I have driven past The Patio countless times over the past few years. It is on Washington Street not far from Ellenberger Park. The Ellenberger skating rink was the first home to the Circle City Derby Girls, my main derby league. I had never seen any external indication that they had Italian beef. They always have hamburger deals on their sign, so I just expected them to be a traditional American burger joint. It was while drinking beer at the Ram in Fishers on my Tuesday night outing with my paintball associates that I found out that they did, in fact, have an Italian beef. Micah, having heard me talk endlessly about Italian beef went in there and decided to try his very first Italian beef sandwich. Since it was his first, he had no idea whether to consider it a good or bad Italian beef, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. A week later, while at a derby practice, Dexter also said he had done the exact same thing as Micah. Since 2 friends in 2 weeks had gone there, I needed to get over there to offer my opinion on their beef. (
Micah, having heard me talk endlessly about Italian beef went in there and decided to try his very first Italian beef sandwich. Since it was his first, he had no idea whether to consider it a good or bad Italian beef, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. A week later, while at a derby practice, Dexter also said he had done the exact same thing as Micah. Since 2 friends in 2 weeks had gone there, I needed to get over there to offer my opinion on their beef. (http://thepatioindianapolis.com/)In the entry to the building, there is a Vienna Beef sign. At least I knew the beef came from a good source. I walked up to the counter to order. There was a slight language barrier to overcome while ordering. Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed this. It reminded me of ordering at some of the places in Chicago. The main bone of contention was trying to establish whether or not the dipped their sandwich. The best answer I could get was a simple, Yes, wet. We also had some fun over giardiniera, which the cashier finally decided that I just needed everything on it. I got my beef and headed to the best part, eating it. The beef itself, while Vienna, was a bit over cooked. It tasted like it was either pan cooked or was just left in the broth too long. Other than that, it had decent flavor. The giardiniera was plentiful; they added both sweet and hot. They mix was good and very original when viewed against other local Italian beef places. I wish I could have gotten a better read on the broth. While the beef was indeed wet, there was very little on the bread. From what there was, I
The beef itself, while Vienna, was a bit over cooked. It tasted like it was either pan cooked or was just left in the broth too long. Other than that, it had decent flavor. The giardiniera was plentiful; they added both sweet and hot. They mix was good and very original when viewed against other local Italian beef places. I wish I could have gotten a better read on the broth. While the beef was indeed wet, there was very little on the bread. From what there was, I couldn’t get a good read on the flavor. The bread wasn’t bad. Again, since it wasn’t dipped, I can’t really say it held up well.
