Zest! Exciting Food Creations

Zest, part deux.

It was a last minute lunch trip for the dining duo. They were weighing their options when walking out the door and verbally berating themselves for always forgetting that darn list of restaurants they want to try. Jennifer came to the rescue (she likes to think) and decided that they should visit one of their favorite lunch haunts…Zest!

Luckily we had missed the lunch crowd rush by arriving after 12:30. Seats, usually at a premium, were easily attained. Although Sheila was chastised quite harshly when she attempted to sit at an unoccupied table – she hadn’t noticed that the table hadn’t been set up again for new diners and the staff took exception to her trying to choose it from among the empty tables. (It was missing the second piece of paper covering the surface.) The extreme reaction seemed a little unnecessary but Jennifer sympathized with Sheila’s confusion.

When standing in line to order, you know it’s a good chance that one of them is going to ask for the veritable roast beef sandwich. Jennifer decided to try the meatloaf sandwich, as it was an option she considered during each visit to Zest, accompanied with the macaroni and cheese. Sheila went for the old standby, the roast beef sandwich with a side of macaroni and cheese, too!

Jennifer was surprised when her dish arrived as it included two huge halves of meatloaf on toasted white bread. She enjoyed the first few bites of the sandwich but as she chewed closer to the middle she was a little dismayed that it was cold. Ewww. The macaroni and cheese, however, was splendid! The dish has a nice flavorful crunchy salty crust (were those potato chips??) on top with a warm, gooey layer of noodles and cheese. This is a side dish worth ordering anytime.

The beef sandwich was splendid as usual (see: review of 6/25/2007), however, Sheila did not receive a whoop or fist bump for ordering the roast beef sandwich or really any special acknowledgment. Pity. Also as usual, a stack of napkins were needed to deal with the mess. Amazingly, no shirts were stained in the eating of the sandwich. Success!!

All in all, it wasn’t the best trip to Zest, but hey, even on a bad day this place is still head and shoulders above the competition.

Food **
Service *
Atmosphere **

Weber Grill Restaurant

Fairly new to the downtown scene (open less than a month), we had a bit of a challenge finding it our dining destination, although we finally located it at its Washington & Illinois home. Whew! We had a brief wait, but it just gave us a chance to peruse the menu.

A rare weekend lunch for the dining duo, we discovered that they do not serve from the lunch menu on Saturdays, so the sandwiches we’d spotted on the menu posted outside were quickly ruled out. There are a couple of sandwich specials on offer, and some burgers so we were able to find something to fit our mood.

Jennifer started the meal off with an adult beverage – taking advantage of not having to return to work like so often is the case! Generously, she even shared a sip of her red sangria with Sheila, who was trying to restrain herself from ordering anything alcoholic. The former bartender gave the drink a thumbs-up!

We each went for burgers, Jennifer the Wisconsin (with cheese and bacon); Sheila the Weber melt (grilled onions, melted Gruyère cheese on grilled rye bread), and we both ordered our burgers medium-well. Time spent waiting on our meals was well spent watching the cooks at the grills – the open kitchen and our table location gave us a great view of the action. It also gave us a great opportunity to drool over all of the food being served. The onion soup was especially tempting, even on a hot day, with all of its melty-cheesy-goodness.

Burgers are extremely generously sized – neither of us could finish them, and we’d both been very hungry. Sheila’s melt was undercooked at more of a medium than medium well, but not so pink that she couldn’t deal. The grilled onions made the burger – sweet and flavorful, they complimented the burger and cheese beautifully. The burger itself was very tasty; she just adored the onions. The bread was too much and a just a little stale. Jennifer’s burger was even more undercooked than She’s – very very pink – but she soldiered on and made it through. French fries were a little cold – the heat lamps they’re kept under before plating weren’t keeping them hot and crispy enough. Disappointing, because they surely would have been fabulous if they’d been hot and fresh – they were nicely seasoned and a good size – fat enough to provide a good ratio of creamy potato interior to crispy exterior. If, you know, the exterior had actually been crispy.

