Scholar's Inn

Scholar’s Inn is on Mass Ave, a great little dining corridor with a wide selection of restaurants, from the casual Bazbeaux to the fancier Agio. Scholar’s Inn is at the higher end the dining food chain, with a lavish menu and even more lavish dining room, festooned with postmodern purple and grey frippery, like Alice in Wonderland as imagined by the Artist currently known as Prince.

I started out with a glass of Lillet, a light-colored French aperitif made from wines and fruit liqueurs. It was a little richer than wine and a great way to start a winter meal. My husband had the Shooting Star Merlot, a rich red with caramel and vanilla notes. I have to disagree with Miles in Sideways and say I am drinking the fucking merlot.

We launched into the food with an ahi tuna appetizer, which had a great presentation, perfect for grazing. In addition to slices flavorful raw tuna, the big plate was filled with fried capers, feta cheese, and kalamata and green olives coated with fresh herbs, all dressed in a very fresh tomato vinaigrette. This appetizer is sizable, delicious, different, and perfect for sharing.

The calamari appetizer was a disappointment, unfortunately. While the portion was generous, the flavor of both the calamari and the breading was utterly bland. It was mitigated only by the red pepper cumin aioli, which was tasty but still couldn’t make up for the deficiencies of the squid.

The Inn has a nice selection of appetizers (range: $6-$12) ranging from the predictable (spinach artichoke dip) to the classic (shrimp cocktail) to the surprising (crunchy crawfish, BBQ meatballs).

I also tried one of their daily soups. The feature was cream of mushroom and beef. (I love cream of mushroom soup. I’ll eat Campbell’s cream of mushroom right out of the can.) It’s difficult to mess up cream of mushroom soup, yet they managed to do it. The soup was flour-y, thick, and over-salted. It was like eating a big bowl of pot roast gravy.

The salads, on the other hand, were simple and fresh, offering a great interlude as we waiting for our entrees. The Scholars Signature salad sounds basic – romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers and carrots. But the vegetables are fresh and ripe, and the buttermilk dressing is rich and tangy, and really makes the salad. Others ordered the old-school iceberg wedge with bleu cheese. It’s hard to screw this up and they didn’t (although anything covered in good bleu cheese dressing is edible – even iceberg lettuce).

If you’re into salads, Scholar’s Inn won’t disappoint. In addition to these basics, they also have creative versions like rosemary walnut (mesclun greens, prosciutto, bleu cheese, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette) and the Rocket (mesclun greens, arugula, brie, dried cherries, candied pecans, apples and champagne mustard vinaigrette). There are eight salads in all, with differing degrees of exoticism.

Scholar’s Inn is known for their bakehouse bread, and boy, do you get bread. Our waiter brought a basket filled with Italian, sourdough, and rosemary slices. It’s very fresh and very much capable of spoiling your dinner, so try to push it to the other side of the table if you can.

Finally, we’re at the entrees. I had the duck breast -- I love the flavor of duck, but I’m not a fan of the rich duck fat, which Scholar’s Inn leaves covering the meat. The fat is what imparts the wonderful flavor, so I can’t begrudge it, but I did painstakingly cut it off to get to the wonderful meat underneath. It’s served with a tangy orange current sauce, which nicely cuts the richness of the duck. The elegance of the presentation was marred with straight-from-the-can mandarin orange slices, but rescued by the fresh steamed broccolini (a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale). Decent mashed potatoes rounded out the plate.

Others had scallops served with polenta. The scallops tasted like they had been sitting under the heat lamps for too long, and the polenta was worse – flavorless and rubbery. We also tried the thyme-encrusted pork loin, which was served with a tangy fruit sauce. The pork was moist, and the thyme crust and sauce complemented each other well. The spherical cooked carrots were crunchy and buttery.

Entrées range from $15-$34. There are lots of choices, like southwest chicken, BBQ tilapia, meatloaf, lamb chops, and four creative vegetarian entrees.

The end of the meal was hit or miss on availability. I ordered the baked Alaska but they were out. I ordered the Smith Woodhouse ‘98 port but they were out. As you might guess from the breadth of the menu, there is certainly no lack of other dessert choices, which range from “diner” (rootbeer float and banana cream pie) to decadent (crème brulee sampler and chocolate pate).

The wine list is diverse – you’re sure to find something you’ll like (though don’t expect a bargain). Our waiter was professional and prompt, dealing well with the fact that we all didn’t all arrive at the same time.

The décor is rich and so is the food. There were just a few too many low points and disappointments, though, to warrant a return visit anytime too soon.

Location

725 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Telephone: 317-536-0707
Fax: 317-536-0650
Website: http://www.scholarsinn.com