Cerulean @ The Alexander-Indianapolis, IN

Long story short, we ended up at Cerulean last Friday for a 9 o'clock res. I was already decompressing after a long shift when my partner "pressured" me into going out for a late dinner with his younger brother. The caveat; I get to choose. Well, my first thought was Bakersfield or BlackMarket...then I realized the day and time and reconsidered. I wasn't going anywhere that we didn't have a reservation. The two aforementioned are gastropubs. And, it was Friday night.

I trudged my way into the shower, got all get up, had a smoke and a drink and away we went.

Cerulean's the outpost of a concept originating in Lake Winona, IN

A lot of press piles up regarding it's interior design and "Nest," to get the worst out of the way: I found the nest obtrusive, and we three thought the main dining room(where we sat) underthought and uncomfortable.

The banquette at which we were seated had cushions angled forward(wtf?) and a wobbly huge table.

Our server carded us, which I found odd, but really pissed off my partner(to the extent he was ready to walk out). His younger brother and I cajoled him and, I pointed out, that she also carded the buxom girls at the banquette across from us. I get my partner's consternation, I'm just not so tightly wound.

I found our main server attentive, warm, convivial throughout our dining experience. I even half-jokingly asked her a question regarding the origins of a particular element of a plate that we all knew to be out of season(at a seasonal resto) she sussed out the answer and then offered a list of the various farms where said product would be sourced, each farm getting closer and closer...it was hilarious...

I thought she was great.

Onto the food and here I'll just list with partial annotation

Everything we had I enjoyed...no missteps (my partner felt differently, maybe he was just in a bad mood):

I had the Double Down cocktail with one of those maximum surface area ice cubes(mixture syrupy, smokey, and leathery)
I tried their cocktails and came to the conclusion that someone there knows what they're doing

shared:

2 X corn macaron, pork belly, arugula, smoked cheddar (think ham and red eye gravy)

cauliflower frites, golden raisin puree, garlic sauce (unctuous, almost like cheese sticks, oddly)

pickled Indiana shrimp, lemon, garlic, onion, hardboiled egg(I didn't think I'd like it, but the pickle had a rewarding subtlety...the dining companions didn't appreciate shell-on, I ate the shells)

corvina, sorrel, lime, chile oil, celery shrub aioli(best deployment of sorrel in memory)

2nd Round:

beef heart stew, potato cake, herb relish(maybe my favorite dish of the night, the others weren't so complimentary...I typically don't care for a strong dose of cinnamon in a savory course, but this did the trick...the cake crispy as hell...loved this)

scallops, snap pea puree, yellow squash, fromage blanc, almond, guanciale(the scallops were cooked perfectly, I'm just not the biggest fan of scallops)

lamb country pate, rosemary shortbread, mint jelly(a truly refined pate campagne...I didn't order this---same with the scallops---but I certainly enjoyed sharing a few bites)

3rds:

me: monkfish, nage, charred hearts of palm, fiddlehead fern, lemon ash marshmallow(Ahh...pestiferous monkfish and this was a lovely prep, deeply acidic broth brightened further with New Mexico chile powder and that lemon-infused marshmallow that's been bruleed...I thought this is gonna swing or kill this dish and the perfect touch of sweetness it added deliquescing into the soup! Man...I thought it genius)

striped bass, linguinette, nettle pesto, king trumpet mushrooms, fava bean(eh...it was allright)

duck breast, lemon fettucini, carbonara, crackling, tessa, marjoram(the taste I had and the crackling seemed worthwhile)

dessert:

I had a trio of two passionfruit and a chocolate sorbet quenelle with a crumbled chai macaron(and I hope the sorbets were made in house because I thought them exemplary)

another dessert shared: chocolate cake with spheres of verjus and basil seeds(the basil really came through)

and that was that

Cerulean

339 South Delaware Street
Indianapolis, IN
317-870-1320