Mad Anthony Brewing Company

Perhaps most Elkhart eaters weren't as fond of Mad Anthony Brew House as my husband and I were, but we were bummed when they shut down the Main Street location here in town, sure we aren't beer drinkers, but their food was always delicious! Fortunately for me the Warsaw location is pretty much halfway between myself and a dear friend, so I get my fix several times a year, because they happen to have some great Gluten Free choices for her (they aren't outlined specifically in the menu, but they do have some options). This visit I was good and did not start dinner with an appetizer, but two of the apps I have had in the past and have loved are the brewery basket and the Bavarian pretzels. The brewery basket is deep fried heaven including pickles, zucchini, portabella mushrooms, and breaded ravioli. Frankly it is hard to screw up fried food, but I still recommend this appetizer as it has some pretty unique deep fried treats, and come on, you have to be getting some sort of nutrients from the zucchini and mushrooms, right? And as for the Bavarian pretzels, well, they don't taste like the pretzels in Germany, but they are still a delicious way to start your meal when dipped in Mad Anthony's pale ale mustard. I can assure you that once you get past the many appetizers on the menu at Mad Anthony's, you might feel pretty overwhelmed by the sheer number of entrees that they offer, so I hope that my suggestions can in some way narrow down your choices and make your dining experience a little easier. The first thing that I ever tried at Mad Anthony's was an unwrap, which is basically pizza on a wafer thin, crispy crust, if you are a lover of thin crust pizza there about a dozen different topping options for you including Greek, Jambalaya, Margherita, and a traditional sausage and pepperoni. Another favorite dish of mine, that I actually tend to crave is the Korean BBQ plate; it is basically a build your own lettuce wrap plate that includes romaine hearts, Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef), cilantro rice, and several condiments such as fresh garlic, roasted jalapenos, and a delicious pear dipping sauce. This visit, as much as I wanted the Korean BBQ, I have also been dying to try the pizza at Mad Anthony Brew House, and I was NOT disappointed!! I tend to be pretty snobby when it comes to pizza, the crust has to wow me because I am a love of good bread, the sauce has to be well seasoned, and the toppings have to be quality and delicious, and did this pizza ever deliver! The crust was awesome, nice and crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, the sausage and pepperoni were delicious (although I suspect my husband would complain that the toppings were too salty), and the sauce and cheese were perfect. All I have to say is that it is a good thing that this pizza is an hour away, because if it were any closer my checking account would be substantially smaller, and my waistline vastly larger, because it is very high up on my list of pies that I love!

If you find yourself in the lake town of Warsaw and are a lover of locally brewed beer, or maybe just want a menu that gives you options from every corner of this country, from the cajun fair of the bayou to the sophisticated cuisine of the West Coast, stop in to Mad Anthony Brew House on Center Street, right in the heart of downtown.

Constant Spring

As a general rule we are not bar people, neither of us cares for alcohol, so we don't really see the point, unless of course that bar serves all locally grown and purchased produce, cheese, meat, and desserts; then the bar isn't just a bar, it's a link to the community and a means of supporting it. While, I did feel a little funny going into a bar and just getting a water, I have heard enough good things about the food that I was excited to be there! The menu had MANY great choices that I mulled over; a Pad Thai Salad, Pesto Burger, Fish Sandwich, but what I ultimately decided on were a pound of naked chicken wings for $7.00 with Tangy Carolina BBQ Sauce on the side for dipping; you can also have them tossed in Frank's Red Hot sauce, or get any of their sauces for dipping. I am not a huge lover of wings, however, when our local Buffalo Wild Wings closed down for renovations, it about drove me crazy to hear everyone so upset about not having anyplace to go for wings, and to hear their elation at it's reopening, so I decided that I wanted, make that needed, to find good local places for wings, and so my search began at Constant Spring. The first thing that you will think when you see these wings is that they are small, but what that means to me is that these chickens have not been pumped full of growth hormones, since they are from a local supplier with a great reputation (Miller Country Poultry) you can rest assured that you are getting wholesome chicken. Even though the wings are small, you are paying by the pound not the wing, so you are definitely getting your moneys worth, I had 12 wings in my one pound order. The wings weren't breaded or battered, but had an awesome crispy skin and the meat was moist and juicy; and as for the "Tangy Carolina Sauce" it was delicious and lived up to it's name, I was pleased to find that it wasn't spicy, but also wasn't sweet, it definitely was a nice, tangy sauce. Every Wednesday, Constant Spring offers an "Oval Plate Special," for $12.00, which features ethnic and international food, and this week the special was Ethiopian food which my husband didn't even have to think for a second about ordering. His meal included an Ethiopian beef stew over a flat bread called injera, alongside a root vegetable curry, what a unique meal to get to experience in such a small town! So next time you have a hankering for wings, or you want to take your bar experience to the next level, or you just want some delicious food head to Constant Spring on Main Street in downtown Goshen; where a bar isn't just a bar, it is a means of stimulating your local economy.


