BALL PARK PIZZA OWNERS Kevin and Kathy Flaherty “were like my second mom and dad,” Nick Pastrick says. He worked at the pizzeria from his early teens to his mid-20s, then moved on to spots like Goose the Market. But pizza was always on his mind. When the Beech Grove Ball Park shuttered, Pastrick and his partner in business and life, nightlife veteran Jackie Palmer, looked at its quaint storefront and realized it was their time to step up to the plate.

The new restaurant, called Hey Now Pizza, is a thoughtful mix of throwback (mozzarella-heavy salads with packets of Italian dressing, gleaming and puff y breadsticks) and cool kid (a recent fresh morel special, a pecan-feta-barbecue pie), with a crowd to match. Longtime Beech Grovers rub shoulders with paint-spattered hipsters in its refreshed dining room. Buckets of beer, in-house delivery, and patio dining are also on the horizon.

The post New in Town: Hey Now Pizza appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

ERIN KEM’S culinary aesthetic is well-known to diners who have followed her moves from R Bistro, to Cannon Ball Brewing Company, to Scarlet Lane Brewing Company: clean, respectful of the ingredients, and globe-spanning. Last year, she and fellow chef and partner Logan McMahan brought their mindset of cooking what’s best rather than what’s TikTok-ing to Nicole-Taylor’s Pasta + Market + Backroom Eatery, the Monon Trail–side shop founded by Tony and Rosa Hanslits in 2008 that’s known for hard-to-snag private dinner reservations and wholesale pasta.

“They gave us carte blanche,” Kem says. “Tony, especially, said that we should do what we want.” But considering what they would keep and what they would make their own was no small task. How could they give up a pasta operation that has over a dozen local wholesale accounts and is a sure draw at local farmers markets? And all those orders for the Hanslits’ famous lasagna at the holidays? Forget about it. The pair and their small staff rolled up their sleeves and kept at it, layering over 120 pans of noodles and sauce for family gatherings last December. Then there’s the Nicole-Taylor’s chef’s table, which is known as the most soughtafter reservation in the region. The $1,750 evening for 8–10 people sells out a year in advance, with a collaborative, four-course menu served at a butcher block table in the kitchen. (You can buy beer or wine in the market or bring your own.) This year, Kem and McMahan used a lottery system to award 170 nights across 2024. Over 600 people applied.

None of those standbys are going away any time soon, Kem emphasizes. “The chef’s table, the pasta business, the lasagna—all these are too important to the business to walk away from. People love it too much.”

Kem confirms that another popular offering, the market’s daily lunch at the Backroom Eatery, is also sticking around. With a comforting and elegant menu that changes seasonally, recent offerings include a knockout rainbow trout served skin-on and perfectly seared. It arrives on a toss of spring vegetables, including baby potatoes, favas, radishes, and peas brought together with a healthy sprinkling of feta, dill, and an indulgent slice of herbed compound butter on top.

An equally seasonal dish of bucatini with shallots, asparagus, cream, and smoked salmon is as satisfying as it sounds, without the heft of many trattoria pasta entrees. The dish features the textbook house bucatini, which like all of Nicole-Taylor’s pastas, is vegan, with just flour and water in the recipe. You can buy some at the counter to take home or stop in for a serving of the decidedly unvegan, gooey, meaty lasagna. (Check the restaurant’s website for the most recent lunch menu, which rotates mid-summer and again in the fall.)

Kem and McMahan’s biggest departure is a plan to open a full-service dinner restaurant inside the NicoleTaylor’s space. Called Corridor, the spot will be a nod to the Mediterranean, North African, and Arab worlds, with lighter, vegetable-rich Mediterranean fare—a pivot well-served by McMahan’s flair for vegan dishes. It’s not easy to operate an already bustling business and open a new one at the same time, Kem notes, so the timeline to fully launch Corridor is still evolving. Diners can get a foretaste of things to come at regular pop-ups, festive special events, and the market’s monthly First Friday dinners.

