In addition to spending the holidays wiht my family, December marks two birthdays: Jasmine’s and my dad’s. This year (believe it or not), my dad turns 70! Despite my pleas and the attempts my sister and I made to organize and large get-together/celebration, he insisted on not having a lot of fanfare. So instead, we had a fairly low key, family meal (with just my mom and dad, me and liz, Stacey, Shane and the kids) at Palomino – a restaurant in Downtown Indianapolis.
In the last 15 or so years, downtown Indy has really kicked into high gear. While I was a resident in Indianapolis, the height of my hanging-out revolved around sitting by the Kroger sign in Broad Ripple, chain smoking Marlboros and looking to find adults to buy us beer. At that time, heading downtown wasn’t really a thing to do, as… there wasn’t a lot to do downtown.
That’s changed a good deal, and it was neat to see a side of downtown that differed so much from my childhood memories.
While we were waiting for our food, Jasmine played endless rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe.
I ordered up the braised lamb shank with mushroom risotto, truffle oil, and a rich demi-glace. The knife that came with the dish was absolutely unnecessary.
[Note to Brian R: you're right about the Mushroom soup being made from crack. It was exceptional.]
My dad ordered the same, although he was able to put the entire thing away (whereas I only finished about 3/4). He’s still got an appetite!
Jahnu, wearing a reverse Superman cape covered in spaghetti sauce.
Related:
Everybody, Meet Jasmine
Hanging Out with Jasmine
Happy 1st Birthday, Jasmine!
Happy Birthday Dad, Happy Birthday Jasmine Pt 2
