Room Four

All restaurants in Indianapolis have to live up to this standard.  Quality ingredients expertly cooked every time.  For $40.00 you can walk out with a couple courses and tip.

Day four of the cross country road trip, we headed north driving from Missouri to Indiana. Landing in Indianapolis, we stayed at Renata's Bed and Breakfast, a cute farm style house run by the nicest German lady ever. Once checked in, a quick drive across town landed us at Room Four.

Room Four delivers the a la cart menu of its fancy sister, Recess. It's retro urban decor reminded me of something regularly found in Portland. It was a late Thursday night and all the other patrons were drinking local pints of beer and noshing on burgers. It seemed like the thing to do.

I don't eat burgers often, but the Fischer Farms cheeseburger "mattie boy style" whatever that means with bacon, onion rings, BBQ sauce and fries ($16) would be my road trip slump breaker. Decadence is a word to describe it, but not high and mighty - like a rough and tough cowboy version of the Le Pigeon's burger in Portland. The burger itself was melt in yo-mouf, and the bacon provided a nice amount of smokiness and salt finished off by the tang of the BBQ. The fries were just the way I like 'em - thick cut and with skins.

Salad was looking good on the menu and it ended up the same in real life. The results rank it as the second best grilled beef salad ever consumed, second to the Harris Ranch's skirt steak salad. This one came with grilled skirt steak, cabbage, jalapenos, potatoes, tomatoes, blue cheese, arugula, and red wine vinaigrette. For a minute, I thought to myself, these must just be the excessive - must use immediately - leftovers in the kitchen. Well, that could still be the case, but I loved the variety of textures and flavors in this salad. Especially the blue cheese.

If you find yourself in Indianapolis, check out Room Four - the menu changes daily chef Greg Hardesty is an area legend and always making delicious food.

I live in South Broad Ripple and I'm very happy to have this place close to home.  A friend of mine told me about Room Four, a place where I could get Recess-quality food without having to sit down for a full meal.  It has a short a la carte menu with tacos, burgers, and a few other things.  There's also a great wine list, beer list and, although it's not on the menu, dessert.  

As a busy, young professional, I rarely make it out for a full dinner with friends anymore; I tend to work late or have multiple events during the course of the week in the evening.  Some nights, when I'm not quite full from whatever I have been snacking on at an event or at work and I'm not quite ready to go home, I've made this place a stopping point.  The tacos are extremely high quality and affordable; my favorite have been duck tacos that became available at the end of one evening when they ran out of some of the other ones on the menu.  The menu changes and so I never have to worry about getting bored with the options.  

The staff is super friendly and, as the other customers are friendly as well, I have had the fun fortune of developing new friends just from comparing wines while enjoying the restaurant.  I'm a big fan of this place and plan to frequent this place often!