One recent such dinner was redolent with saffron, cinnamon, and cumin, with highlights such as a creamy almond gazpacho starter and an aromatic bowl of the Moroccan stew Berber Harira, studded with fava beans, bits of wilted kale, and a lemony, tomato-rich broth.

Duck confit pappardelle took on an intriguing Egyptian flair with the traditional nut-and-spice condiment dukkah, as well as some nice richness from grated cured duck egg yolks. The dessert, a rendering of the Greek pastry with a creamy nut milk–based custard atop shredded phyllo, could have used a lighter touch of rosewater—a rare time when the pair’s hewing to tradition might have benefited from some tweaks.

Expect Corridor to continue to emerge into view as the year progresses. “It’s thanks to the chef’s table that we can afford to slowly transition to Corridor,” Kem says. “It’s a great night, and people always have a good time.” The lottery for the 2025 class of chef’s table reservations will launch in September, and all signs suggest they will sell out, too.

The post Review: Nicole-Taylor’s Pasta + Market + Backroom Eatery appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

Can you believe it’s been over a decade since Indiana allowed craft spirit businesses to operate in the state? Indiana Capital Chronicle’s Casey Smith has a smart and thoughtful look at how the landscape has changed since 2013, when the Indiana Legislature created the Indiana Artisan Distiller’s Permit and kicked off what Thrillist referred to in 2016 as a local distilling boom.

These days, distillers say that complicated state-to-state laws regarding shipping pose challenges for their businesses (something I run into every time I want to send Hard Truth‘s fantastic coconut rum to an out-of-state pal), as are restrictions on how they can share their goods at festivals. And after you read Casey’s reporting, you’ll probably want to give our March cover story on the region’s craft distilleries another look—here’s all our reporting on the business on one handy page.

Diners in Carmel have two new places to stop this weekend. Moontown Brewing Company will open its first non-Whitestown location today at 1000 W. Main St., it announced on Instagram. The venue, which is restricted to patrons 21 and over, has snacks on hand but also welcomes outside food. Over in Carmel City Center, Hanami Sushi & Sake Bar (317-799-1515) has celebrated its grand opening, Current reports. Co-owner Saowalux Fary is the woman behind a slew of local Thai restaurants and says the business “had a Japanese friend consult on the restaurant’s traditional Japanese dishes.”

Soulshine Vegan Cafe is set to close. The vegan restaurant at 6516 Ferguson St. was known for its comforting throwback vibe and menu of tofu scrambles and seitan mock meats, but a recent equipment issue prompted its owners to reassess the business. Its owners announced on Instagram that, for now, it’ll be open with a limited menu on Saturdays only as they sell off their goods and wind down operations.

A new food ’zine from local high school kids launched this week. Too Many Cooks, a magazine from students in the Patachou Foundation’s summer Food Fellowship Program, had its launch party Thursday night with an issue featuring coverage of “food justice, sustainability and community empowerment through art, poetry, essays and interviews,” Mirror Indy reports. Students from Arsenal Tech, Believe, and Purdue Poly worked on the mag, which is available at Patachou restaurants and Dream Palace Books (111 E. 16th St., 317-737-1215) for $10. Yes, I have this song in my head now too.

Four out-of-state chains are plotting Indy moves. National sports bar chain Tom’s Watch Bar just signed a lease at 140 S. Illinois St., it announced via press release, part of an ambitious cross-country expansion plan. The bar’s differentiator is apparently its “one-of-a-kind venue featuring 360° viewing from every seat with a massive stadium screen surrounded by hundreds of additional screens,” which sounds a little bit like the baddie’s lair in deeply flawed 2009 action film Gamer, so if you’re into that, get stoked. Opening date is TBD.

Also in chain news: Cousins Subs, a company with 93 locations (some company-owned, some franchised) is opening its newest outpost today at 8545 Emerson Ave. (in the Claybrooke Commons strip mall). In a press release, it promises a distinctive “Milwaukee Sub Shop” ambiance. I won’t make a Laverne & Shirley joke since you’re probably still annoyed by my Gamer reference above.

