121 W. Maryland StreetWhenever I travel to Indianapolis for work, it consists of long days and short nights. That was, of course, the deal with my most recent trip. Saturday would be a 16 hour day starting right around noon.
I slept in as late as I could. I hate a nice cold, dark hotel room to myself. I wasn’t going to waste it.
I woke up just before 11:00. Too late for breakfast but there were plenty of lunch options around my hotel. I found the place with online ordering and the one I thought I could get the quickest meal from.
My choice was Chicken Scratch on Maryland Street just to the west of Illinois Street in Downtown Indianapolis. The small chicken restaurant looks to be the third location (two in Indianapolis, one in Cincinnati). It also looks to have opened fairly recently as there are several signs in the area with “now open” pointing towards the restaurant. The restaurant is tucked in to a multi use building between a Dick’s Last Resort and a Tesla Supercharger parking garage.
I put in an order right around 11:00 then headed down the street to pick it up.
The restaurant is a pretty typical fast casual joint. There is an order counter in the back of the space. You pass a chalkboard walls were people have scribbled their names to find a menu hanging above the counter. My order was ready to go when I walked in. I gave the lady working the register my name and she grabbed the two bags.
There’s a pretty large dining room but I headed back to my hotel room to eat. A lot of the wall space is taken up by those chalkboards. I assume there is chalk laying around somewhere to add your mark to the wall but I didn’t look close enough. Just grabbed my food and headed out.
I ordered tenders instead of wings because I thought they’d be easier to eat. I got six tenders and an an order of truffle fries. The tenders I got breaded with garlic buffalo and garlic parmesan sauce covering them. You can also order the tenders naked and sauce on the side if that’s more your thing. I wanted the wing experience but didn’t feel like dealing with a bone….and “boneless wings” are nothing more than chicken nuggets so I got more meat going with the tenders.
I started with the garlic parmesan tenders so I didn’t fry my tongue. The sauce is a thick, creamy garlic parm sauce likely with a mayo base. It’s pretty similar to Buffalo Wild Wings but more garlicky. The chicken tenders were nice big, juicy pieces of meat. They were probably crunchy at one time but the sauce and the walk back to the hotel made them a little soft. They were delicious though. I ate two of these and saved the rest for dinner.
The Garlic Buffalo were the same big, juicy tenders but covered in a spicy garlic sauce. The buffalo sauce was nearly as thick or as messy as the garlic parm sauce. There was more heat than garlic in each bite but the garlic was there. It was just a little more subtle. I ate just one of these so I’d have a couple left for dinner.
The Truffle Fries were..a lot of fries. I was pretty surprised to see how many came with the order. It could have been a meal on it’s own and since fries aren’t good cold, I made sure to fill up on these instead of the chicken I could save for later. The fresh cut fries are topped with parmesan cheese and truffle oil. The fries are the really good kind of fresh cut fries I like. They’re a little soggy but a little crispy at the same time. I was pretty stuffed after polishing these fries off. I really didn’t need to eat the chicken but I wanted to try it before it got cold.
The cost of my meal was $25.
I don’t do a lot of sit down meals when I travel. I don’t always have the time to do that and I really like having leftovers for those times when taking a full meal break isn’t an option. Chicken Scratch was a good choice. I got some delicious chicken (and fries) and had plenty left over for my late night dinner.