 

Siam Thai

Admittedly, we haven't spent much time in downtown South Bend, and after spending date night there, I am asking myself "why?" The area has really been built up and from the looks of it, has many delicious restaurants to offer, one of those restaurants has been around for 17 years, Siam Thai on Main Street. My hubby found a Living Social deal offering $20 worth of food for $10, and fortunately he snatched this one up, we had never tried Thai food before, but were anxious for this new experience. The minute we walked in the door the owner (or the man we suspect was the owner) hailed us to a table, and was practically giddy to tell us about the special offerings they had including several appetizers, fusion dishes, desserts, and a tea of the month. Normally I am a water drinker, but the tea of the month was hot apple cider tea and with fall in the air I couldn't resist, it was more aromatic than flavorful, but it was a nice warm up. I had barely laid eyes on the appetizer section of the menu when "Thai Mushrooms" jumped off the page at me; mushrooms stuffed with marinated ground pork, tempura battered, fried, and served with Thai sweet and sour sauce, they were delicious and might make it near impossible to ever eat traditional fried mushrooms again.

Our waitress was very helpful in pointing us in the direction of very traditional, must try Thai dishes and my hubby was smart to take her suggestion to try the Pad Thai, it was delicious! He received a heaping plate full of stir fried rice noodles with shrimp, tofu, eggs, bean sprouts, onions, covered in peanuts and cilantro. The dish came with something like 10 tiger prawns so of course I took it upon myself to try one, the shrimp was cooked perfectly and the sauce was delicious, pair that with the crunch of the peanuts and I could have eaten a whole plate of just the shrimp! Despite the fact that this dish had tofu and onions, my husband loved it, and the heaping portion was just around $11.

  

I was very indecisive when it came to my dinner, they put stars next to the dishes to indicate heat and since I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food, I narrowed down my choices to the items with no stars. I chose one of the specials that the owner had told us about Neau Nam Man Hoi, which was thinly sliced beef with green onions, mushrooms, and broccoli in a wine sauce served with a side of Jasmine rice. Many times when you get thinly sliced beef it can be tough and hard to chew, but this was tender and easy to eat, not to mention the sauce was delicious. The dish cost around $12, but was delicious and a large enough portion to be worth the cost.

On top of delicious, well cooked food, the staff at Siam Thai were incredibly friendly and helpful, in fact we chatted with the owner for a bit who told us to let him know when we come back so he can suggest other dishes to us and give us a good taste of the menu. I am happy to report that our first experience of Thai cuisine will most certainly not be our last!

Christiana Creek Country Club

Until October 6th (2012) there is an event called Elkhart Dining Days that is to benefit Church Community Services, it showcases local chefs and restaurants with part of the cost of dinner going to the aforementioned charity; because of this event Christiana Creek Country Club has opened it's dining room to non-members for the two week event. Chef Brian Steinway proved to be a master of his trade, not just with the creativity of his special three course menu for the dining days, but also with the quality and taste of the food. I was torn on which appetizer to choose, the California chicken salad looked delicious, and much lower in calories than the walleye bites I had my eyes on, but my husband talked me into the fish, and I was so glad he did! My small plate came out with three walleye bites atop a dollop of Cajun tarter sauce; I cringed a little because I have never cared for tarter sauce, but this was delicious, it had a nice sweetness and was perfectly paired with delicious, crispy strips of fried fish

To start his meal, my hubby ordered the lobster pizza, which has earned raves, not just from him, but many others I have talked to. The flat bread crust was crispy, which the man LOVES, it was topped with a nice Alfredo and diced tomatoes that he said added a nice brightness, I was surprised when he described the lobster as tender, I truly expected it to be overcooked, and all of this was covered with cheese; now I am skeptical that seafood and cheese can ever be paired well together, but my husband tells me that the lobster pizza was delicious.

