Northside Nights
Those of you who don’t work in radio get paid in money. Those of us who do work in radio get paid in stickers and the occasional perk like concert tickets, Colts tickets, and if we’re really lucky, a fancy dinner.
The idea behind Northside Nights is rather brilliant – it’s a ton of swankyish restaurants on the north side of Indy more or less doing 3 courses for $30 (some of them are a little more, others have 2 for $30 menus). So basically we poor people get to rub elbows with the rich people. And by “rub elbows”, I mean “agonize over what to wear”.
I was one of several invited to Tuesday night’s media progressive dinner. And if you know me at all, you know I’m not really one to turn down free food. Especially free fancy food.
(I realize this is the part where I put pictures, but I’m a total blogger fail and have none. I do, however, have a few I stole from other people. I feel slightly bad about the thievery, but a) credits have been given and b) oddly enough, I’m in one.)
Our first stop was Eddie Merlot’s for appetizers. I don’t even know what all they served us – I just know it was delicious. The bruschetta and beef and blue cheese tart type thing were my favorites. Naturally Jesse was a big fan of the chicken tender on a stick and the calamari (homeboy has never met a chicken tender or squid he didn’t like).
Stop two was Sullivan’s Steakhouse for the entree. I was super stoked about Sullivan’s because I’d heard it was amazing while I was at UIndy, but had never actually tried it for myself due to the whole poor college student thing.
To be completely honest – Sullivan’s started out a little rough. A few of us are pretty sure they forgot we were coming. But they won me over once they gave me wine and started bringing the real food out (the 2 individual sized salads for the table remains weird).
We sampled 2 types of steak, salmon, chicken, pasta primavera, and the best crab cakes of my life. I’ll normally pass on crab cakes, but these I could eat all day err day.
(stolen from @susecker’s Facebook)
The most important stop was Seasons 52 – dessert! I had never heard of Seasons 52 before Tuesday night (not sure if it’s new in the last 7 years or if I just never heard of it), but I’d be okay with going there every night. They brought out dessert in shot glasses, and I was in love. I have no idea what all the choices were, but I do know you’re a fool if you don’t get the pumpkin mousse.
(stolen from @CJackson625)
Overall, I’d give all 3 restaurants my stamp of approval. . .which means absolutely nothing. What would mean more is knowing they also have Jesse the Full Blown Food Snob’s stamp of approval.
Even if you don’t head to one of these 3 restaurants, you should check out the other Northside Nights restaurants. A) They’re pretty good deals on restaurants you may never go to otherwise, and B) you don’t have to cook or do dishes.
Soybeans, Too 