Kura Sushi is Japan’s second-largest sushi chain, with 543 restaurants and counting. In recent years, it expanded to Taiwan (56 spots) and the U.S. (It boasts 64 locations across the country, with nine more on the way.) Its expansion has reached Fishers, IndyToday notes, writing that a Kura is “under construction just west of Kroger on 116th Street.” Like with Tom’s, there’s a gimmick: In this case, kitchen staff place sushi on a conveyor belt, and diners snap up the items they want. Long a standby in Japan, the rotating food trend has taken a nosedive there in recent years, with customers complaining about a lack of freshness and gross social media pranks rendering dishes inedible.

Finally, Chop5 Salad Kitchen, which boasts two Ohio locations and one in Florida, is looking for franchisees who want to open in Indy, the IBJ reports. Startup costs are an estimated $995,800, and franchise fees begin at $40,000. “This is the opportunity to take a newer brand and get a bigger territory,” a company co-founder says, which is good reminder of what big box dining is truly all about.

The post The Feed: New Carmel Restaurants, Sad Vegan Closure, Craft Distilling Milestone appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

“You can get a lot of wow factor from the simplest things,” Vicino executive chef Sean Day says. An excellent example of this philosophy is his shrimp pasta: slippery bucatini made savory with seafood stock, butter, and poufs of parmesan; sweetened with cherry tomato and shallots; and set off by white wine, garlic, and the bracing edge of kale and lemon. The smoky and bright sautéed shrimp takes it completely over the top, for an umami bomb of flavor.

“It’s a lot of food, but it’s light,” Day says of the dish, which will remain on Vicino’s menu through the fall. “And it works. It just works.”

Vicino is located at 350 Massachusetts Ave., 317-798-2492. Reservations are available on OpenTable.

This article appeared in the August, 2024 issue of Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Subscribe today.

The post This Shrimp Pasta Is An Umami Bomb Of Flavor appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

The Goat is out of the penalty box. After a couple years on the region’s scofflaw list, Carmel tavern The Goat (220 Second St. SW, 317-843-4628) is now allowed to operate under the same rules as its fellow bars and restaurants. The news came at an August 5 Carmel City County meeting, Current reports, as part of a greater discussion around loosening the area’s open container laws. The restaurant was previously required to close outdoor service at 7 p.m. due to pandemic-era noise complaints, but now it’s free to serve all patrons until midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends.

Broad Ripple bar owners are engaged in a full-court press (tour). Every news outlet in Indy has seemed to pen an item about the struggles the neighborhood’s publicans are facing, from the Star, to the IBJ, to local broadcast. The message is consistent throughout: Bar owners say the combination of nearby street construction and a spate of shootings means the businesses have not seen the post-pandemic bounce back other spots have, so they’re seeking solutions. (One proposal to increase safety and draw patrons, the creation of a gun-free zone, was removed from the table last year due to insurance concerns, which might be as apt an application of “catch-22” as I’ve ever seen.)

Parkside Public House just made its debut. The Garfield Park restaurant at 2608 Shelby St. launched with James Beard–recognized chef Abbi Merriss in the kitchen, which is big news right there—it was just a few months ago that she stepped away from Bluebeard after building it into a nationally recognized restaurant. The menu, for now, is a tightly edited list of cool Midwesterner classics (a sharp tenderloin dish, a peach-y green salad). Service kicked off on Wednesday, with a weekday opening time of 5 p.m. and a 10 a.m. opener on weekends. 

An Indy location of chain Buca di Beppo has shuttered. The national Italian chain filed for bankruptcy protection this week, saying in a filing that “limited customer demand” that began in 2020 continued, with year-over-year losses for the company. It’s now $10 million in debt, $1.36 million of which is unredeemed gift cards. People, if you like BdB, use those now—but don’t try to use them at the 6045 E. 86th St. location, as that one went dark in recent days as the company cuts costs. Greenwood’s 659 U.S. 31 N outpost (317-884-2822) and the one downtown at 35 N. Illinois St. (317-632-2822) remain.

