We just spent the weekend in B'ton and a group of 7 of us had dinner at Tallent.
I'll admit to being the ringleader and wanting to eat here.
Unfortunately, while this may be 4 star for B'ton, it's probably more like 2 1/2-3 for Chicago...
I don't have pix of everything, and I didn't get to taste everything, so I can comment on what I did taste...

For starters several folks had a tower of Heirloom tomato, watermelon, and feta:

They seemed to enjoy it very much, and with it being tomato season, it's hard do that badly...

Hubs and I had their riff on Cobb salad with Farm egg, tempura avocado (different but nice), pork belly (not as crisp or hot as it should it have been) and smoked chicken (unfortunately dry and tough)
Dressing was very good, as were the greens.


Not pictured was mussels with a lemon garlic sauce and frites- these were pretty tasty.
Someone else had a soup that they liked. I forget what kind.

For entree, at least two friends had a roasted chicken dish that they seemed to enjoy- one person said it was a little overdone.


Hubs and one other person had this ?creole meatloaf that was their daily soul food special.
It was a hearty portion, and it was OK, but Hubs said it was "nothing spectacular"
I tasted it, and thought it was OK, but not a wow.


One other friend and I had this Walleye on a lobster risotto.
The walleye was sort of a smallish portion and but worse sadly overcooked- the risotto was absolutely fabulous, with the lobster sweet and perfectly cooked. I could have had a whole plate of just that- it was great.


One other friend had a pasta with a pork ragu- he seemed to really enjoy it.
We drank a delicious Riesling and a nice Pinot-
The wine list was very good- a nice variety of prices and types.

Didn't try any dessert because we were all full and ready to go party....
Don't know if I'd go back for what it cost-(it was very $)
I heard a lot of good buzz about Lennie's and Uplands
I think I'd try them next.
(but i'd sure have that Risotto again....)

Restaurant Tallent
208 N Walnut St, Bloomington, IN 47404-4950
(812) 330-9801
www.restauranttallent.com

BR wrote:

jpschust wrote: We love Trojan horse for very basic greek- try the Gyros.

I read this thread before going to Bloomington and went to Trojan Horse. The food was ok. The choices are what you'd expect from a lunch joint, but the atmosphere is a bar. We had the saganaki, which the waitress ungraciously lit with a cigarette lighter. Barely caught on fire and melted more than formed a crust. I also had the gyro, which seemed kind of small to me, but it tasted fine and was only $6.25. I didn't really expect gourmet from Bloomington (i knew I wasn't going to Tallent), so it was fine for what it was. And there were no complaints from my co-workers. Best thing I liked about the place was the root beer on tap.

Hi,

When I was in the Bloomington, IN region recently, I took notes of places to try from talking to locals. Some may already be covered here, some may not and none I have been vetted:

In Bloomington:
- Blooming Foods
- Yanko's Little Zagreb
- Uptown (for their etouffee)
- The Farm (near Uptown)

In Evansville, IN: Hilltop Inn (for their brain sandwich)

Bedford: Limestone Cafe

Via iTunes: Indiana Road Trip

Alexa Cohen - chef? not sure, but it was meaningful enough to write it down.

Now I can toss this note...

I was in Bloomington on Wednesday and had a very nice dinner at Samira, an Afghan restaurant. I had the Sabzi Tchallao, which is described as "Delicately seasoned spinach with tender lamb over white rice" and enjoyed it quite a bit. I also had a quick breakfast at the Scholar's Inn Bakehouse - very good coffee, pretty standard eggs, potatoes, sausage.

Samira
100 W. Sixth St.
Bloomington IN
ph: (812) 331.3761
http://www.samirasrestaurant.com/

Scholar's Inn Bakehouse
125 North College Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 331-6029
http://www.scholarsinn.com/

When I was in the Bloomington, IN region recently, I took notes of places to try from talking to locals. Some may already be covered here, some may not and none I have been vetted:

In Bloomington:
- Blooming Foods
- Yanko's Little Zagreb
- Uptown (for their etouffee)
- The Farm (near Uptown)

After having attend IU as an undergraduate in the late 80s/early 90s, I can only comment on Little Zagreb and maybe Uptown. Little Zagreb is a steak place, and I remember having some really good steak with giant piles of roasted mushrooms there, but at the time I didn't have many steaks to compare it to. In retrospect it was probably merely "good". Uptown I vaguely remember going to and thinking it was only fair, but maybe things have changed.

See also: Mandalay (Burmese in Bloomington, Indiana)
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28863

We like to eat at Malibu Grill in Bloomington.
For breakfast/lunch we like Bloomington Bagels! They have great bagels and schmears and also lunch sandwiches and salads!

Malibu grill does really only one thing very well- drinks. Other than that the food is pretty mediocre- good for Bloomington, but overall pretty mediocre. You'd only spend a few dollars more to go a few stores down and go to Tallent, but no full bar there.