diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGatewayNodeAllocation.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGatewayNodeAllocation.java
index 4dd4ff70b74..cd3b3f3e6e8 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGatewayNodeAllocation.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGatewayNodeAllocation.java
@@ -149,6 +149,8 @@ public class LocalGatewayNodeAllocation extends NodeAllocation {
 
         for (IndexRoutingTable indexRoutingTable : routingNodes.routingTable()) {
             // only do the allocation if there is a local "INDEX NOT RECOVERED" block
+            // we check this here since it helps distinguish between index creation though an API, where the below logic
+            // should not apply, and when recovering from the gateway, where we should apply this logic
             if (!routingNodes.blocks().hasIndexBlock(indexRoutingTable.index(), LocalGateway.INDEX_NOT_RECOVERED_BLOCK)) {
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/QuorumLocalGatewayTests.java b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/QuorumLocalGatewayTests.java
index 000a60010a2..f7d1f3d5233 100644
--- a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/QuorumLocalGatewayTests.java
+++ b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/QuorumLocalGatewayTests.java
@@ -53,15 +53,18 @@ public class QuorumLocalGatewayTests extends AbstractNodesTests {
 
     @Test public void testQuorumRecovery() throws Exception {
         // clean three nodes
+        logger.info("--> cleaning nodes");
         buildNode("node1", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").build());
         buildNode("node2", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").build());
         buildNode("node3", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").build());
         cleanAndCloseNodes();
 
+        logger.info("--> starting 3 nodes");
         Node node1 = startNode("node1", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("index.number_of_shards", 2).put("index.number_of_replicas", 2).build());
         Node node2 = startNode("node2", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("index.number_of_shards", 2).put("index.number_of_replicas", 2).build());
         Node node3 = startNode("node3", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("index.number_of_shards", 2).put("index.number_of_replicas", 2).build());
 
+        logger.info("--> indexing...");
         node1.client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "1").setSource(jsonBuilder().startObject().field("field", "value1").endObject()).execute().actionGet();
         node1.client().admin().indices().prepareFlush().execute().actionGet();
         node1.client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "2").setSource(jsonBuilder().startObject().field("field", "value2").endObject()).execute().actionGet();