01 March 2010

Opening Today: Scotty's Lakehouse

Continuing our streak of deceiving Scott Wise into thinking we're a reputable news source, we were invited to check out his latest venture over the weekend. This event was fairly packed thanks to Scott's Twitter army receiving passes for spending $50 at one of the Brewhouse locations in the past week. That's okay, we still feel special.


Scotty's Lakehouse is a joint venture between the brains behind Scotty's Brewhouse and the Patachou restaurants. The two concepts are fused by offering Patachou breakfast items in the morning and a selection of organic burgers, a few Brewhouse favorites and a few new items for lunch and dinner. Although the Lakehouse features a lower number of taps than the Brewhouse locations, Indiana beer is the predominant theme. Located in Geist, Scotty's Lakehouse is the second Scott Wise location on the north side of town. Despite my general disappointment with things north of 86th Street, I am glad that they are seeing more good beer locations and local food options open up.


Upon arrival, the immediate impression is that the Lakehouse seems to be located in a hard to reach strip mall. Maybe someone in Geist can correct me and inform us in the comments that there was an easier way to arrive than we did. Nonetheless, if the crowd at the opening event on Saturday could be used as a reference point, the Lakehouse is already a destination worth seeking out. The interior decor matches that of other Brewhouse locations, which I would consider a positive thing. Lots of exposed brick and duct work, a prominent and well kept bar and of course those bar towel napkins.


The initial beer lineup

  • Three Floyds Pride and Joy (soon to be Gumballhead)
  • Mad Anthony IPA
  • Peoples Pale Ale
  • New Albanian Beaks Best
  • Oaken Barrel Indiana Amber
  • Barley Island Dirty Helen
  • Sun King Wee Mac
  • Granite City Broad Axe Stout
  • Upland Bad Elmer's Porter

    A decent selection of wine, spirits and Coors Light are also available for people who would prefer not to drink beer. The focus of the menu is on burgers, including not only organic beef burgers, but also turkey, elk, bison and vegetarian burgers. All of the burgers we tried were very well put together with a creative combination of well designed toppings. Fried dill chips and 7 tidals dip are carry-overs from the traditional Brewhouse menu.


    Burgers all run at $8 with sides of fries, coleslaw and mac and cheese (among other things) available from $3 and up. The fries were a bit too dense for my tastes, but the blue cheese coleslaw, sweet potato fries and mac and cheese were all big hits at our table. The burgers were excellent. For reference - Boogie Burger is my favorite burger joint in town. Lakehouse didn't top Boogie Burger, but it certainly rides up near the top of the list. I would love to see the Lakehouse burgers find their way onto the Brewhouse menus in the future. Another menu highlight turned out to be the condiments, especially the Beer Mustard made with Sun King Wee Mac.


    Now back to something we do actually claim some knowledge on - beer. Available serving sizes are 16oz glasses, 24oz mugs and 101oz table taps. The 16oz glasses are pub glass style (think Broad Ripple Brewpub or the country of England) and the 24oz mugs are the traditional Brewhouse mugs. The 101oz table taps are these comically large glass tubes filled with beer with a tap at the bottom to dispense into individual glasses or funnels and hoses for you to lay under the table and drink out of until your server catches you and kicks you out. If you try doing that, don't tell them you got the idea from us. 16oz glasses ride between 4.50 and 5.00. On Mondays, Indiana beer, both bottled and draft, is $1 off.


    The Lakehouse is definitely a welcome addition to the north side of town and their dedication to Indiana beers is quite admirable. They open up today at 4PM. Cheers to Indiana beer and great burgers!
  • 16 comments:

    1. Easily better than Boogie Burger in my book and for the record.

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    2. Don't forget to check out their great new website http://scottyslakehouse.com

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    3. I thought the extensive writeup was a big enough ad, but Kyle left us one in the comments, too.

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    4. What is your favorite burger in town, Mike? Anyone else?

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    5. You know I have to ask - Did anyone try the veggie burger?

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    6. Hmmmm... Shewman? Maybe 5 Guys? Working Man's Friend, maybe? I don't really have a favorite. I do know that Boogie Burger wouldn't be on my list.

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    7. Jess has the turkey burger, which is almost made of vegetables...

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    8. I hate to give Scotty's more press, but one of my favorite burgers is the Shewman, sin jalapeños.

      I agree that Lakehouse was better than Boogie Burger, at least in my limited exposure of both.

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    9. Can't wait to pay em a visit! There aren't a lot of great ways to get there... depending on where you are coming from, I would:

      - take 96th East (say, from I-69)all the way to Fall Creek Rd, then turn Left on Fall Creek

      - 116th East to Brooks School and then S along Brooks School Rd

      - You can take Fall Creek all the way (i.e. Emerson Rd turns into Fall Creek there by Kessler Ave)

      Cheers!
      Tom

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    10. I love the burgers at Bub's burgers in Carmel.

      Tastes so good I want to sew my ass shut.

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    11. Sounds like a promising premise for an ad campaign.

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    12. I loved the quote
      "A decent selection of wine, spirits and Coors Light are also available for people who would prefer not to drink beer."
      Very nice, snarky Beer Geek dig. well done sir!

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    13. It may have been because it was after 13.1 miles, but Boogie Burger was phenomenal and I could get my burger more rare than medium which is what I prefer.

      Lakehouse was good, but I can't compare because I had a turkey burger and those are always well.

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    14. We went on Friday night. I had the #8 (applewood bacon, 2 yr old cheddar cheese, and something else. Considering this was the first burger I'd had in months, is was mighty tasty. Plus I love the focus on organic/natural/local food. My husband had the elk burger. We both were very pleased with what we got. I had the black truffle oil fries and he had the one of the Mac & cheeses. My fries were very good, and the garlic mayo and chipotle ketchup were very good (I don't like mustard) My favorite part, though, was the S'mores Cupcake: chocolate cake with marshmallow fluff inside and topped with rich chocolate frosting and graham cracker crumbles. The whole thing was warm and gooey and so delicious.

      Better than Boogie Burger? I can't say for sure. It's been a long time since I've gotten a burger there (I prefer the Ahi Tuna sandwich), but they are both pretty close in the 'favorite' category.

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    15. Looks good actually. I like the presentation for the fries, clever. Favorite burger: Capital Grille.

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