The Taj

Restaurant: The Taj
Address: 668 N 114th St - In the mini-mall just off of Dodge
Website: http://www.tajofomaha.com/
Genres: Indian
Check Constraints: 15% for 5 or more people.
Chain: No. | More Omaha Locations: No.

==Chamelaeon==
Ordered:

• Lamb Vindaloo Lunch Special ($8.99)
• Rice
• 1 piece Pakora
• Salad
• Paneer Kulcha ($2.99)
• Diet Dr. Pepper ($1.99)

We haven't eaten lunch at an Indian place since our very first review way back in December of 2007. Man, we have eaten a lot of places since then, and it seems like it was such a long time ago. Regardless, when an associate informed us that The Taj, which used to be crammed into a fairly small place next to the Dodge Street HuHot, had reopened in a larger facility in the same mini-mall... we couldn't pass up the opportunity.

The new location is much, much larger, though perhaps a little lacking in decor. That's fine though, since you're not going to be sitting around waiting for your food very long. As usual we took a while to sort out who was ordering what, but it seemed like it wasn't very long at all until the appetizers were out. We'd barely finished those before the lunch was on the table. It left us with a little less time to talk than usual, but since traffic in the area can be a real pain I didn't mind the extra time in the slightest.

I ordered my lamb vindaloo at a "5", which is "very spicy". I wouldn't say it quite delivered on the "very" part, but it came out at a heat level which perfectly matched the strong taste of the lamb and the vindaloo sauce, even if it overwhelmed some of the more subtle flavors. Taking a cue from the associate who'd been there before, I dumped it out on the rice it was served with, and the whole thing became a very rich-tasting and filling lunch. I ate the accompanying salad first, but it wasn't much more than lettuce dressed with a light vinaigrette. The single piece of (potato) pakora had a good taste to it as well, and I'd consider making a meal of it next time if I weren't so determined to try a curry. At almost $9, the meal felt a little expensive for the size, but I did order lamb, and I felt the extra cost was worth it for the flavor. The chicken vindaloo lunch special was a more reasonable $7. I'd definitely eat this again.

The paneer kulcha (which transates to "cheese bread") was excellent - the perfect complement to the vindaloo. In fact, I used it mostly to gather up and devour the excess vindaloo sauce. It's not overwhelmingly cheesy like your average garlic cheese bread, but is instead subtly laced with a cheese which has permeated its flavor throughout the entirety of the naan-like structure. Once you hear what ND has to say about the garlic naan, I'm pretty sure you'll find it unthinkable to go here and not order some kind of bread with your meal. And for $3 it's worth it.

The Taj isn't the kind of restaurant to go the first time you meet your girlfriend's parents, but if you've got a hankering for Indian while you're at work, you'll be hard pressed to come up with a better option.

==NinjaDebugger==
Ordered:

• Chicken Korma Lunch Special ($6.99)
• Mulligatawny Soup ($2.99)
• Garlic Naan ($2.99)
• Soda ($1.99)

I'm not going to talk about the restaurant today, I'm just going to talk about the food, because damn, the food merits talking about. Okay, first up, Mulligatawny. It's a brothy type soup that I've had twice now, and I'm sad to say that while the version I had here was edible, it was nothing to crow about. It was about the same on the quantity of rice in the bowl, mind, but the broth itself, rather than being fairly thick, was thin and greasy. There was a visible film of oil on the broth, and that came through in the taste. It was the same general soup, as opposed to the variants that wiki tells me about, a virulent turmeric yellow with a considerable but not overwhelming spice to it, it's just that one of them was crafted so much better than the other.

That, however, was the first and only low point of the meal. The drinks flowed freely, a change from the somewhat inattentive waiters of other places. I opted out of getting lassi this time, having been not particularly pleased with the yogurty flavor of the last one, but Mecha will have an opinion on the one he got. Two appetizers (aside from the naan) were ordered. One was a sort of fried cheese. I have no idea what type of cheese it was, but it was excellent both with and without the brown dipping sauce that came on the side. the other was a sort of dumpling filled with ground beef and peas. It was much like a Runza, only somewhat less bready. It was also quite difficult to divide among tasters without making a mess, making it one of our less intelligent choices. Still, it was good, and the sauce for it will make you happy if you are a fan of sauces that slap you upside the head and scream "IT IS DELICIOUS CILANTRO. YOU MUST TASTE IT."

The chicken korma is an orangish yellow sauce with immense cubes of chicken, served in a bowl on a plate with plenty of rice and a bit of salad. I have a feeling that the base used for it is extraordinarily spicy, because the dish is cream based and yet still manages to have a considerable heft to its spiciness. On its own, the sauce is a little sour, but quickly grows on you, but more importantly, if you take a cube of chicken, some rice, and the sauce all together, it blends into a delicious flavor. It is not, however, a sauce so good that I would pour the whole thing onto the rice, as they did with the vindaloo. It was much more my speed to carefully manage the amount of sauce involved, because the spice was very nearly too much for me. Also unfortunate was a chicken bone inside one of the chunks of chicken, but at least it was a large bone.

Last, and greatest, though, is the garlic naan. Two such dishes were ordered, and I think I ate more than my fair share, even though I ordered one strictly for myself. I am, as should be quite obvious, a big fan of things that involve bread, butter, and garlic. The garlic naan here is as good as a combination of those three ingredients can get without adding cheese. I'm not even sure how good it could get with cheese. Flat, pita-style bread comes out from the kitchen piping hot, brushed with butter, and with garlic baked in. It's just enough garlic to give you the flavor without making your cubicle-mates go home early. I would happily go here and order nothing but three flats worth of garlic naan and something to wash them down. If you go, and do not order at least some sort of bread (they have six or seven options), you do yourself a grave disservice.

