But before I get to the down-home, totally-unpretentious sports bar wonderment that is AJ's, let me explain a bit about my favorite part of Indianapolis.
Broad Ripple is a neighborhood/entertainment district located six miles due north of downtown Indianapolis where the White River forms a massive oxbow right at 62nd Street.
 |
| Yar. Here there be slightly higher rents. |
Butler University is situated mere blocks away, so you get the obligatory college bars—2 for 1 shooters! bottomless pitchers of Miller Lite! fresh vomit in every stall!—and a shiny new Jimmy John's/Starbucks-hydrid on every block. But you also get head shops, funky Tibetan gift stores, record shops, bottle shops, live music venues, natural groceries, and more authorized Birkenstock retailers per capita than the entire city of Sedona, Arizona.
Broad Ripple reminds me a lot of the famed Five Points district near the University of South Carolina, a locale in which I frittered away many a night in grad school. "BRip," as the youth sometimes call it, has slightly more granola, yoga pants, and an all-over Nag Champa scent. In other words, this is about as crunchy as Indianapolis gets. (Sorry, Fountain Square.)
In the 19th century, the town of Broad Ripple was incorporated as a separate municipal entity and quickly became a nearby weekend destination for folks in downtown Indy who wanted to escape the heat and the cacophonous confines of a growing industrial city.
Public sanitation in those days left much to be desired. Hogs and cattle roamed the streets with impunity, most Americans thought diseases were spread via divine Providence, and the cutting-edge nutritional science of the day held that eating spicy food led to sexual immorality. (Today we know it to be caused by Facebook.)
Families would flock to Broad Ripple in those days to lounge and picnic along the banks of the White River, which in the broadest spots was so shallow that the water would ripple over the rocks and stones where the White River forms a natural oxbow. From this lucky confluence of nature and terminology we get the name "Broad Ripple."
In the 20th century, as Americans gradually discovered that physical activity was actually good for you, later generations of Indy residents continued this tradition of relaxation and rejuvenation with the enormous public swimming pool at Broad Ripple Park, which is still in operation and open to all for a small daily fee. Broad Ripple was annexed into the city of Indianapolis in 1922, a move that was not without controversy, and pretty much ever since the leadership of the Village has made serious efforts to maintain the area's distinctive personality and panache.
Today, BRip also works hard on its reputation as the preferred place for Indy locals to hone their R&R skills with its dense concentration of bars, restaurants, galleries, music venues, shops, and boutiques. According to disputed Internet lore, Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut loved to get drunk in the bars and taverns of Broad Ripple, and supposedly spent a lot of time at the Red Key Tavern on College and 52nd Street. This old school pub still outlaws cursing and only accepts cash. (Yes, I am aware that the Red Key is technically in Meridian-Kessler, but if anything this further suggests BRip's blob-like sprawl.)
Another testament to outdoor fitness, Indy's Monon rail-trail runs right through the heart of BRip's "Core Village," as it's called, and in the last decade or so, as the population growth has spilled into nearby neighborhoods, the surrounding environs have benefitted from the general re-gentrification of the area.
 |
| Looking westward along Broad Ripple Avenue. The Pure gas station is now a Jimmy John's; the Zenith retailer on the right is a Starbucks. |
Naturally, any neighborhood like this is going to be stocked to the gills with good pizza worth checking out.
Average Joe's serves a totally respectable take on Indiana Midwestern bar pizza, a style I've written about previously. Their thin crust is cardboard thin, but I mean that in a good way; they also serve a deep dish-style that's well worth checking out.
As with all pizzas in this style, they really lay on the cheese, a nice blend of mozzarella with accents of cheddar. The quality on this pic isn't great, but you can still tell that they pile on the toppings. I ordered this with gobs of pineapple, mushrooms, and banana peppers.
Grade = B (Yes, Average Joe's pizza is decidedly above average.)
Class = O.
Average Joe's serves a totally respectable take on Indiana Midwestern bar pizza, a style I've written about previously. Their thin crust is cardboard thin, but I mean that in a good way; they also serve a deep dish-style that's well worth checking out.
As with all pizzas in this style, they really lay on the cheese, a nice blend of mozzarella with accents of cheddar. The quality on this pic isn't great, but you can still tell that they pile on the toppings. I ordered this with gobs of pineapple, mushrooms, and banana peppers.
Yes, the pineapples are canned, a cardinal sin of pizza-making for which I have taken other pizzerias to task, such as Mike's Italian Grill in Kokomo. But here's what makes Average Joe's a special place for pizza: on Sundays and on some holidays (like today), all of their pizzas are half price. Half. Price.
All pies come with your choice of three toppings, and I think they charge a measly $1.50 for extras. In any case, you can get a 3-topping, 16" pie for $10 on Sundays (eat-in only), which makes at least one of us really happy.
Joni's take on half-price pizza:
Grade = B (Yes, Average Joe's pizza is decidedly above average.)
Class = O.
No comments:
Post a Comment