BLUEBEARD

Tuesday Evening

Once I got off work today I had two options. Option 1: Gym workout and less time to get ready. Option 2: Neighborhood workout and more time to get ready. I picked option 2 :) Laced up and ran a mile enjoying fall trees, pretty houses and good sidewalks. I was pretty chilly when I started, but sweating and shedding my fleece by the end!

Then it was time to get ready for birthday dinner 3! (4? 5? I've lost count...) ;) Zach and I headed to Indianapolis to meet Grant and Leah at a restaurant both new to us (Zach and I, Grant and Leah had been before) and pretty new to Indy. Beautiful sunset on the way to dinner!

The place? Bluebeard. Yet another one from the back of the Indy Monthly that was on our list.

 When we got there it was a pretty long wait and we debated not staying because we would get back to Muncie pretty late. In the end we chose to stay and I am so glad we did! What a fantastic restaurant! The interior is so eclectic with a mish mosh of antiquated items that all work together to make one cool design scheme.

While waiting I got to open my present from Grant and Leah and was bestowed with Trader Joe's goodies :)

Once seated it didn't take too long to figure out dinner and once the guys heard about a savory dessert special they HAD to have it for an appetizer: Zeppoli Italian doughnuts with a pear butter, pumpkin butter and foie gras mousse.

Zeppoli are warm, light and airy powdered doughnuts. I have had them before as a dessert with chocolate and caramel for dipping, but have never enjoyed them in the savory way before. I had just one and tried out all three dips. Heavenly. I could have just eaten the whole basket straight up with no sauce at all they were that good! This set the stage for a great dinner :)

My only complaint is that service was a bit slow and they brought out our food in courses instead of one dinner. Meaning Zach and I got our side of veggies that was going to accompany dinner out before our dinner. This was a small price to pay for greatness though! So out first was our side dish of roasted cauliflower, anchovy, pine nuts, mint, parmesan.

What an interesting combination of flavors that worked out perfectly! We took our time enjoying this scarfed this down as though we'd never tasted cauliflower before. I also had a bite of Grant's octopus on bruschetta with olives during this round. Best octopus I have ever tasted- no chewiness whatsoever!

After waiting a good bit dinner was served! I ordered a salad: duck confit, brussels sprouts, apple maytag blue cheese, pistachios mustard vinaigrette. I didn't know exactly what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting all the ingredients to be shredded!

It was brilliant! The duck confit added the nicest salty accent and the apples lend the sweetness, the cheese a bit (or a lot depending on the bite!) of tang, and all of the flavors (as a foodie would say) "married so well!"

I only ate half of this enormous salad and I have a feeling I know what tomorrow's lunch will be...

Zach ordered the charred pizza: sweet potato puree, chorizo, goat cheese, arugula, saba.

I ate 3/4 of a little slice of his and it was also incredibly good! For someone who is not the biggest fan of sweet potatoes, I loved it! Could have eaten the whole slice he gave me (and more!) but refrained... I also ate of Grant's mussels- not a bad bite the whole evening.

Bluebeard is definitely a place we will be returning to!