The choices for our entree all looked delicious, but I settled on the filet with a side of couscous; my steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, really wasn't seasoned much (I'm okay with that, I hate when people over do a good cut of meat), but was tender and covered in a delicious demi glace. I will admit that I didn't care for the couscous, but that is a taste and texture issue, because my husband really liked it and what I really liked were the onion strings that covered our meal, those I could have eaten as a side in itself. My husband ordered the pan seared duck breast with port cherry reduction, and oh my! The duck breast was more tender than my filet, was perfectly seasoned, and the sauce was fantastic as well, it was my husband's first time trying duck and he was thoroughly impressed.

While my husband quickly chose "death by chocolate' or as he called it, suicide by chocolate, for dessert, I had to think a while before I chose the carrot lava cake. The death by chocolate turned out to be a gluten free chocolate cake, talk about rich, but was it ever chocolatey and delicious! The only thing we would have changed would have been a tart berry sauce to cut the richness. The carrot cake was delicious as well, warm, with cream cheese frosting oozing out of it, and while I would have never paired them, it was made even better with a side of butter pecan ice cream.

This meal was such a great deal, we paid $25 for each 3 course meal, it was high quality and delicious, not to mention part of the cost went to charity. Normally you do have to be a member to have dinner at Christiana Creek Country Club, but now through October 6th you can enjoy the Elkhart Dining Days menu regardless of membership status. If you don't get in for Elkhart Dining Days, you can still experience Christiana Creek during their lunch hour (11a-2p) when anyone is welcome to dine; we looked over the lunch menu and it looks great, lots of creative dishes at a reasonable price, every sandwich, salad, and entree was under $10 each. And if the thought of eating at  a country club makes you nervous (like I was), we felt totally at ease, our waitress, Jessica, was sweet and made us feel comfortable from the moment we stepped in. Oh, and did I mention that Christiana Creek is available for weddings, meetings, or other parties?

Bill's Bar-B-Que

Elkhart may not be an area known for good barbeque, in fact it can be hard to find, but it is not impossible, and Bill's on West Franklin in Elkhart proves that true! One of my favorite memories as a child was when my mom had dentist's appointments because I knew that after she went to the dentist, Bill's Bar-B-Que was her next stop, and rib tips would be on the menu for dinner. Bill's is the kind of restaurant you probably wouldn't take a second look at, because it doesn't look like much, it is tiny and only offers carry out, in fact the waiting area is probably smaller than your bathroom at home, maybe even your closet, but what goes on inside is a bit of magic. Bill's cooks their meat (chicken, ribs, rib tips, pork, sausage) for hours over a wood fed open flame with a recipe that is 4 generations old and then covers it in their delicious housemade sauce. Last night we opted to stay in for date night, which included take out from Bill's, and let me tell you, Hubby and I tore up half a rack of ribs and a half pound of tips. It is evident in the taste and appearance that this meat is slow smoked, and was done so perfectly, not over or underdone by any means. The great thing about the ribs is that they keep the tips on, which means extra meat!!

And yes, for $10.99 you do get about three times this many ribs, I just forgot to take the picture until we were halfway through!! And for the rib tips, well, they can be a pain to eat, but these are tasty enough to be worth it, and have enough meat on them to make it worth your while. At $6.99 for a half pound order, they are definitely worth their weight! And, did I mention the BBQ sauce? I love it because it isn't spicy, it isn't sweet, it has a nice tang which is something I like...if it's too sweet, I just start feeling sick, and as for spicy, well, like I have said before I am a huge wimp.

 So next time you have a hankering for good barbeque, think outside of the box, outside of your normal restaurants, heck even outside of your own neighborhood, and get some take out from Bill's Bar-B-Que.

GIanetto's Pizza & Pasta

When I saw an Italian restaurant attached to a gas station on 331 in Granger, I was skeptical to say the least, but one step into Gianetto's and you will forget that you are anywhere near a convenience store. The restaurant was tastefully decorated with Italian movie posters ranging from Il Padrino to Via col Vento to Fantasma Ill'Opera to Il Mago del Oz; frankly it was refreshing to be in an Italian restaurant whose decor didn't revolve around the overused, and ever stereotypical little fat man in a chef's hat with a mustache. Along with movie posters in Italian, you will travel back in time through pictures of Italian Americans that look to be from the turn of last century; Gianetto's has been around for over thirty years, and truly pays homage to the immigrants of the late 1800's who gave their food it's roots by mixing traditional Italian food from home, with new American ingredients. We started our meal with comfort food taken to a whole new level; french fries smothered in meat sauce and mozzarella cheese! I am not a big tomato eater, and generally only eat tomato sauce on pizza, but this meat sauce was tasty and the "meatzarella fries" is such a great concept for an appetizer. We split the appetizer between 4 kiddos and 4 adults and at $6.99 we each got enough to whet our appetites. I also enjoyed a pre-meal salad, and while it was just your typical iceberg lettuce with shredded carrots, the homemade croutons and Italian Vinaigrette were some of the best I have ever had, and took this salad to the next level! My sister in law was pleased to find that Gianetto's offers a personal Chicago style stuffed pizza, and tells me that it is reminiscent of Giordano's and Gino's East. 

