New competition for Bub’s serves decent fare for CHS students and community members, though higher prices might drive away customers

For as long as most CHS students can remember, Bub’s Burgers has dominated the scene for downtown Carmel American-style cooking. Now, they have competition in the form of Detour: An American Grille.

This sandwich and burger joint is located right across the street from Bub’s, making it inevitable to want to compare the two of them. However, Detour has a much broader range of food and has a focus further away from solely burgers.

Their menu has a variety of American foods, ranging from quesadillas to steaks. On our trip, we ordered a starter of the Construction nacho platter, an entrée of the signature Bypass sandwich and closed off with a red velvet cupcake.

The Construction nachos were quite possibly the most intimidating item on the menu, as the waitress kindly informed us, but we decided to go ahead and order them. As the waitress said,  at the mere sight of the nachos we realized this could only be a starter for a man who eats Big Uglies for appetizers.

The nachos were of descent quality, although the melted cheese tended to cling to single nachos, leaving many barren of any toppings. This was a shame considering the ludicrous amount of toppings placed on the plate.

After finishing roughly half the platter, which cost $10, we moved on to the entree. The Bypass, an Italian beef sandwich filled with an array of vegetables and grilled mozzarella, was a feat to stomach after the battle that was the Construction nachos, but the meat quality was excellent without a doubt.

The juicy meat was a treat for the taste buds, blending in excellently with the peppers, celery and onions. Adding to the delicious mix, the melted cheese kicked in with a punch after the initial taste faded away. Unfortunately, the sandwich had one major downfall: It was far too dry.

The plate was accompanied by a small cup of au jus, but this did not suffice in making the meal possible to eat without constantly needing a drink. This became a large problem throughout the experience because of the restaurant’s service.

Anticipating the dryness of the $14 sandwich, I ordered queso sauce along with it, which the waitress specifically recommended. As the meal arrived, however, there was no queso present. Ignoring this small problem, I asked the waitress to bring the sauce separately as a side. At no point did I get the queso.

Then, to exacerbate the dryness, the wait for drink refills simply became longer and longer. Admittedly, however, we ate the meal in the restaurant’s first week open, and this may have been an incident which doesn’t occur often

As a dessert, we ate our regular-sized red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing. The cupcake was indisputably great—it even entailed a Food Network moment of an eyes-closed hum of content—but as with the other dishes it had a major flaw.

The single cupcake, no larger than one of average size, was $7. At an average grocery store, a box of 20 cupcakes costs the same amount, and I can assure that Detour’s specialty was by no means of 20 times better quality.

This sums up the greatest problem for CHS students at the eatery: The meal ended up costing well over $30. To be fair, there are other items on the menu which are cheaper, such as the $8 Nick’s Burger, but for the regular teenager a meal will almost always end up costing at least $20.

That leaves only the final category of atmosphere. At first sight, the inside of the restaurant is highly impressive. The sleek, modern look is a fresh sight in a suburb, and the indoor bar is far from anything else in the downtown area.

As we ate our meal, however, we came to a simple realization; the restaurant is like any other big-city bar, and the fact that it is placed in Carmel does not make it any better.

Also, the grill advertises its live music on weekends, but these shows begin at 10 p.m. and continue on until one in the morning. Clearly these aren’t exactly student-friendly timings, and a daytime live music scene would add to the atmosphere greatly.

Overall, Detour is a refreshing change of pace in our suburban downtown. As a place to go with family for a good meal and a metropolitan feel, it passes all tests. As a hangout spot for students, though, the same cannot be said.