Aladdin Pita

Aladdin Pita
http://aladdinpita.com/
3750 W. 80th Ln., Merrillville, IN 46410
QISA (3.5, 3.5, 4, 4), Vegetarian-Friendly, $5-9

Well, now I have three reasons to stop in Merrillville, Indiana. The first, of course, is that sometimes I need to fill up on gas on my way through to Chicago. The second, is the Albanese Candy Factory, a maker of fine gummies (not vegetarian) and chocolates (hopefully vegetarian) with a show room that will make you feel like a…well…you know, kid in a candy store. Their billboards along the highway are colorful, showy, and guaranteed to make your children harangue you into stopping, no matter how late you are running.

The third reason is Aladdin Pita, a wonderful Middle Eastern restaurant in the unlikeliest of strip malls in the unlikeliest of towns. One simply does not expect to find wonderfully tasty falafel, hummus, pita, tziziki, and baba ganoush next door to an establishment named the Dawg House Pub.

I list the restaurant as Vegetarian-Friendly, and it truly is. I counted at least ten ovo-lacto or vegan entrees on the menu. All of the vegetarian dishes are clearly marked on the menu, which always gives me much greater confidence than a waiter who hedges before saying, “uh, yeah, sure it’s vegetarian. Yeah. You can eat fish, right?”

My meal began with a bowl of yellow split pea soup. I found the soup a bit too salty for my taste until I squeezed the accompanying slice of lemon into the bowl, and then suddenly the soup was a savory blend of salty, sour, and a touch of umame. The soup came with a bowl of soft pita bread and four dips: baba ghanoush, hummus, Arabian salad (cucumber, tomato, parsley, and mint), and yoghurt salad (cucumber, yoghurt, mint, parsley, and olive oil). The yoghurt salad surprised me the most. It tasted like tziziki, but it had chunks of cucumber which made it somewhere between a dip and salad. Really good either way you look at it. The hummus leaned more to the tahini than to the garlic and lemon, but was very tasty. The pita was baked just enough to be soft on the inside but still have some integrity on the outside. And that was just the first course.

I ordered the pita pie as an appetizer, which turned out to be a triangular pita wrapped around a filling of spinach, meat, or cheese. I opted for the spinach, which had a tang of lemon in it. Personally, I would have recommended adding some feta to the spinach to make it taste more like spanakopita, but it worked pretty well as is.

I also ordered the falafel sandwich, which was fried to near perfection. The falafel balls had just the right crispy outside, surrounding a soft green center, most likely due to plenty of parsley in the falafel. The falafel and pita sandwich came with tahini, cucumber-tomato salad, lettuce, onion, and tomato. The falafel were tasty, but not spicy. I was tempted to ask for hot sauce, but I was afraid that asking for unrepresented condiments would make me look like an accidental tourist at best and a rube at worst. Or vice versa. Or perhaps like an accidental rube.

My QISA ratings reflect a well-prepared flavorful meal that was just a little too salty to get a 4 Quality rating. However, the wait staff were incredibly polite and attentive, the decor included a mural that looked like the inside of a mosque, and the aural ambience included Arabic music. Nothing ruins an ethnic meal faster than the sound of American pop music coming over the loudspeakers.

The total cost of the meal, including mango juice and french fries, was just over $17, which was pretty good since I ordered way more food than I needed. I rolled out of the establishment incredibly sated. It would be a good hour before I dipped into my bag from the Albanese Candy Factory.

Finally, in deference to the good people of Merrillville, I apologize about my glibness regarding the lack of attractions in your burg. I neglected to mention Deep River Waterpark, the Indiana Ballet Theatre, the Star Plaza Theatre, and all the other wonderful places I don't yet know about, such as maybe the famous Merrillville Hanging Gardens or the largest ball of dryer lint in the world.

But for now, accept it that most people are just passing through for candy. And pita.

