Loughmiller's Pub

This is 2 weeks old already, but during the week leading up to Labor Day, we finally made it over to an Indian's game. I'm a football and college basketball type of guy, but baseball is dear to me as it was my dad's favorite sport, and we made a lot of little treks over to games that are very dear memories to me. We seemed to always be in minor league cities between Denver (pre-Rockies) and Indy, but I prefer the "intimacy" and pricing of minor league baseball anyhow. Our days in Denver were so much before they got a sniff of the Majors that we used to go see the Denver Bears, not even their next incarnation as the Denver Zephyrs.

Anyhow, we were meeting up with some good friends, but I got downtown early to meet up with the Better Half for a pre-game dinner. We walked from some free street parking and stopped in at Loughmiller's Pub.

Loughmillers (pronounced lock-millers) happens to be in one of my favorite buildings downtown. It is at first a rather inconspicuous building on Washington Street, across from the State Center, but... if you take just a little bit of time to look at it, I think it has some spectacular details. The Old Trails Building is only about 6 stories tall, but it has some very cool gargoyles on top of the building, and these neat old Indian heads on the building's facade. I just think it is a great little building, tho I can't speak for the interior of it.

Anyhow, since Loughmiller's is a smoking facility after lunch, we ate out on the patio. Now, patio seating is great, and having the skyline to look at its pretty nice, even if you are on Washington Street. Plus, Indy is such a mild traffic city downtown, that even on a game night for baseball, it is mellow and relaxing to sit on the patio. The service was attentive and we had no problem getting through placing orders, eating and being out of there in just under an hour without feeling rushed.

Anyhow, it was a first visit for both the Better Half and myself. We ended up trying the two specials, which were themed around summer and featured avocado. I had a California chicken sandwich which had some avocado slices and a bit of a mango salsa. It was decent. The salsa it came with was a creamy style and it too was decent. Same was true of the Better Half's meal. Decent. But, nothing about this meal stood out, other than being outside on a spectacular clear and not-very-humid evening in the waning days of summer. I've said before I'm not anti-chain just to be anti-chain. In fact, I feel like I'd have had a bigger, better sandwich at Champp's than I did at Loughmiller's. My suggestion to a place like Loughmiller's is - stand out in some manner. And, maybe they do with their beer, but to me nothing about the food I had or saw stood out. The fries were out of a bag, the buns were cheap and out of a bag, the sandwich was small and typical. Really, instead of comparing it to a chain, I should actually compare it to a major caterer like Aramark. And, really, I think you might well get a better sandwich at the Lilly cafeteria.

The verdict: 1 belly rub (out of 5). Nice setting, historic building, unremarkable food.

I do want to post this picture, too. I love Victory Field, it is such a nice stadium and it has such a nice view of our city. We met up with two sets of friends, and the two brother's of the respective families are both in construction. They were mixed on the new Marriott hotel that is being built. I like it. I like it a lot. Sure, it seems more like a Vegas style hotel with all the glass, and it does dominate the skyline when you are driving in from the West, but I just think it is a cool looking building and I'm glad it is here. I just hope they can keep it filled with lots of conventions and visitors.