==Moogle==
Ordered:

• Lamb Saag Lunch Special ($8.99)
• Paneer Pakora ($5.99)

The paneer pakora is the fried cheese appetizer mentioned above. I didn't know until looking those links up just now that paneer is actually the type of cheese, which is a South Asian cheese. It's a little hard to describe, but it seemed more fluffy/airy than typical cheeses. It came as six flat pieces which were about two bites. I don't remember them having a ton of flavor, but they were good. The beef and peas item was decent too. The sauce was quite strong though, so be careful with it. There were two of them, but they were big enough for each of us to have three or four bites worth.

The saag is a curry dish that's heavy on the spinach and greens. It came out looking like a brownish-green mush, but there were nice big chunks of lamb in it. It was also a slightly creamy dish. It wasn't spicy (and I didn't expect it to be) and both lamb and sauce were quite good. I also put mine on the rice, and it turned out to be really filling.

I thought the appetizers were reasonable, and if you're a fan of spinach, a saag variant is definitely worth a try.


==Mecha==
Ordered:

• Lamb Curry Lunch Special ($8.99)
• Mulligatawny Soup ($2.99)
• Meat Samosa ($4.99)
• Mango Lassi ($2.99)

The aforementioned dumpling filled with meat that came with the ridiculously cilantro-y sauce is the Meat Samosa. Also, the ambiance is about as generic as it gets. Bright fluorescent lights, orange walls, the most generic of standard chairs? I realize it's a new place, but it is a bit of a downer that it is so generic. With this food, though, you can only care for so long, and the food coming quick like Cham said also makes not worrying about it too much easy.

The Mango Lassi was a very large cup of lassi for 2.99. Frankly, most other places when you order a few bucks of Lassi do not hand you a huge cup of it. 20 oz? 24? More? Not sure. Too much for me to drink through. I just wish they'd have had Rose Lassi. A much more subtle enjoyable flavor. Anyway, asiding. If you like smooth heavily mango drinks, Mango lassi here is a great buy.

I did not get a crack at any of the bread, but I trust that it was good. The Samosa did have a fairly nice complex flavor which the sauce overrode a bit, so if you're not a huge fan of cilantro, stay light on that sauce. Also, they're difficult to split, as they come in large shells (a-la runza.) The cheese pakora was fine, and ND pretty much nailed the soup: lackluster. It was a shame because the last time we'd had it it was so good.

The lamb curry was a very, very nice flavor, although I should have poured it out on the rice like Cham did. Some good heat, which the lassi helped cut back, and a wonderful complex flavor. Same price bump for lamb, but I don't mind it.

I'd definitely avoid the soup, and might try the non-mango lassi next time, but the main dishes or any of the non-soup extras were good to great, and that's definitely worth coming back to.

==MapleSyrup==
Ordered:

• Lamb Keema Lunch Special ($8.99)
• Rice
• 1 piece Pakora
• Salad
• Soda Pop ($1.99)

I was reading over the menu and saw that the Lamb Keema was basically ground lamb and peas and thought to myself, "That sounds like shepherd's pie," then thought further, "I like shepherd's pie!" And thus was the order. As Cham said, the salad was nothing special--just a little bit of lettuce with a light vinegarette on it. The potato pakora was delicious but far too small and short in quantity. The rice had some yellow bits and some green flakes in it, but was unremarkable. It tasted pretty much like rice. The Lamb Keema itself was pretty good. It was finely ground lamb spiced with some peas mixed in. The peas weren't rendered into mush, so they added a nice pop to each bite. The dish overall ended up, as I expected, tasting like spicy shepherd's pie sans mashed potatoes. However, despite all of this, I was underwhelmed. The dish just didn't offer anything new or interesting. The next time I'll probably try something different. Maybe a heaping plate of potato pakora ...

Jimi D's Food and Spirits

Restaurant: Jimi D's Food and Spirits
Address: 6303 Center St.
Website: http://www.jimidsfoodandspirits.com/index.html
Genres: Italian-American, American
Check Constraints: 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more.
Chain: No. | More Omaha Locations: No.

==Chamelaeon==
Ordered:

• Gnocchi Bites ($7.95)
• Old School Sausage and Peppers Sandwich ($7.95)
• Andouille Soup
• Fries ($2.95)

Jimi D's is part of the new development happening around the area of the old Ak-Sar-Ben track. The minimall it's located in was only finished a few months ago, so the restaurant is fairly new; it doesn't even show up on Google Maps proper (though you can find it off the geeks.rate(food) map.) It also has zero web presence, which I'm slowly coming to the conclusion is a really bad idea for a restaurant. But! It's new, and we decided it was worth trying out, even having no clue what kind of food it served.

A short meta-note before I go on: We're going to start trying to take pictures of food at the places we eat, and we'll try to get shots of the menus for places which don't have them online (or have not updated them in forever). We have to work out who's hosting what where, but hopefully we'll have it sorted before we post this Thursday's adventure.

I'll leave the discussion of the actual building to someone else; I'm on to the chow. Jimi D's has a strange sort of menu... it could most accurately be described as "upscale-ish Italian-American", but even that doesn't quite cover the bases. Regardless, I have never seen gnocchi on the menu at any place that has the bar in the main seating area. And it was good - really good. Gnocchi are little dumplings, in this case made from potato. They were cooked through, likely via baking as they had just a tad of browning on them. Instead of deciding on a topping for you, the gnocchi come naked with a side of marinara and a side of ranch. I'm not entirely certain about the gnocchi/ranch combination, but the marinara was decently tomatoey and went well with the gnocchi. I have to confess I also just ate a handful without any sauce at all. They were pretty darn good, and I would definitely eat them again. Actually, if I were to go again I would get the gnocchi entree instead. I'd also like to add my two cents about the antipasto platter: Holy delicious.

