Sangrias at the Art Beat

Yesterday, South Bend had their Art Beat thing, where a variety of art vendors, performers, and culinary people come together in one spot. I went there for two reasons, really: to find earrings, and to eat at Sangrias, a fairly new restaurant to the downtown area.

The restaurant is a unique spin off from the creators of La Esperanza, another local restaurant I blogged about a while ago. While La Esperanza is strictly a Mexican restaurant, Sangrias' aim is to create a Latin fusion menu with a unique variety of drinks and a fun atmosphere. They often have a live band to enhance your dining experience, and stay open to midnight on some nights. There even is a tapas menu certain days of the week.

Sangrias has a small, homey feel due to its smaller size. The ambiance is lively and you instantly feel happier the moment you walk in.

Sangrias special offering for Art Beat was their "Latin sushi", which I unfortunately wasn't able to try since I needed to leave. But it looks really great!

There was some very impressive fruit carving work on the table as well.

I did take my picture with the chef, though! Some people watching even coaxed him into breaking a smile:

The bartender on duty, Abatu, was busy mixing up drinks for everyone.

Here he is shaking up a drink, but my camera is bad with motions, so it didn't come out very well.

My drink was a mojito de fresas. Translation: strawberry mojito. The flavor of lime and strawberries combine well together, in case you haven't tried it. The rum used here was a Cruzan rum, though I'm not sure which type was used. All I know is that it didn't overpower the flavors of the other ingredients. I don't drink at all, really, but when I cook with alcohol I use it as a flavor enhancer. It's not about saturating the dish with an overwhelming taste of wine, or beer, but simply to enhance, and thankfully this mojito was the same.

Each meal begins with a complimentary basket of tortilla chips, which I believe are made fresh in the restaurant. I think. All I really know is that they are addictive. The salsa is extremely good and spicy. The guacamole, which is extra, had a good consistency and tasted nice, though I would have liked it if I could taste the lime and cilantro a bit more.

For the eats, I ordered a sope, which is a thick fried tortilla made from maize. It was topped with Cuban-flavored pinto beans, lettuce, cheese, and I think I see tomatoes. I also ordered a side of roasted jalapenos, which I could not tolerate. I spent 10 minutes trying to recover from one tiny bite, so I stuck with the relatively minor heat from the salsa.

The sope was delicious. Dense, but not hard, and a nice corn flavor that paired well with the toppings. It seems like a light meal, but is surprisingly filling.

What I like the most about Sangrias is that they offer many reasonably priced menu items, and the portion sizes are decent for a meal. I will definitely be going back because I heard they had ceviche, which I've never had, and I want to blog about their fried ice cream, which was amazing! Definitely stop by if you're in the area.

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Sangrias
123 North Michigan Street, South Bend, IN‎
(574) 232-9463‎


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Uptown Kitchen

Hey everyone! I'm still here, I just took a bit of a blogging break. It goes in cycles, I think, where sometimes you'd rather just bake, cook, and eat without thinking and taking pictures. I don't really like to go too long without posting because then it becomes a habit. I did, however, take some pictures from a restaurant I checked out recently. I haven't heard of it before, though it's locally owned and and different from most restaurants in the South Bend area.

Uptown Kitchen features a menu created with fresh, quality ingredients, nonprocessed meats, and tons of flavor. The owner, who came from Chicago, dreamed of having a restaurant since he was 10, and I'm glad I got to eat here! Serving breakfast all day, the menu offers creations that aren't typical of many breakfast fare served elsewhere, as well as a lunch and dinner menu with offerings for everyone ranging from a Kobe beef burger to a protein-packed quinoa burger.

The ambiance is an eclectic, fresh vibe that you can feel instantly upon entering. It's like dining in a really awesome dining room, but in a public setting. The hanging lamps lead up to an exposed ceiling that only lends to the eclectic feel, and reminded me of the cafe at Fox & Obels. Windows surround the entire dining area and off to the side is the kitchen, of which you have a complete view. I love eating with natural lighting as it just gives everything a brighter, lighter feel.

Before I talk about what I ate, I'll first tell you a bit about the coffee, of course. Uptown Kitchen offers two roasts, a Brazilian and an Ethiopian. The former is the lighter roast of the two, yet it's not weak at all. It has a fruitier, brighter flavor that I felt complimented the tastes of the dishes I had better than the Ethiopian, which to me was richer, but almost tasting reminiscent of a Starbucks roast (ew), yet not. It didn't have a caramelization of the oils and flavors that I look for in darker roasts.

We had a challenge when it came to deciding what to eat, so we made the brilliant choice of choosing two dishes and splitting them. First up was the deliciously described omelette filled with crab, cream cheese, and spinach. It sounded unique, and the combination of ingredients stood out amongst the rest. (If I remember correctly, this was one of the specials of the day.) The order came with a side of their Uptown Fries, pan-roasted and seasoned red potatoes.

Was this the best omelette I've ever had, or what! The taste of the cream cheese complimented the crab perfectly, and the texture next to the eggs was great. Sometimes I feel cream cheese can have too much of an overwhelming flavor, but that wasn't the case here. They weren't stingy with the crab, either, which was nice to see.

