I have a dealer in Indianapolis that I like to take out to dinner from time to time, mainly because these guys have turned me on to some pretty fine places to eat in the Indianapolis area. This time around, one of the sales guys was given the task to find a place for us to go. He was told by his manager, "Will has two rules - no national chains and it has to have good beer." The sales guy immediately came up with Brugge Brasserie in the Broad Ripple Village section of Indianapolis (see map).
Brugge Brasserie is named after the Belgian city of Bruges, but is spelled and pronounced (broo-gha) in the traditional Flemish way. It opened in April of 2005 and was the areas first European-style "gastro-pub" - basically a pub that serves better than average and unusual cuisine. Brugge's signature dish is Moules Frites - mussels and french fries. The mussels are delivered in a large steaming bucket and the fries are wrapped in paper. You have your choices of dipping sauces for the mushrooms.
Brugge Brasserie is also a brewpub specializing in homemade Belgian-style beers. I'm not big on Belgian beers, but I was definitely willing to give Brugge's brews a try. Brewmaster Ted Miller, who is also the managing partner of Brugge with his wife, Shannon Stone, has years of experience as a brewer and has installed brewing equipment in brewpubs all over the world. Miller and Stone, who grew up in Indianapolis, had their first son while working overseas. When he got to be school-aged, they wanted to move back to Indiana and raise their son. But Miller also had a hankering to open a brewpub/restaurant. He called on some old high school friends to help out.
Actor Abe Benrubi (right) was a high school classmate of Miller's at Indianapolis' Broad Ripple High School, just walking distance from where Brugge is today. Benrubi is one of those actors where you may not remember his name, but you definitely remember his face. His first break came with a recurring role in the TV sitcom Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Over the years, he's acted in other television shows such as Men in Trees and Wings(where he played Roy Biggins' gay son), and in movies such as Twister, George of the Jungle and Miss Congeniality 2. He's also done a lot of voice-over work for animated television shows and movies. But he's best known as Jerry Markovic on the NBC drama "ER".
Miller and Stone graduated with Benrubi in 1987. Along with fellow classmate Eli Schloss, they recruited two other investors - Charlie Midgley, who Miller met in Taiwan in 2001 while Miller was working for a start-up Taiwanese telephone company; and Rene Stoltz, who was Luxembourg's commercial and economic counselor for Taiwan. Midgely joked that he gave Miller the money "just to shut him up" because he talked about opening up his own place all the time. Each of the investors share an equal 1/6th stake in Brugge.
The original Brugge occupied the bottom floor of a building on E. Westfield Boulevard, next to the Monon Bike Trail in Broad Ripple. Business was great right from the start, and in 2008 they expanded into the upper floor of the building providing more dining space and outside seating.
And because the beers at Brugge were so popular, they soon ran out of brewing space at the facility. The investors eventually bought a small defunct brewery in Terry Haute in 2007. After some bureaucratic red tape that they had to cut through, Brugge beers are now found on tap at a number of fine restaurants throughout Indiana.
After an evening product training at the store, four of us drove over to Broad Ripple, sort of the entertainment/restaurant/bar district of Indianapolis on the north side of the city. Parking is at a premium in Broad Ripple, especially in the evening. Although there are a few parking spots in front of Brugge Brasserie, I opted to park in a public lot caddy-cornered across from the restaurant for $5 bucks. It was easy in and easy out.
We got into the restaurant just before 8 p.m. and it was very busy. We decided to sit outside on the lower level which is covered by the upstairs outside dining area. There was a threat of rain and our waitress warned us that if it did start to rain, we'd get wet as there were spaces between the wood flooring on the second level deck. We decided to take our chances and keep sitting outside. Thankfully, it didn't rain.
The menu at Brugge is very unique. In addition to their famous Moules Frites, they have a number of combinations of traditional Belgian/Flemish crepes at Brugge. They feature crepes made with grilled chicken, ham and swiss, caviar, duck, thai curry beef and grilled artichokes and portobello mushrooms. It all sounded very interesting. But we needed beer first.
