Tortas Guicho Dominguez y El Cubanito

Wow! What a name!
This long named Fountain Square restaurant has a lot of gourmet Mexican sandwiches. I think it's fun that they name their sandwiches after celebrities. The #1 is the Salma H. which has chicken breast, ham, and mozzarella. Or the Shakira has breaded steak, chorizo and mozzarella. I went with the #10 Eduardo V.

It had ham, breaded steak, hot dog and queso blanco on it. All of their tortas come with mayo, avocado, and tomato.This super meaty sandwich was very, very filling! I ordered this because I was curious about the breaded steak and hot dog. The really nice waitress told me that they cut the hot dog length wise and cook it in a pan and press all the grease out. The breaded steak wasn't bad. I think because it was pressed so thin, it made it difficult to get very much beef flavor so it just tasted like breading. The bread was very thick and substantial enough for all of the meat and toppings. 

I definitely want to come back to this place and try a different sandwich. Maybe I'll get the France or the Enrique! If you're feeling really adventurous, you should try their Cubana Challenge! Eat 3 Cubanas in 30 minutes and get $100 plus entire table's meal is free! But if you fail then your entire table has to pay double. Let me know if you do it. :-)

The Info

Tortas Guicho Dominguez y El Cubanito

641 Virginia Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46203

317-658-0735

www.tortasguicho.com

Devour Downtown Catch Up

This post is terribly out of order. It's from Devour Downtown last summer. So I'll just put up pics and note a few things that I still remember...

St. Elmo's Steakhouse

I was really underwhelmed by St. Elmo's. Maybe it was all the hype, but I just didn't think it was that good. Peterson's is still my favorite place for steak, but I even liked Ruth's Chris better. I was also surprised by the atmosphere. It was very loud and seemed very casual. I guess I just expected more. I do have to say, our service was fantastic. Very attentive, especially when we were just ordering off the Devour Downtown menu.

127 S. Illinois

Indianapolis, IN 46225

www.stelmos.com

Iaria's

I am still trying to find Italian as good as what I had in Boston...Iaria's was just fine. Ok in pasta, but great in salad dressings! They actually make them in house and taste fantastic! I tried both their house Italian and Bleu Cheese. Both were really really good. I highly recommend NOT skipping the salad here just for the dressing.

317 S. College Ave.

Indianapolis, IN 46202

www.iaraisrestaurant.com

Iozzo's Garden of Italy

Still not as good as Boston, but is probably one of the best in Indy. The inside and atmosphere is really nice. A little crowded, but not cramped. The ravioli isn't made in house, but the sauce and filling were very good. The only disappointing part was the cannoli dessert. I was expecting a big, flakier cannoli, but what we got instead was a bit weak. 

946 S. Meridian St.

Indianapolis, IN 46225

www.iozzos.com

Dunaway's

This place is so hit or miss for me. Sometimes it's good, and other times it's eh. This time was eh. The worst part was the cheesecake. It was overcooked and had a hard browned top. Definitely the worst cheesecake I have ever had. My eh experiences are always so disappointing because I love that Dunaway's is in the old Oxygen building, that you can eat on the roof, and how cool the bar looks. 

351 S. East St.

Indianapolis, IN 46204

www.dunaways.com

Adobo Bar & Grill

Really good! When I used to go to Adobo on the northside, I thought the only highlights were the guacamole and margarita. Now that they're downtown, it seems like they got a major makeover! The restaurant is a really cool looking place that I hear hosts salsa. And I thought the travelling mariachi band was a fun addition to the atmosphere. I'll go here again. Plus, they had ceviche! Not bad!

110 E. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46204

www.adobogrill.com/indianapolis

El Rodeo

It's tough to believe that so soon after having the best Mexican in Indy I was ready to eat more. I actually wasn't, but my boyfriend really wanted some so we went. One of his favorite places is El Rodeo.

It's not as unique or special as El Sol de Tala, but it was definitely better than La Piedad. I knew I would be disappointed with their tamales, so I actually ordered something different. Shocking, I know. I got the chorizo tacos, and Mike got the Acapulco with steak. It had lettuce, cheese, onions, steak, guac, salsa, and sour cream, all over a tortilla. Mike mixes it all together so that it's basically a giant opened soft taco. Not a bad concept. My favorite part of the meal dish was the rice and beans. Not only did I get a generous portion, the rice had veggies like green beans and peas mixed in. Healthier than your average mexican rice. ;-) My health conscience felt better, or was just fooled, about eating extra rice. I should mention that I ate a basket and a half of the tortilla chips. The servers were very attentive when we got low, and the chips were crispy, hot, and fresh.

Overall, this was an above average Mexican meal.

The Rating

- Solid

The Info

El Rodeo

9546 Allisonville Rd.

Indianapolis, IN 46250

317-913-7897

I couldn't find a website, but if you go to Urbanspoon someone kindly posted pictures of the menu.

El Sol de Tala

What's Cinco de Mayo without Mexican food?! Since my trainer conveniently cancelled our session that day, I was able to fully enjoy this holiday. :-) Abby and I visited El Sol de Tala at the recommendation of one of my favorite local food bloggers, The Chubby Eater. (Read her blog! It's good!) If you read my previous post about La Piedad, you know that no Indianapolis Mexican restaurant has stood out to me...until now! Just a quick glance at their menu and you can see it's a gem!

Don't be put off by the fact that it's in the hood (It's 1.5 miles away from where I grew up) because you wouldn't realize it once you stepped inside. The place was huge! There was a little "cantina" area to the left when you first walked in, and there were 2 levels of seating passed the hostess desk. I wondered why they needed so much space until we were leaving and not only was every table filled, but lots of people were in the waiting area!

Since it was a special occasion, we went all out. We started with an order of guacamole and queso. Both were good. The guacamole station was right next to us, so you could see them making it. I liked seeing that the guac was fresh and not from a big jar.

Even though, the Chubby Eater told me to order the #2, the sizzling plate of spiced meat...I'm a sucker for tamales, and the #15, Tequila (Tamale Dinner) was calling my name. It had 3 different tamales: a chicken tamale, a pork tamale, and a sweet corn tamale that really could have been my dessert. And it also came with my favorite: rice and beans. I chose pinto, but you can also get black beans. That's what Abby ordered and they were fantastic. These tamales weren't as good as the ones I used to get from Chicago (via a friend at the time), but they were definitely the best I've had in Indy.

Abby ordered the #14, Ameca (Chiles Rellenos): 2 poblano peppers filled with queso fresco. Abby had never ordered chiles rellenos before, but she really liked it. I liked them too. I stopped getting chiles rellenos because they're usually soggy and unbalanced in flavor and texture. These weren't. I was not disappointed!

Another nice treat is that both dishes came with salads, but salads as sides or appetizers are really just wasted space to me. I rather skip those. This day, I ate my salad so that I got something green in my diet. Sarah, aren't you proud?? ;-)

Getting ready to describe the flan we ordered to dessert, reminded me why I even had to order it! I needed one more course to wait out the buzz I got from my amazing top shelf SMALL margarita! Even though it gave me a buzz, it didn't taste strong at all. Hmm...maybe that was the problem...

Normally I don't care for flan, but this one wasn't bad! The menu said it's an over 3 decade old family recipe. It was sweet without much of an egg flavor. The texture was firm, but still creamy. I enjoyed it.

Go here. To quote the Chubby Eater, "It's in the ghetto, but it might be worth a trip to the Wishard ER to get a taste of this."

The Rating

- Best Mexican I've had in Indianapolis!

The Info

El Sol de Tala

2444 E. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46201

317-636-1250

www.elsoldetala.com