Northside Kitchenette

While on College Avenue, I, my husband and Corrin stopped by Northside Kitchenette for a quick lunch. This restaurant is owned by the same individuals who own the next door restaurant, the very popular Northside Social, open at night for dinner and drinks. We loved the interior and exterior of the breakfast/lunch "kitchenette". It is modern and reminscent of a Cafe Patachou and outside they have a romantic courtyard area complete with little white lights and pillows. We sat outside in the sultry weather and received excellent service by our waitress who responded to our need of a quick lunch. We ordered the Brisket Manhattan, the Munchie Supreme (pastrami, swiss cheese and Dijon remoulade on rye), and the Broiled Basa (broiled white fish with field greens, tomato, and lemon tartar on baguette), and their signature mushroom soup with cream and brandy. Corrin's sandwich was the best with the fish perfectly broiled and mild. She also enjoyed her ice tea - a citrus-flavored green tea. The Munchie was surprisingly flavorless; my husband thought that the pastrami was not peppery enough and too salty, and the remoulade was not apparent. In addition, he was not expecting fries to be filling up the inside of his sandwich. We all loved the homemade potato chips served with the sandwiches - a perfect thickness and flavor. Homemade pickles were another accompaniment, but not my favorite. The soup was quite good with a perfect blend of mushrooms, cream, and brandy, and a lovely Parmesan-coated crouton served beside it. My beef brisket Manhattan was disappointing in that the mashed potatoes seemed institutional in flavor as well as the gravy which was too salty. The beef, cooked in beer, was tasty and of good quality. The sourdough bread which I requested to be served on the side was nicely toasted. We all shared a banana cream pie dessert which was interestingly composed but the banana custard had an artificial banana flavor and was too thick. In summary, there were things we loved about the Kitchenette, the atmosphere and service. Some of the food was very good, but other food not so good. Prices were rather high for the hit-or-miss food.

Atmosphere - 8
Service - 8
Price - 6
Presentation - 8
Food - 6
Overall - 6.5

BRICS, a Fun Ice Cream Joint

BRICS, which stands for Broad Ripple Ice Cream Station, is a cool ice cream shop that moved into the old train station on the Monon. It is locally owned and features premium ice cream, about 40 flavors, from Sherman's in Michigan. They also features your typical sundaes, milkshakes and other good ice cream concoctions. They sell fair trade coffee, tea and hot chocolate as well. I took my children today and we had the cotton candy confetti ice cream on a handmade sugar cone and the white cake batter with chocolate fudge. I also sampled the coconut almond fudge. I was not wowed by any of the flavors but I did appreciate that they were not as sweet as some brands of ice cream.  I also loved what they have done to the place, inside and out. The decor inside is pleasing to both the young and old alike with soothing blues and browns and interesting, comfortable seating. The outside  is pleasant inviting passers-by with its deck tables and chairs. I especially appreciated the fact that this place is very environmentally aware and actively recycles. I like this place enough to come back and find a flavor I love. Suggestions?

Atmosphere - 9
Service - 7
Price - 7
Presentation - 7
Food - 6
Overall - 7

Parcha Sweets Field Trip

Parcha Sweets has been in Broad Ripple since 2010, owned by two sisters from Puerto Rico. One of the sisters, Marian Mulero, is a pastry chef, who graduated from a Le Cordon Bleu Academy in Orlando,Florida. The bakery is housed in a former pizza establishment and is located on 62nd St. My first encounter with Parcha Sweets was at the Broad Ripple farmer’s market. I did not give it much notice since my two favorite bakery vendors, Rene’s Bakery and Circle City Sweets are also selling their scrumptious fares there. There is also Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse to consider.

Yesterday, my daughter took a summer camp field trip to Parcha Sweets as part of her cooking class. She was extremely excited since she had heard they have very good cupcakes. She was not sure if they would get to help make the pastries but she was definitely up for sampling! Imagine my disappointment and, especially hers, when all they did was file through the small bakery. Not even a cookie! After hearing this, we immediately drove to the bakery after class and I let her pick out a treat.

