The Greek Islands Restaurant - Indianapolis, IN

When you're from Indianapolis and people come to visit, the classic thinking is that you have to take them to Shapiro's Deli.  No one will argue that the food at Shapiro's is good, but who wants to take people to be herded like cattle through a cafeteria line to buy an overpriced, overstuffed sandwich?  Not me.  When folks come to visit me there are a few places that I always try to take them and one of my favorites is one door south of Shapiro's on Meridian Street.  That place is The Greek Islands restaurant.

This is my blog and I get to decide what it's about and I decided at the start this blog would be about good (or bad if I have to point it out) food cooked at locally owned restaurants.  And that is exactly what you get at The Greek Islands.  Great food at good prices cooked and served by an army of relatives.  Brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, you name it.  After their parents came from Greece and originally opened the restaurant, siblings Angela and George Stergiopoulos carry on the tradition.  Angela runs the back of the house and churns out spectacular authentic Greek cuisine, while George is eager to greet you at the door as he runs the front of the house.

The restaurant itself is a converted house and so there is limited seating.  If there is a Colts game in town, I would call ahead and the lunchtime crowd is a mix of all financial strata, but arrive at noon and you'll likely be waiting.  The weekends are extra fun as the restaurant brings in a belly dancer on Friday and Saturday evenings to entertain the crowd.  When the weather permits, there is also an outdoor dining area.  All of this stands as a testament to the success of the restaurant and I must remind you that if you do have to wait for a table, good things come to those who wait.

I don't go to Greek Islands for the decor or the belly dancers, but instead I go for the food.  The food is one part fresh ingredients, one part authentic recipes, and four parts of chef Angela's love and passion.  I am convinced that no one else would be able to create the culinary flavors she constructs in each heavenly bite.  All of the traditional items are on the menu from gyros to souvlaki and from pasticchio to moussaka.

Combo Platter with Pasticchio, Moussaka, Gyro, and Tiropita

One of my all-time favorites is the Kreatopita, or meat pie.  Spiced ground beef and feta cheese is wrapped snugly in a delicate blanket of phyllo dough and baked to crispy perfection.  The pie gets a light coating of tomato sauce and is served with Greek potatoes and green beans.

Kreatopita with Greek Potatoes and Green Beans

Let's talk about the potatoes for a second here.  These potatoes are huge wedges that are firm, yet still cooked through and they are cooked in a garlicky, oily concoction that is so amazing.  I could very easily eat about six potatoes worth of these on every visit.

The real treat is the Saganaki.  No, it's not a japanese drink.  It is the most delicious cheese you will ever have the pleasure of tasting.  Angela takes Graviera cheese and grills it to form a nice crust on both sides and then it is flambeed with some Ouzo tableside.  The server will pour on the alcohol and light the dish while the whole dining room yells "Opa!"  After a fresh lemon is squeezed over it, you cut off a piece and pinch it between a pillowy, soft piece of pita bread.  The cheese oozes out of the pita as you bite.  Let me tell you, this is a truly religious experience.

A good Greek meal wouldn't be complete without a little dessert and if they haven't run out by the time you sit down to eat, Greek Islands offers several delicious options.  Baklava is of course a staple.  The crispness of the phyllo dough and the crunch of the walnuts is covered in a honey syrup when baked that would make anyone feel diabetic after a piece.  If that's the price to be paid, however I am all for it.  Chef Angela also prepares Rizogalo, a rice pudding with the recipe straight from her mother, and Galactobouriko, a custard-filled phyllo dish.

Baklava

The bottom line is that Greek Islands is run by a family that cares about Indianapolis, cares about each other and is passionate about serving quality food.  I've never had bad food or even the hint of poor service there and I always waddle away stuffed and happy.  You may not think Indianapolis is known for Greek food, and perhaps you are right in the grand scheme of things, but Greek Islands has been getting it right for years now and I look forward to dining there again and again for years to come.

Brother's Barbeque and Grill - Central City, KY

Have you ever been in a love-hate relationship with a restaurant?  A restaurant that behaves like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?  The type of place that reminds you of Seinfeld's girlfriend.  The girlfriend that looks like a supermodel in that certain booth at Monk's Diner, yet closely resembles the bride of Frankenstein in the back of the cab on the way home.  For me that place is Brother's Barbeque and Grill in Central City, Kentucky.

