Hoosier Hospitality (with some Royal Treatment in the Queen City)

In the past year Guy has visited several places in the Indianapolis area and although I have been to Indy once, it was only for a work meeting at the airport, so I really have never been out of the airport, making Indy a new city for me.  There are 9 places in the state of Indiana that have been featured on the show and with my usual luck the place I really wanted to go to was too far to get to on a 2 day trip.  In planning these trips I use Google Maps to plan my driving and as I planned I saw that Cincinnati is about 2 hours away and there are 2 places that I really wanted to try there so I traded the one place that is too far to drive for 2 a little bit closer.

I took the first flight on a Thursday morning from Dulles to Indy arriving there about 10am.  My plans were to stay until Saturday morning, but two things came up to change my plans, full flights on Saturday and the coming of the huge Hurricane Irene.  I would make it a shorter visit flying home on the following night.  The flight in was very scenic flying over the city seeing the huge Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts and the upcoming Super Bowl.

I got the rental car and headed about 2 hours southeast to the Queen City of Cincinnati, Ohio.  On the drive I passed a place that made me smile and surprised me.  The small town of Milan, Indiana (pronounced MY-lan).  Milan High School with a student total of just a few hundred won the Indiana State High School Championship in 1954 and was the inspiration for the 1986 movie "Hoosiers" with Gene Hackman and favorite movie of mine.  I didn't have time to stop there but thought it was pretty cool just to see the sign! 





I arrived at my first stop "Blue Ash Chili" in the town of Blue Ash just outside Cincinnati.  The place was packed but they really put out a good fast meal and I got the signature 3-way Chili meal.  Cincinnati Chili is pretty unique, it has a sweeter taste and also has a slight cinnamon taste.  It is not my favorite type of chili but the chili at Blue Ash was delicious!



3-WAY Chili at Blue Ash - The cheese makes it!

I was able to talk with the owner and she was excited that I stopped in and told me about the taping and the fun they had with Guy.  She also asked if I would like to receive their new Blue Ash/DDD t-shirt when they get them back in stock?  I didn't have to think too long about that and I hope to receive that shirt soon and told them I would wear it on some of my upcoming DDD adventures! 

 Terry's Turf Club

Terry's Lawn

This is Cool!

From Blue Ash it was a short ride into Cincinnati to a place that when I saw it on the show I told myself, "I MUST GO THERE!".  I think I have said that about maybe 10 places so my excitement grew as I got closer to "Terry's Turf Club" and I was not disappointed!  The restaurant that looks like an old home has a yard full of neon signs and lawn ornaments that invites you into a real fun and great restaurant.  As I entered it was not very busy and it really isn't a big place but it is really cool!  There are neon signs all over the walls and they have 3 of these bottle shaped coolers from the Bevador Company all are decorated as old time beer bottles.  Terry's specialty is gourmet burgers.  On the tables are bowls of peanuts and like many cool places just throw the shells onto the floor!  I ordered the burger with Bleu Stilton cheese and a burgundy truffle wine sauce on the side.  The burger stood on it's own, very tasty. I actually dipped potato chips into the very strong wine sauce.  I was able to meet Terry and had a long conversation with him.  He told me that the Bevador Corporation went out of business in 1955 and the three coolers are over 60 years old and that just added to the ambiance of the place!  All of the staff there were super nice and really look after their patrons.  I was excited to visit Terry's and my visit exceeded my expectations!



1950's Vintage Bevadoor Cooler at Terry's Turf Club

I headed back to Indy for the rest of my visits. My dinner stop was at a family place called "Steer-In family Restaurant".  This diner has a huge menu and a very 1950's feel to it.  Their menu is like a Jersey style diner with alot of choices and big portions.  I tried the French Dip Sandwich.  It was big and delicious.  The best part was that the Au Jus Dip was not too salty, most of the times I have had a French Dip, the dip is like a brown salt solution, not here!  The owner came over to sign my book and we talked about the filming of the show and how they laid out the restaurant.  She has been a fan of the show since it started and told me they were so excited to have Guy visit and feature them. 

Steer-In Family Restaurant

 She told me that every time it shows the next week there is a huge spike of business and they are looking forward to the next showing and also the Super Bowl, it is a great place to try on your next visit to Indy!  On to the next stop and the biggest disappointment of my DDD travels. I arrived at "The Tamale Place" at about 7pm a good two hours before they closed for the day.  On the show they specialized in both authentic Mexican tamales and something they call "sweets" and desert style of tamale.  that is what I was looking forward to.  I arrived there and they told me that they were not only sold out of ALL of the sweets tamales but most of the other products.  I tried two "Cuban Torpedoes" which were small cigar shaped tamales and they were ok at best, I really wanted to try the apple pie tamale, pretty sad that they ran out 3 hours before closing, I will not be returning there!

I started my last day in Indy heading for breakfast at "3 Sisters Cafe" in North Indianapolis.  I tried the DDD Corn Cakes with a Berry sauce and these pancake like cakes were very good.  The cafe is in an old house with alot of very cool art on the walls.  From there it was off to West Lafayette, Indiana about an hours drive away and home to Purdue University and a place that Guy visited in his first season on the show, "Triple X Family Restaurant"  The restaurant is named for Triple X Root Beer a regional drink and very tasty.  It is for all intents and purposes a burger joint but don't call them hamburgers, they are "STEAKBURGERS".  The meals are named after famous Purdue sports alumni. 

Triple-X in West Lafayette, Indiana

 They have the Drew Brees Breakfast, the Duane Pervis All American Burger and I got the Bernie Flowers All Pro Burger with fries and a iced mug of Triple X Root Beer.  The food was great but the building is awesome with orange and black vertical stripes all around the building.  I got to met the owner and he is good friends with Guy, they get together whenever Guy is in the Chicago area.  From there is was back to the Indy area.

A Jersey Ripper Dog with Texas Dog on the side

My next stop was "Jersey's Cafe" in the town of Carmel, Indiana.  This place is in a strip mall and as you walk in you leave Indiana and enter New Jersey.  All the decorations, staff, and the menu is pure Jersey.  I had to try the one thing that is unique to Jersey, the Ripper!  A deep fried hot dog that has it's skin ripped apart in the fryer.  I have always wanted to try these but have been a little scared, but it was really good.  I got the owner to sign m y book and he told me that his place is very unique to Indiana and they get specialty Jersey food shipped to them and the pace is very popular!

I was so full that when I got to my last stop "Zest Exciting Food Creations" not too far from 3 Sisters I got one of their homemade Brownies that was topped with caramel and included sea salt and it gave it a very unique and delicious taste.

Zest Exciting Food Creations Caramel/Sea Salt Brownie

 

I headed back to the airport of the flight home and now having visited 182 places, 200 and Hawaii is getting so much closer!