Category Archives: Dining Out

Natey Want Wingy… A Visit to the Ale Emporium

Posted on by

In local Indy Foodie groups, a debate that often comes up is who has the best wings. One name often mentioned is the Ale Emporium. To be honest, I had tried them years before, like two decades before, and I remembered thinking highly of the place, but I just hadn’t been back. Just like everything on the internet, opinions vary on the Ale Emporium’s wings, but I was persuaded enough to give them a go.

Now Indy has two locations – Castleton (the original) and Greenwood (the addition). Greenwood being where I lived when the wife and I got together, so we decided to head south.

First, great sports bar type atmosphere and plenty of beer on tap, so no complaints there. Second, service was great, e.g., the server prepared us for long wait times due to a lot of carryout orders, but it didn’t seem like any longer for a bar/pub type place. I like when the servers under promise and over deliver.

Now onto the food. We started out with the stuffed breadsticks and cheesy bacon skins.

Ale Emporium – Appetizers

Stuffed Breadsticks – Three handmade breadsticks stuffed with pepperoni and melted mozzarella served with your choice of warm pizza sauce, nacho cheese or white queso.

Cheesy Bacon Skins – Six potato skins topped with cheddar jack cheese, chives and bacon.

The stuffed breadsticks were our favorite. Those little fuckers were the bomb. The cheesy bacon skins were very good, but not a skin. I think the cook just cut potatoes in half, took a minor scrape out of each one then topped them. Those were very thick and very filling. We brought four of them home. Devouring all the stuffed breadsticks wasn’t ever in doubt. Fucking delicious, and I’m pretty sure the nacho cheese they serve them with is Ortega Que Bueno! YUM!

Onto the wings. I got the Hermazian.

Ale Emporium – Hermazian Wings

My wife got the Herman-Style, and we split some fries.

Ale Emporium – Herman-Style Wings

Hermazian Wings – Secret blend of peppers and spices, the Ale’s secret sauce, and Asian sweet and sour sauce.

Herman-Style Wings – Secret blend of peppers and spices, mixed with the Ale’s secret sauce.

Ale Fries – Idaho potatoes lightly sprinkled with Ale’s own special blend of seasoning.

I was very impressed and my wife was just impressed. To be honest, I tried one of hers and I think the Hermazian is the superior sauce, so that helped. Hers was more of a traditional buffalo. Mine were more robust than that. More unique. Fries were good, good flavor, and a decent side. Next time I’ll go tots though.

The wings were crispy yet tender on the inside without being dry. The sauce was fantastic and unique – Asian Zing from B-Dubs kind of gets you close, maybe.

Long story short, Natey got delectable wingy! We both agreed we would be back, and generally I can thank the local foodie groups for steering us in the right direction again. Highly recommend!

A Good Prognosis & A Great Lunch

Posted on by

Last week I had a quarterly medical appointment downtown. The news was decent, so no immediate worries there. However, due the time of the appointment I reached out to some old friends to see if they wanted to meet us a Shapiro’s (Foodie Hall of Famer). That worked out, so we worked it in, and bah gawd, Shapiro’s did it again! I love this place, and every time I am there I hear Thornton Melon’s voice in my head repeating the line “I hate small food.”

Now going in you have to understand I skip breakfast the day of lunch here, and generally eat a small dinner or skip it too. That being said, I present you with the Reuben, matzo ball soup with noodles, chips, and a pickle.

Shapiro’s Lunch

The Reuben: Corned beef (has to be over a half pound?), sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian Dressing all stacked on our house-baked, hand cut rye, then grilled to a golden brown. I love this sammy. And if you’re not a rye fan (I wasn’t for years), try this rye. It’s very mild.

The Soup: Hand-rolled matzo balls cooked in chicken broth with added carrots, peas and thin egg noodles. This soup is good for my soul.

They claim the sandwich has won awards nationally, and I for one fucking believe them. Fantastic lunch. If you’re in downtown Indy and don’t mind dropping $25ish-$30ish for lunch, I highly recommend it. If you can, meet up with friends. I don’t get to do that much anymore, and I’m sure glad we did! Thank you guys.

