Indiana Cafe

Indiana Cafe is a strange, strange place. The best Jen I could think of it being was what the French perceive American life to be, much in the way those of us living stateside perceive french waiters to have pencil thin moustaches, berets, striped shirts, and a bandana tied around their neck.

Haw haw haw...

The menu provides a dazzling array of choices, from burgers, to tex-mex, to curry. The decor consists of walls completely covered in vintage Native American/Indian photos, and they only place old school 80′s Police songs.

Confused? We were too. And totally enticed.

Unfortunately, this meal didn’t have any English menus, so we made deux with the French menus. Jen ordered Vegetarien Tacos, and I had the Indiana Degustation. There were numerous jokes throughout the rest of the trip as to what degustation actually meant, and it turns out, it means disgusting appetite.

No wait, it means tasting…and as far as I can tell, Indiana means Indiana the state, not the Native American, so I was tasting Indiana, not tasting a Native American. Upon this revelation, I was immediately saddened in the pants.

What we were really interested in was just how well a French chain of restaurants (12 in Paris according to the website, 6 according to Google Maps) could cook up an authentic Tex-Mex-ish meal.

The degustation plate was a hot mess of Mexican rice, taco, enchilada, chili, guacamole, and deep fried mozzarella sticks. Yep, totally tex-mex. I’m wondering if the curry items on the menu came with naan and Doritos.

Jen’s dish was a bit more pure Tex-Mex, although I’m questioning the piece de la resistance, the cole slaw, to really fit in with the tacos.

All the while, we’re listening to Sting sweat up a storm on a live performance recorded over two decades ago, and admiring the black and white photos of Native American chiefs underneath the bright, bright, bright red neon lights.

The food here is as about as good as any Tex-Mex restaurant we’ve had outside of the actual heart of Texas or Mexico. The sides are a little weird, but I’ll chalk it up to ingenious French Tex-Mex-Americana fusion. If you’re a little homesick for American food, Indiana Cafe will do the trick. It’s nothing that makes it the best food in the city, but it’s good enough to drop in for a quick meal when you’re nearby. The restaurant is open late, and you can find the closest Indiana Cafe on a map here.

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