There were predominantly cupcakes displayed of many colors and flavors, all with elaborate icings. In the bottom of the case were a myriad of cake pops. In another case were a few high-brow pastries, some quite beautiful,  including tres leche. We picked out a wedding cake cupcake and birthday cake cupcake and my toddler wanted a cake pop. I also had to try the tres leche with its promised soaked sponge cake in four different milks and its marshmallow fluff topping. My toddler would not leave the premises until he had had his treat. He easily found a child’s size chair and table to claim. The seating was fun and cramped. I decided to give him half of his cake pop but it was like cutting into a brick due to its hard coating. Inside was a doughy brown middle whose flavor I could not deduce except that it was beyond sweet! Whew! Which brings me to my next point. Why in America have we found cake pops and cupcakes with inch-thick icings to be so enticing? Are there any adults present?? This seems to be so trendy and hopefully, it will disappear in a few years. Even for my children, I do not wish for them to gorge on extremely sweet balls that are enticingly called cake pops. What is more depressing is that such a seemingly talented chef has most of her case filled with these trendy and overly sweet and rich items. We have enough cupcake bakeries in this town! Enough of my displeasure about the current dessert food scene.

The birthday cake cupcake was comprised of this strange brown cake with unidentifiable flavor. Of all the items, the wedding cupcake was the best and truly tasted like a wedding cake with its strong almond undertones and good texture– again way too much icing but very nice flavors. We sampled the tres leche later as an entire family. I stuck a spoon into the foil ramekin and found almost all liquid and no cake! I know the cake should be soaked with its milks but in this particular case the cake was not perceivable. Hmmm. Did it even get baked? Sadly, a huge disappointment. I called the establishment later in the day and complained about the tres leche and was met with a heart-felt apology and the offer of a gift card. I will give this place another try even though I was not impressed with their treatment of a class of small children on a field trip and their baked goods. Why another try? Because I like the idea of this place and that it is a local effort by two sisters, one well-trained.  (Well Corrin and I did try it again the following day this time purchasing more cupcakes and a petite cherry pie. The pie was average and the cupcakes good but too sweet and rich. My husband was given the leftovers and had similar complaints made independent of our comments. We all found the cake portion of the cupcakes to be dry and dense. The exception was the Smores cupcake.)

Atmosphere – 6

Service – 8

Presentation – 10

Food – 5-6

Price – 7 (almost everything was $2.99 each)

Overall - 6

Poccadio Moroccan Grill

For lunch this week, Corrin and I decided to try the new Poccadio Moroccan Grill & Sandwiches owned by the same individual who owns Saffron Café, which we have enjoyed in the past. "Poccadio" is a Morrocan word for fast food and this is a casual eatery that allows you to build your own sandwich, salad or platter. It is located in a very busy Broad Ripple plaza. Once we secured a parking spot we headed in and were met by very pleasant Middle Eastern décor with rich colors and tile. Most of the tables were of the elevated type where you have to perch and eat your food.  At the front of the restaurant was a make-your own sandwich, salad or plate ordering area similar to some other chains. We had barely looked at the menu when we were asked if we would like to try a sampler plate.
The sampler plate itself could have been lunch for both of us in that it contained every piece of grilled meat available as well as sides, garnishes and condiments.  We settled on the Marrakesh Special (grilled kofta made of ground beef topped with lettuce, tomato, picked onions, hummus, and heera, and an eggplant (zaalouk) sandwich topped with a yogurt cucumber sauce, both on pita. Corrin ordered a mint iced tea. Strangely, we were given the option of more traditional leavened house-baked breads (Moroccan baguettes?) as well as pita bread. The service was slow even though the place was rather empty at noon.  Staff was friendly which always helps. As expected our sandwiches were quite tasty although we both agreed the pita was dry and hard – a plus for my sandwich that was oozing juices.  Corrin enjoyed the flavorful tea although it was pretty sweet.  My kids were whining because there were not really good options for them, picky children that they are, although a staff person kindly offered my toddler an orange.  Most sandwiches were about $8.00 and platters were $12.00 which we found a little steep for lunch. I brought the leftovers home to my husband, and he loved them! All in all, Poccadio is a welcomed addition to the Broad Ripple area, with interesting and flavorful food choices.

Atmospshere -  7

Service – 6 (due to slowness which should improve with time)

Presentation – 7

Price – 6

Food – 8

Overall – 7