"Kitchenette?"

     "They named it 'Kitchenette,' really?"  That's what I asked my little brother when he told me about a new breakfast/brunch place in Broad Ripple.

     The answer, it turns out, is "Not exactly."  It's called Northside Kitchenette, and it is yet another of the amazing, wonderful places to get a bite to eat in  my corner of town.  Relatively light fare, breakfasts and sandwiches, but oh my, what breakfasts!  What sandwiches!

     Checking at home, the menu promised much.  Tamara and I rode our bicycles up to the place, an hour and a half before closing, and  what the menu promised, the kitchen delivered.  She had an Italian sandwich, hot and piled high with wonderful meats and cheese; her fresh-made French Fries had a light, wonderful hint of malt vinegar but were crisp and tasty.  (Tam ordered them instead of the house chips -- not chips from a bag, chips fresh from the fryer.  Observed examples were thin, golden, curly, tasty-looking.)

     I had a breakfast burrito, a whole-wheat wrap enclosing eggs, chorizo, pico de gallo, good cheese, fried potatoes and green-chili sauce.  Even with my unfortunate shortfall in the molar department, I found it flavorful and easy to eat.

     The coffee was good, the service was splendid and we will be back!

     Food and beverages for two came to $26, which is about average for Broad Ripple.  Portions were generous and despite our lateness, we were not rushed.

     Northside Kitchenette is part of a new group of restaurants. Broad Ripple has several such groups, most famously the Patachou family, and it appears to be an excellent strategy.  This new bunch consists of The Northside Social (a pleasant-looking, upscale restaurant with a huge, well-stocked bar that replaced The Stone Mug, a would-be/once-was biker bar), Northside Kitchenette and Village Cigar, all side by side in a tiny L-shaped strip mall, plus down in SoBro, Delicia and La Mulita, which offer "modern Latin food" and nice bar spaces.  They easily meet the very high standard for dining in Broad Ripple.

  (As for me, I rode back home, laid down, and was asleep by four in the afternoon.  I was awake off and on between then and now, mainly to take OTC painkillers, but never awake for very long until the TV began talking to itself at six this morning. Possibly just exhausted from the healing at the former site of the removed tooth and the effects of pain there and elsewhere; I was subjected to dentistry Friday and found it extraordinarily wearing.)