Revolucion

I am a total sucker for Mexican cuisine and I'm pretty sure I could eat some version of it almost every meal of my life.  Venturing into Fountain Square quite a few times in the last month or so, I have passed by Revolucion and had been very curious.  I wasn't too sure what to expect because they don't have too much info online.  That's good, sometimes no expectations can make things a little more interesting, right?

The place

When we walked in on a Friday evening after work, I think we were all thinking margaritas, por favor. 

There were not very many people when we arrived.  I guess that's good.  No waiting :)  We weren't sure what to do, I just wanted to check the place out.  They have some interesting decor, it's very Dia de los muertos.  It has some really cool potential.  It was missing a little something for me in terms of atmosphere though.  I don't know if it was that it was a bit quiet or what, but the place didn't fit the energy.  However, if you want a little change of energy, you can make your way out to the tiki bar in the back.  At first, we thought the tiki bar was the loading dock (if you go there, you'll see why!!).  But, a nice patron noticed my confused look and directed me to the actual tiki bar, which is a bit hidden.  Now, the tiki bar is where the party's at.  It doesn't really fit in at all with the look or themes of the inside of the restaurant, but they have a tiki bar, picnic tables and live music, so it's definitely a fun atmosphere!

The food

You have to order at the bar, which took us a few minutes to figure out.  I'm not sure why, it seems like the kind of restaurant where someone would come to your table and take your order, but that is not the deal.  No problem, we did it.  The menu is heavy on the tacos, which I think everyone at our table ordered in some capacity or another.  I scored myself some pork tacos...mmmmm.

The tacos are LA style from what I can tell.  They kind of reminded me of the tacos from the West Coast Tacos truck.  They put a good amount of pork in 2 soft corn taco shells.  Eating them was kind of mess, I'm not gonna lie.  My tortillas fell totally apart and my paper carton came in super handy at catching all my taco mess.  The pork tasted really good though.  I was a fan.  It was really simple, but good.  Hubs had some chicken tacos.  That's how we usually roll to tell you the truth, I'm pork, he's chicken, that's it.

I think you can see it was the same idea with the chicken tacos.  Nothing fancy, for sure.  These things are bare bones and served as such.  They have other sides too, like chips and guac, chips and queso etc.  They also have a bunch of beers on tap inside, but outside at the tiki bar, the beer choices are less exciting.  You can check out their facebook page to see what beers they have on tap.  I think this is really the only place on the web, besides urbanspoon, that you can go to try to get an idea of what's happening at Revolucion.

The wrap up

Okay, so a few things I like about this place.  I love their Dia de los muertos feel.  They have some really cool artwork and the location is awesome.  The food tastes really good and the margaritas (although admittedly, I'm no margarita connoisseur) were quite delicious.  They have some good beers on tap and the tiki bar makes you feel like you are as close to a beach as you can be in Indianapolis :)  However, I do think something is lacking.  I think there is potential for this place to be a really cool restaurant, but is soooooooo super casual.  They really could be serving this food out of a hole in the wall of the building they are in.  They give it to you in paper cartons and you order it at the counter....from a pretty cool bar I might add.  It's confusing to me.  I would like to see a more diverse and interesting menu and for this space to be as cool and hipster and Fountain Square as I really, really want it to be.  That being said, I like it, I will tiki it up again and definitely nosh on summa dem tacos!

Gray Brothers Cafeteria

Well, this was one my many vacation food stops (ps - I've been on vacation and then continued to be blog lazy...sorry :(  ).  During said vacation, my cousin and Aunt were visiting Indy for the first time all the way from Raleigh.  My cuz happened to see a Man v. Food episode featuring this particular restaurant, Gray Brothers, and let's just assume that it might have been the only reason he made the 12 hour trek with his Mom to visit his old, lame cousin :)  Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't...either way, he mentioned he wanted to check it out and the kid doesn't ask for much (except this and some fresh Nikes for the new school year), so neither could be missed.

