Food Road Trip: Bloomington, Indiana

As you know, our editor, Justin, has headed out to San Francisco to take part in WWDC. Before heading to the Indianapolis airport on Sunday, we decided to visit my old college town for the weekend. I went to IU, and I’m sure plenty of you have also gone there or visited Bloomington. Since we are so sure of this, we thought we’d bring you a travel food review of some of our favorite places in B-Town.

Some of the places we went to are staples, while some are new or a little less known. Naturally, there are so many places I didn’t get to enjoy, and hopefully I’ll be able to go back and try those, towards the end, if I remember, I’ll mention some of those great places! Some of the “staples” included La Charreada, Scotty’s Brewhouse, and Buffa Louie’s, while Japonee was is a relatively new restaurant, and Rockit’s is possibly less known for some people but still great.

At La Charreada we couldn’t help but get our favorite burritos: Burrito La Charreada is a large beef or chicken burrito covered in lettuce, tomato, and sour cream served with a generous portion of rice and beans; and the Burritos Deluxe which is essentially the same, but double the burrito and without the sides. Two other very delicious favorites are the Fajitas Quesadilla Rellena (a chicken, beef, shrimp, or mix fajitas with beans and cheese in the tortilla with rice) and the Fajitas Jalisco (a huge, hot skillet of chicken, beef, and shrimp fajitas).

Scotty’s Brewhouse is a popular place in Bloomington for good American fare. While we both choose burgers, other favorites of mine include wraps and they have great sides, potato skins, and soups. Justin ordered the Monty’s Frisco; it is a burger with saut’eed red onions and swiss cheese on sourdough toast and a side of thousand island dressing. I ordered the Midwest Burger, which is a burger with swiss, bacon, the standard veggies, and a side of ranch. We both got loaded waffle fries that have cheese, bacon, and sour cream on them.

As a snack, we ventured to Buffa Louie’s which is known for their wings, and for me, the best wings I’ve ever found and I always miss them a lot when I’m gone. I got a snack order of mild wings, Justin got a 6-piece boneless sweet bbq wings, and of course we had a side of celery and blue cheese. A late night snack on Friday was pizza at Rockit’s. Rockit’s is a super tiny place in the middle of all the bars on Walnut, and while it has regular hours, its known for its great little late night pizza stand outside its door where pizza is $1 a slice. The newest place we went to was Japonee (aka Japonais-no one is sure!). We ordered sushi and actually found it to be pretty good; however, there were some things we probably would’ve changed, such as how they did the crab on the Volcano Roll. One roll we loved was the Indiana roll that had Mango on it! My favorite there is the bento box with the teriyaki chicken, tempura, sushi, etc. The atmosphere is very nice and sleek, but totally casual to going-out attire.

Now for a little mish mash. Friday night we headed out to the Vid, which is a little bar on College filled with pool tables and dartboards. After we crossed the street to the Bluebird to hear Chicago’s 17th Floor, which is a live group that raps cover. They have become quite popular in B-Town and have quite a bit of talent. Saturday night we stopped by Yogis for a bit, but it really was pretty loud and there were some middle-aged women who were 3-sheets to the wind way too early. Places I truly wish I had had time to eat at are Dats (a Cajun-creole place), Maidi’s Cafe & Crepes (coffe, tea, & crepes-their mocha and egg & cheese crepe or strawberry banana crepe), Village Deli (epic breakfast, especially pancakes), Bombay House (great butter chicken, naan, and mango lassi’s), and Casablanca Caf’e (oh holy fish kabobs and couscous!).

If you’ve been to Indiana University and Bloomington before, head back up, if not, you are missing out on a great little place! Sure, I talked about a lot of great food to be found (check out 4th St.), but the university is beautiful, there is a lot of culture (see the 2 Buddhist monasteries), the sports are great (we may not win but its fun to watch!), Oliver Winery is just up the highway (great tasting, food, tours), and lots more if you look. Check out the Visitor’s Bureau and plan a little weekend up to Bloomington.