I found Brother's over a year ago when I was in Central City for work over a lunch hour.  I drove by the restaurant and saw some smoke rising gently into the air and I knew I had to stop in and give it a try.  As the leader of a professional competition barbecue team, I am always up for trying a new spot.  So in we went.

The decor at Brother's is decidedly eclectic.  The place is part restaurant and part "antique" store.  Of course you have to use the term, antique loosely.  Matchbox cars and other kitschy items are all priced to sell.  Albeit, the prices are a little steep.  Maybe it's just me, but $15 a framed, unsigned photograph of Jeff Gordon's DuPont Chevrolet seems a bit steep.

As for the food, I enjoyed it on my first experience.  The ribs were full spareribs with a good smoky flavor and were served sans sauce.  That is the way barbecue meat should be served.  Let the customer decide the sauce they want and the amount of sauce that's right for them.  Brother's has two sauces to offer.  One is spicy with plenty of black pepper and one is sweet with notes of mustard and brown sugar.  The sides were traditional barbecue sides like coleslaw, baked beans, chips, potato salad, and more.  The sides weren't exceptional, but the barbecue was good.  In addition to the ribs, I also got some pulled pork, which is different down in Kentucky.  My pulled pork was chopped fine and had an mustard-like color to it, leading me to believe that it was lightly sauced before plating.  Overall, I found my first trip to Brother's to be a good one.  A subsequent work trip a month or so after the first trip was also a pleasurable experience.

Fast forward to two days ago and I had a carload full of my family barreling down the Western Kentucky Parkway.  We were headed out to a family farm for the Labor Day weekend.  It dawned on me that we wouldn't be far from Brother's on our journey and so the rest of my family reluctantly agreed to suffer through the four mile journey off of the Parkway in order to dine at Brother's.  After two successful meals, I was talking up the food to make it known that my family's suffering would be rewarded.

We arrived at Brother's just before 8 p.m. and about an hour before closing.  After seating ourselves, it seemed to all be downhill after that.  After not being greeted for some time, I poked my head around the corner and was told that someone would be with me soon.  The server seemed flustered as she was tending to an order at the drive-thru window.  Several minutes later she appeared and we attempted to order drinks and meals for the entire family.  When I travel at full capacity my family has seven members, most of which are young children.  So we order quickly in an attempt to prevent any flareups in the temperament department.  The server seemed put out that we were there in the last hour of the day.  In exchange she proceeded to let us know that they were out of sweet tea and chicken tenders, thus destroying the orders of our children.  Using some creativity we were able to place a full order.

When the food arrived, it looked less than inspired.  My ribs were full spareribs with the brisket still attached and the silver skin still on the back.  While they weren't dried out, it was apparent that they were some of the last ribs left for the day.  The potato salad was decent and had a nice mustard flavor with some large chunks of potatoes.  I also got the pulled pork.  Resembling a hockey puck in its shape, the pork tasted like a collection of sawdust mashed together to form something resembling pulled pork.  The sweet sauce was good as it had been in the past, but the hot sauce was too hot.  I enjoy heat and spice, but it was immediately evident that someone put far too much pepper in this batch.

The best part of the meal was the bun that came with each entree.  The roll was perfectly round with a nice salty crust and a sweet fluffy interior.  The problem, I suspect, is that the rolls are not made in-house, but rather sourced elsewhere and just heated.

Half Rack of Ribs and Pulled Pork Combo with Potato Salad and BBQ Chips

Given the service and the quality of the food, I spent the last hour of the drive to the family farm, apologizing to my own family for subjecting them to the detour.  A small town restaurant without a lot of customers should be excited at the opportunity to generate more sales and provide a positive dining experience.  Instead, the staff seemed more intent on getting the tables cleaned and the doors shut.  The prices aren't all that cheap either, but on previous visits I was happy to pay the $15.95 for the half rack of ribs and pulled pork combo.

If I happen to be passing through, I may give Brother's another chance, but I hope that they don't run out of the sweet tea, a southern barbecue staple.  I also hope that their service rebounds and makes it an enjoyable experience.  I always look for ways to support barbecue restaurants and locally owned establishments, but I also believe that customers deserve to be treated well and given a good experience.  Brother's didn't hit the mark recently, but hopefully it was just an odd night.