Broad Ripple Brewpub

Broad Ripple Brewpub

http://www.broadripplebrewpub.com

842 East 65^th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46220

QISA (4444), Vegetarian-Friendly, $9-$14

Every summer for the last five years, I have celebrated my birthday by biking the full length of the Monon Trail round trip. The Monon Trail, for those of you outside Indianapolis, is a former train line, now a pedestrian/biking trail that stretches 18 miles south to north from the middle of downtown Indianapolis, past the state fairgrounds, through the trendy Broad Ripple neighborhood, up into the ritzier Carmel suburbs, eventually ending in an (as of now) undeveloped section of  Westfield. In total, the ride is about 35 miles.

I started this tradition in 2008 as I was approaching 40 and feeling old, paunchy, balding, and generally out of shape. I needed a goal, a milestone if you will that would prove to me that I was not over the hill, but rather simply extending its length. Maybe I couldn’t do anything about the balding, but by Jove (or some other outdated expression), I could at least temper the paunch, improve the stamina, increase the muscle mass…and then finish off the day with a birthday dinner at the Broad Ripple Brewpub.

And from such humble beginnings did my birthday tradition start.

I have since upped my game by biking the Hilly Hundred four times in the past five years. However, despite my successful completion of the two-day, 100-mile bike tour up and down the hills of southern Indiana, I still bike the Monon every year. And I still finish the day at the Broad Ripple Brewpub.

This year, due to lower back surgery in May, I have not been able to get on my bike. I will not be able to bike the Hilly Hundred. I may not even be able to bike the Monon Trail. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss out on the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Some things are sacrosanct.

What can I say? It’s my favorite restaurant in Indianapolis.

An Englishman and his Hoosier wife started the brewpub in Indianapolis 1990. The goal, as stated on their Website, was to, “recreate a typical English pub with its dark wood paneling, decorative tin ceiling, and cozy fire place.” What they created in fact was a family-friendly British-style pub with a progressive Midwest college town twist. And this is not easy to do.

To begin your dinner, try their artisanal hand-crafted beers, which are what you would expect from a good microbrewery. I typically go for the Lawnmower Pale Ale and Monon Porter, but I am planning on going back very soon to expand my palate to the ESB Extra Special Bitter, Wobbly Bob American Pale, Kolsch, Aussie Sumer…yes, this may take a while.

The menu offers a wide variety of standard carnivorous pub foods as well as their vegetarian redux cousins. Although I love the thick cut veggie chips and potato chips, I highly recommend starting off the meal with the Brewpub Nachos, a hearty mix of cheeses, sour cream, diced veggies, guacamole, and black beans on tri-colored corn chips. I have never been disappointed by it.

The most difficult part of your evening will be selecting your entrée. So many wonderful choices. I tend to go for their sandwiches, and I can personally recommend the Veggie Stromboli, Black Bean Burger, Baked Falafel, Nancy’s Nutty Burger, and Spinach Melt. The Spinach Melt, my wife’s personal favorite, is a creamy mix of spinach, sour cream, and jicama, grilled on sourdough bread, with Monterey jack cheese and tomato. It’s like a spinach dip sandwich with a mix of creamy and crunchy textures. My son’s have both fallen in love with the Drunken Ravioli, a spicy ravioli in a creamy tomato vodka sauce.

I was under-impressed by the Vegan Fish and Chips, which were too salty for my taste. The Vegan Dolmades look interesting, but I have not tried them yet. Yet.

If all of the above is too exotic for your tastes, they do of course have a variety of standard and specialty pizzas, including the Nutty Garden which contains fresh spinach, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, walnuts, tomato sauce, and mozzarella and provolone cheeses. I have not tried this one yet, and I don’t know why. It’s like pizza wish fulfillment for me. Next time. Definitely next time.

Truth be told, the Broad Ripple Brewpub is not a sophisticated restaurant for delicate palates, nor does it try to be one. But their vegetarian food is hearty, tasty, well-made, and creative. And it goes great with my third porter.