Keltie's and Oberweis

Amber, Nikki, and I got together last night for a New Restaurant Saturday. Our choice? Keltie's in Westfield, IN (north of Carmel). Ber read a favorable review for it on Indy.com and so we all agreed to venture further north than we've ever been before (for an NRS, that is).

The best description I can think of for Keltie's is that it's "casually classy" or possibly "small-town fancy." It features an interesting combination of down-home (pot pie, meatloaf, sandwiches) and classic (Beef Wellington, steak, Beggar’s Purse) dishes that have all been gourmet’d up a bit. Our server seemed extremely busy and a bit rushed and could have been friendlier, but she was far from the worst I've been served by and did check on us often.

And now to the food. We all started with the House Salad, a delicious combination of greens, strawberries, almond slivers, and cheddar cheese all tossed in a sweet poppy seed dressing. It was amazing. For our entrees, Amber and I both tried the Beef Wellington as a special treat. If you've never heard of this blast-from-the-past, it's a 6oz filet topped with a mushroom mixture and wrapped in puff pastry. Yum. This particular version was topped by onion confit and sat atop a bed of risotto, asparagus, and red peppers. I am still unsure whether I liked the onion confit--to me, the entire dish began to taste like the tangy-sweet onion mixture rather than allowing the distinctive flavors of the mushrooms and beef to come through. But, it did add a nice zing to the dish. The risotto was a bit al dente for me, but not disturbingly so (and it's better than being mushy). But I'm nit-picking here. Overall it was very good.

Nikki had the meatloaf. It was a large, thick slice which they grilled before setting it on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus and topping it with a small amount of flavorful gravy. I'm not a fan of meatloaf as a general rule, but Keltie's may have won me over--the bit I tried was VERY good. Nikki seemed very happy with her choice and told me it was a "flavor explosion of meatiness" (that may be paraphrased, heh).

After dinner we couldn't resist stopping by the Oberweis ice cream shop/Dairy Store. I didn't even know such stores existed! They had a wide variety of ice cream flavors and other treats, and we all enjoyed what we got (me: Butter Brickle in a sugar cone; Ber: Chocolate Peanut Butter in a waffle cone; Nik: a chocolate-marshmallow latte). But, of course, it's hard to go wrong with ice cream.