The soup, which I picked as my side for the sandwich, was not what I was expecting. It was a light soup, not tomato-based at all, and it had both pinto beans and what tasted like collard or mustard greens in it along with the andouille. The combination of greens, beans, and a pork product came off as very Southern-tasting to me, but that may just be my grandmother's cooking talking. It was pretty good, though I'm not sure I'd like more than a cup of it at a time since it was really quite salty.

When I ordered the sandwich I figured that I would go with something simple, on the premise that I'd been adventurous enough picking the appetizer and soup. That plan fell flat on its face when I actually saw the thing. It's pretty hard to screw up a peppers, onion, and sausage sandwich, but Jimi D's managed it twofold: the sandwich was drenched in a thick tomato sauce, and the sub bun they served it in was woefully structurally deficient. The sauce, which seemed to me to be thicker and slightly different than their marinara, killed most of the actual pepper and onion taste, and while it didn't taste bad I felt like I might as well have gotten the sandwich on pasta instead. Especially because the bun was made from a very soft white bread, which made trying to hold on to the sandwich a losing proposition. All in all, I really wish I'd ordered one of their pasta dishes instead. They could be just as bad, but with the success on the gnocchi front I'd have more confidence in those.

I've rambled long enough, and it's someone else's turn, but I'd like to make one quick comment: the service here at lunch was really, really poor. I can't speak to their dinner service, but I'll definitely think twice before coming back for lunch, for that reason alone.

==NinjaDebugger==
Ordered:

• Antipasto ($11.95)
• Fettuccine Alfredo w/Chicken ($11.95)
• Andouille Soup
• Iced Tea ($2.25)
  

First off, the place reminds me of the Firewater Cafe, which I believe we did review earlier. Not in the menu selections, mind, but in the way the place is set up. There's a large central bar, generally semicircular, with tables all around. Menus were pre-distributed on the tables, and there were no condiments of any kind, not even sugar for the bloody iced tea, or salt and pepper for general spicing.

I agree with Cham on the gnocchi, that stuff is delicious, double plus would eat again. I paid for the antipasto, and it was worth every penny of the twelve bucks it cost. A decent sized platter, with three small bowls containing olives, a horseradish/mustard mix that was reminiscent of wasabi, and, amazingly, a reduction of balsamic vinegar. Undoubtedly the cheap stuff, but even cheap imitation balsamic is very good. Arrayed around this bounty were a plethora of cheeses and meats, too many to remember, along with some small pieces of grilled bread and some pseudo-pickled vegetables (probably actually a marinade). If you actually go to Jimi D's, you may spend your money on the antipasto as either an appetizer or a meal with confidence that it will be worth the money.

The fettuccine alfredo is another matter. Okay, I'm going to say up front that it wasn't anywhere near the worst alfredo I've had (that dishonor belongs to Indigo Joe's). The plate was large, and came well arrayed with three more pieces of grilled bread, and a surprisingly large helping of chicken breast. The alfredo sauce, however, needs work. It was essentially a pure cream sauce. As far as I could tell, there was no parmesan in it, nor did it have an array of parmesan around the plate, like the Firewater Cafe did.

I was forced to grab the last chunk of parmesan from the antipasto and clumsily grate it with my butter knife in order to get any parmesan flavor at all. Once it had some parmesan, it was passable, though it still needed quite a bit more to be good. Before you order this, should you choose to, ask if you can get a chunk of parmesan to grate onto it, or something. Otherwise, it simply isn't worth getting. Try something like the carbonara instead.

As Cham noted, the service was abysmal. There appeared to be, at best, a single waiter for the entire lunch rush, and his service was even slower than you would normally expect for a situation like that. If you insist on coming here, I say you should stick to the appetizers, especially the antipasto.

==MapleSyrup==
Ordered:

• Philly Steak ($8.95)
• Soda Pop ($2.25)
  

The Gnocchi were absolutely delicious. They were firm, but not hard or starchy and they had a wonderful taste with a hint of butter and some herbs. Like Cham, I tried them with a daub of ranch and without and they were great either way. I was very surprised by the the horseradish in the mustard that came with the Antipasto. I was the first to try it and was not expecting any heat at all like that and choked a bit. I found the marinaded vegetables interesting as well. It was an assortment of carrots, cauliflower, and celery marinaded to taste like bread & butter pickles. The vegetables were still crisp and had that nice, sweet flavor.

The Philly steak consisted of shaved ribeye, green peppers, onions, and provolone on an 8 inch roll. It tasted as you would expect of those ingredients and, overall, was a pretty good sandwich. The only complaint I might have is that the meat was a bit stringy, making it hard to take a real bite. I ended up with food dangling out of my mouth on most efforts.

And as the others have mentioned, the service was pretty bad. We waited forever for drink orders, food orders, the food itself, and refills and when I did get a refill it was the wrong thing and I had to wait another stretch to get it fixed.

==Moogle==
Ordered:

• Monte Cristo ($8.95)
• Andouille Soup
  

I did find a website for them the other day. I've added the link above (as well as a link to Firewater). Anyway, on with the food. I fourth the sentiment that the gnocchi was great. I've had them before, and these were well cooked with great flavor. I preferred either the marinara sauce or none. The antipasto was an interesting mix of things. I think it's well described above, but Cham did mention he could taste a bit of curry flavor on the marinated veggies. I could taste it as well. It wasn't very strong though.

