Istanbul Café

After a drought with no lunch outings, the Duo finally escaped from work to dine at the Istanbul Cafe on Indy’s northside. Truth be told, it was not our original destination. We had planned to dine at another ethnic restaurant, but lo and behold, the place was closed on Monday. No worries, as this area of Indy has plenty of independent and ethnic food options. We were very glad that we chose the Istanbul Cafe as it was wonderful!

The restaurant’s interior is very relaxing–one of understated elegance with a quiet ambience. We were seated immediately (given the choice of a booth, yay!) and ordered up our waters. As soon as Jennifer saw the stuffed cabbage rolls on the menu, it was pretty much a done deal. She momentarily thought about the seafood casserole–a tempting dish of scallops, shrimp, salmon and tilapia cooked in a clay pot with tomatoes, mushroom, onions, green peppers and garlic topped with mozzarella cheese– but the inclusion of calamari veered her away from it. Sheila ordered the döner kebab, and both of us chose the lunch special for one dollar more which includes a choice of soup, salad or humus.

A plate of warm and fluffy pita arrived immediately accompanied by olive oil that was accented with a nice dash of crushed red pepper. The spring salad mix that we both ordered had a nice mix of greens and tomato slices with a light vinaigrette. When our food arrived, it looked beautiful and simple. Nothing that special or fancy, just great food beautifully arranged on plate.

Jennifer’s stuffed cabbage rolls were delicious. The cabbage was soft but not gooey and the beef had a tasty kick to it. There was just the right amount of the yummy tomato sauce and it accented the cabbage rolls nicely. Sheila and Jennifer were in agreement that the cucumber, carrot and green bean side dish was great! We have been disappointed in other restaurant’s treatment of the veggie medley side dish–ranging from flavorless to downright awful–but this side was crunchy and nicely seasoned. Sheila loved the tasty seasoned beef and lamb slices and thought the delicate rice pilaf complimented the dish very well.

What about dessert, you may ask? The offerings included a pistachio chocoloate cake, rice pudding, two custard-like desserts and the künefe. Sheila wasn’t tempted by any of the treats, but Jennifer was intrigued by the künefe–layers of pastry with unsalted goat cheese and topped with shredded pastry, shaved nuts and a syrup. Thankfully our server brought two plates and silverware, because the dessert was about 4 inches in diameter. It was very light and intriguing– the pastry dough seemed toasted almost like shaved coconut strips held together with syrup and accented with whipped cream and a split strawberry. It definitely was different but a sweet end to our satisfying meals!

Our favorable impressions of the place were only strengthened after we visited the small bathroom – it was immaculate, beautifully decorated and even had a nice aroma thanks to the incense sticks on the counter. We definitely feel that a clean bathroom is always a sign of a well run establishment.

We were very happy with our dining experience at Istanbul Café and we look forward to taking our coworkers with us for our next visit!

Food ***
Atmosphere ***
Service **1/2 (they would have gotten another half, but dang it, another server succumbs to the “must clear table” routine when one person is done and the other isn’t. Stop it!!!!)
Overall ***

Istanbul Café

New York, Day 5: Part 2: The Cloisters and Beyond

Finally, what we’d been waiting for. Our visit to The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It takes awhile to get there, because it’s about as far away from everything as it is possible to be, and still be in Manhattan. Don’t believe us? Check out Google. Yeah, it’s way up there. But that’s ok, because all we *had* to do all day was visit there, and leave for the airport around 5. Plenty of time.

So one hour, three subways, and a long walk through Fort Tryon Park later, we arrive at the Cloisters. Jennifer swoons. Lots of picture-taking ensues. Sheila can’t believe that she hasn’t filled up the memory card on her camera yet. Jennifer is still lusting over the artwork.