Brugge's signature beer is their Tripel de Ripple - a high-alcohol content beer that they'll only let you drink just two of because they're so strong. They have a handful of other Belgian-style beers they brew both in house and at their brewery in Terre Haute. The one I went with was called Belgian Black Ale - or affectionately known in house as "The Black". It's brewed with 8 different types of malts, molasses, poplar tree syrup, dark sugar, chocolate, vanilla, coffee and some orange peels. It was actually very, very good. Surprisingly good. Like I say, I'm not big on Belgian-style beers, but I did like The Black very much.
Our first order of business was to get an order of Moules Frites - the mussels are 2 pounds of Prince Edward Island blue mussels, the kind my colleague Todd used to dig for in the sand at low tide as a boy growing up on P.E.I. There are various ways to get the mussels prepared - from the Classic style, steamed in dry reisling wine with fish stock and herbs; to the spicy red dragons chili pepper or Thai curry mussels. But we went with the mouth-watering Provencal style - they steam the mussels in French butter and herbs, along with shallots and garlic and a French chardonnay wine.
A side of fries - you choice of either small, large or l'enorme - come with it along with your choice of dipping sauces for the fries. There are nearly a dozen different types of dipping sauces - all homemade - mayonnaise, sweet chili, fresh herb pesto, hot curry, blue cheese and poplar syrup and French dijon. We ordered up four different sauces - roasted garlic, horseradish, ketchup, and sea salt and sherry vinegar.
I took a picture of the mussels after our waitress brought them to our table and I sent it to my colleague, Todd. It's not that great of a picture because of the steam rising out of the pot. But Todd immediately recognized the signature blue tint on the inside of the mussel shells. He texted me back and said, "P.E.I. blue mussels! Yum!" And they were yummy. The Provencal style of steaming them was just wonderful. I almost ordered up another bucket because they were so good. But that would have really cut into our main entrees because the mussels were so rich.
Now, I have to say that I'm not big on French fries that much any longer. I find the taste of them to be somewhat bland and lifeless. I don't know what Brugge does with their French fries but on their own they were very good. It has to be the oil in which they fry them. Even without any of the very scrumptious homemade dipping sauces we ordered, the frites at Brugge were some of the best I've ever had. And I've had some very good ones during my travels to Montreal and to France.
It was time to order up our main entrees, which consisted of crepes. We all went in different directions. One of my guests ordered the pan-roasted duck crepe, another went with the thai curry beef crepe and the other one got the Belgian wit (white) beer battered cod crepe. I almost went with the thai curry beef crepe, as well. But I was also torn between the roasted pork crepe and the grilled chicken crepe. In the end, I went with the roasted pork crepe - slow-roasted shredded pork served with goat cheese and a homemade mustard sauce. Our waitress smiled at me and said, "Good choice! That's my favorite!" I don't know if it was, but she was doing her best to get a big tip tonight.
I was on my third Black ale by the time the crepes showed up. We'd also ordered a couple more large sizes of fries to go along with our crepes and some more dipping sauces to try. I'm doing my best to broaden my gastronomic horizons, but I was a little apprehensive about having a pork filled crepe for my main entree. The only crepes I'd ever had in my life were like blueberry or cream cheese crepes for breakfast. But from the first bite, all my apprehension went out the window.
The pork was tender and flavorful. The goat cheese was a little too much, but it wasn't a deal breaker. And I did like the dijon-style mustard they put on the crepe, as well. The crepes weren't small, by any means. But they were very, very good. Yes, I guess you can have crepes for dinner, as well.
Each of my guests all voiced their approval with their crepes. The guy who got the duck crepe said it was "just outstanding". The sales guy who suggested the place got the Thai curry beef crepe. He said, "I've had six or seven different crepes here at Brugge, but this is my favorite."
My guest who got the beer-battered cod told me, "I have to say that it's much better than I expected. I'm worried that beer-battered fish will come out sort of greasy and flavorless. But this is very good."
The annual CEDIA Exposition is coming back to Indianapolis in 2011 and I'm sure it will be up to me to come up with a number of restaurants for us to eat at during our week in the city. I've already told my colleagues that Brugge will be on the top of the list for a unique dining experience. It was surprisingly very good in many different ways. I liked the beer, the crepes were very good, and the mussels and fries were out of this world. I may just go back there on my next trip to Indy and have a bucket of Moules Frites - Provencal-style - by myself!
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