PFR: Shapiro's Deli

On the way back from Chicago, from our quickie road trip from the beginning of the month, it was getting to be dinner time. We were nearing Indianapolis when I had an idea. I gave my friend Sharon a quick call, to get the location and directions to her favorite place to eat in Indiana, Shapiro's Deli. (If she is within 100 miles of this place, she makes a detour to stop.)

Shapiro's has been around since 1905. The location we went to, at 808 S. Meridian, is a large space, with plate glass windows all around, a cafeteria-style line to go through, and lots of tables to sit in. We were there around 5pm on a Sunday, and there was a decent sized crowd for an early dinner. When I saw the desserts, I knew we had to do an impromptu Pie Field Research expedition.

My fellow PFR investigator this time was my friend Tina. She is a bit of an old hat when it comes to PFRs, as she's done a couple with me, and her birthday is Pi Day. Even though we decided to split the very large and very wonderful corned beef sandwich (see below), we both managed to over order. We decided on two slices: rhubarb for her, and cherry for me.

Tina chose the rhubarb because she loves it and "that pink that rhubarb gets." I decided on cherry, because I couldn't decide and chose to stick with the classics. Tina later informed me that cherry is just not her type of pie, but I enjoyed my slice. We found both slices to have a nice tartness. She thought the crust was okay and I think I had more positive thoughts on the crust. We both gave our pies 4.5 stars. (As you can see, the nonexistent metric by which the oh-so-scientific research being done gets vaguer the longer I go between PFRs.)

The real star of the show was the corned beef sandwich. Oh dear lord. For about $10 we got a lot of meat piled high on delicious homemade rye. Oh that rye. It had a wonderfully (but not overly) chewy crust. Why didn't I buy a loaf? The sandwich needs to be shared. Sharon had suggested some sort of lemon bread or muffin, which I forgot, but will get at my next stop at Shapiro's. It's hard to pass up their sweets.

Comments

[BF]

i love the look and the sound of this place - i am really into these regional gems. and pie! that's something i'd like to research. there's a lot of awesomeness here.

[Sharon Hicks-Bartlett]

I am so proud of this post! I love it! I'm even more proud that you went to a place I totally love and you too liked it! I have never tried the pie, as one of the follow always wins out: the lemon cake, the marble cake or the poppy seed cake.

[Sharon Hicks-Bartlett]

Oh...and the carrot cake. Definitely to die for! Just like the kind my grandmother made. Although I do take off some of the overly generous icing.

[Kathleen Maher]

Claire, don't forget to let me know about your upcoming field research here. I'm planning for Friday.

[Claire]

Thanks all for the comments!

Brian - you're always an inspiration for good eating and food photography.

Sharon - thanks again for scouting out wonderful places to eat.

Kathleen - I can't wait to eat some pie with you!