Hundreds of pictures and several hours later, we stumble back outside and make our way to the subway for our return to Midtown Manhattan. This is when we discover that there are some definite disadvantages to riding the subway on some of the more deserted lines in the middle of the day. Namely, you may end up on a car with only some really strange characters for company. And by strange, we mean drunk and/or stoned. And don’t forget one of the guys pulling up his pants because, in the words of his fellow drunk “he just had s_ex!!!”*

We’re not sure if they were serious, and we really don’t want to know. What we do know is that at the very next stop, Sheila dragged Jennifer out of that car and we ran up the track and jumped back on another car. And prayed that the threesome were too drunk/stoned/worn out from earlier activities to follow us. Fortunately, our prayers were answered and we were spared any more contact with them.

An hour later, we finally arrived back at Grand Central Terminal. By this time it was after 3:00, we were starving, and kind of skittish about searching for a place for lunch after our horrific breakfast experience. So we cheated and hit the food court at GCT. After a loop around the entire area to scope out our choices, we settled on pizza from Two Boots Pizza. After all, we hadn’t yet had any pizza during our visit so it did seem appropriate.

After careful consideration, Jennifer got a Newman slice (insert your own joke here. She’s tired of mine.) It had great cheese, peppers, crumbly and spicy sausage all on a tiny crispy crust. Her verdict: “Yum!” Sheila had a Sicilian slice. The menu warned of the spicy sauce, but Sheila thought it was great with just a slight kick. Of course, she does go through bottles of hot sauce at an alarming rate, so others might think differently about the sauce’s heat level. Topped only with mozzarella cheese, it was on a Sicilian crust, which turned out to be nice and thick. Very tasty!

Nothing would top off our meal of pizza better than some ice cream, or more specifically, gelato, so it was off to Ciao Bella Gelato. Jennifer got the maple ginger, and Sheila got a scoop of double chocolate and one of fresh mint. If you’re in New York and have the opportunity to go to a Ciao Bella Gelato please do Sheila a favor and get the fresh mint gelato. It’s just that good. You will be warned in advance, and they will make you try a sample before they will serve you a full portion, because it’s nothing like normal mint ice cream. That is because it is fresh mint. But it is wonderful.

The pizza and gelato might have been simple, but they hit the spot nicely and gave us plenty of time to sit back and do some more people watching. We did come up with a number of questions, most pressingly: just how long was the lady at the flower stand going to rip pieces of paper off the giant roll? We may never know the answer because when we left, she was still ripping.

After we’d had all the people watching we could stand, we finally made our way back to the hotel to pick up our held bags and wait for our shuttle to the airport. And wait. And wait. Because apparently our shuttle wasn’t ever going to pick us up, and we finally accepted that fact once they were almost 45 minutes late. So Sheila got to flag down a taxi for the first time ever! And thank you Mr. taxi driver who drove quickly and carefully and got us to LaGuardia in plenty of time.

Especially since our flight was delayed 3 hours. So we had plenty of time to hit the food court at the airport, because our pizza and gelato had long since worn off. Limited choices there left us eating McDonalds, and happy to have it. Finally our flight was called, and no more delays meant we eventually made it back to Indianapolis. Safe and sound. All good things have to end, and our trip to New York was finally at an end.

Miss some of our New York Adventures? Relive the experience, or at least the food at:

Day 1: Hudson Place
Day 2, Part 1: Street Vendors
Day 2, Part 2: Duke’s
Day 3, Part 1: We Hate the Bronx
Day 3, Part 2: Salmon River
Day 4, Part 1: No Longer Befuddled in the Bronx
Day 4, Part 2: Langan’s
Day 5, Part 1: Pershing Square

*Yes, we’re using a weird spelling to try and thwart sickos from finding this post via a Google search for that word. Because people are freaks.

Balboa’s

Driving down Meridian one day on another dining duo outing, we were surprised to see the Subway that was former located at the corner of 22nd Street was now replaced with Balboas, which advertised Philly Steaks and Pizza.

Considering Sheila’s quest to find the best Philly Cheese Steak in Indianapolis, obviously we couldn’t wait long before making a trek to see what Balboa’s had to offer.

The menu is brief; a few sandwiches and pizza along with chips and Tastykakes* are it besides drinks. However, the sandwiches all come with your choice of toppings: Provolone or American Cheese, Cheez Whiz, green peppers, banana peppers, onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, mayo, A1 sauce & pizza sauce are the options. Sandwiches are all prepared fresh as you wait, and are served on genuine Philadelphia Amoroso buns (no, our taste buds aren’t that specialized; there’s a sign on the front of the sandwich case).

