YATS! The one in Fishers.....

I love Yats. It's a small locally owned Cajun restaurant, simple, funky,eclectic. I love the original in Broadripple, and I love the Yats on Mass Ave. But I have resisted the "strip mall" newest Yats addition in the sanitary, uninteresting town of Fishers, which is basically a community that popped up overnight so people could go home at night to their safe havens after spending their workday in Indianapolis.

I have resisted going to the Fishers Yats...until now.

I found myself in the unenviable position of going grocery shopping hungry, never a good move. But I didn't want to compromise my diet, or my health by hitting any on the burger huts in the area.

So, I tucked my pride away, like a bad report card and went into the Fishers Yats. To my shock and dismay, the chili-cheese etoufee, a mainstay of the Yats menu was no owhere to be found on the chalkboard menu. It was gone! In all of my Yats meals, which are many, I have never deviated from the chili-cheese etoufee. From the first time I saw it, tasted it, it was culinary love at first sight...and now it was gone.

Too hungry to be turned away, I trudged further toward the ordering counter. I mentioned the etoufee to the counter guy, only to be assured that they did make it there, just not today.

So, then, the issue was, what to eat? I went for the 1/2 and 1/2. For a paltry price of $6.50, you can select 2 of their entrees on the same plate. I went with the white chili and the jambalaya.

Where my etoufee had small chunks of crawfish, the white bean chili wad large chunks of chicken, the jambalaya was generous with chicken and smoked sausage. These two dishes paired extremely well with each other. The white chili was extremely mild, the beans and chicken sat on top of the bed of white rice and looked entirely too inviting. The jambalaya, on the other hand, was the spunky one of the combo, while I would say it had just enough kick, I would also say that any more heat would have been too much. ( Although I was amazed that other people in the restaurant indulged in the Yats sauce bar, seasoning almost each bite, before they put it in their mouths)

Of course, this meal was topped off with their buttery garlic bread, and the spiciness was quenched with several trips up to the unlimited soft drink fountain.

I will still remain a Yats purist and frequent the ones in Marion County, but while you are in the Fishers Yats, if you close your eyes, it's almost like you are in Broadripple.