Morgan's & Little Black Dog Tavern

The area off of Lincolnway East in Mishawaka called The 100 Center has some incredible, charming old buildings that I think are often ignored, but trust me, you should get back there to check out Morgan's and Little Black Dog Tavern. The building housing this Euro-style tavern has a rich history, which got us even more excited about it! It was built in the late 19th, early 20th century as part of the Kamm brewery and was actually the stable housing the horses, so make sure to check out the historic pictures donated by the original owner's great, great granddaughter hanging around the restaurant. There is also an old wagon around back from the stables that has been repurposed as an herb garden, that alone should tell you that great things are happening here. If that isn't enough though, perhaps the international dishes will get you excited. Each week Morgan & LBD features a special menu, on top of their house menu, that highlights a different European country, which was Spain during our visit, we love the fact that each time we visit there will be something new to try!

 We started with one of the special entrees (on the blackboard) that was a fun fusion dish, BLT Bruschetta, which was a house made pesto aioli, topped with diced tomatoes and bacon, served alongside a nice peppery arugala with lightly toasted bread. My hubby loved EVERY aspect of this dish, but what set it apart from every other bruschetta for him was the fact that the toast it was served with was still soft on the inside, instead of being crunchy. This is definitely an app we would recommend if it's available when you visit.

Next we had side portions of the hot bacon spinach salad, which I had no intention of ordering until I tried my hubby's and then I couldn't resist. This is a spinach salad topped with tomato, onion, boiled egg, a sweet, warm dressing, and bacon in the form of a pancetta round. This salad is very unique and delicious, the dressing is a little sweeter than what we are used to, but is balanced out well by the salty pancetta and other toppings.

Dinner was a pretty tough decision between the house menu and the blackboard specials from Spain, but we decided on sandwiches to leave room for dessert. I ordered the grouper that was coated with a batter made with "Hair of the Dog" beer, which is an EPA made by Iechyd Da in Elkhart specifically for Morgan & LBD (we love locals helping locals!), that you can't get anywhere else, not even Iechyd Da. The fish was cooked perfectly, with the right amount of batter and was served alongside made to order chips. My only complaint is that I would have liked more salt on my chips, but that is a personal preference as I tend to be heavy handed with the salt. My hubby had the asiago chicken sliders, which was slider sized portions of chicken breast coated with asiago and parmesan cheese, cooked to order, served on a baguette topped with mozzarella, marinara, and basil. Again my hubby loved the bread this was served on, the chicken was cooked just right, and every ingredient on these sliders came together perfectly for him.

As we inquired about dessert, we were informed that they do in fact have a pastry chef, so we knew it was going to be good! The plated dessert was a lemon cake, but we opted for the dessert flight as it was a smaller slice of the lemon cake accompanied with a chocolate cake pop and a piece of baklava. This was the perfect little dessert to share, the cake pop wasn't too rich or sweet, but was so moist; the baklava had whole nuts, crispy pastry, was not overly sweet, and may be the best baklava I have ever had; and the lemon cake was just a little tart and complimented with a sweet icing which we both really liked.



As if the culinary experience didn't exceed every expectation that we had, the customer service was phenomenal as well! Jordan, our waiter took time to explain any dish we had questions about and was gracious enough to stop and talk about and listen to our thoughts on everything that we ate. We also got the chance to chat with the owner Scott, which is one of the things we love about dining locally, getting to hear the vision and passion that local restaurateurs have. Scott, and his wife Mary Lou, have really created a welcoming atmosphere, that will make any diner feel at ease, along with a unique culinary experience, in a beautiful historic building. For your next date night, girls night out, or special occasion make sure to get a reservation to try the delicious food at Morgan's & Little Black Dog.r

Evil Czech Brewery and Public House

If you have followed the blog you know that we often visit bars, pubs, and breweries because the food is good, I'm sure our waiters/waitress' roll their eyes a little, but honestly we always get good service, and tonight was no exception. Our waiter, Brett, greeted us promptly and warmly with a small bag of what Evil Czech Brewery calls "hop"corn, and was quick to share with us that they had root beer to offer (it was delicious!!) since we passed up his explanation of their beers on tap. I have to say though, if you do like beer, this is a place for you, the vats they brew in are behind a glass wall in the main/family dining room so you can see everything that they are doing, and from there move to "glow tanks" until they hit your glass, meaning that their beer never touches air or the light of day until you order it. Evil Czech not only has an extensive beer list, but their menu is vast as well, in fact it was a little overwhelming with it's many delicious looking dishes. We began our meal, or should I say experience, with Pork Belly Corn Dogs, which was a large piece of rendered pork belly, with a crispy, sweet cornbread coating on a stick. This app was delicious, but I will warn that it is very rich between the fattiness of the pork belly and the deep fried crust, however it is served with a delicious whole grain mustard that works well to cut the richness of this dish.