A cup of soup was actually an option for the side to go with your meal. I don't see that too often, and the andouille sounded interesting. It was pretty good, but I don't know that I'd go for a whole bowl either. It was a little spicy with a lot of vegetables and not so much sausage. I had forgotten what a Monte Cristo was. It was the strawberry sauce that intrigued me. When it came out, I thought it was going to be too heavily fried, but I was surprised with a lightly fried and very delicious sandwich. It had a bit of powdered sugar on top, and the strawberry sauce on the side was really light as well. It was more like juice than syrup and went really well with the sandwich. It also looked an awful lot better than the picture on Wikipedia. I was kinda surprised to hear that the others' dishes weren't that great, because mine left me wanting more . (Though, I didn't need it. Maybe it's my sweettooth.)

Though my food was good, I'll add emphasis to the slow service. This ended up being an hour and a half lunch, and it really didn't need to be.


==Mecha==
Ordered:

• Andouille Soup (Bowl) ($5.95)

Unfortunately, I was feeling ill this week, so I went light. The antipasta plate had a good variety of things on it, cheese, meats, olives, a surprising hot mustard (think chinese mustard) sauce and was, at least, close to worth the high price. The gnocci really was quite nice, although I didn't get too much of it.

The bowl of soup came with twice the bread, and enough soup to make it a significant difference over just getting a cup. I did like the flavor of it, and it wasn't too spicy, but it did have a bit of warmth to it that helped (unsurprising, given the sausage.) Cham has a better description of it in detail. I couldn't finish it for whatever reason, but I'm not willing to chalk it up to much more than being ill. I'll agree on the service being pretty weak, although there was a nice note in that the server didn't force us into the single check 18% gratuity (as we did have the requisite 6 people.)

They had some other interesting food options for the happy hour/dinner hour which I can't exactly remember, but I'm imagining that if you want to go here even then, don't do it if you're on a time budget of any sort. Their webpage also recommends some things we didn't try, which might be worth pursuing if you do end up going here, such as their meatball sub. (We seem to be finding a pattern of slow service at local bar places. Mmm.)

Dundee Dell

Restaurant: Dundee Dell
Address: 5007 Underwood
Website: http://www.dundeedell.com/
Genres: american, pub
Check Constraints: No checks. Separate checks for 20% gratuity. 6 or more people, only one check, 18% gratuity.
Chain: No. | More Omaha Locations: No.

==Chamelaeon==
Ordered:

• Pint of Smithwicks ($5.50)
• Crab & Artichoke Dip ($7.50)
• Hot Pastrami Sandwich ($7.00)
• Chips ($1.75)

It's pretty hard to eat around Omaha without running into the Dundee Dell eventually. It's been there for a long time, though it has changed locations in the last ten years or so; outside of the Old Market area it's probably the most well-known pub; and it boasts what it claims is the largest offering of single malt scotches in America. So you know we couldn't pass that up for long. Unfortunately, working lunches don't tend to lend themselves to a leisurely stroll through many, many pages of scotch, some of which cost $300 per dram! (These are not your standard drams; here, they refer to the ancient measurement of scotch, the actual value of which I can't find anywhere.)

To be perfectly honest, I've eaten at Dundee Dell several times since moving here in 2005, so have actually had the chance to sample their scotches. If you're perfectly content looking like an idiot and have very little clue about scotch, feel free to ask the waitstaff or bartender since they're often fairly knowledgeable about such. I've found a peg is enough to let two to three people get a good taste, but if you're sharing between more people than that you might want to up the size. My favorite thus far is probably the Laphroaig 15-year, which is an Islay malt with a pretty distinctive flavor. I should also note this is one of the increasingly-common places in Omaha to get Smithwicks on tap.

But we're supposed to talk about the food. The crab and artichoke dip was a little small for $7.50, I thought, but had a leg up on the standard "too much spinach in some cheese" concoction in that it actually tasted of crab instead of just spinach. It's served with toast points and corn chips, and the former outclass the latter in my opinion. To offer a brief summary of the other appetizers ordered; the fried pickles are nothing special, the BBQ quesadilla was very muddled in flavor, and the fried yams started off rather bleh until I salted them, at which point they became much tastier. So the appetizers rank in at a 2/4 Would Eat Again ratio, or 50% if that makes more sense to you.

The hot pastrami sandwich was excellent. It was distinguished from a Reuben by not being topped with sauerkraut but instead loaded with grilled onions, which made a mellower counterpart and let the flavor of the pastrami and dark rye bread shine through. The dressing on the sandwich was not Thousand Island, but might as well have been. It offered moisture and more tang than mayo would have done, but it was properly subdued. There was quite a lot of pastrami, to boot. It was served with a pickle, but like all sandwiches at Dundee Dell, you have to spend $1.75 for chips (proper British chips - think fried potato discs), actual fries, potato chips, pasta salad, or coleslaw. I almost always get the chips because increased surface area means more browning and thus more yummy, but I've seen people say their normal fries are also very good. Verdict: Would Eat Again.

I've read reviews online where people diss the new location as being too "upscale", but honestly I don't think it's that bad. There's plenty of space (although parking around the area's a bear), and though it doesn't really feel like a real pub, it draws a nice line between attracting people there for food and fun, and those there to drink incredibly expensive liquor. It doesn't feel like a neighborhood bar, no, but it doesn't feel like a Disneyland theme restaurant either. I think it's well worth the visit.

==NinjaDebugger==
Ordered:

• Strawberry Soda ($1.75)
• Chicken Sandwich, lemon pepper with provolone and cheddar-jack ($7.00)
• Chips ($1.75)

My first experience at Dundee Dell was as part of a large group, with a severely restricted menu and not nearly enough space. It didn't impress me at all. This time was slightly more impressive, but the place still strikes me as a little cramped, a feeling that I do not like. In addition, their strawberry soda is terrible. None of the appetizers made me want to spend money on them, either. The crab dip tasted bland to me, the quesadilla tasted more like barbequeue chicken than cheese, a cardinal sin of quesadillas, the fried pickles tasted more like an unpleasantly warm and limp pickle than anything else, and the fried yams were, well, yams.

