We ate Joseph Decuis and Takaoka all on one weekend. Living large.

I’ve wondered what would happen at Joseph Decuis after their executive chef and chef de cuisine both left. That’s been a good bit ago, a year or more I’d guess. So if they were going to go downhill it would be showing by now.

Well, they haven’t. The dining experience there was as good as we’ve ever had there, and on par with the exceptional restaurants of the world.

We started with a glass of champagne and I had oysters on the half shell and Debbie had salmon. The oysters were exceptional, a trio of different varieties, meaty, fresh, tasting of the sea. The salmon was buttery smooth.

For main courses I had Niman Ranch rack of lamb and Debbie had Dover sole. She always gets the sole, served with a lemon caper sauce. Boned tableside, it’s a dream of delicate fish, and lemon butter caper sauce. The rack of lamb was crusted with herbs that perfectly accented the rich and perfectly cooked lamb.

I went with the molten chocolate cake for dessert which was flawless, nicely crisp on the outside, gooey and hot on the inside. A glass of port for Debbie and a scotch for me capped the evening.

Service was impeccable. Our server was calm and unhurried, friendly without being familar, and anticipated every need.

Joseph Decuis is not cheap, but it’s a dining experience that is worth every penny.
Their wine list puts them in Wine Spectator and with good reason. It’s unmatched in the area and while pricey for this area, still reasonable. We had a Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon which was very tasty.
They have lots of moderately priced wines as well as wine flights to taste several different wines. And of course verticals of the big name wines for the serious wine drinkers.

Takaoka is a Japanese steak house, if you’ve ever been to one of these places, you know what it’s like, food is cooked hibachi-style or teppan-yaki on a steel grill in front you while the chef cracks campy jokes and shows flashy knife work. It’s all good fun, and the food is really quite good too.

Hall’s Takaoka, located above the Old Gas House in downtown Fort Wayne is a fine example of genre. We dined there recently for my nephew’s 12th birthday. It was a good time with family, entertaining and good food.

But it was an exceptional experience. My father doesn’t see well, and particularly going down stairs gives him trouble, he’s unable to differentiate the light and dark shading that are our visual cues that here’s a step. And Takaoka is very dark with a narrow steep staircase.

As we were leaving, the busboy came over and said, “would you like to use our elevator? It’s the service elevator for the kitchen, but you’re welcome to it.” We hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but somehow in the middle of a busy weekend service this busboy noticed my dad couldn’t manage steps easily and just stepped up and did something.

It was exceptional service, it was kindness, it was a bit of grace in a graceless age. The world is full of good people, and one of the best works at Hall’s in Fort Wayne.

We visited R Bistro in Indianapolis for my birthday. It’s a chef owned, kitchen driven restaurant specializing in fresh locally produced food. Sort of like Chez Panisse in the heartland (only not quite so goofy).

The food was everything you’d expect from this sort of place. It’s not a prix-fixe menu, but they change the menu each week, and there are 5 appetizers, 5 main courses, and 5 desserts.

Our meals were splendid. I started with a watermelon and prosciutto appetizer.  Different from the usual combination of melon and prosciutto, the sweet crunchy watermelon was a nice contrast to the buttery smooth rich prosciutto.  It was though a little watery as you might expect.

My main course was lamb chops which were cooked as perfectly as anything I’ve ever eaten.

Dessert was a berry shortcake, quite nice.

The wine list was small and reasonably priced.  We had a Ridge 3 Valleys (I’ve been reading Hugh Johnson’s, A Life Uncorked and he’s a big Ridge fan) that was very tasty and not expensive.

My only complaint was the service.  There were long gaps between being seated and ordering.  Our server disappeared for long stretches and wasn’t attentive.  At the end of dessert she just plopped the bill on the table and took off.  We were hoping to cap the meal with a glass of port or coffee, but we weren’t feeling too welcome at that point, so we took our leave.

I’d definitely recommend R Bistro.  From watching the other tables service, I think our server was just having a bad night or something.