restaurants

The old hardware store is now a pub

/ Roadtirementvintage / 32 Comments

The building is a 3 story brick with a full basement, built in 1890 and home to the J.G. DePrez Co. a family owned hardware store for years. Like many small town stores, it fell prey to shopping malls and interstate highways allowing easy access to those big city malls. The hardware store closed decades ago.

Pudders is in the white building on the left. Note the DePrez name on the brick in the upper right

Now a portion of the first floor houses a delightful restaurant and, in the back a separate bar room. Named Pudders, this business is located on the Public Square of Shelbyville, a small town in central Indiana. It has been in business since 2019, and has enjoyed a strong local following.

Full bar serving restaurant

Fresh made chips smothered with good stuff

Vegetable Wrap and fries. Wrap is loaded!

Fresh cod “Fish and Chips” with cole slaw

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the pandemic is slowing down, Pudders has live music each weekend and periodic trivia nights. Their menu offers an assortment of burgers, wraps, salads, wings and tons of appetizers. We had a small group of family members together for a late afternoon meal. Every meal was delicious and portion sizes were very generous. It is always nice to see older buildings in small towns occupied with locally owned businesses.

Brunch at RIZE Carmel

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Brunch is such a good meal, you can’t beat a lunch and breakfast combo. The other day we got a family group together and made candles. We had a two hour wait for our just made custom candles to cool, perfect for a leisurely brunch.

The “Moss Wall” at the entrance

 

 

 

 

 

RIZE in Carmel, Indiana was mere minutes away, so off we went. There were few people out, as it was quite rainy and somewhat cool, thus seating for our group was immediate.

Too good for words

Generous portions

Avocado Toast with Salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller Farm Chicken Hash with duck egg

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIZE is known for the decadently delicious cinnamon rolls, smothered in icing. Other dishes are most tempting as well. I had the biscuits and gravy, covered with a huge duck egg, over easy. The Avocado toast on levain bread with salad really fits the bill, as does the Miller Farm Chicken Hash, also topped with a large duck egg. And to start, or finish, your delightful brunch, go ahead and treat yourself to one of several Mimosas. Choose from either strawberry, orange, pomegranate, citrus-lavender, honey, or blueberry. RIZE is perfect for a relaxing and satisfying brunch.

 

 

2-22-2022 was a busy busy day

/ Roadtirementvintage / 23 Comments

Tuesday 2-22-2022 was quite the day. It was my first full day as a 71 year old Baby Boomer. Not sure how I feel about passing the seventy milestone. With other family gathered together we had a full day of activities  planned.

Sher picked her oils

I liked these two scents

We started off by going to the “make your own” Penn and Beech Candle Company in Carmel, Indiana. They had hundreds of scents to use in the candle of your choice. We had a ball sampling scents, narrowing down to the perfect blend. The scent liquids were then mixed in the hot wax, and left to cool for a couple of hours.

Too good for words

Generous portions

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went to one of our favorite places for brunch: RIZE. The Carmel location was just minutes from the Candle Company, and of course you have to start with their decadent cinnamon rolls smothered in icing. I got brave and ordered a first time for me duck egg on my biscuits and gravy. Delicious. We then picked up our candles.

Dollar Tuesday Tacos

National Margarita Day

Tuesday the 22nd was notable for several reasons. In the background the Ukraine v Russia crisis loomed. However, in the interest of celebration, we had our dinner at the Cholula Mexican Restaurant and recognized National Margarita Day with some frozen strawberry margaritas. Taco Tuesday, well of course! Cholula’s had tacos for $1 each.

Here are some of the candles we created

What a fun day! Making candles  was quite the experience. Sher and I decided that this was a very enjoyable activity that we have done together. Of course it was most special having our daughter and grandson and our youngest son with us.  I guess being 71 years old is not that bad after all.

 

A delicious Thai meal

/ Roadtirementvintage / 25 Comments


Off on another adventure, we headed first to Greenfield, Indiana, east of Indianapolis. We were headed towards a new to us restaurant, Zapp Thai Restaurant. They offered many lunch specials, each including an entrée, soup and small salad.