The sandwich, on the other hand, was worth the money. A solid bun with a large lemon pepper chicken breast, and I got two delicious cheeses on top, since you will rarely go wrong with more cheese. Toppings on the side, including enough pickles that I could actually taste them in every bite. The chicken was well done, cooked enough that it was easy to pull apart, but not cooked enough to be even close to dry, and the chips were pretty clearly made there, rather than bought. If I were to go again, which I'm not sure I will, I'd skip appetizers, and get alcohol, a sandwich, and a dessert.

==Moogle==
Ordered:

• BBQ Quesadilla ($7.25)
  
• The Grinder ($8.75)
• Potato Chips ($1.75)

I thought the BBQ quesadilla was ok, but the sauce flavor overpowered the cheese flavor. You couldn't really see the sauce, but you could taste it. It was fairly sweet, too, which may have put off some of the other guys. The crab dip was the best appetizer, I thought. I agree that the dip went much better on the toast than the corn chips. The dip had a pretty mild flavor, but you could still taste the crab. The fried pickles didn't impress. They had two distinct flavors: Fried and Soggy Pickle. You'd have to really be into those flavors to enjoy them, I think. I also agree that the yams were pretty blah. I didn't bother trying with salt though. I couldn't find the salt and didn't care for another anyway.

The sandwich, again, was great. It was plenty of sliced meats on a hoagie bun. It was a fairly large sandwich, and quite tasty. I don't think there were many toppings, but it didn't need it. It was just right. The plate it came on was pretty big as well, and the rest of the plate was filled to the brim with ruffled potato chips. I couldn't tell you what brand, but I'm pretty sure they came in a bag. It also looked like I got the end of the bag, with half the pile being crumbs. It was likely too much. The roof of my mouth was still in pain days later from the shredding they got by eating too many. But, I got my money's worth, I'd say.

==MapleSyrup==
Ordered:

• 3 Piece Fish & Chips ($10.95)
• Soda Pop ($1.75)

I was also a fan of the crab & artichoke dip and agree that it was better with the toast points than the chips. The chips just added too much of their own corn flavor and overpowered the dip. The fried pickles were very disappointing. It was pretty much just a hot pickle with some breading. The fried sweet potato slices (I don't remember what they were actually called), were fairly lackluster. They had a very gritty breading and didn't offer any real flavor. Cham is right that salt helped, but I don't think it helped nearly enough.

I ordered the fish & chips and, though they were a touch pricey, wasn't disappointed. They came in a foil bag with the chips at the bottom and the 3 planks of fish on top. I didn't get a plate with it, so I ended up laying the bag on its side and tearing the top open. The breading on the fish was light and smooth and had a nice crunch. It didn't have the dirty grease taste that happens some places. The fish itself was flakey and not too fishy. The only complaint that I might have is that the fish squirted me pretty good when I cut into the last plank with the side of my fork. The chips were your standard fried quarter-inch slices of potato. They were nice and firm, not mushy at all and they held up pretty good waiting for me to finish off the fish--they didn't get gritty and starchy as they cooled.

==Mecha==
Ordered:

• Thomas Kemper Vanilla Cream Soda ($3.25)
• Fried Pickles ($4.50)
• Dell Burger ($8.50)
• Chips ($1.75)
• Breaded Sweet Potatoes ($3.75)

The place is a bit tight, but they don't have much area to work with, so whaddya gonna do?

I was driving, so I didn't even get to consider having a whiff of alcohol. Instead, I had a vanilla cream soda. Came in a bottle, cold, and was a solid vanilla cream soda. Not amazing, and 3.25 for a bottle? Probably not gonna order one of those again. What a markup. @_@

I'm the anomaly in that I like the spicy fried pickles, which is why I got them. A little soggy on the inside, the frying method basically makes a super-hard shell, which it is easy to have the pickle slip out of (which is a defect: you should be able to do better!) Although apparently I should consider just getting some for me in the future. I also enjoyed the fried sweet potato, and I really don't get enough sweet potato in my life. The crab dip didn't leap out at me when I tried it, so I left it to the people who really enjoyed it, although yeah, more toast points. I pretty much agree with everyone that the quesadilla was too strongly of BBQ sauce on chicken, not enough of anything else. They even have other things in it like black olives... and you can't taste those either!

The Dell Burger is one of their standard burgers with ham and bleu cheese on the burger, and it's a really interesting and enjoyable taste addition. I was a bit worried about not being the world's biggest fan of straight bleu cheese, but it didn't overpower the ham or the burger's flavor, and I would certainly have this one again. Their chips were indeed chips, solidly done as always.

It's strange that this place seems to have trouble with the appetizer/bar food side of things, but them managing to have decent entrees is very nice for what we were actually going for, which is to say lunch. It's worth mentioning that one time Cham/Maple/I went, we got the nachos which weren't bad at all. But still, very weird. Especially since they go out of their way to have a few things off the beaten path, you'd think that they'd be more impressive there. Nontheless, the place has good entrees to recommend it and you should at least give it a good solid try. (Also, there's an ice cream place next door that keeps changing owners, at least at the moment, which you can get some extra deliciousness at. Yaye ice cream!)

