On a recent trip to Indianapolis, I was staying out on the north side of the city. I was sort of hankering for barbecue that evening and I did some looking around on line to see if there was anything in my immediate area. I found a place that I wasn't familiar with - The North End Barbecue and Moonshine. I thought that the name alone was intriguing enough. When I saw that they billed themselves as a "regional" barbecue place, I decided this was the place I'd try that evening.
One of the reasons that I hadn't heard about the place until this particular time was that it opened in June of 2014. Owner/chef Ryan Nelson started his love for the finer aspects of culinary delights as a youngster in Minnesota going to Canada and Wisconsin on family fishing trips. Walleye became the young Ryan's favorite and he later fell in love with seafood of all types and varieties.
While attending the University of Minnesota, Ryan worked at the Italian-inspired Seattle-based Palomino restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. (The Minneapolis Palomino is now closed, but there is one in Indianapolis. Click here to see Road Tips' review on Palomino.) After graduating from college, he moved to Indianapolis and got a job in the kitchen at the Oceanaire Seafood Room. He worked his way up to sous chef, then eventually he was named as the executive chef and operating partner of the Indianapolis Oceanaire location.
But Nelson - still in his 30's - was looking to have his own restaurant. He wanted a menu that was based upon fresh sustainable food that changed seasonally. Nelson wanted to use locally sourced foods when he could, and he built his restaurant out of reclaimed wood, bricks and stone sourced within a 500-mile radius from Indianapolis. In 2011, Nelson and his wife, Laurie, opened Late Harvest Kitchen near the Fashion Mall at Keystone on Indianapolis' north side.
Pictured right - Ryan Nelson
Bouyed by the success of Late Harvest Kitchen, Nelson and Late Harvest Kitchen chef Mitch McDaniel began to experiment with barbecue techniques in the kitchen. There were barbecue places in Indianpolis, but Nelson didn't think they were to the standards of true "low and slow" techniques found in North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City or St. Louis. Using a variety of spices on the meats during the smoking process, Nelson and McDaniel thought they had come up with a winning barbecue taste.
After procuring a space that used to house Cafe Nora in north Indianapolis' Nora neighborhood, not far from Late Harvest Kitchen, Nelson installed two large Southern Pride smokers that could each handle up to 500 lbs. of meat. After remodeling the space giving it a rustic, yet contemporary industrial look, The North End Barbecue and Moonshine opened in June of 2014. In addition to traditional barbecue, the restaurant focuses on a large selection of eclectic bourbons - over 50 different ones I counted - and a nice variety of craft beers on tap and available in cans and bottles.
It was around 7:30 p.m. when I walked into The North End Barbecue that's located in a small shopping complex off 86th St. (see map) It was an exceptionally warm fall evening and there were some people out on the patio and the bar area was rather packed. I opted to get a seat in the dining room.
The hostess guided me to a table in the long, narrow dining room that featured some interesting rustic decor including some interesting circular light fixtures with Edison light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The crowd in the dining room was and interesting mix of families, couples and friends hanging out.
I was looking through the menu when my server for the evening - Bobby - showed up to greet me. I ordered a Stone Brewing Co. Delicious IPA from him to enjoy while I decided what I wanted to eat.
As with other barbecue places that I'm visiting for the first time, I like to have a little bit of pork and beef to try. However, The North End Barbecue didn't have a sampler plate on the menu. They featured baby back and spare ribs, Carolina-style pulled pork, brisket, smoked turkey and Texas-style sausage. Keeping in Ryan Nelson's wheelhouse of seafood, The North End Barbecue also offered a smoked salmon entree on the menu.
I saw something on the menu that piqued my interest - the Texas Red Chili. It featured chunks of brisket and house-made bacon with chopped spicy chiles. I got the cup size of it to give it a shot. It was topped with "The Works" - cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions. It had a good spicy bite to the taste and it was some excellent chili.
Since I couldn't get a sampler plate, I decided to get the Texas beef brisket entree. I got two sides to go along with the brisket - baked beans and fries with bone marrow butter and jalapenos. It was all served on a small baking sheet that are becoming increasingly popular to served foods in barbecue - and non-barbecue restaurants. (And at our home.)
When I ordered the baked beans, Bobby told me that their baked beans weren't like regular basked beans. "They're not the soft beans like other baked beans you've probably had." I told him that I still wanted to try them. "I like to let people know about the beans," he explained. "We make 'em in house and soak 'em over night before we put them in the baked beans." But it turned out that they weren't all that hard, but had a good texture and consistency.
There were four different types of barbecue sauce available on the table. They had a Kansas City-style sauce that was thick and sweet with molasses; a Carolina mustard sauce that I didn't care for (I don't like mustard sauces at all); a Texas Red that was supposed to be spicy, but it really wasn't; and a Classic barbecue sauce that was, well, pretty basic. None of the sauces really jumped out at me as being significant in taste.
The brisket probably didn't need much sauce to help enhance their taste. It came with both sliced and chopped beef. The beef brisket was moist, flavorful and had a hint of a smoky taste and it was very good. Possibly not the best I've had, but admirable for a place like Indianapolis that really isn't known as a hot bed of barbecue.
But the French fries with the bone marrow butter and jalapeno peppers were just outstanding. The overall taste of the fries were heavenly combined with a spicy kick from the jalapeno slices. I like to put barbecue sauce on my fries, but I didn't have to with these fries. They were simply some of the best French fries I've ever had.
About the only thing that went wrong with the meal was that it was supposed to come with fresh dill pickles and white bread - the proper way to serve Southern style barbecue. Bobby came over to check on me and said, "Oh, my gosh! I forgot to get your bread and pickles!" I was nearly done with the brisket and I was filling up pretty quickly. I told him not to worry about that. It definitely wasn't a deal breaker.
The North End Barbecue and Moonshine was an interesting place. The brisket was good - not the best I've had - but good. The chili was also very good with the brisket and house-made bacon chunks. The baked beans were just all right, but the bone marrow butter French fries with jalapeno slices were simply excellent. With a good variety of craft brews to choose from and Bobby's efficient service (even with forgetting the bread and pickles), The North End Barbecue and Moonshine was a wonderful find in my travels. My only wish is that I could have had a sampler platter to try something else with my meal. I guess I'm going to have to go back to try the ribs or pulled pork at some point.
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