Downtown Indy has a new steakhouse. Del Frisco’s, a national restaurant chain that, since 2019, has been owned by a gigantic private equity firm, opened a location of their Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse brand at 14 W. Maryland St. last weekend, the Star reports. There’s a 700-bottle wine list and a steak roster to rival St. Elmo’s (in name only, I’m sure! Don’t @ me!). There’s also a stringent and somewhat arbitrary dress code that would ban many of America’s brightest billionaires from entry. One certainly wonders what that’s intended to accomplish.

The Athenaeum just got a bit boozier. As you, of course, know, Coat Check Coffee, the groundbreaking third wave coffee shop at 401 E. Michigan St., changed hands earlier this year when Small Victories contracted its operations. Now under the management of the Athenaeum Foundation, it’s been ramping up its food offerings, beefing up its baking, and, last weekend, it launched a cocktail program with four sweet drinks. The concoctions will be available from 11 a.m. to close daily, and we’re told that no-ABV tweaks to the drinks are also available.

The post The Feed: Bye Bye Buca, Goat Gaiety, Coat Check Cocktails appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

These gourmet pop stars give a serious upgrade to the frozen tubes of colored sugar water you slurped down as a child. You’ll probably still get a brain freeze, but you’ll love it.

Nicey Treat
833 E. Westfield Blvd.
317-602-6423

Jeff Patrick, aka the godfather of Indy’s popsicle scene, sources locally for berries, rhubarb, buttermilk, corn, peaches and other building blocks for his all-natural fruit and dairy-based creations. Pink lemonade rules as the house favorite.

La Michoacana
8333 N. Michigan Rd.
317-405-9264

Guava, walnut, arroz con leche and other Mexican-style paletas are the name of the game at this northwest-side ice cream shop. Insiders know to ask for a chocolate dip when ordering. 

Rasta Pops
812-219-6611

Catch mango chili lime, cinnamon-spiced chocolate, and other Brazilian-inspired flavors from this Bloomington pushcart. Follow the business at @rasta_pops on Instagram to find its current stop, which includes Food Truck Fridays at Switchyard Park and other summertime hotspots.

Just Pop In!
6406 Cornell Ave.
317-257-9338

A refreshing way to wash down small plates and cheddar-caramel Indy Style popcorn, bartenders at the swank Monon-adjacent café float popsicles in a glass of prosecco and call it a cocktail. We call it delicious.

Handel’s Ice Cream
Multiple Indy-area locations

The family-friendly franchise dunks scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and mint chip into dark chocolate and serves them on a stick. Voila—Handel Pops!

The post Beat The Heat With Indy’s Best Popsicles appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

Gen Con’s block party sounds fun even if you’re not into board games. From August 1–4 (the duration of the con), the section of South Street nearest the convention center will host a slew of local favorites, up-and-coming food trucks, and beer, wine, and soda. There will also be plenty of shaded seating and cooling misters to keep you feeling fresh. Best of all, the free event is open to everyone, no Gen Con ticket required. See the full lineup on the Gen Con site.

B’s Bagels is close to launching in Westfield. Hoosier Dori Calderon and New Yorker Brandon Florman (he’s the “B” in the name) expect to “redefine the bagel experience in the area,” a press release claims, from a storefront at 16030 Spring Mill Rd. The partners promise New York–style bagels and spreads, grab-and-go sandwiches, and pastries. An opening date has not been announced, but their target is mid-August.

Did he say, “stay”? Joel Reitz, the co-owner of downtown’s O’Reilly Irish Bar and Restaurant saved Lisa Loeb’s day, WISH reports. The 1990s-era singer (come on, you know this one) was in town Monday for a show at Plainfield’s Hendricks Live, but during a luggage shuffle outside the Conrad Hotel Tuesday, someone swiped her guitar. Reitz, who saw Loeb’s post asking for help finding the guitar, noticed a guy carrying a similar ax case outside his 36 S. Pennsylvania St. bar and, after a polite conversation, retrieved it. “I did ask him to give it back to me because it did not belong to him, and it was stolen, and he did,” Reitz says.