Weekend Food Round-Up

Posted on by

For personal reasons, this past Friday I had to be back home in Terre Haute. That always means, if I can fit it in, lunch at my favorite bar Charlie’s (A Foodie Hall of Fame founding member). The menu features the Tweety burger (named after the founder), and it is specifically offered with a monthly specialty version. This month’s version is named the Yellowstone, and it features the griddled half pound burger topped with melted provolone, pulled pork, onions rings, and Beezer’s hot BBQ sauce (a locally produced fantastic BBQ sauce). I ordered it medium with a side of onion straws because I thought they would compliment the flavors of the burgers, and I was not wrong. Frame of reference, 90% of the time I’m ordering tots.

Charlie’s Yellowstone Tweety & Onion Straws

To say this meal was anything but a 10/10 would be a grave injustice. It was superb. I order my burger medium, and it usually comes cooked close to that with a perfect sear. They nailed it this time! This was gooey, saucy, deliciousness as the flavors melded perfectly. Strongly recommend!

The only fault was on my end as I was traveling and driving, so I could not enjoy it with a pitcher of ice cold beer. It’s a tradition from my fraternity days that is often overlooked now at alumni gatherings, but back in the day it was a pitcher per dude at the table. However, we old now, so it might a good thing that is no longer the standard.

As said in an earlier post, we’ve been trying to get back to being adventurous when it comes to trying new places and getting out and about. I told my wife I wanted to take her to a new-to-us place I had heard rave reviews about in Indy foodie groups, so we headed to Indianapolis and the eastside of downtown to Futuro, a Detroit style pizza place.

The building is kind of weird, It looks as if it was assembled from two stories worth of shipping containers. You order at the counter on the ground floor, and wait for your food. Seating is available outside (too cold for that) with one table downstairs and the majority of tables upstairs. Cans of beer and soda, water, etc are available.

Normally in this situation I would order a basic pizza (pepperoni, sausage, maybe shrooms and peppers) just to try it out, but based on reviews both the wife and I decided to try something different. I went with the Meatball Garlic, and she ordered the Bacon Basil. We both wanted an order of breadsticks, so we added those as well – garlic butter dipping sauce for me and cheese sauce for her. Holy hell!

Futuro Breadsticks

Yes, those breadsticks are the length of a pizza box. Yes, they normally come four to an order, but in my unbridled fatassery I was buttery cheesy fingers deep into one before thinking about a picture. Oops. Wife for the save on the picture. These are baked in a blend of garlic butter, Pecorino Romano cheese and Italian seasoning and are served having a softer but not doughy texture with a delectable flavor. We only had one each based on we were told to expect individual pizzas on the heftier side. Strongly recommend trying them unless you’re one of those “Ewww carbs” types, then you should just skip this whole joint.

Next came the pizza.

Futuro Meatball Garlic (left) & Bacon Basil (right) Pizza

Meatball Garlic: Housemade Meatballs | Crushed Garlic | Pecorino Romano | Housemade Red Sauce

Bacon Basil: Spinach | Bacon | Red Onion | Ricotta | Fresh Basil | Hot Honey Drizzle | Pecorino Romano | Housemade Red Sauce

We each had a piece of each and ended up stuffed! Two completely different flavor profiles, but would have no problem ordering either one again. I loved both and so did the wife. But look at those dabs of Ricotta on the Bacon Basil! Are you kidding me?!? Those really added something as did the hot honey drizzle. Fantastic! As for my Garlic Meatball, the meatballs were delicious and everything blended well with the very good housemade red sauce. It tasted a little more like a traditional pizza, but in a good way. One of the things I really enjoyed is how carmelized or seared, if you will, they get the outer crust. This really adds something. It would be great with an ice cold frothy beer. Definitely doing that next time! Once again, I can’t recommend this place enough.

The aftermath is we both brought home half a pizza and a breadstick. I couldn’t wait, so we were back at it late Sunday morning for an early lunch. Even reheated, both pizzas were still very good – as were the breadsticks. I will have no problem bringing home leftovers in the future. And since I tried several items and adored them all, Futuro is a first ballot Foodie Hall of Famer!