Scotty’s Lakehouse

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to start a blog series showcasing local businesses here in the Indy area whose owners have a unique level of dedication and fun in running their organization.  The first in this series comes from a restaurateur whose 5 previous locations are synonymous with college in Indiana.  If you’re from Indy or have attended college at IU, Purdue, IUPUI, Butler, or Ball State recently, you’re probably already very familiar with Scotty’s Brewhouse.  After following owner Scott Wise’s Twitter recently, I realized there would be a new, different Scotty’s coming to town…Scotty’s Lakehouse in Geist.  Being a native Geist resident and long-time client of Scotty’s Brewhouse, I had to check this out.  Read on for the rest of the story.

NOTE: Apologies for the photo quality.  I know I’m a professional photographer, but I just had my camera with basic lens attached and didn’t want to cause a scene with a bunch of gear and flashes going off in a busy restaurant.  If I’m able to work something out to get more commercial photos taken in the future, I will let you all know.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled up to the corner of Brooks School Rd. and Fall Creek Rd. was that the parking lot was PACKED!  It’s a small parking lot, and I have a feeling it’s going to stay this way for a while.  After getting out of my car, I noticed the familiar Monopoly piece logo over a black awning.  It seemed a bit hard to read, and I think a little more light should be poured onto that awning to let people know what restaurant they’re in front of.

Upon entering, I noticed a crowd at the hostess’s booth.  After giving my name and party size (2, I dragged along my friend John), I was informed there would be a 50 minute wait.  A long time, but the restaurant did just open a day ago, and I was halfway expecting a large turnout for a new joint with such a large fan base.  No worries, John and I proceeded to head over to the bar to grab a few beers while we waited.  Unfortunately, that too was packed and took a good 15 minutes or so to order a couple of beers.  That is the one Achilles heel of Scotty’s…it’s so popular that the long waits often turn customers off to other restaurants.  I know I have once or twice been known to make the walk across the street from the Scotty’s in North Indianapolis over to the Claddagh for my beer and food fix.  Hopefully, things will settle down in the future and I can see how this place will fare as a local watering hole to run in and have a couple beers.

Anyways, back to the Lakehouse.  We finally received our first round of beers, a Granite City Broad Axe Stout for my friend and an Oaken Barrel Indiana Amber for yours truly.  This is probably one of the best feature I like about Scotty’s Lakehouse.  All but one of their draught beers are from brewers here in the Hoosier state.  From Sun King to Upland and Three Floyds to Barley Island, all of the beers are favorites of local microbreweries.  While this may turn off some people who expect to see their usual national fare of brewskies (Coors Light is the only national beer served on tap), this is like a second heaven for me, and I’m sure many other beer lovers.  Hopefully this doesn’t turn people off from the Lakehouse because many of these local beers, while a bit pricier ($4.50-5.00 for a pint) are that much tastier and complement meals much better than a pitcher of Bud Light.

After some chatting around the bar and catching up on old times, our buzzer paged and we were sat.  The table presentation is interesting and definitely something worth conversation the first time you dine at Scotty’s Lakehouse.  First the tables are adorned in the same paper used for paper grocery bags, and then at each place setting, an employee literally stamps on the burger menu (the full menu is still given to you).  Practical? Not so much, as I didn’t pay much attention to it.  Creative? You betcha.

Looking through the menu, many will notice that this isn’t exactly the same gargantuan menu as the other 5 Scotty’s locations.  You gotta remember, Scotty’s Lakehouse is a burger joint, so think of it less as a typical Scotty’s and more of a Bub’s or Boogie Burger.  John and I made our decisions and went with Scotty’s famous dill chips to start followed by our respective burgers (which I’ll get to later) and fries.  The wait was pretty average for our food, and we had plenty of TVs in front of us to make $1 bets with each other on 40-yd sprint times on the NFL Combine.

Note the dill chips arrive with two sauces, horseradish and ranch.  John went straight for the horsey sauce, which I had to hide from him to keep him from eating it all straight up.  I went for the ranch as my palette for horsey sauce isn’t all that great.  After quickly gorging through the dill chips, our burgers were served.  John had ordered one with caramelized onions, Indiana yellow oyster mushrooms, and Indiana swiss (not pictured).  I felt a bit more experimental and ordered mine with a fried egg (yes, you read that right), apple wood smoked bacon, Indiana Gouda, and a hint of chipotle ketchup.  Both burgers were $8.00 just like all the others, and we also split a large order of truffle fries ($9.00) which arrived with a trio of sauces: chipotle ketchup, garlic ranch, and Sun King Wee Mac beer mustard.

This is where I believe Scotty’s will blow many people away.  Both of our burgers were wonderful.  Yes, the burgers are 8 bucks, but they definitely have $8 worth of flavor.  The meat is tender, savory, and not super-packed like many burger joints.  The meat melts in your mouth like only higher-end burgers can.  The bacon in mine was quite delicious, and knowing that both cuts of meat are from local Indiana farms adds a nice little story behind all of it.

The truffle fries were good, although I’d still run to Brugge in the ‘Rip any day for fries.  Next time, however, I’ll have to try the sweet potato fries or Jalapeño fries that John and I were debating on earlier.  Also, the portion seemed a bit on the light side, especially for ordering a “large” portion, and the presentation of the fries seemed lacking.  I know it’s just for show, but for being $9 fries, I think food presentation should be taken into account.  I think the other Scotty’s locations seem to have larger portions for less, albeit lacking the variety.

All of this food required a second round of pints.  This time around, John went for the Barley Island Dirty Helen Brown Ale, while I decided to give John’s previous beer choice a shot (Granite City Broad Axe Stout).  Both beers were again, wonderful, and a great partner to our burger and fries.  I wish all restaurants had a beer selection like this.

All of this damage came out to around $50, or $25 a person.  It’s pricier than its competition, but I think opting for a soda ($2.25) or water instead of beer will definitely but things back into perspective.  Also, for having locally grown, organic meats, vegetables, and well beer, the price becomes much more reasonable (just think about the prices at Patachou for reference).  Overall, the experience was positive.  It’s priced out of my range for going there on a regular basis, but I can definitely see this place being a good hangout for a couple beers at night and an occassional burger every now and then.  I just hope that the crowds will die down and I won’t have to frustratingly search for an alternative.  For all of the unique things it provides, I truly hope that Scott Wise can produce a successful restaurant in the Geist area.  Go try it out and see for yourself.

Sources:

http://www.scottyslakehouse.com

Twitter: @brewhouse

Facebook: Scotty’s Lakehouse