Midwest Mega-Review: Columbia MO, Terre Haute IN, Indianapolis IN

Recently, my girlfriend and I went on a fairly long road trip back to our respective college towns, and through many a strange and random byway in the Midwest. We visited the Truman Presidential museum in Independence, MO; the Civil War battleground at Lexington, MO; and several other places. One of my goals for the trip was to try to eat at as few national chain restaurants as possible, with an eye towards experiencing new flavors if not necessarily ones local to the city I was in at the time. I did fairly well with the goal, given the problems inherent with trying to eat unique foods while still traveling on the US Interstate system. But! As a side benefit, I get to talk about several of the places we ate.

Restaurant: W.G. Grinders
Address: 33 North 9th Street, Columbia MO
Website: http://www.wggrinders.com/
Genres: sandwiches
Check Constraints: Short-order
Chain: Regional

Ordered:

• Spicy Chicken Grinder ($6.50)
• Tomato Basil Soup Combo ($2.75)

W.G. Grinders is a regional chain which looks to exist mostly in Ohio, but which has stretched out a questing tendril west through Carmel, IN and onward to Columbia. The store's located downtown, in a corner location that is, honest to God, entirely too large for it. The seating area seemed entirely dwarfed by the open space laying around. I suppose if they were going to host a sock hop or something they'd be ready, but it was a little disconcerting.

The sandwiches are good, though. Like most sandwich shops at this point, the grinders are made as you order, and toasted. The spicy chicken was "spicy" in the sense that it had spices on it, but definitely not "spicy" in the capsaicin sense. Also, I wish I could convince sandwich shops to avoid using a leafier lettuce on hot subs, since those have a tendency to wilt and generally clutter the sandwich with an unpleasing texture. That said, it was a pretty darn decent lunch. Good bread, acceptable chicken, and a good melding of flavors. The soup I could have done without, as it tasted like someone had taken Campbell's tomato soup and dumped fresh basil into it, but that's what I get for trying to avoid fried stuff.

Restaurant: Exotic Thai
Address: 1295 S. 3rd St,Terre Haute, IN
Website: None.
Genres: thai
Check Constraints: Unknown.
Chain: No.

Ordered:

• Thai Rolls ($3.95)
• Kang-Dang (red curry) ($7.95)

Exotic Thai may be a bit of a cheat, as I've eaten here several times before when I used to live in Terre Haute. Still, when we arrived in the Haute (as the people in the know call it) I was tired enough that hunting down something entirely new wasn't exactly sounding like the best option. Also, I was really in the mood for thai.

The Thai Rolls here are thin eggrolls, pretty much like a fried spring roll. They're delicious and served with a very good sauce, which has a sweetness to it that matches very well with the crunchy goodness of the rolls. The insides are filled with cabbage, other vegetables, and pork, pretty much like any other eggroll you might encounter. The curry can, like a lot of other thai places, be customized to your heat level - I went with a "four", a raise of two above what they claim the curry's at originally, and it was good. I could have gone hotter, but that raises the risk of gastrointestinal distress, and that's not good for a road trip. The curry itself is fairly simple - peppers and other assorted vegetables, chicken (or tofu), in a red curry sauce with a very heavy taste of coconut milk and a lot of other delicious spices. It's served with steamed rice, which works well as a mix-in if you decide you've ordered the curry too hot for you.

Everything they do here is made with fresh ingredients, and I've eaten around the menu enough to know it's pretty much all delicious. If you think Terre Haute couldn't possibly have good ethnic food, this place alone proves you wrong.

Restaurant: Scotty's Brewhouse
Address: 3905 E. 96th St, Indianapolis, IN
Website: http://www.scottysbrewhouse.com/
Genres: burgers, american
Check Constraints: Unknown.
Chain: Regional.

Ordered:

• Diet Coke ($2.25)
• 7 Tidals Buffalo Chicken Dip ($8.75)
• Atomic Mo'Fo' Burger ($8.75)

While in Indianapolis we visited with a couple different friends there, and had nice meals with both. The first was at a Denny's, mostly because at that point I was looking for something simple and was very happy to merely not be in the car. For the second, my girlfriend and I, and my friend Hardy, wound up at Scotty's Brewhouse. While being a regional chain, it's apparently very tightly controlled by the owner, and the feel of the place was rather welcoming. That said, the menu suffered very badly from the restaurant version of "feature creep" - too many items, far too many options. While not as overwhelming as the Wheatfield's menu, I was still flipping through it nonplussed by the time the waitress came over. I desperately wanted a beer to help relax some of the muscles in my neck, but I was tired enough that was a very bad idea, and we had to drive back to Terre Haute that night anyhow. So I settled on a Diet Coke and a very interesting appetizer.

Having never had chicken in a dip form before, the 7 Tidals dip intrigued. It was a combination of chicken, buffalo sauce, and then cheddar, blue, and cream cheeses. It had the perfect dip consistency, very firm and solid on the corn chips it was served with, and it tasted fantastic. The chicken was pulled, and there were large chunks of it in the dip. It was, at heart, the congealed essence of a buffalo chicken sandwich smothered in cheese. Without that pesky bun. It's definitely pricy, but it was well worth it.

The burger was less gratifying. It may have just been eclipsed by the dip, but I found it to be about on a par with an "upscale" burger chain - falling somewhere over Fuddruckers and somewhere under a hand-made sirloin patty grilled over hickory wood. It came with jalapenos and what is supposedly their spiciest sauce, and it was tasty enough, but didn't feel like anything special, especially when considering what I paid for it. It came with waffle fries, which merely served as another vehicle for the dip.

Given the expanse of the menu, I'm certainly willing to bet there could be hidden gems there. It may be worth another try, though I imagine when I'm back in Indy I'll have other restaurants to visit. I should also mention Hardy graciously picked up the tab, and I was so tired I actually let him do it. This means I probably have to bathe his cat (Badger, the World's Angriest Cat) sometime.