My hubby was pretty quick to decide what he wanted, which was in part due to the fact that he has always wanted mac and cheese with jalapenos, but, I suspect, was also influenced by his desire to ask the waiter for Menage A Trois! Yes, that was the name of my hubby's mac and cheese that was chock full of braised pork belly, bacon, house made pastrami, pickled jalapenos, and topped with crushed pretzels, and despite the fact that he isn't a big fan of pretzels he thought they were a perfect topping for mac and cheese as it added a nice crunchiness.

As I said, the menu was a little overwhelming for me, normally my go to is fish and chips, but I didn't want something deep fried, I poured over pizzas with many unique toppings, salads served in pizza crust bowls (all made with the spent grains from the brewing process), loaded sandwiches and burgers, and even a couple dishes made with schnitzel, but still couldn't decide. When Brett came back to take our order I panicked and ordered the chicken fingers, to which he promptly asked me to step outside of my comfort zone, and I'm glad he did! I decided to order from their street taco section, and was greeted with two delicious chipotle red corn taco shells full of their house made pastrami and pork belly confit covered in a delicious hoison glaze. I ordered the spicy slaw on the side and when my hubby took a bite and declared "it's a good thing you ordered that on the side," I knew it was too spicy for this wimp and didn't even try it.

And while we are talking about this house made pastrami, I think it is important that you see exactly where it came from, as this is the sight that greeted us when we pulled in the parking lot, and the smell was intoxicating!

We opted to bring half our dinners home in favor of ordering dessert (thank goodness for roomy saddlebags!), as the dessert menu looked too delicious to pass up! Brett recommended Mamma's sour cream cake with fresh local blueberries or the bread pudding made with chocolate chips, pretzels and almonds, but the "Czech Mex Sundae" looked too delicious to pass up. We were not disappointed, the cold ice cream alongside fresh, hot churros covered in cinnamon and sugared then topped with chocolate and caramel was divine! It was served in a pizza crust bowl covered in cinnamon and sugar, which didn't really add or take away from the dish, but if I had it my way I would trade the bowl for a couple extra churros.

Whether you like beer or, like us, don't really drink, Evil Czech Brewery and Public House is a must try! Their food is delicious and locally sourced, their staff is incredibly friendly, you can go on a date or take the whole family, and if you are like my hubby, you will be totally fascinated with the brewing system. Oh, and when you go, make sure to ask to sit in Brett's section, he offers exceptional customer service that is pretty rare to see nowadays.

Doc Pierce's Restaurant

I am going to begin by asking you not to judge the amount of fried food you are going to see in this post! And now that we have that out of the way, I am going to tell you about some of the best onion rings I have found, thus beginning the talk of fried food! Doc Pierce's Restaurant has onion rings that are huge, and I'm not just talking kind of huge, I'm talking "I can wear this as a bracelet" huge, and the batter on them is just perfectly seasoned and crispy. We also ordered fried mushrooms, and all I have to say is "wow!" I truly have never seen mushrooms this big, let alone fried mushrooms, which, like the onion rings, were coated in a delicious, crispy batter.

 While the menu at Doc Pierce's is widely varied with steak, seafood, sandwiches, salads, and soups, I chose Doc's Double Dose, which is a plate of gulf shrimp and sirloin steak tips coated in their delicious batter and fried (Remember when I asked you not to judge? This is that point!). The gulf shrimp were delicious, they were big and sweet, and tasted just like the shrimp we would get from South Carolina when my brother was stationed there, you just don't often get shrimp like this in a state not on the ocean, especially Indiana. The fried steak was a new experience, and actually quite delicious, the batter on the steak got a little soggy on the bottom, but for the most part was still crispy and tasty. I also had a salad alongside my steak and shrimp, and while it was just an average, iceberg lettuce salad it was kicked up a notch with their croutons, which I am fairly certain were housemade, and very delicious.

My hubby and mother in law both had burgers; Hubby's was a traditional cheese burger with provolone and sauteed mushrooms and his momma got the black and bleu burger. Both liked their burgers, but felt that the actual hamburger could have used some seasoning to enhance it.

The atmosphere in Doc Pierce's Restaurant is a little dark, but gets a unique feel from the many stained glass windows and Tiffany lamps. Next time you are in the mood for good, comfort food head to downtown Mishawaka and enjoy a tasty meal at Doc Pierce's Restaurant.