The potatoes were good, and not greasy at all (I was told they use minimal oil, they don't have a deep fryer), though one of the flavors, I think it was sage, tastes off at times. The texture was crispy on the outside, and had the innards of a fluffy, warm potato, and that made it better.

Our "dessert" was a split order of lemon ricotta pancakes with raspberry creme fraiche, another special of the day. The pancakes had a very bright lemony flavor, and the texture of the pancakes was sort of like light cheesecake-meets pancake. Raspberry always compliments lemon, and definitely made the pancakes with a little extra syrup, too.

My next visit to Uptown Kitchen will be solely for the purpose of tasting some of their cakes, like champagne raspberry, and pies. If you're in the area, check it out!

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The Uptown Kitchen
303 Florence Avenue
Granger, Indiana 46530

(574) 968-3030

Thai Food

Great title, I know... At least it's to the point. At least.

Yesterday, I ate at a little restaurant in downtown South Bend called . I've been there once before and (sadly, I'll add) haven't been there since, though not because it wasn't good.

You walk into Siam Thai and you're met with a little partition, behind which you wait to be seated. Unless you're shorter than the partition, in which case step to the side (as I did, though my dad is taller, but there wasn't anyone sitting in the table right behind the partition and it helped them notice us). Personally, or not, as my dad thought so too, they could do without two or three of the tables. It's a little compact but without the claustrophobic-inducing feeling (I don't know how that is), though the problem is the noise. Once the majority of the customers start talking, the only way to hear the conversations you have with your friends/parents/siblings/hobbits is to raise your own voice. (Another option is either to just sit silently and stare at each other or become mimes, the latter which has the potential to get you kicked out for frightening everyone else.) The atmosphere makes up for any shortcomings. Each table has it's own table lamp, which emits a lovely golden glow once it gets dark outside (there is wall-to-floor glass windows at the front of the restaurant), and the lightening the restaurant has is soft. It's enough light to analyze your food with -- I hate eating in the dark.

Firstly, we ordered a pot of the regular green tea, which had a nice, light flavor without being over-powering. Secondly, for an appetizer we ordered the fried stuffed mushroom that came with what seemed like an MSG-less sweet-and-sour dipping sauce. It didn't have that sickish fully red hue and it wasn't gloppy. Glop-glop. The mushrooms were good, though I prefer portobellos because regular mushroom just taste watery to me. The filling was good, a somewhat moist pork filling? I forgot. And the outtards (the fried part) was neither greasy nor too thick. It all came together and was a perfect with the sauce. I can also recommend the satay because last time I got it, it was good, and the peanutty sauce was excellent.

Dad ordered beef with broccoli and mushrooms in some sort of a sauce that... It was #17. It was good. I don't remember much of it besides the beef not being dry (!!), the sauce being flavored perfectly, and that I really like broccoli in saucy dishes because it acts like an edible sponge, emitting a flavorful burst of saucy goodness. I ordered #15, the chicken with carrots, green cabbage, green onions, mushrooms, and red onions in a ginger sauce. I was apprehensive about ordering chicken because most chicken is overcooked but I needn't have worried. The chicken was thin and moist, sopping up the sauce, the vegetables were between raw and too limp (i.e., you bit into them is it was firm, giving a nice chew, without being like crudites and not being mushy), and the sauce? Stellar, it was amazing. This light ginger sauce, not over-powering but the perfect amount of flavor, which was enhanced when you bit into a piece of ginger, but it still wasn't over-powering (you know how too much garlic stays with you for days? This didn't have that effect). Each entree, unless it's a noddle-y entree, comes with jasmine rice to aid in sopping up every last bit of their perfectly seasoned sauces. The portions were generous without being gluttonous, leaving you room to eat more, if you so desired. Interspersed throughout the bites were my dad and I taking turns saying things like, "Wow, this is so good!" "Amazing, absolutely perfect!" "I don't know what dessert I'd want to eat after this."

Which leads me to the desserts. There are two cheesecakes offered but we both thought that it would be horrid after such a meal. Cheesecake is a meal unto itself. There's a dessert wine, Japanese plum-something, but I don't drink. The truffles I had next door at That Cheesecake Place (where they also get... the cheesecake from) and I didn't like them. I won't get into that right now. The only dessert that intrigues me is the fried bananas (it might be like banana wontons, or it's fried in a tempura batter, I don't know) with... a sauce. With vanilla ice cream. Sprinkled with sesame seeds. My memory just failed me. But we didn't want anything because we enjoyed the taste of the entrees so much, we didn't want something else to take it away. I think they should have a lemongrass sorbet, or any sorbet, something light. All the desserts seemed a little heavy and wrong to follow the sort of food they serve. They do have chocolate-covered mint sticks accompanying the bill. (Cheapo *cough*. No, I'm kidding!)

The appetizers are around $5, the entrees are $8 to $15, and a pot of tea starts at $3.99. You can dress either casually or you can dress up. A reservations is required for large groups but you can't get one otherwise. And it closes at 9 pm.

For now, Siam Thai remains my favorite foodie restaurant in South Bend.

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Siam Thai

211 N Main St
South Bend, IN 46601

(574) 232-4445

(574) 233-2233