Hey Boo!
So I have been living in East Central Indiana for just about three years now & am about an hour outside of Indianapolis. One of the things that I said I wanted to do, probably since 2017, was participate in Indianapolis’s restaurant week Devour Indy.
Devour is a two week period of discounted and special menus from restaurants that range from high-end steak houses to local hidden gems. Devour happens in the winter and summer every year, & I have managed to miss every one since I’ve been here. But THIS YEAR WAS THE YEAR *inserts Ms. Pearly “today is the day!” meme* that I was going to see what DI had to offer.
I love the idea of being a “foodie” because every food blogger page that comes up on my Instagram feed immediately makes me want to spend way too much money for food I probably won’t like. The problem with that is. . . I’m a picky eater (or so I’ve been told). This means that EVEN IF I stepped outside of my typical routine of 8 ct chicken nugget meals, the pictures wouldn’t look nearly good enough. [Side note: My proof showed when I went to ATL a couple of weeks ago and went to a soul food restaurant and got the driest most boring chicken and waffles ever]. So, I decided to choose one of the local eateries.
Fast forward, my cousin and I chose a restaurant that is local to Indy that neither of us had been to.
We walked in a immediately got the awkward vibes from being the only black people in the restaurant. We sat down and decided on the steak and shrimp meal that came with a salad, soup, steak and shrimp, green beans, and mashed potatoes.
The salad reminded me of the iceberg salads you get at a hibachi grill and the second “course” was a choice of cream of mushroom or vegetable soup. I chose the cream of mushroom because I figured it would be made from scratch and taste different than the canned soup dumped into the Thanksgiving dressing mix. I didn’t finish it.
Last was the entree we were waiting for. I got the NY strip and my cousin got the ribeye. My biggest issue is that there was no flavor on anything, and after 2-3 bites I decided I needed to take it home and recook it myself. My cousin ate her vegetables with plans to do the same thing with her steak.
I have a bad habit of “laughing to keep from crying” in messed up situations, like when my friends and I were sleeping in our car outside of enterprise for 2 hours in 20-something degree weather (but that’s a different story). This time was no different because here I am cracking up in the booth looking at my food, then at my cousin, then at my food again thinking about the 3 years of waiting that ended in choosing the worst restaurant offered. So if you’re going to do restaurant week, keep a couple of things in mind.
1. Just because it’s on the list doesn’t mean it’s a good choice.
2. Read the reviews beforehand and pay special attention to the type of people who visit the restaurant.
3. If the restaurant specializes in bar food… don’t opt for the steak.
4. Make the most of your experience. Laugh a lot. Take pictures.
In the end, I had fun but would 10/10 recommend not doing what we did. Until next time, here’s to happier and healthier lives!