Ohio chain Kitchen Social is coming to Fishers. The restaurant, which has a lengthy and wide menu of foods reminiscent of Cafe Tropical’s range of offerings, will make a new building at 11401 Ikea Way its first Indiana outpost, the IBJ reports. It’ll break ground next year, with a hoped-for opening in 2026.

Local mini-chain California Burger opened a fourth location on Thursday. The business has two other spots in Indy and another in Fort Wayne. The latest is at 2831 E. 38th St. It’s unclear what makes its menu, which includes a chicken cheesesteak, chili cheese fries, and fried okra, specifically Californian; the state’s burgers pale in comparison to Indiana’s. Perhaps it’s just a market differentiation thing?

Moontown Brewing Company is gearing up for its Carmel expansion. The Whitestown craft brewery had hoped to open its doors at new mixed-use building The Signature (13111 Old Meridian St.) in June, the IBJ reported this spring. but while the residences are up for grabs, the commercial portion of the development is still coming together. A sign of progress is the brewery’s signage, which went up this week. When asked about a specific opening date, the owners replied, “We will let you know when we know!”

The post The Feed: Gen Con Dining, Westfield Bagels, Moontown Rising appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

Niemann Harvest Market
2140 E. 116th St., Carmel
317-343-4718

Sean Olson doesn’t like the phrase “grocery store.” He’s the director of Carmel’s newly opened Niemann Harvest Market, a farmer-and-maker-focused business that sells groceries and grab-and-go dishes. While the three-location chain is owned by Illinois-based conglomerate Niemann Foods, Olson insists the markets operate independently from the larger company (which operates businesses across the retail spectrum), and that decisions on what to carry and how to price it are made at the local level.

“We’re swimming upstream from a lot of companies,” says Olson. “We want to be the ones who are directly working with producers and making the food.” Another word he eschews is “vendors,” the industry term for a store’s supplier of goods. “They’re our partners, not just vendors,” he says. “Sometimes they’re a creamery in Illinois, sometimes it’s a juice maker just down the street. But everything you can buy in our store comes from a relationship and a community.”

This article appeared in the July, 2024 issue of Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Subscribe today.

The post Niemann Harvest Market Serves Up Local Groceries In Carmel appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

Enjoy dishes from these restaurants and others at Indianapolis Monthly’s Global Eats event on July 29. Tickets are available now.

In July’s Global Eats issue, we rounded up 25 of our favorite dishes from Indianapolis restaurants that feature foods from our city’s diverse population. In the print edition, we also included some lightning rounds for our top pasta, taco, and dumpling orders: in other words, the ideal versions of our go-to foods. Here are our picks.

Italian-style pastas

Since Francis Vigo helped make Indiana a state, Hoosiers have had an Italian connection. Perhaps that’s why we have so many excellent pasta dishes?   

• Ambrosia, Ravioli Della Mamma. 5903 N. College Ave., 317-255-3096 $$$
• Iozzo’s Garden of Italy, Spaghetti. 946 S. Meridian St., 317-974-1100 $$
• Maialina Italian Kitchen + Bar, Cacio e pepe. 1103 Prospect St., 317-982-7676 $$
• Mama Carolla’s, Rosemary Chicken Lasagna. 1031 E. 54th St., 317-259-9412 $$
• Nesso Italian Kitchen, Linguini Nero. 339 S. Delaware St., 317-643-7400 $$$

Dumplings

From soup to steamed, Indy’s dumpling game has never been stronger. Here are some of our greatest bundles of joy.

