Another new restaurant has opened up in Broad Ripple, while a couple others have closed (i.e. Barley Island). I'm thinking this area is pretty transitional?? My first favorite part about this new place,
10-01 Food & Drink is that they made a run-down old building look A LOT nicer. You can never go wrong there...who doesn't like the disappearance of empty and run down eyesores in their neighborhood, right? And fill them with a new, local business? Double score.
For the reasons stated above...and the description on the signage during construction..."Midwestern comfort food with a culinary twist," I was pretty stoked to try this place when it opened. The concept sounds delicious, right? I have to admit, I had some ideas in my head based on a restaurant I love in Asheville, NC,
Tupelo Honey Cafe. Seriously, this place is wicked good, southern food with a culinary twist if you will.
My expectations: hearty deliciousness with a homestyle feel, but for foodies. And by that, I mean, putting a different spin on some of your old favorites....creative presentations, locally sourced foods, etc.
It's always a risky little game to have expectations...because even if it's good, it often is difficult to match up to what you've created in your mind. Brains are awesome at making something "the best thing ever...." that you remember anyway.
The Place & Food
I called to see if they took reservations because you know how crazy the new places can get. They don't, but they suggested they have plenty of seating and we were welcome to enjoy their bar downstairs for appetizers and drinks while we waited for our table. Okay...I like it. The bar downstairs was actually really cool. Temperature-wise as well, which might tempt some of you that are melting out there this week!! It's a basement, but they've done a good job of making it feel like happening bar. Of course, all the people in the joint certainly help with that too. It was pretty busy down there. The waitstaff was busy, but on point for being a new place. It wasn't his first dog and pony show. We ordered some corn and clam fritters to share between 3 of us. Luckily, they were big and conveniently, there were 3 of them :).
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| It was dark...sorry about the grainy pic of the fritters! |
They were pretty yummy. The sriracha lavender butter sauce that drew me to them (check on the culinary twist!), was good, and kinda spicy!! My friend did laugh at me and tell me I was a wuss, but you make your own decisions about that one! I thought they were spicy, but fried and comfort foody. Alright, good appetizer,
pretty extensive drink selection...we're off to a good start. We were called up to our table for dinner on the top floor of the restaurant.
The dinners
I ordered myself some pulled chicken bbq sammy, served on a pretzel bun with sweet potato fries. I came to this decision after looking over the menu for quite some time. I have to admit, my first look at them menu (I didn't scope it out online before we went), I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. I was expecting a little more culinary twist, I guess. There are some interesting choices on the menu...and very Midwestern like the open faced duck burger, but while many of the entrees sounded tasty, I felt like I make some of them at home too often and too easily to order while I am eating out. So, my expectations may have gotten the nest of me on this one. Despite my slight disappointment with the menu choices, my sandwich was really good. As you can see in the photo, there was a heaping serving of pulled chicken on that bun. I do also love me a pretzel roll :) The sweet potato fries we really sweet and salty and I always love them...they were just how I like my fries, crunchy on the outside, potatoey on the inside. I'm not a connoisseur of cole slaws, but Hubs kind of is...and he thought it was pretty tangy and tasted as homemade as they said it was.
Hubs got the blackened catfish sandwich...and of course, the sweet potato fries. We can never resist a sweet potato, I'll tell you! His fish sandwich was topped with pepperjack cheese and a sriracha tarter sauce served on an egg bun. Okay, it's a bit of a culinary twist. A bit. He liked it though. The food was decent...we definitely didn't have many complaints. We had an enjoyable meal and tried not to annoy our Friday night dinner guest with our over-analysis of the food and restaurant :) But, hey, that's how we roll I guess! We were pretty full and had a couple of drinks too, so we didn't partake in any dessert. One of the great things about this restaurant, that I'm sure we've all seen make or break your experience at a new place, is the service. Our server in the restaurant was also pretty kick ass. They really had it figured out for only having been open for a short period of time. It can be easy to overlook good service, but if the service is bad, it can often be enough to ruin your whole night and often it can make me feel like never returning.
The wrap-up
10-01 food & drink is an interesting concept, and I don't think there's anything like it in BR. We enjoyed our meals and our super good service. I think we will likely return and try some other things on the menu. My only complaint is that it felt a little more chainy than I was expecting and maybe a more intimate feeling would help us get to that "culinary twist" idea more freely and to really wow us. But, I understand the need for space to accommodate all of us foodies! We did really enjoy the bar area, which did have more of an intimate feel and was pretty bustling. I think we'll certainly be back for drinks down there and some more of those appetizers!! Happy Friday and have fun eating this weekend...although ice cream may be all you want with the heat :)
