We love our chains in Indianapolis.
Seasons 52, Fresh Grill and Wine Bar, is part of the
Darden chain of restaurants and boasts of a healthy menu - no dish over 475 calories - and an "award winning" wine list. They recently opened an outpost at Keystone at the Crossing and have been very busy.
We tried to just walk in a few weeks ago on a weekday night and were met with a 45 minute wait. Since then the crush of people wanting to dine at this trendy new restaurant has backed off a bit. When we went a couple of Wednesday ago there were plenty of tables at 7:00 PM and even a couple still open at 8:00. (Of course, we hedged our bets and booked a reservation on Open Table.)
The ambiance struck me as modern steak house, but with windows. Lots of dark wood, bottles of wine gratuitously stacked up throughout the dining room. But instead of the secluded, dark atmosphere favored by steak houses, the dining room was airy with lots of light. More California than NYC.
Something else they borrowed from the up scale steak houses was a well trained staff. Our server was excellent even though she could have been better trained about the wines. She gave us her business card when we left and invited us to ask for her when we returned. Lots of little touches during the service betrayed the fact that this is a chain with extensive procedure manuals about how everything operates.
Not that that is a bad thing, mind you, but a touch impersonal.
Since they call themselves a "wine bar," I was hoping for an interesting wine list. Top heavy in California with the top wines being Caymus and Silver Oak, their wine list seemed more in line with corporate marketing than interesting.
We ordered a bottle of the only white Burgundy on the list, which we were told was out of stock. The problem, I thought, when your wine list is drawn up by a corporate entity that is concerned with products that can be supplied to all restaurants regardless of locale. Online later I noticed that the white Burgundy is not on the web site's wine list. Neither was the only red Burgundy on the Indianapolis wine list. That was probably out of stock, too.
Since I started to peruse the wine list for another wine, our waitress suggested the Markham Napa Chardonnay because she had looked at the computer and the Markham had the same "power rating" as the Burgundy. We said fine, we'd try it.
I haven't any idea what a power rating is. I asked a friend of mine who has been selling wine for years and he had no idea either. (Put "wine power rating" into Google and the top hits are all sports related.
Try it.) I figure it is a gimmick that their "Master Sommelier" dreamed up to help servers recommend wines without having to actually know anything about wine.
We liked the wine but it was no way comparable to a white Burgundy. She told us after serving it that the computer described it as a "butter bomb."
The other thing we found curious was that the server did not bring out a chiller to keep the wine cold. A major faux paus for a wine bar.
Moving on to the food, we started by sharing a flatbread appetizer. The S.O. gave me a couple of choices to pick from and I, your basic hairy knuckle guy, selected the Grilled Steak and Cremini Mushroom Flatbread with fresh spinach and Wisconsin blue cheese. The flatbread was very thin, cracker like, and sliced into eight pieces.
The flatbread wasn't bad, but the grilled steak didn't have much flavor, and now that I have looked at the description again, I don't remember any blue cheese. (The S.O. says she remembers blue cheese so maybe it's one of those senior short term memory things for me.)
It worked as a mushroom pizza but not much else. There was a good amount and I guess the whole thing was less than 500 calories.
For our entrées we both ordered off the weekly specials menu rather than the regular seasonal menu. We both went for fish dishes.
The S.O. ordered the Tuna Niçoise and liked it. As you can see from the picture, there are a lot of greens and other vegetables. Interestingly, it was listed on the corporate web site, so I guess it is a recurring weekly special.
I ordered Lemongrass Arctic Char. It was quite good. It came with edamame, snow peas, grape tomatoes, and a starch. (I don't remember what the starch was, and since in the picture it is hidden under the fish, there is no chance for me to gracefully redeem myself by using the picture as a crutch.)
I found the dish to be surprisingly filling for less than 475 calories. And quite tasty. Arctic char is similar to salmon and worked well with the accompaniments. I can't say this was the best fish dish I have had in Indy lately (that honor would go to
Mesh), but is was quite good. Too bad it was a weekly special and not on the regular menu. But if it is on the menu when you go I recommend it.
Seasons 52 has an interesting dessert concept. They bring you doilies and spoons and a selection of oversized shot glasses filled with various mousses and cream style desserts, all under 475 calories. It's good marketing because they put it right in front of you and you will find it very hard to resist. Fortunately for us, we had been invited to a dessert buffet later in the evening so we were able to turn this temptation down. But if it had been any other night, we would have each gotten one of their "mini-indulgences" and, I am sure, loved it. They looked scrumptious.
If you are someone who believes that dinner should be healthy and low in calories - and we should all be in the category - then you will like Seasons 52's culinary concept. (If you can resist dessert, of course.)
If your idea of the ideal restaurant is the most food for the lowest cost, then you should go somewhere else. (McDonald's comes to mind.)
As for wine, you will have to experiment (or be knowledgeable about wine) to discover what is good on their wine list, because I don't think their "power ratings" are going to lead you to the right wine. I have, however, heard good things from friends about their food
and wine, so give them a chance. The S.O. and I will have fun finding the perfect wine for us. Then, like many other restaurant, we plan to drink them out of it!
Correction: Originally this entry described Seasons 52 as "a mid-sized chain out of Florida," rather than part of the Darden chain that includes Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Longhorn Steakhouse.
My first choice was Dessert Crepes from Jacquie's Gourmet Catering. They put some chopped up fruit and Nutella in a crepe and warmed them in a skillet for a bit. My second choice was Rene's Bakery with a creme sandwich. The "bun" was made of eclair pastry and the filling was a hazelnut cream, similar to Nutella. (There's a theme going on here.) My third choice was Bread Pudding from Northside Social.
The Art Center had identical booths set up for everyone, so we judged them on how well they had decorated their booths. A few did just the minimum, but several got rather fancy.