• Tian Fu Asian Bistro, Pork soup dumplings. 3508 W. 86th St., 317-872-6888 $$ 
• Lil Dumplings Noodle Bar, Veggie steamed dumplings with mushroom and carrot filling. 926 Carrolton Ave., 317-556-1252 $$
• Tsaocaa Tea, Black truffle and pork soup dumplings. 530 Massachusetts Ave. 317-735-1948, $$ 
• Modita, Pork Soup Dumplings, with black garlic and ginger vinegar. 850 Massachusetts Ave., 317-316-0470 $$ 
• Benyue, Scallop w/Garlic Dumpling. 6020 E. 82nd St., 317-537-2822 $ 

Tacos

Demolition Man predicted that in the future, all restaurants will be Taco Bell. Not so in Indy, where independent restaurants are the places for the best tacos imaginable.

• La Chinita Poblana, Blackened tilapia taco. 906 Carrollton Ave., 317-515-2889 $ 
• Gil Tacos, Tacos Dorados. 1665 S. Lynhurst Dr., 317-992-9046
• Julieta Taco Shop, Al Pastor Taco, “vampiro-style.” 1060 N. Capitol Ave. $ 
• Las Mexicanas Super Tacos, Carnitas Taco. 424 S. Sherman Dr., 317-909-2150 $ 
• Tlaolli, NoNoNo Taco with soy chorizo and roasted poblanos. 2830 E. Washington St., 317-410-9507 $ 

The post Global Eats Top Fives: Tacos, Pasta, and Dumplings appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

Indy fave Che Chori (3124 W. 16th St., 317-737-2012) is ready for prime time. The Argentinian restaurant known for house-made sausages and toasty empanadas will be featured on Food Network series Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, they announced on Instagram. I can confirm that co-owner Marcos Perera-Blasco is a total natural on TV, as we appeared together in a recent segment on Fox 59’s Indy Now. I suspect that after their episode airs on Friday, August 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Che Chori will be way busier—but you can beat the rush by heading to our Global Eats event on Monday, July 29. Marcos will be there with a special sandwich made just for the event, and right now you can enter the code BOGO to get two tickets for the price of one.

The Philippines Cultural Community Center (4141 S. East St.) is now home to one of Indy’s most intriguing lunch options. Yollie’s Filipino American Kitchen, which opened Wednesday, serves lunch Tuesday–Friday and dinner on Friday and Saturday. There’s a menu of standbys such as lumpia and longaniza, but I’m most attracted to the Ginataang Puso ng Saging, a coconut milk and banana blossom dish made with a variety of proteins. 

Giant Eagle has landed in Westfield. On Thursday, the Pittsburgh-based grocery conglomerate opened a 49,600-square-foot Market District grocery store at 744 E. Tournament Trail, the IBJ reports. On staff are “culinary experts, wine and beer consultants, cheesemongers and charcuterie specialists, butchers, fishmongers, professional chefs, bakers and cake decorators,” which suggests an interest in grab-and-go and prepared meals above and beyond the standard market staples.

Brace for new coffee downtown and in Glendale. Rapidly expanding Indy mini-chain Java House will open its 12th location on Friday at 225 W. Washington St., in the ground floor of the Simon Property Group building. Meanwhile, Fishers brew spot Niyyah Coffee (8100 E. 106th St., 317-379-6038) announced on Instagram that they’re plotting a second location at 6160 N. Rural St., opening date TBD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekday breakfast has launched at Gather 22 (22 E. 22nd St., 317-258-2222). The cool kid patio spot just announced the new offering via Instagram, with service running 8–noon Tuesday–Friday. Breakfast sandwiches and burritos are on the roster, as are home ownership–crushing toasts and parfaits. 

Avon’s dining scene is heating up. A new outpost of breakfast chain Wild Eggs just opened at 9769 E. U.S. 36 (463-258-1900), the first of three new Indy-area outposts for the private equity–owned operation. In addition, reports the IBJ, local mini-chain Ale Emporium is bringing its Hermanaki Wings (made with a blend of peppers, spices, and sauces so allegedly rare that the company has trademarked the name) to the under-construction Beechwood Centre. Ground breaks on the project on August 1.

The post The Feed: New Filipino Lunch Spot, Weekday Breakfast News appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.