Service is friendly and efficient. The atmosphere is stark; the seating and other fixtures are all apparetntly holdovers from the place’s Subway days, so it’s a lot of bright yellow.

All three of us got the same order: a half original Philly sandwich. Beef version of course. The sandwiches were hot and juicy and very tasty. If Sheila were going to quibble (which, as you surely know by now, she always does), her onions were a little undercooked for her liking. But the banana peppers were a fantastic addition which she will now always want to get on her cheesesteaks. Yummmm!

None of us ordered a Tastykake. The only types offered that afternoon were Lemon Pie and KoffeeKake (i.e. crumbcake). Neither Sheila nor Jennifer were that tempted by those varieties, especially when we knew there were chocolate brownies waiting for us back at work. Chocolate always wins over lemon or crumbcake.

Food **
Atmosphere 1/2
Service ** (good for what it is, counter service)
Overall ** (we’re not going here for atmosphere)

2208 N. Meridian

* What? You’ve never heard of Tastykakes? Obviously you’ve not spent much time on the East Coast, especially around the Philadelphia area. Sheila has had them during her visits to Baltimore, but Jennifer had never heard of them.

In additional Tastykake lore, brought to you courtesy of Wikipedia, apparently Marvin Harrison (the fantastic #88), a Philadelphia native, gets 5 boxes of Tastykakes shipped to him every week when he’s in Indianapolis. Which just makes us wonder who exactly eats them, because the man has what, .0001% body fat? Maybe he just inhales the aroma & thinks about home. Although this factoid is uncited (what do you expect, we are doing our research via Wikipedia) so perhaps this is untrue or the Tasty Bakery merely wishing their products were that popular with the wonderful Harrison.

New York, Day 5: Part 1: Pershing Square

Remember everything we’ve said about how great the service has been everyplace we’ve eaten in New York? Well, you can scratch that “everyplace.” It was TERRIBLE here. Perhaps we shouldn’t have tried eating at a place right across the street from Grand Central Terminal. Maybe they are so busy with travelers who don’t really have any other good choices that they don’t care about what kind of service they do or do not offer. Whatever the reason, it was awful. But I guess we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

Our last day in New York, and we had big plans so we wanted to get a heartier breakfast than the coffee and pastry that had been our fare previous days. Having passed the Pershing Square every day as we entered and exited GCT, we thought it would be a convenient spot to eat and then head out on our adventure. We got a table quickly, but that was the only positive aspect of the service. Sheila was COMPLETELY ignored by the server the entire time. Maybe she took offense to the Dr. Pepper can Sheila walked in with, but it was empty and she hadn’t found a trash can anywhere to throw it away, and hadn’t wanted to litter. Maybe she really liked Jennifer and was jealous that Sheila was getting to be her dining companion. Maybe she was annoyed when, after she asked if we had a drink order (while looking at Jennifer), Sheila piped up first to ask for water, before Jennifer could give her order (in Sheila’s defense, she believed that Jennifer hadn’t decided exactly what she was going to order, so it didn’t seem like such a heinous offense). Maybe there was no root cause for the dislike she felt, but whatever the reason, it was evident.

Jennifer got her coffee promptly. Sheila waited for her water. We ordered our breakfasts. Jennifer – eggs over easy, toast, home fries, bacon. Sheila – side of corned beef hash and a side of home fries (she’s not really a breakfast fan). Jennifer’s eggs were blah, with no seasoning whatsoever, to the point where she said that she makes better. The bacon was limp (ewwwww), potatoes flavorless, and the coffee was waaaaayyyy too strong – she even had to add cream, which is not something she ever does. Sheila’s corned beef has was ok but had a lot of very fatty parts in it, and the home fries were disgusting – cold and tasteless. There wasn’t enough salt and pepper at the table to give those things some life.

Did we mention that Sheila is still waiting for her water? Because she was, until halfway through her meal, after flagging down a busboy and asking for some. That didn’t set well with the server either. Surely we don’t need to mention that there were no refills offered.

