Road Trip: Classic Cup Cafe in Ann Arbor, MI

Recently, I visited my brother and sister-in-law in Ann Arbor to welcome the new addition to our family. After a long weekend of chasing toddlers around and staring at my beautiful new niece, nobody was in the mood to cook breakfast on Sunday.¹ We went to the Classic Cup Cafe, which was just a short jaunt away from my brother's place.

Taste of the Caribbean [Review]

Today, I had an idea.  I figured that I would just toss out there on Twitter that I was interested in getting something to eat from a food truck.  Social media, and the "now-ness" of our generation is still amazing, even to the 27-year old me.  Either way, here's the tweet I sent out earlier (pictured at right).

Breakfast That Will Send You Straight to Bed (The Deli - Review)

Before I begin, I must state that once Justin and I took a simple glance at DELI'S menu, we stopped, looked at each other and said, "This is going to be a lot of food!"

Get to Know @Mealightenment [Week 1] Spotlight

My, how time flies.

Well, here we are.  The blog is officially over 1 year old as of December 6th.  I never thought Mealightenment would get to be just where it is today, and about how much potential the future of this blog has.  I'd never imagined that I would have two other guys working alongside with me, sharing my same passion about my city and how/where I choose to eat and spend my money.  I'd never dreamed that we'd be on nearly every spectrum of social media. Heck, I'd thought that we would never produce stickers for friends and family members to show their support for what we do.  Sincerely, from everyone who has read our blog or even glanced over our material in the last year, I just want to say thanks.  You may not know how much it affects us here, but it allows us to continue on on this crazy journey and evolution that the blog has gone through.  You, our friends, our readers, and our city of #Indy are exactly why we do what we do.  I can only promise you, that there is definitely more to come in 2013.

Front Page Sports Bar [Review]

Justin and Ben Risinger

It was a fairly gloomy Thursday when Devin and I went downtown for a visit to the Mass. Ave. staple establishment, the Front Page Sports Bar.  This bar and restaurant has been a part of Mass. Ave., well before it was the Mass. Ave. we all know and love today.  Located at the corner of Massachusetts Ave. and Delaware, for years it was known as Earl's Front Page because of it's location across the street from the Indy Star, and it is the oldest sports bar in the downtown area.

The New Guy...(Trick)

                                                                                    Oh hey there,

My name is Jacob Trick, and I just joined Mealightenment! Day in and day out I think of food and eating. . . Its pretty much my favorite past time. With that being said I was more than happy and eager to join the team with Justin and James.  I hope to bring a lot of great ideas and opportunities to the table here at Mealightenment.

Indy All Night

How many times have you been in the mood for a juicy burger, amazing chicken wrap, pizza, or a great philly cheese steak late at night? If you live near the downtown area, you are in luck! Indy All Night caters for those late night foodies that are craving something that they don't have in their pantries! Indy all night is open till 4am downtown! The best part is... THEY DELIVER! They will bring your nacho's, fresh hand breaded mushrooms

Eggs in a Basket, Eggies and Toast...or whatever...?

I've become a huge breakfast buff...and recently cereal is just not cutting it for me.  I've been racking my brain for something not necessarily out of the ordinary, but something that I don't make often, or a spin on an old favorite.  While recently revisiting a movie favorite of mine ("V for Vendetta"), I came across the scene where V is preparing Eggs and Toast, together.  I thought to myself, that was just the thing!  It's quick, it's easy, and it doesn't interrupt my morning.

Spice box Indy review

 

       "Approachable Indian food" is the theme for Spice box!

As you can tell, we @mealightenment love our food trucks in Indianapolis! I can't decide if it is the originality of the food, the awesome owners, the great taste, or the excitement that a good truck brings to a curb near you! The one thing I do know for a fact is you can certainly find a truck that has tasty food for a good price!

The Manliest Quiche Around

I'll be honest...I didn't think I'd like quiche. I'd always been told growing up, "That's girly food." Well, color me girly then, because this recipe I've made up made me change my thoughts on it. If it doesn't put a little bit of hair on your chest (ladies, my apologies if it does), then you've done something terribly wrong.

Here is what you'll need to get started:

Seoul Grill Indy Review

In Indianapolis food trucks, having a solid identity and offering something truly unique is what makes you stand out amongst the others.  One mobile restaurant really stands out for us here @Mealightenment, and that is Seoul Grill Indy.  The first thing that caught my eye about this truck was the wicked paint job on their truck; and to be honest, as did "Korean."  I had to stop and try it out.

Insanely Moist Banana Bread

I love buying bananas at the market, just for the simple thought of knowing that at least those few bananas I don't eat through that week will make something of themselves. To be honest, the 6 bananas in this recipe really outdid themselves...I'll reveal to you how with this interesting recipe for banana bread. Here are the ingredients:

James and the Reuben Challenge

James, my soon to be partner @Mealightenment, went on a food adventure this week while actually just taking a little time off of work. His biggest accomplishment was getting his pal Greg (or Gregosaurus Rex if you like, dude's a beast) into the same room as the Reuben Challenge at Izzy's in 1 of their 2 Kentucky locations. This particular challenge is celebrating their 110 Year Anniversary.  The challenge is an extreme challenge requiring the entire sandwich to be eaten in 30 minutes, and has only been finished by a handful of customers, including famous food-challenge man Adam Richman.

Circle City Spuds Truck Review

Thank goodness for a sunny day and fairly open parking on 4/13, when I went downtown to the One America Building and visited Circle City Spuds, Indy's premier baked potato haven for lunch or dinner.  This day, Heather was luck enough to have a helper on board.  As I showed up and told her helper at the order window who I was, I heard Heather say in the back of the truck, "I didn't think you were gonna make it," as she served me up the last two potatoes of the day.  I'm so glad I made it just in time.

Easy to Make - Shredded Chicken Quesadillas

First of all, just wanted to let you all know this is a slow cooker recipe.  Normally when I make the chicken, I fry the breasts up and then pop them directly in the tortilla.  This was was much less stressful, and significantly took down the cooking and prep time.  Here are the ingredients you will need:

The Food Truck Review (Prezi, Flash Required)

I swear that this has been done for nearly two weeks.  Being the computer illiterate blogger that I am, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong in sharing this link--user error.

For those who don't know, I recently undertook the task of eating at a few Indianapolis Food Trucks, and comparing them in four categories: Taste, Price, Selection, and Speed of Service.  It's not a comprehensive review, just little fact nuggets, and a comparison of the four trucks that were nice enough to let me review them.  Again, I'm not saying any of these trucks is better than the other, it's just my opinion in direct comparison to one another.  Here is the link to the Prezi that I created for my English project, check it out, and let me know what you thing.

Thanks again to @SeoulGrillIndy, @circlecityspuds, @TheNYslice, & @FloribbeanFlair for being awesome enough to give me some info and answer my questions.  Each truck was great, and this was truly an amazing experience interacting with all of you.

Thanks to all involved.  Comments, questions, ideas?  Just let me know.

Eat on,

--J

Introduction

Welcome to Mealightenment.  This is not only another foodie-type blog, this is also a social project.  There are oh so many great places to go and so many websites that are devoted to just eating out and reviewing the experience.  At this site, the plan is to try and keep it interesting and remain as interactive as possible with the readers.