The Place


I guess you probably caught by the name that this is a cafeteria-style restaurant.  I have to admit, I haven't been to one of those since undergrad at a mall in Wilson, NC where people still smoked inside.  Yeah, it was a little while ago.  I was up for it though, we took a family trip out there and stood in the SUPER long line.  I never mind that either, more time for chatting and checking out other people's food :)

Check it out though!  This photo doesn't really do it justice either, that thing went through the doors and just kept wrapping around, I thought maybe I was at Disney!  At least they didn't charge people $15 to go to the front of the line...that's a win in my book.

We waited in line, maybe for 45 minutes.  We checked out the food and gasped at the sights, the portions the smells and the craziness of it all.  By the time we were ready to order, I was ready to eat, which I guess is a good thing because I think they were ready to feed us, and maybe the entire continent of Africa for a couple of days.

The very large portions of Food


As you are waiting in line, it is your time to decide what you want.  I thought I had it all in my head, but when I got up there with my tray, I kind of drew a blank.  I stared at the food and the ladies with tongs to serve it to me and had to make some rash decisions.  This is mostly because the food they have is displayed a la carte style on a board, but it's not anywhere on the food when you are looking at it.  I forgot what things were!!!  So, I just kind of winged it and started grabbing stuff and asking for stuff.

I think the same thing happened to some others in our group.  There's so much to choose from, and so much of it is huge.  It's hard not to have your eyes be bigger than your stomach.  Here to the right you can check out the entire spread!  That is alotta food, eh?  I guess you could call this Midwestern comfort food, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to be too comfortable after consuming this.  Erin's stomach v. Fried Food = Erin loses...every time.  I tried not to get too crazy though, and although I did order the fried chicken (it looked wicked good) and mashed potatoes with gravy, I also got a small bowl of cottage cheese.  That's healthy, right?  Okay, maybe not super healthy, but I could've gotten the banana cream pie, and I didn't, unfortunately.  I think I am still having dreams about how amazing some of their homemade pies looked.

Here's a little shot of my food.  I prefer dark meat and that is what I got.  It was juicy and salty and yummy.  I felt like I was at KFC, but with real food.  Don't you just love their cute "gramma's old china" thing they have going on too?  It really makes you feel like you are eating some down home cookin'.  The waitstaff was really good too.  They will bring you drinks and hooks you up with extra food if you somehow went through that whole cafeteria line and didn't end up with more food than 10 people could eat.

The only other meal I took a picture of was this tenderloin because it was seriously as big as the plate and I thought it was a pretty amazing sight to see.  Accompanied by some mac & cheese and a nice little fruit cup.  I didn't hear anyone complaining about their food.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  It was a good family experience, with good food and good service.  It's a little hike from Indy and I can't see Hubs and I venturing out there to stuff our faces once a week or anything, but I think when my Mom and stepdad are visiting we just might have to make a little trip back.  Something tells me Bill might think this place is the bees knees?!?


The wrap


This place was a good place to get some home cooked food.  I will not make the mistake of passing up the homemade pies next time...I'll share my entree if I have to, but I HAVE to get some of those pies in my belly.  The only complaint I have is I wish that it was a little more clear what foods are in front of your face when you are ordering.  Obviously I know what mac & cheese looks like, but there were a couple things I just didn't know what they were while I was standing in front of them...and that place is busy, you gotta keep than line movin'!  It's a very good place for a family outing, unless your kids don't like standing in line for too long...make sure to bring some toys to entertain them.  I think we'll be back...after I do 200 crunches. :)

I'm back! Food Truck Frenzy :)

Sorry I've been away for so long...not time to dwell on that now.  I'm off to the Food Truck Frenzy!!!  Looks awesome...come and check it out until 3PM in Broadway Park today in Broad Ripple :)

Food Truck Frenzy!   Check it out on NUVO and join us!

See you there.

Be back soon...promise.