Shapiro's Deli

I've only started going to this Indianapolis staple recently because of my friend, Kara. It's super close to both of our workplaces so it's an easy spot for us to grab lunch and chat. This visit I went with my roommate, Jamie.

Shapiro's Deli has been around since 1905 serving kosher food. The restaurant is set up cafeteria style. They're really smart about the order in which you'll see the food - the desserts are first and they look good! You have to have a lot of self control when you pass them. My trick: I remind myself of all the OTHER food I already plan on eating, and then I don't pick up dessert.

I ordered my "usual", half of a corned beef on their homemade rye with spicy brown mustard and swiss cheese. Normally, I hate hate HATE mustard, but I don't mind it on this sandwich. This doesn't sound like a lot of food, but the sandwich is huge. They are definitely not stingy. And per usual, the food was fantastic. The corned beef is juicy. The bread is soft. And the mac and cheese is comforting. It has a sweet taste to it, but I think it works.

Jamie got the pastrami sandwich, and it looked really good! I might actually order that next time! But the part of Jamie's meal was her side of potato pancake. Talk about comfort! It was a giant hashbrown!

The Rating

The Info

Shapiro's Deli (Downtown)

808 S. Meridian St.

Indianapolis, IN 46225

317-631-3958

Fat Dan's Deli

After my failed 8 mile run (damn you shins!), Mike and I walked (painfully) for something to eat and stumbled upon Fat Dan's Deli on Broad Ripple Ave. Little did I realize, it was on Jamie's restaurant list. Mike and I both thought it was just all right. Solid food...but not spectacular. Fat Dan's Deli has late night hours, and I think I would like it better after a night of drinking....

Fat Dan's Deli boasts to be a "No Bull. No Chains. No Gimmicks." authentic Chicago-style deli and pub. And that's exactly what it is. Mike ordered the Italian beef; I got the pulled pork; and we split the fries. The sandwiches were individually wrapped, and the fries came out on a giant piece of paper. Very, VERY casual.

The fries were hand cut, and you could tell because they came in all different sizes and shapes. Which was interesting, but made it tough to dip in ketchup. You're better off just dumping your ketchup on the paper the fries come out on. They weren't very crispy but it's probably because of the size of some of the slices.

Mike's Italian Beef was pretty good. The peppers give it a nice spicy kick and it works really well with the thinly sliced beef. I really liked the french roll that all of it came piled on. The bread was soft, but dense enough not to fall apart from the juice, which I wish they gave more of. I wish I had ordered that instead of my pulled pork.

My pulled pork was ok. The pork wasn't tough, but it wasn't incredibly tender or flavorful. They just put it on a miserable white hamburger bun that just fell apart. It was just a miserable sandwich. (but I bet I would have loved it after at 2am Saturday morning, like I love Taco Bell.)

The Rating

Info

Fat Dan's Deli

815 Broad Ripple Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46220

(317) 259-7777

www.fatdansdeli.com