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!

The Monon Food Company

I am really behind on posting our restaurant visits, but I am determined to get them up!  It was over a week ago that we visited The Monon Food Company in Broad Ripple.  Last Friday there was a gallery tour around the BR, and we definitely wanted to check that out.  There were some really cool little galleries hidden around the village that we didn't know were there and some that were more obvious, but we hadn't been in.  It was a nice way to explore and it was a really great evening out too.  You can't ask for much more than that in Spring if you ask me.  We saw some interesting pieces, I actually enjoyed it more than the First Friday around Mass Ave we went to a few months ago.  After we had walked all around, we ended up outside of Monon Food, they had some outdoor seating with a minimal wait time, so we stopped in.

The Place


They have a really great location, I just love this area of Broad Ripple.  There are so many restaurants for breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners, desserts and drinks.  Whatever you are feeling, you can find it here. We have had hits and misses with the restaurants, but the atmosphere is always a win for me.  The Monon Food Company is located right next to the rail trail (hence the name :)) and has a really cute wrap-around porch for fantastic fresh air dining.  They serve a variety of American-style food options, but they also have a gourmet taco menu and a decent selection of craft beers by the bottle for $4 each, not bad. The style of the place is nice and open, so even if you are sitting inside this time of year, you're not too closed in.  There is plenty of seating on the deck and great opportunity for people watching.  I don't know if it was in the air with the gallery tours happening, or the random bumble bee looking for love, but we just kept making friends with all the people sitting around us, it was really a cool atmosphere and some interesting people out!  It was fun :)

Our bumblebee friend, starting conversations all over the Midwest :)

The food


Here's the rundown.  I don't know why, but I ordered bbq ribs.  I think they just sounded good to me, so I went for it.  I had mashed potatoes, which I typically think you can't go wrong with, and green beans on the side.

It may be my fault, for ordering ribs at a non-steakhouse type restaurant, but I wasn't really thinking that way before I got them.  I always like to be optimistic and just order what I am feeling like having.  It is always good to think about what the specialty might be at the place you are at, however.  Hindsight, these were not my favorite ribs.  They were just very underwhelming, but that wasn't my least favorite part of this meal.  There was something very off about the mashed potatoes.  This was confirmed by various other patrons, whom our bee friend helped us chat with.  They tasted like there may have been spoiled sour cream or something??  I didn't send them back or even say anything about it, I just ate my ribs and green beans and cursed myself for not ordering something more practical.  Oh yeah, I drank my delicious Sun King Osiris as well.  That always makes this better...much love Sun King...you are so quickly becoming my very favorite.

Yum, Sun King in my belly

Since there is a separate menu for tacos, I'm thinking that's their thing...makes sense right?

Hubs got some Hawaiian fish tacos...good thinking on his part.  He's a very practical fellow, that Hubs.  Now, although I did not hear him scream with delight about these being the best tacos he ever laid his tastebuds on...they weren't made with rotten sour cream.  Sometimes, things really get put into perspective, eh?  He liked them just fine, overall a good experience for him.  They look pretty huh?  Lots of yummy mango gracing that plate.  He's loving to corn tortillas everywhere we go lately too!  

Wrap Up

For me, I will drink here.  I liked the vibe and the location, but the food experience was not so good.  I may be convinced to try an appetizer or something else very non-committal, but I'm not sure about that yet.  Our experience may not mesh with other's you see out there, but hey, it's all I can do...I eat and I tell it how I taste it, through my belly.  

Let's be serious, if I don't want to eat here, Hubs'll have to go on his own...we'll probably just go somewhere else.  It goes the same way for him, we bully each other to eating the places we like!  Happy Memorial Day week!  Hope you are working up to some fun weekend plans for the holiday :)  

More Food Truck Adventures!

Coincidentally, there was another easy opportunity for food truck eats this past weekend.  The West Coast Tacos truck was parked outside Cardinal Fitness on BR Ave. for dinner on Sunday night.  I guess this was a good idea on their part considering there were a whole bunch o' drunk people that had been doing a bar crawl for cancer for the previous 7 hours!!  That only made our walk to the truck that much more interesting.  Great people watching!

The Place


Well, just because we ate at Duos on Friday, it will be hard not to compare the food trucks and what they have to offer.  The West Coast Tacos truck is definitely bare bones.  There's no "gourmet" attached to this truck!  After our eventful walk down BR Ave. and through the drones of drunkies lining up for tacos, we got a glimpse of this truck actually open.  We have been walking by it parked there at Cardinal Fitness all winter and wondering when we would be able to get a taste.  I guess it's been building up some anticipation, so we were kind of excited to finally find out what these tacos are all about.  Has the presence of this truck been taunting you all winter too?

You can see the website for this truck is www.bestdamntacos.com  I guess we'll have to discuss that one real quick!

The Tacos


There were just a few choices for tacos.  3 for $5 for steak or spicy pork and I think 2 for $5 for chicken teryaki tacos.  They also offer burritos, which I do have a super soft spot for, but I thought for my first trip to West Coast Tacos...I should try the tacos.  It just needed to be done.  For some strange reason, Hubs and I both ordered the same thing, steak tacos.  We didn't think about it until after we were eating them on the ledge by Jimmy Johns that we probably should've ordered different ones to share.  Ooops.  6 steak tacos we had.  I have to admit, upon looking at my tacos, I wasn't too impressed.  No cheese!!!  Now, I know it's a food truck and I am assuming this is the style of tacos in LA, but I am a cheese girl.  It was just a taco, with some stringy, luiquidy steak and onions.  At least the onions were cooked and I am okay with no lettuce, but, no cheese, it's pretty much a sin in my book.
So, with the disappointment looming, I took a bite.  I wasn't expecting much at this point.  I figured this is clearly an after bar stop, which I had already somewhat honed in on.  BUT, they were actually kind of good.  The flavor was a bit sweet and really kind of tasty considering the lack of toppings.  The corn tortillas were pretty good actually.  I was pleasantly surprised, but not completely bowled over.  They were messy to eat, but that just made it kind of fun :)  If I was out and hungry for some quick, cheap eats, I might hit this truck up again.  I have no idea what they would put on a burrito at this place!  If they have cheese in that truck for burritos and refuse to put it on the tacos, I might have to sneak in there and steal some!

Wrappin' it up

West Coast Tacos may look like a drunk truck, but my assessment is that these tacos can be consumed even when beer has not been.  It isn't pretty, but if you want some pretty tasty, messy, cheap street food, check them out.  If you're like me, and I'm totally serious here, you might want to BYOC (Bring your own cheese!!).  The only thing that would've made these better, obviously, is some cheese, some queso, amigos!!  Come on...you're killing me WCT!  I do understand that this may not be the style of the taco...but in my humble opinion...it should be.  Period.