Restaurant: Yats
Address: Multiple, check site
Website: http://www.yatscajuncreole.com/index.htm
Genres: cajun
Check Constraints: Short order.
Chain: Local.

Ordered:

• Chili-Cheese Crawfish Etouffee ($5.50)
• Extra Bread ($0.50)

Hardy also went above and beyond the call of duty. When he learned that Yats was going to be closed on July 4th (the day I visited), he actually picked some up and stored it in his fridge for me. This meant that when I picked it up, it was a day old. I didn't get to eat it that night, so it sat in the hotel fridge until the next morning when I had it for breakfast.

Let me say this with absolute and utter clarity. Two days old and barely warm from the shitty hotel microwave, this was still the best Cajun food I have had in my entire life. No, I've not been down to the actual source of the style yet, and I'm certain if you've visited Louisiana you know someplace down there that's better. That's awesome (and tell me where it is, I would like to go someday). But Yats is located in Indiana, and if you are ever going through Indy (or by their new location in West Lafayette) you need - you are required, you have a moral imperitive - to eat there. The menu at each location changes daily, but the pricing runs as follows: half orders are $4.50, full orders are $5.50, and getting half and half of two things will run you $6.50. Extra bread? 50 cents. And you will want extra bread. It's coated with a spiced butter that is absolutely fantastic, and there is actually no better tool for eating the meal itself than the bread.

The dish I had, the Chili-Cheese Crawfish etouffee, is almost indescribably delicious. All the dishes at Yats blend together into a solid flavor - this one has the barest hint of cheese, some good chili flavor to it, and a solid backbone of crawfish (it could be actual crawfish or just shrimp, it's hard to say). It's served on rice, like most of their dishes, and it is magnificent.
But it doesn't matter what you get. I will almost guarantee that if you like the ingredients listed in the name of the dish, you will enjoy the best damn cajun/creole food you can get outside of the actual state of Louisiana. My only regret that there is not one in Omaha.

So that was the trip, or at least the one my stomach made. Hopefully we'll get to go again next year, and we can experience some new places along the way.

Matsu Sushi

Restaurant: Matsu Sushi
Address: 1009 Farnam Street
Website: N/A
Genres: Japanese, Sushi
Check Constraints: No Checks
Chain: No

==NinjaDebugger==
Ordered

• Crunchy Spicy Salmon Roll lunch (8.95).
• Crunchy Spicy Salmon Rolls
• Nigiri Sushi assortment (Tuna, Salmon, Whitefish, Crab, Shrimp)
• Miso Soup
• Salad
  
• Chicken Teriyaki Bento (8.95)
• Chicken Teriyaki
• Rice
• California Roll
• Salad
• Inari Rolls (2 for 3.50)
  

I got quite a lot of food, there, but I wanted to try a lot of things, so instead of actually eating all of it, I got a lot of food and shared, like the good little mental kindergartener I am. I found this place when randomly searching for sushi restaurants near my home, and since Thursday the third of July was a damn good day to take a long lunch, since nobody at work was going to give a crap, and we wanted sushi, I pushed this place.

The drive there is pretty easy, but it's old market, so parking is a little scarce unless you use the honor system carpark out back. Luckily, there's an alley beside the restaurant that clearly used to be a food area, complete with a serving window, so you don't have to walk around the long way. The place itself is long and narrow. Half a city block long, give or take, but only about fifteen feet wide, give or take. There's a relatively small seating area in the front by the windows, followed by a long bar, and more seating in the back. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they took this place over from a pub, but hey, they call 'em sushi bars for a reason.

I'm gonna start with the bento, because it makes a hell of a contrast with Sakurabana, our old standby. The bento is a couple bucks cheaper, but then, you don't get a nice helping of tempura, nor do you get three nice pieces of nigiri sushi, instead getting a full California roll, which is made the original way, here, rice on the outside. I'm not sure which I prefer. Sakurabana's traditional ones are very tightly packed and flavorful, but the ones here have a much more pleasing texture and crunch. Six pieces is probably too much for me, though, as I'm not a huge fan of avocado.

The chicken tempura tasted somewhat beefy to me, and I'm not sure why. Other people thought it was fine, but it tasted kinda off, almost overwhelmingly strong. It went much better with the rice, though, as the rice here is incredibly sticky. I approve of extremely sticky rice, it's WAY easier to eat with chopsticks. The salad, though, absolutely blows away Sakurabana's, and frankly, almost any other salad dressing I've ever had. it's a pretty average salad, but we concluded that the dressing was a sort of carrot ginger, light on the carrot and heavy on the ginger. And the pepper. It is a very nice, spicy salad dressing, and if I could get a bottle of the stuff for home, I'd have it right now. The finishing touch on the whole thing is, obviously, the seemingly ubiquitous half an orange, this time with a cherry on top. I have no idea what it is with bento and that half-orange, but I'm not going to object. I would, however, prefer if they used seedless oranges next time.

The miso soup was pretty much miso soup, though it seemed a tad on the weak side. We weren't offered a choice of soups, either, though that's hardly a loss for me, given that Sakurabana only has two types, one of which I can't eat.

And then there was the sushi. Oh man, the sushi. Okay, first up, inari rolls. Inari rolls aren't sushi. They're cooked rice, wrapped in a tofu skin and deep fried. They are, done properly, absolutely delicious. They are, however, best served hot. These were served at room temperature, after a long wait for our food. When served cold, all the grease collects at the bottom and the whole construct becomes kinda generically awful. I don't know if they'll do it, but if you want some, ask if they'll bring it out with the appetizers.

