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Usually, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to dessert: After a meal, if I’m not already stuffed—and if
I’ve eaten my veggies—I might consider a sweet treat to top off the tank.
But at Blu Moon Café (200 S. Rangeline Road, Carmel; 844-8310), the pastry case is right inside the front door. And
there are house-made Ding Dongs.
Need I say more?
I pushed my self-control to its limits and walked past the goodies to order my “real” lunch, but I have to admit
to asking for a doggy bag so I’d be sure to have room for the chocolate-covered, cream-filled chocolate cake.
![Dining BP](/ext/resources/IBJ-Print/072610/dining-15col.jpg)
house-made Ding Dongs are worth saving room for. (IBJ Photo/ Perry Reichanadter)
First things first. As you’d expect from a cafe, the menu is heavy on sandwiches, wraps and salads—including
a deli case full of less-typical offerings like Mexican cole slaw and a bacon, blue cheese and tomato pasta salad (ask for
the BBT).
I opted for the Grinder Panini ($6.50), which featured hearty helpings of salami, ham and provolone cheese along with onion,
tomato, mayo and a fiery giardiniera mix (think spicy pepper relish) between slices of grilled sourdough bread. The result
was a moist, flavorful sandwich that I’m happy to report was still good eaten cold straight out of the fridge later
that night.
No sides come with the sandwiches, but I was intrigued enough by the unusual Route 11 potato chip flavors—Dill Pickle
and Chesapeake Crab, for example—that I took home a bag of habanero pepper-dusted Mama Zuma’s Revenge to eat with
my leftovers. The specialty chips set my taste buds on fire, but they left me wanting more.
![Dining](/ext/resources/IBJ-Print/072610/dining2-15col.jpg)
Lady features red velvet cake and raspberry filling. (IBJ Photo/ Perry Reichanadter)
My companion tried the Half Sandwich Special ($6.50), choosing chicken salad on nine-grain bread and the BBT pasta salad
as the “non-meat” side (soup is another option). The chicken salad was decent, if a bit messy, but the generously
portioned side dish stole the spotlight. The pasta shells were perfectly prepared and provided a nice base for the creamy
dressing, which had grape tomatoes, huge chunks of blue cheese and big-enough-to-be identifiable bacon—no bac-o-bits
here—in every bite.
Then we were ready for dessert. The Ding Dong ($2.75) was everything I’d hoped it would be: Sweet cream filling marks
the middle of the Hostess-inspired moist chocolate cake, which is coated in chocolate. It’s really hard to go wrong
with that combination.
Same goes for its sister pastry, the Pink Lady (also $2.75), which features red velvet cake and raspberry filling. Oh. My.
Goodness.
And a good thing I didn’t finish my meal.•
—Andrea Muirragui Davis
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Last in a month-long series of reviews of red, white and blu(e) eateries.
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