly one of the best pastas that I have had at a restaurant.  So simple, yet so good.  It was good enough to call the joint Pastaology.  Instead of a ground beef, think pulled pork-esque meat sauce.  My favorite item of the meal.  It was scarfed down before we thought about taking a pic!

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, easily and frequently. Strong emphasis on quality, seasonal, local ingredients and even beer selections leaned towards local brews.  There is a lot to be said with that sentence alone.

I thought the prices were in line with what I received…a lot more value than I would’ve guessed going into a “gourmet” pizza place.  The interior was comfortable and I thought the renovation from prior Goodfellas was very tasteful and it made a lot of sense to open the room.

Long story short, the pizza met expectations and they are as good as the hype.  The Zucchini Fritter reminded me that there are more choices than bread sticks and the pasta came out of nowhere to steal the show.

Done rambling…I have leftovers in the fridge to tend to.

-WIBIA

Review: Kellogg’s Star Trek Cereal

All of you nerds/dorks (including us) know that the new Star Trek was released on DVD this past Tuesday.  In honor of the movie, which was pretty good, I had a bowl of Star Trek cereal this morning.

Wow.  I would rather buy the movie and attempt to eat the dvd box than eat more of this shit.  It is like a bad version of Lucky Charms.

Would I Buy It Again?  No.  I would only give this to my enemies like Captain Nero, Khan, The Borg or even my biggest SciFi enemy…Jar Jar Binks

-wibia

Fried Fish Eaten Alive!?

What is this video all about?  Not even sure what to say really, but it just doesn’t seem like good karma to me.  Kind of graphic, so I am not going to post it here…but the video is on Perez Hilton. Yes, I read his blog from time to time.  Our secret, right?

-wibia

Country Mouse and City Mouse at Chef JJ

Friends of the blog and occasional comment contributors Country Mouse and City Mouse will be taking part in a special event with Chef JJ this Thursday night, November 19th at 6:30, so if you want to see them make some of their delicious food and enjoy the taste, give it a look. 

Here are the details and the website if you want to know more:

November 19 – Country Mouse, City Mouse $35 – Come and enjoy some great products that are home made with fresh, local, organic and vegan ingredients. What more can you ask for! We will be pairing them with a range of proteins so you can see how diverse they really are to your pallet.

http://www.chefjjs.com/classes/special-events-with-featured-chefs/

-IndianapolisEater