Service was very disappointing. Perhaps because of their newness their servers are still working out the kinks. We were left waiting quite awhile before eventually having someone come over to us, with an extensive story about why he hadn’t been by sooner (dude, we don’t care, just bring us drinks). Sheila was nagged about not keeping Jennifer company by ordering a drink. The breadbasket was oddly enough pulled by our server in expectation of our meals arriving, although since we weren’t necessarily done with it we thought that was strange. Even worse, he stopped by our table after bussing another table and put a stack of dirty dishes on our table in order to pick up the bread basket and plates, scraping the plates and stacking them on top of the other dishes. We didn’t appreciate seeing dirty dishes from other diners. He seemed disappointed that we were unable to finish our meals, although he did box our leftover for us very nicely. Extremely leisurely service was suddenly turned into a mad rush to get us out – dropping the check without asking if we wanted dessert (which we did, but decided against it when we weren’t offered it). Overall, the service was extremely disappointing and unworthy of the food and prices.

Food ***
Atmosphere **
Service *1/2
Overall **

http://www.webergrillrestaurant.com/index.html

Rosie’s Little Italy

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! What was once a kitchsy Italian establishment that offered up great Italian food, Rosie’s Little Italy is now a dingy little restaurant that offers up mediocre meals at best. It pains Jennifer to say this as her childhood Friday nights with her father were spent at Rosie’s enjoying the superb sausage ravioli with one of the tastiest marinara sauces ever.

During a recent road trip, Jennifer was all excited to take Sheila to Rosie’s to experience yummy Italian comfort food at its best. Alas, it was not meant to be. Upon arrival, Jennifer noted that the place had taken a turn for the worse appearance-wise. After choosing a booth (seat yourself!) the waitress promptly arrived with menus. The first thought? Dude, where is the Italian food? The menu was loaded with salads, sandwiches and blue plate specials, which was all very disorienting to Jennifer.

While Sheila pondered what to order, Jennifer noticed that the patrons at the nearby table had chosen the salad/pasta route and the lasagna with a huge meatball looked promising, so she ultimated decided upon the manicotti lunch special that also came with a meatball. Sheila also chose one of the lunch specials – but selected the personal pizza with mushrooms, of course!

The crusty, crispy, crouton-like bread with optional spreadable cheese was filling though bland for these road warriors as were the side salads with (bottled) blue cheese dressing; but, when the food arrived there was stunned silence followed immediately by snickering. The personal pizza was the smallest pie either of them had ever seen! It was truly laughable. It was generously covered with mushrooms, not too difficult considering the small surface area of the meal, but they were canned mushrooms still on the chilly side.  And as for the manicotti….well, let’s just say that Chef Boyardee makes it better. The meatball couldn’t even save this dish. It was bland, a bit cold and just blah.

Service was mostly indifferent, and we had to pull out money in sight of the server for the bill to finally be delivered. Payment was handled pretty promptly at least, as we were ready to be on our way. One positive is that at least the prices were low.

Sheila was such a trooper as she didn’t complain one bit. Jennifer was, needless to say, crestfallen. Perhaps you can’t go home and re-visit the classic restaurants from the past.

Food 1/2
Atmosphere: no stars. A bathroom that filthy automatically deducts any 1/2 star it might have otherwise received.
Service *

3909 S. Western Ave
Marion, IN 46953

L.S. Ayres Tea Room at the Indiana State Museum

An Indianapolis institution in its previous location in the L.S. Ayres store downtown, the recreated Tea Room in the Indiana State Museum still provides a charming atmosphere and delicious lunch options to diners who never knew it in any other form.

Another birthday lunch with our previous companions from Pucks, the Tea Room was a great choice to celebrate our friend – tasty food in a relaxed setting. Jennifer ordered the quiche of the day, which was served with a generous portion of fresh fruit and pumpkin bread fingers which she obligingly shared with the rest of us. Yummm! Sheila shared a couple of entrees with the birthday girl – grilled chicken on ciabatta, and a flavorful portabello mushroom sandwich, both of which were accompanied with crispy fries. Our other companion ordered a smoked turkey wrap which she seemed to enjoy. Since it was a celebratory lunch, we all shared a dessert – the pecan ball! Vanilla ice cream liberally covered with hot fudge sauce and sprinkled with pecans, it was a delicious ending to an enjoyable meal.

Service was something else – our previously smooth and polished waiter took a turn for the bizarre when he found out it was a birthday lunch. Fortunately it never really veered out of G-rated territory, just appeared that it might for a moment.

Food **
Atmosphere ***
Service **

http://www.in.gov/ism/VisitorInfo/Restaurants/tearoom.aspx