Finch's -- Bloomington, IN

[myplateoryours]

Trulli Flatbread in Bloomington closed a couple of weeks ago and reopened tonight as Finch's -- a Mediterranean brasserie. Now owned by the chef and manager -- Jeff and Candace Finch -- Finch's has a more varied menu than Trulli did. Small pizzas (pizzettas) are still available, but there are soups (Jeff's amazing soups!!), salads, pasta dishes, and entrees that can be paired with a variety of side dishes and sauces.

We heard on the grapevine that they were opening tonight and decided to go, figuring we might be the only ones there. Hah! Our Bloomington grapevine is good! They had done 125 dinners by the time we left and people were still coming in.

The food was super. I had gazpacho -- really spicy and delicious, and orecchiette with peas, snap peas and leeks in a light and lemony sauce. My husband had the fried calamari and banana peppers, fortunately carried over from the Trulli menu, and steak frites. Amazingly good -- the hangar steak was grassfed, from a local farm, and perfectly cooked. The fries -- wonderful! We were too full for dessert but ran into a bunch of folks we knew there and everyone raved about them. Next time!!

[EWW]

Treated my kids to dinner there on Friday night....My SIL had a wheat beer, which he really liked....I had the halibut, very good...My Dau had raves for the dessert, on the house,
pot of Chocolate. and a pound cake strawberry and lemon sherbet... My 4 year old granddaughter had a pizza...everyone was pleased young to old...staff was gracious and did not seem to mind the littleones...and our indecision on what to have....ENJOY Bloomington's food scene...

[myplateoryours]

In the interests of accuracy, I should correct my post above. The hangar steak was not grassfed, but the ribeye was -- both from local farms, though. I know this because we went back for dinner last night.Lucky us!!

[pikawicca]

We were there last night before you. Had a wonderful meal, with excellent service. We split the calamari and a salad. DH had a sublime halibut fillet, roasted in the wood burning oven. I had pan-seared tuna with harissa butter. Since I'm a fan of creamed spinach, I was pleased to find it on the menu, and it's a great rendition. Acquaintances at a neighboring table had the wood-roasted chicken, and were raving about it. No room for dessert.

Had a look at the lunch menu, and will have to try their felafel sandwich very soon.

I think the makeover is an excellent thing; there's something on the menu for everyone. Giving diners a choice of several sauces and interesting sides is a great idea. There's even a kid's menu. Give this place a try, folks.

[porkanista]

Thanks for alerting the out of towners.This is definitely investigation worthy :)