Then there was real sushi. The crunchy spicy salmon sushi is prepared inside out, american style (to disguise the taste of seaweed), and appears to have been deep fried slightly, that being the crunchy part. the inside is salmon and spicy. It wasn't very spicy, but it was spicy enough for me, in the mid upper range, and it's a very damage over time heat. There's no up-front heat at all, and then, after you've chowed down, the heat starts to grow. And grow. And grow. Okay, for all that, it's still good, though not really to my taste. I recommend a bit of soy and wasabi to add some initial heat and cut down a tad on the lingering. It doesn't get nearly as bad, then.

The tuna sushi tasted a little off, kind of a tad bitter, but that might have been how long it was waiting to be eaten. The salmon and whitefish were both excellent, though. Unfortunately, it's here that my review stops, because my next try was the crab, and that's when my lizard hindbrain caught up to what was happening and said "excuse me wtf r u doin?" After nearly losing my lunch twice, I proclaimed myself defeated by my lizard hindbrain and left of trying to consume more sushi. Unfortunately, as lunch was already running very long, we called it there instead of grabbing dessert, as we were all somewhat intrigued by their zen sundae, which is green tea liquer over green tea ice cream. Is it zen? Yes, but not in the way that you think.

Overall, the place seems a bit overcosted, and I'm really not sure that it's worth it over another place. The location is pretty bad for us, too, so it's probably a good bet we won't be going back any time soon. If you happen to be near the old market, though, it's not bad for a close option.

==Mecha==
Ordered

• 5 Nigiri + Spicy Tuna Roll lunch (8.95).
• Spicy Tuna Roll (8 of the small 'Maki' type)
  
• Nigiri Sushi assortment (Tuna, Salmon, Whitefish, Crab, Shrimp)
• Miso Soup
• Salad
  
• Red Snapper Nigiri (2 for ~4.50?)
• Squid Nigiri (2 for ~4.50?)
  

There is definitely a bit of oddness in the 'can only buy 2 nigiri at once' a la carte, and the costs do seem to be a bit higher on the a la carte, but the other lunch stuff is certainly comparable. A full roll itself costs in the 7-8 buck range as is whether Sakura Bana or here, so making a lunch out of it? Yes please.

The soup didn't seem as strong on the miso component, but was still pretty good to my taste. Couldn't figure out what was added in its place. The salad was definitely strong with a different type of carrot ginger dressing. Carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes I remember in the salad along with the lettuce.

The Spicy Tuna roll lives up to its name. Very good, but even hotter than the salmon roll. I loved the taste of it, though. The 5 pieces of separate Nigiri were all fairly solid, and I've got a more solid stomach for the crab, although it's worth noting that there's a bit less rice here than at Sakura Bana. This may be a function of the stickiness. Also, there is definitely wasabi already in these, so there's no need to add your own unless you're Cham. I'm not a huge fan of the shrimp nigiri, in general, but their tuna, salmon, and whitefish were at least as good as other decent sushi places.

The squid sushi is actually a lightly scored bit of squid head flesh, which is an interesting texture and flavor, to be sure. The red snapper, I was less of a fan of, but it wasn't awful... I just think that red snapper's not my thing.

The service was a bit slow, even with the place not being hopping, but I think it's a plenty serviceable sushi place. It's worth noting that their lunch menu is completely separate from their dinner menu, so things may or may not change when dinner comes around. Also, there was a lot of non-sushi options which people around us seemed to be enjoying, of the traditional noodle variety, so it might be solid as a noodle bar as well. If it were closer, I'd consider a few more permutations, but with Sakura Bana already so close, it's not enough to draw me downtown as an alternative. But it's still another surprisingly solid sushi place in the middle of the great plains to me.

==Moogle==
Ordered

• Red Snapper Bento (8.95)
• Grilled Red Snapper
  
• Rice
• California Roll
• Salad

I found the miso soup here more to my liking than at Sakura Bana. I suppose it is a bit more mild. The tofu didn't get in the way, and the flavor was good. The salad came with the bento box for me, but it was the same salad. I agree that the dressing was spicy and flavorful. I enjoyed it. The red snapper was simply grilled. It seemed like there was no seasoning on it, but it didn't really need much extra. It did come with lemon to squeeze on top, which I used. The California rolls were good. I did notice that they were "inside out" from the way Sakura Bana does them. To me, that didn't make any difference. They may have had a little more rice.

I also tried a couple crunchy salmon and spicy tuna rolls. Being my first non-California roll, I thought they were edible, and I wouldn't mind having them again. I didn't really detect much heat from the salmon, so if you can handle the spicier end of typical Chinese food, they should be no bother. They were rolled in something crunchy on the outside which gave it a good texture. The tuna had a bit more heat, but they weren't bad either.

Like the others have said, Matsu was a bit far out for us, but I thought the food was good. The prices on bento boxes are at least similar to Sakura Bana as well. I would stop in again if I were in the neighborhood and looking for sushi/Japanese.

==MapleSyrup==
Ordered

• 5 Nigiri + Spicy Tuna Roll lunch (8.95).
• Spicy Tuna Roll (8 of the small 'Maki' type)
  
• Nigiri Sushi assortment (Tuna, Salmon, Whitefish, Crab, Shrimp)
• Miso Soup
• Salad

I ended up ordering the same platter as Mecha, so have little to add to the reviews. As everyone has said, the salad had a delicious carrot ginger dressing on it, which is fortunate since you didn't have a choice in the matter. The Spicy Tuna Rolls had just the right level of spice and with a daub of wasabi and a touch of soy sauce tasted great. I enjoyed the assortment of Nigiri Sushi immensely, but be warned that there's some wasabi hiding between the fish and rice, so be careful adding your own. You'll end up with burning sinuses and watering eyes. Overall, I liked the food and the price.