 I love Italian beef as well as Italian sausage, so seeing them both on one sandwich sounded like a dream come true! The sausage was delicious, and I am sure they made it in house, the beef was a bit on the dry side, which would have been remedied by the au jus, however it was too spicy for me to even eat, which was a bummer, because dipping an Italian beef is my favorite part of the sandwich!  At just under $9 you definitely get enough meat for this sandwich to be worth the cost.

My hubby is a HUGE cheese lover, so the cheesy baked spaghetti caught his eye, and it definitely had enough cheese to suit this man who can never have too much cheese. His biggest complaint with this dish is that the marinara sauce did not stick to the pasta and ended up just being soupy in the bottom of the dish. He also said that he preferred the meat sauce we got on the fries to the marinara on his pasta, so if you order pasta, go with the meat sauce! His portion was huge, and at around $10, he got enough food for at least one more meal, if not two.

Gianetto's Pizza and Pasta is serving food that has stood the test of time, they have a rich history in the South Bend/Mishawaka area, and are definitely worth a try. I know that I am anxious to get back and try some of their pizza!

Iechyd Da

As you drive North on Main in Elkhart you will see a sign with a dragon that says Iechyd Da, and you will no doubt ask yourself, "how do you say that?" Well, you say "yacky da," but you drink Iechyd Da; it is an old Welsh toast which means "good health!" Owners Chip and Summer Lewis have been brewing their beer at home, and just this last year decided to share their goods with the community, and in came Iechyd Da Brewery. First thing you will notice, is that parking isn't great, but I presume, for the location, there wasn't much parking space to work with, therefore, you will probably end up parking behind the restaurant in an open lot. Past the parking lot and in the door, you will find a wonderfully decorated bar that put me in mind of a modern Pub, with some large rustic tables, and walls covered with pictures of old England. You will find a simple chalk board menu of pub snacks, pizza, and sandwiches, you'll order at the bar where they have 8 beer taps, and two hand pulls, and have a seat in their unique dining room while your food is made fresh. As two people who don't drink beer we ordered the house brewed ginger beer and root beer, neither of us loved the ginger beer, but I have to say if I should ever be pregnant again, this brew will be my best friend if battling morning sickness, because it is definitely teeming with ginger! Now, on the other hand, the on tap root beer was delicious, not made with sarsaparilla, but still delicious none the less, and for a couple bucks, you will never drink root beer from any other tap again; I mean, how can you go back to commercially manufactured after you have had homemade?

What you may or may not know about me, is that I love pizza, well, I love GOOD pizza, and Iechyd Da definitely delivered. The crust was the thinnest, crispest I have ever had which is exactly how I like it, the red sauce was fairly simple, but I like that it wasn't overpowering or over seasoned,  the toppings were great quality; the bacon was smokey, ham was salty, sausage a little spicy, and the pepperoni perfectly seasoned (yes, I love a little cholesterol on my pizza!), and the mozzarella was just delicious. For $9-10 this was definitely well worth the price!

Iechyd Da is perfect for my Hubby and I, because while I hold a deep fondness for pizza, he is a lover of sandwiches, and that is precisely what he got tonight; salty ham, sweet honey roasted turkey, crispy bacon, mild cheddar cheese, juicy tomatoes, fresh lettuce and creamy mayo on a crusty toasted roll, paired with salt and pepper kettle chips, and my husband's true love, a pickle. Despite the fact that husband is not a fan of honey smoked meats, he still loved the Conway Club, and at around $8 it was a good deal.

We may not be fans of beer, but we are fans of Iechyd Da; the dining room and atmosphere are fantastic and unique, the food is delicious, and the brews are fresh. Next time you think Elkhart has nothing to offer on the big cities, get yourself down to main street, and try one of the Lewis Family's house made brews.