Jackson, of course, only ever wants to eat chicken; and when I say chicken, I mean those chopped and formed and breaded and fried bits of chicken, which I suppose are probably technically meat, but which may or may not stand up to rigorous scientific inquiry. I had the rare Monday off last week, but since it was so hot out, we didn’t have a real plan for the day. Usually, we’ll go grab lunch somewhere close to whatever the plan for the day—which generally involves something to do outdoors—is going to be, but last week we were just sort of flying blind. We finally vaguely decided on Thai, and made our way toward Broad Ripple.
We had noshed at Thai Café before, but since we rolled up there without checking first, we did not know that they were not open on Monday. We took our chances and left the car where it was, and started walking toward the village, though not at all sure what we were going to try. Then we saw the “Kids Eat Free on Monday” sign in the window at Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company; and though it seemed a little bit counterintuitive that a place with Brewing in its name would cater to kids, we liked the idea of being able to get a free lunch for Jackson, so we took a chance and went in. (And since it was served by the same parking lot as Thai Café, we were in no danger of having the car towed.)
Nothing here that you haven’t seen before, since bar and grill places are a dime a dozen in this town. Thr3e Wise Men is an offshoot of Scotty’s Brewhouse, and it’s the space where the eponymous Scotty chose to stake out a brewery, so that he could serve his own beer alongside other local and national offerings at his restaurants. It exists in the space that was briefly the Sunflower Market, and it’s got pretty much everything you would expect from a brewpub, except for an especially interesting menu. This is partly by design, according to Scotty’s website, because the place mostly exists to make beer; but he also wanted it to be a place where people could go to eat, so there are a few things for those on solid foods—but the choices are mostly pizza and wings, along with a smattering of appetizers, sandwiches, and salads.
They’re not reinventing the wheel here, although it’s a little bit cool that one of the dessert offerings is an elephant ear crafted from their pizza dough; and they are to be commended for serving up local coffee from Hubbard & Cravens, as well as Pepsi products from their fountain. Most of the meat that they serve on their sandwiches and pizzas is sourced locally, too—including smoked chicken from Smoking Goose, which is also featured on a few pies at Jockamo (and is incredibly delicious). The downside is that everything on the menu (except for that elephant ear) is food that you have eaten before.
I had the lunch special, which lets you mix and match any two of the following: personal one-topping pizza, breadsticks, stuffed breadsticks, or small chop salad. The cheese and onion pizza, which was clearly handmade, was long on cheese, but not so much on sauce; and it could have used another minute or two in the oven or under a broiler. Maybe you trust pizza that isn’t a little bit browned and bubbly on top. I feel for you. The breadsticks, like the pizza dough, were very light and airy, and probably helped along by the pepperoni with which they were stuffed. This might have been the first pizza place I’ve ever eaten at where they used yeast for flavor as well as for leavening.
Amy also had the lunch special, but she got the other two choices—the small chop salad and the non-stuffed breadsticks. She gave the breadsticks to Jackson, to go with his cheese pizza, and made do for herself with the salad and the goat cheese and marinara appetizer we got to split. I don’t recall that she had anything in particular to say about the salad one way or the other, other than that it contained goat cheese, which we both agree is never a bad thing. The goat cheese and marinara appetizer was much more marinara than it was goat cheese, and the bits of bread for dipping were explosively dry. All that extra marinara, however, worked well to augment the dearth of sauce on the pizza.
Some of the brews they offer looked interesting, but I’m not much of a beer-with-lunch/dinner kind of guy, especially when we’re going out to eat. I would not mind to try a Hubbard & Cravens Porter one of these days, but I’m not going to lose any sleep waiting for that day to come. I’m also not going to lose any sleep wondering when I will get to eat at Thr3e Wise Men again. There was nothing wrong with it, but it’s not a place that inspired immediate longings for a return visit. I would have to be in or near Broad Ripple, in the mood for bar and grill food, and not interested in trying one of the many other bar and grill places in Broad Ripple that I hadn’t tried before. The chances of an unexceptional place like Thr3e Wise Men running that kind of gauntlet are pretty much astronomical.
1021 Broad Ripple Avenue
255-5151
www.thr3ewisemen.com
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