Stir-fry mixed veggies

Sweet – sour pineapple, veggies with pork

Generous portions

Enjoying the Sweet & Sour plate

Fully stocked wine bar

We were very pleased with our meals. They were both filling and very tasty. This restaurant will definitely be one to which we return.

 

 

An afternoon outing

/ Roadtirementvintage / 21 Comments

Yesterday early afternoon we made a quick trip to the store. Horrors of horrors we were completely out of trash bags! Anyway, after we purchased those bags we all (our son was with us) decided we needed and wanted to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applebee’s sounded like a reasonable choice. The place was not busy and we were seated immediately. The placard on the table proudly announced half price appetizers. Those sounded good!

The frozen strawberry margaritas were great

We had a most enjoyable time together. The appetizers were very tasty and filling! We actually had a need for a couple of doggie bags (actually boxes) for take home. We really enjoy these kind of outings, and this one was extra fun because our son came with us.  Oh, and on the way home we spotted a bald eagle!  (Eagle picture here)

Dinner tonight

/ Roadtirementvintage / 19 Comments

We’d been basically stuck at home for the past few days via snow and stupid cold temperatures. Somehow pizza sounded pretty good for dinner tonight.

Love those olives

Alfredo sauce and bacon strips!

The car was a challenge to get the doors open, wipers free and 10 inches of snow removed. But with our son’s help we got it dug out. It needed to get started anyway, so our son picked up our online order at Papa Johns. Yummy and a nice break from cooking at home.

 

Magnificent Welte Orchestrion music machines at Zaharakos

/ Roadtirementvintage / 14 Comments

We recently enjoyed some fabulous ice cream sundaes at the opulent and historic Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum in Columbus, Indiana. In addition to the antique soda fountains and cabinets filled with vintage flavor jars, there are several beautiful Welte Orchestrion automatic music machines displayed.

Welte Orchestrion, left. This was during our April 2021 visit.

Welte machines have a long and detailed history. Note that the term Orchestrion was coined by Welte in the 1850’s. Some refer to these types of automatic music machines as orchestrations.

Fully functional, coin operated

Play list

Large and fancy, see the clock on top?

We have been to Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum twice now. Here are the links to our posts about each visit. The April 2021 post has photos of lots of the vintage things in the shop. Our visit a couple of days ago will make you want to visit and have a hot fudge sundae.

 

An afternoon decadent treat

/ Roadtirementvintage / 41 Comments

Today was one of those days where you think that you ought to be doing something. About mid afternoon we both said almost simultaneously “Let’s get an ice cream!” Sher and I often think of ideas at the same time. I suggested that we go to Columbus, Indiana and visit the Zaharakos vintage Ice Cream Parlor for the second time. You can read about our visit last April here.

Single scoop butter pecan, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherry

Two scoops butter pecan, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive to Zaharakos we discussed what we were going to order when we got to the Parlor. Hmmm… When we were there before we ordered lunch and said we’d be back for ice cream. Today was that day.

Ready to dive into those hot fudge sundaes!

What delicious sundaes we enjoyed! The butter pecan ice cream was the best I have ever tasted, and Sher agreed. The hot fudge was hot, not like some places. There was also a ton of the hot fudge, as it completely covered the bottom and sides of our dishes. This ice cream parlor was founded in 1900. The place is really an ice cream museum. There are many old soda fountains and several cases filled with the old flavor jars. In addition, there are several old mechanical “orchestra” machines.

Drive thru pick up lunch today

/ Roadtirementvintage / 32 Comments

This Omicron variant is everywhere, it seems. Tagged as super easy to catch we decided that instead of going out today we’d get pasta at the drive up window after ordering online.

Spaghetti and meatballs w/melted cheese and a breadstick

We had not had Fazoli’s in a while. Given that we had a BOGO special this was an easy decision to make. The drive through is only about 10 minutes away, so it was easy to get our order quickly. The portion sizes are quite large, and we had plenty left for a full meal at a later time. We didn’t have to cook, got a good meal for a good price, and did not have to get out among the public. Win-win-win.