Yats is my favorite restaurant, hands down. Yats specializes in Cajun-Creole food, and has been my go-to place for a quick bite to eat in Indianapolis for almost a decade now. For people located in and around Indianapolis, Yats is probably a staple in your diet, but for me it is food that I crave weekly and only get to eat once or twice a year. When I visit Indy, I try to go as many times as possible, often buying the stuff by the quart to freeze and bring home with me! Fortunately for my waistline and wallet, the food is even healthy and super affordable! For those of you with picky eaters in the family, they also offer rice with cheese and/or beans for children…I’m sure adults could get it too if they really won’t branch out.

If you’re not familiar with “Cajun-Creole” food, think spicy (not necessarily hot-spicy, but lots of spices) sauce + beans + veggies and/or meat. This is not just any beans and rice joint though, the food is out of this world. The menu even has a vegetarian section and regularly features my favorite dish of all, the B ‘n’ B. I cannot tell you with any certainty where the name for this dish came from, but it is a perfect balance of spiciness and sweetness with black beans, big chunks of tomato, and lots of yellow sweet corn in a divine sauce. They also have an incredible Succotash and, for mushroom fans out there, they have a killer Spinach and Mushroom Etouffee, and several surprising and tasty versions of chili. I’m so in love with the B ‘n’ B that if it’s on the menu I order it without even looking at the rest of the menu, but this was a haven of my high school years and even now walking in there I almost always run in to a familiar face.

B&B

                    Maque Choux

My reasons for Yats run even beyond the stupendous food because the walls are bright yellow, the menu is on a chalkboard and there is art, clutter, and Mardi Gras party favors all over the place. Just walking in the door makes my day instantly better. Writing this just before having a blasé dinner of tortelini and steamed broccoli is, retrospectively a bad idea, but for those of you close enough to go grab some, enjoy it for me!

One a side note, the atmosphere of Tsunami is pretty cool. I am a big fan of using bold colors on walls and decorating with art that ads motion to the room. The picture to the right is kind of dark, but from what I could tell it was pieces of wood painted the same dark red of the wall over a semi-opaque white background that was back lit to create shadows and emphasis. Either way, I was really impressed with it, especially with the blue-ish lights hung in contrast to them.

Having seen a variety of the foods on the menu during my first visit, this time I knew better than to order two rolls of sushi. This time I wised up and ordered the Fired Cheese and Spinach roles as an appetizer and the Teriyaki Chicken Hibachi grill as my main course. Normally I don’t order meat at restaurants if I can help it, especially if it is covered in sauce because I have a sneaking suspicion that the meat is pretty low quality in such dishes. My boyfriend vouched for the quality of the meat, however, so my concern diminished slightly and I decided to order it anyway.

So we started with very light, bust still satisfyingly greasy fried cheese and spinach rolls. Rather than being breaded, they were wrapped in wonton wrappers, and they are the best cheese sticks I’ve ever had. The spinach makes them an even less-guilty guilty pleasure. I would highly recommend splurging on this appetizer. Also, I bet I could replicate these at home since wonton wrappers are widely available at grocery stores in the produce section. I’ll go out on a limb here and say if you just steam some spinach (or even thaw some frozen spinach, I suppose) and place a thing layer of it in with the mozzarella cheese, roll them up, cover with an egg wash or just oil (I’ll have to try both and see what works) and bake at a high temperature for a few minutes on each side, you’d probably have a pretty tasty and fairly healthy version of this delectable treat. Check back soon for a full post on an attempt at this make-at-home recipe.

The Hibachi Grill came with the option of miso soup or a salad. I opted for the soup since my throat is getting a little scratchy as the weather begins to turn colder. It was too salty for my taste, but then again, so is most miso soup. I did however, enjoy the big pieces of nori (seaweed) onion, and tofu.

Normally when you go to an American hibachi grill, you get to watch them prepare the food in front of you. This is not one of those places, but the amount of food served on the plate is impressive and delicious! Also, the service is quite prompt, even on a busy night which is rare in the Vista and greatly appreciated. I cannot say that the chicken was as good as I had hoped, but the teriyaki sauce was a perfect mix of sweet and savory and the vegetables were fantastic! I’m rather partial to zucchini and onions cooked in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper and the vegetables seemed to be precisely that. Amazing! It felt like a meal that transitioned perfectly between the warm and comfort of soups and heavy meats sought out during the winter and the dwindling tastes of summer squash. It was a meal that perfectly fit with the weather and it was quite a nice way to spend the evening.

My boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed  a burger and was highly impressed by the toppings offered—smoked gouda even!—and had an excellent wheat beer. I, not being a big meat-eater, opted for a roasted chicken ravioli tossed with wilted spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, and covered with olive oil and a balsamic vinegarette. It was excellent, although sweeter than I expected. My friend chose a grilled chicken panini with a pesto mayonnaise and paired it with a Pale Ale. Simply, it was a delightful meal with wonderful ingredients and an even better atmosphere.

With white Christmas lights lining the railing of the open second story seating, paintings/photographs by local artists, a giant school-sized chalk board covered in the day’s specialties, and a taxidermy coyote in the window, the restaurant’s decor and fine dining exceeded my already high expectations. I have already made plans to re-visit Hunter Gatherer. If you’re in the area and hungry, check it out!

Having recently relocated from a middle-of-nowhere college town to a slightly less middle-of-nowhere state capital, Columbia, I have spent a lot of time wandering around and exploring. I have found that free, local newspapers make exploration a little easier—at first, anyway. Very early on I managed to find some awesome Farmer’s Markets (local everything! Including produce, herbs, meats, seafood, and better yet, apple, peach, and blueberry donuts baked on-site!) and believed that I was truly in heaven; then, as I was savoring my blueberry donuts, I decided to find the local coffee shop I had read about in one of the local newspapers.

What I found was mere minutes from the farmer’s market, offered individually brewed cups of coffee, and had a season brunch menu that I just couldn’t resist. The place: Drip. I’m no coffee aficionado, and honestly judge coffee shops more on the quality of their hot chocolate than the coffee, but one sip of their espresso milkshake and I was hooked.

I had quite a time deciding between the turkey, brie, and raspberry jam panini and the prosciutto, ricotta, and peach panini with a honey and balsamic vinegar sauce. I chose the latter of the two, and even now, ask myself what prompted me to turn down brie with raspberry jam. Except I know what prompted it: the prosciutto and ricotta were accents to the brilliance that is locally grown SC peaches in the middle of July + honey + balsamic vinegar. If I could resist eating fresh peaches long enough to bake them or cook with them in any way, I would have fulfilled my vow to serve every future peach dish with a honey and balsamic sauce, but the end of peach season snuck up on me while I was blindly eating peaches with (almost) every meal. Next year, though, it will happen. My friends and family will beg me to stop serving them this combination, and I’ll laugh and shake my head and keep doing it. I loved it! Even better, however, is that Drip buys all of the bread from a local bakery. Awesome.

But in all seriousness, how on earth could I ever turn down the classic that is turkey, brie and raspberry jam? Despite my newly-found love of the sandwich I did have, I was still debating with myself about which sandwich I should have ordered. I’ll return, probably after this weekends farmers market and I will limit myself to two apple donuts in order to leave room for the coffee and sandwich awaiting me.

Also, when I’ve learned a little more about the coffee brewing technique, I will return to this post and discuss the finer points. Until then, eat fancy paninis; have a panini party!