The setting was nice but the overall experience was so bad. We had been so rushed throughout the meal, except when it came time to get our bill, then the server was nowhere to be found. Finally, FINALLY, she dropped the check, and we dropped some cash and escaped. It was, by far, the worst dining experience we’ve ever had together.

And did we mention it was overpriced?

Food 1/2. Nothing was good.
Service 1/2. Seriously, she’s lucky to get a 1/2 star.
Atmosphere **
Overall 1/2. Sorry, the cool atmosphere can’t begin to make up for the horror that was the food and service.

90 E 42nd Street.

Costa del Sol Restaurante Salvadoran

Finally the dining duo is back in action, following a hiatus because Jennifer was lucky enough to travel to Brazil for three weeks, leaving Sheila behind in cold, snowy Indiana. And then Sheila got sick and missed a bunch of work, and then we were both scrambling to catch up on stuff that hadn’t been finished, so, yeah, it’s been awhile since we went out to lunch together to have anything to report.

And where did we go as we renewed our dining trips? To a place brand new to both of us: Costa del Sol. Located in a strip mall near a number of other small ethnic restaurants (reviews to come, as soon as we visit more) on 38th street near Lafayette. And if you’re looking for it, the only sign really visible from the road is the one reading “Restaurante Salvadoran,” “Costa del Sol” is still written on the windows.

Once inside we had a few moments of confusion over if we were supposed to order at the counter, which had a menu board behind it and prominent cash register, or if we were supposed to wait for someone to tell us we could have a seat, or if we should just sit ourselves down. Eventually, we managed to figure out that we could be seated if we wanted to dine in. Menus were quickly provided, both English and Spanish versions, althoughthe English version still contained a lot of unfamiliar terms, such as “pupusa.”

Turns out a pupusa is a very traditional dish from El Salvadore, made from a thick corn tortilla stuffed with cheese and sometimes other items – beans, meat, etc. Sounded kinda like a quesadilla to us, and we figured we had to try it to do a comparison. Plain cheese pupusas for both of us please! It’s easy to try new stuff when it’s only $1.50. What a deal! According to Wikipedia, a pupusa is more similar to the Mexican gordita, and they don’t compare it to a quesadilla. Yes, we looked it up; had to confirm spelling somehow and that seemed easiest. Despite Wikipedia’s claims, Sheila still felt the pupusa was reminiscent of a quesadilla, with the premier difference being in the tortilla; it was much thicker than the super thin flour and corn tortillas she’s used to. Although it was tasty, she prefers the thinner tortillas, perhaps just due to familiarity.

After much deliberation, Sheila eventually decided on the beef with onions, tomatoes, and peppers. It was served with rice, beans, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and a slice of avocado. While the tomatoes were anemic and the avocado tasteless, everything else was delicious! And it was the middle of winter, so it’s not surprising that the tomato and avocado weren’t the best. The rice was especially tasty, and contrasted nicely with the spicy beef.

Jennifer quickly decided upon the spicy marinated beef with fried yucca. The yucca was crispy and starchy, but overall we both decided we preferred the rice included with Sheila’s dish. Jennifer’s beef however, was fantastic; deliciously spicy and nicely seared. If we could just combine the beef from Jennifer’s with everything else from Sheila’s we might create the perfect dish for us.

The atmosphere was entertaining at least; we had some admirers in the other customers, the TV blaring “Hot Shots part deux” added an extra something, and the display of perfume for sale was something we’ve never before seen in a dining establishment. Maybe we just don’t visit the right sorts of establishments. Although tempted, we did pass on the opportunity to purchase Britn*y Sp*ars purfume for the bargain price of $24.95*

But the best part of the whole meal was our pupusa plates. Unlike the typical restaurant plates our main dishes had arrived on, these were served on small little plates with a decorative design. And the design?

Precious Moments.

Now that’s something special that you just don’t see everywhere.

Food **
Atmosphere *
Service **
Overall **

Costa del Sol Restaurante Salvadoran
3839 Moller Road

*trying to avoid searches for her name from turning up here.