Scotty's Lakehouse
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to start a blog series
showcasing local businesses here in the Indy area whose owners have
a unique level of dedication and fun in running their organization.
The first in this series comes from a restaurateur whose 5 previous
locations are synonymous with college in Indiana. If you're from
Indy or have attended college at IU, Purdue, IUPUI, Butler, or Ball
State recently, you're probably already very familiar with Scotty's Brewhouse. After following owner
Scott Wise's Twitter recently, I
realized there would be a new, different Scotty's coming to town…Scotty's Lakehouse in Geist. Being a
native Geist resident and long-time client of Scotty's Brewhouse, I had to check this
out. Read on for the rest of the story.
NOTE: Apologies for the photo quality. I know I'm a professional
photographer, but I just had my camera with basic lens attached and
didn't want to cause a scene with a bunch of gear and flashes going
off in a busy restaurant. If I'm able to work something out to get
more commercial photos taken in the future, I will let you all
know.
The first thing I noticed when I pulled up to the corner of Brooks
School Rd. and Fall Creek Rd. was that the parking lot was PACKED!
It's a small parking lot, and I have a feeling it's going to stay
this way for a while. After getting out of my car, I noticed the
familiar Monopoly piece logo over a black awning. It seemed a bit
hard to read, and I think a little more light should be poured onto
that awning to let people know what restaurant they're in front
of.
Upon entering, I noticed a crowd at the hostess's booth. After
giving my name and party size (2, I dragged along my friend John),
I was informed there would be a 50 minute wait. A long time, but
the restaurant did just open a day ago, and I was halfway expecting
a large turnout for a new joint with such a large fan base. No
worries, John and I proceeded to head over to the bar to grab a few
beers while we waited. Unfortunately, that too was packed and took
a good 15 minutes or so to order a couple of beers. That is the one
Achilles heel of Scotty's…it's so
popular that the long waits often turn customers off to other
restaurants. I know I have once or twice been known to make the
walk across the street from the Scotty's in North Indianapolis over to the
Claddagh for my beer and food fix. Hopefully, things will settle
down in the future and I can see how this place will fare as a
local watering hole to run in and have a couple beers.
Anyways, back to the
Lakehouse.
We finally received our first round of beers, a
Granite City Broad
Axe Stout for my friend and an
Oaken Barrel
Indiana Amber for yours truly. This is probably one of the best
feature I like about
Scotty's
Lakehouse. All but one of their draught beers are from
brewers here in the Hoosier state. From
Sun King
to
Upland and
Three Floyds
to
Barley
Island, all of the beers are favorites of local microbreweries.
While this may turn off some people who expect to see their usual
national fare of brewskies (Coors Light is the only national beer
served on tap), this is like a second heaven for me, and I'm sure
many other beer lovers. Hopefully this doesn't turn people off from
the Lakehouse because many of these local beers, while a bit
pricier ($4.50-5.00 for a pint) are that much tastier and
complement meals much better than a pitcher of Bud Light.
After some chatting around the bar and catching up on old
times, our buzzer paged and we were sat. The table presentation is
interesting and definitely something worth conversation the first
time you dine at Scotty's Lakehouse.
First the tables are adorned in the same paper used for paper
grocery bags, and then at each place setting, an employee literally
stamps on the burger menu (the full menu is still given to you).
Practical? Not so much, as I didn't pay much attention to it.
Creative? You betcha..
Looking through the menu, many will notice that this isn't
exactly the same gargantuan menu as the other 5 Scotty's locations.
You gotta remember, Scotty's
Lakehouse is a burger joint, so think of it less as a
typical Scotty's and more of a Bub's or Boogie Burger. John and I
made our decisions and went with Scotty's famous dill chips to
start followed by our respective burgers (which I'll get to later)
and fries. The wait was pretty average for our food, and we had
plenty of TVs in front of us to make $1 bets with each other on
40-yd sprint times on the NFL Combine.
Note the dill chips arrive with two sauces, horseradish and
ranch. John went straight for the horsey sauce, which I had to hide
from him to keep him from eating it all straight up. I went for the
ranch as my palette for horsey sauce isn't all that great. After
quickly gorging through the dill chips, our burgers were served.
John had ordered one with caramelized onions, Indiana yellow oyster
mushrooms, and Indiana swiss (not pictured). I felt a bit more
experimental and ordered mine with a fried egg (yes, you read that
right), apple wood smoked bacon, Indiana Gouda, and a hint of
chipotle ketchup. Both burgers were $8.00 just like all the others,
and we also split a large order of truffle fries ($9.00) which
arrived with a trio of sauces: chipotle ketchup, garlic ranch, and
Sun King Wee Mac beer mustard.
This is where I believe Scotty's
will blow many people away. Both of our burgers were wonderful.
Yes, the burgers are 8 bucks, but they definitely have $8 worth of
flavor. The meat is tender, savory, and not super-packed like many
burger joints. The meat melts in your mouth like only higher-end
burgers can. The bacon in mine was quite delicious, and knowing
that both cuts of meat are from local Indiana farms adds a nice
little story behind all of it.
The truffle fries were good, although I'd still run to Brugge
in the 'Rip any day for fries. Next time, however, I'll have to try
the sweet potato fries or Jalapeсo fries that John and I were
debating on earlier. Also, the portion seemed a bit on the light
side, especially for ordering a "large" portion, and the
presentation of the fries seemed lacking. I know it's just for
show, but for being $9 fries, I think food presentation should be
taken into account. I think the other Scotty's locations seem to have larger
portions for less, albeit lacking the variety.
All of this food required a second round of pints. This time
around, John went for the Barley Island Dirty Helen Brown Ale,
while I decided to give John's previous beer choice a shot (Granite
City Broad Axe Stout). Both beers were again, wonderful, and a
great partner to our burger and fries. I wish all restaurants had a
beer selection like this.
All of this damage came out to around $50, or $25 a person. It's
pricier than its competition, but I think opting for a soda ($2.25)
or water instead of beer will definitely but things back into
perspective. Also, for having locally grown, organic meats,
vegetables, and well beer, the price becomes much more reasonable
(just think about the prices at Patachou for reference). Overall,
the experience was positive. It's priced out of my range for going
there on a regular basis, but I can definitely see this place being
a good hangout for a couple beers at night and an occassional
burger every now and then. I just hope that the crowds will die
down and I won't have to frustratingly search for an alternative.
For all of the unique things it provides, I truly hope that Scott
Wise can produce a successful restaurant in the Geist area. Go try
it out and see for yourself.
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