It’s lights out for Gallery Pastry Bar. The Star was the first to report that the downtown outpost of the Gallery family of restaurants shuttered on August 11. The restaurant at 110 S. Pennsylvania St. opened in July of 2020, arguably the most challenging time to launch a business in recent history. The well-reviewed spot prevailed, however, with this publication referring to it as “The Beautiful Escape We All Need Right Now.” The IBJ notes that owner Alison Keefer blames  “constant sales swings” for the closure. The company’s two other locations, at 4573 N. College Ave. and 319 E. 16th St., remain open.

Two popular chains are opening locations at the Greenwood Park Mall. In a press release, owner/operator Simon Property Group says that private equity-owned global chain P.F. Chang’s will bring its Asian fusion menu to the mall in 2025, adding to the chain’s roster of over 300 restaurants across 22 countries. Also opening at the mall’s 1251 U.S. 31 address in 2025 is a far more locally owned venue: Verde Flavors of Mexico, a four-location Mexican restaurant from Fishers-based Arechiga Restaurant Group. That opening is part of a big expansion for the company that the IBJ reported on in March; other restaurants in Arechiga’s portfolio include recently opened Casa Santa in Noblesville (13521 Tegler Dr., 317-764-2354) and Bottleworks-area Piedra, which is set to open by the end of the year.

Mochinut is headed south. A sign promising a location of the popular mochi doughnut chain has appeared in a window at the strip mall at 8635 S. Emerson Ave. in Greenwood. No opening date has been announced for the restaurant, which is known for a wide selection of doughnuts, boba drinks, and encrusted Korean corn dogs. This will be the third Indy-area outpost for the global company, which also has storefronts in Fishers and Plainfield.

A corn topping landed a longtime hot dog vendor in hot water. WTHR (among others) reports that the Marion County Health Department informed the owner of Garcia’s Hot Dogs that by adding Indiana’s iconic vegetable to a dog, he broke the agency’s food cart rules. According to owner Abacuc Garcia, he’s operated his cart for 14 years at the corner of 16th Street and Emerson Avenue but recently expanded the toppings menu in an effort to boost revenue. A spokesperson for the agency says that if Garcia wants to bring in foods beyond the standard hot dog cart fare, he needs to operate a food truck, not a cart. In the short term, Garcia has pulled corn from the menu—and in the long term, he is seeking donations for an upgrade from cart to truck.

Shall we just rename Indianapolis “Flavortown”? Earlier this month, we saw westside sausage destination Che Chori (3124 W. 16th St., 317-737-2012) on Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and this month, lauded eastside taco shop Tlaolli (2830 E. Washington St., 317-410-9507) gets a feature on the Guy Fieri–hosted show, its owners announced on Instagram. Owner Carlos Hutchinson tells the Mirror, “[Fieri said] he’s eaten birria all over the country and said he considered my vegan birria better than many of them.” The episode airs on August 30 at 9 p.m. and will be available via the Food Network’s streaming platform the next day. 

West Fork Whiskey’s wild Westfield plan has hit a speed bump. In March, the 2-year-old distillery at 10 E. 191st St. (317-763-5400) announced an ambitious plan to create a “live and play entertainment district” in the acres surrounding the business. The so-called West Fork District would include “150 townhomes, walking paths, fire pits, a pond, outdoor concert venue, dog park, whiskey aging warehouse and space for future commercial development,” the Star reported at the time. Last week, Current reported that the Westfield City Council turned down West Fork’s application to move forward, with one member saying, “This has been a complete disaster.” The council member complained that “there has been iteration after iteration” of the plans and that they “have drawings that don’t match wordings.” As of publication time, the future of the project remains unknown.

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YOU WON’T FIND an address or phone number for The Barrel Room online. Instead, there’s a reservation page that assures you a mysterious stranger will contact you with logistical details after your two-hour slot at the downtown micro-speakeasy is approved. Barrel Bar’s beverage director, who goes only by Ariel, promises the six-seat operation is “fully legal,” but to maintain exclusivity, location intel is kept under wraps. She does disclose that the bar is fueled by wall-mounted barrels of rare, unique, and hard-to-secure spirits that are crafted into extremely high-end cocktails ranging from $30 to $80 or more. “Think of it as a chef’s table but for drinks,” she says.

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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.

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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.

“IT TOOK me 40 years to find my voice and to find my purpose,” Tawana Gulley says. The founder of AfroAsian restaurant Healthy Soul had a full career with the Veterans Administration before a health crisis inspired her to revamp her entire routine. Her personal transformation led her to launch her own business, partially to share her way of eating with the world and partially so she could boost other aspiring entrepreneurs to the next level.

Since she launched Healthy Soul, Gulley has worked with kids and young adults to help them understand restaurant ownership from within. “The reality is that not all of our kids are going to make it to college level,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t still do what they love and turn their passion into their business.”

She found a way to formalize that mentorship with her Culinary Art Summer Bootcamp, which she launched in 2023. In a five-week program, she takes students through all the fundamentals of her trade, from kitchen skills, to serving etiquette, to basic restaurant economics. “We’re talking about financial literacy. We’re talking about personal credit and business credit,” she says. “I put the entire bootcamp together after thinking, What would I need if I were just starting out in the industry?”

The course isn’t a trade school focused on creating drones, Gulley emphasizes. “We’re not putting kids into the Matrix. We’re planting a seed and letting them know that they can create their own lane. That might be with food; that might be with something else. But the seed is there, and now they know they have options.”

FAVORITE THINGS

(1) The Black Girls Eating podcast. “Tanorria Askew is a great mentor.”
(2) HexClad pans. “They’re very expensive but worth it.”
(3) Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. “I love TV cooking shows.”
(4) The Black Girl’s Guide to Financial Freedom. “This is my favorite book.”
(5) Fresh-squeezed passion fruit watermelon agua fresca. “One of my Culinary Bootcamp students came up with this.” 

The post Foodie: Tawana Gulley Of Healthy Soul 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.

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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!”

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